victim of relentless affection

Brutal honesty (the remix)

2012-01-21T20:15:00.002-05:00

8 days after generating a list of discouraging things...
It is time to allow a flow of gratitude...
I am grateful for the truth of suffering that leads to glory.
It is showing up in more lives and more blogs and my Pastor's
latest encouraging word for our Daniel Fast. IT is a foundational
truth and God is mercifully teaching it to us, in preparation, for
the time when everything that can be shaken will be shaken.

Work, causes gratitude because soon another nurse will be added to
each shift to lessen the work load.

Home has been encouraging, because my nine year old son is choosing
to participate in the Daniel Fast and my wife is being blessed by
what God is showing her during the Daniel Fast. One teenager is
transitioning to a job at Pizza Hut. The other, no outward change,
just a growing trust in God's plan.

Marriage has been encouraging, because, there is grace from God to
grow in love and give and receive mercy. "A joining of two forgivers."
is how I heard marriage described once, and it is true.

Church has been encouraging, many people have joined together with
a wonderful attitude to participate in a Daniel Fast. There is a depth
that is being revealed and worked into our hearts that speaks of God's
faithfulness to build strong foundations. I can feel that many people
are going to experience a deep and lasting breakthrough as a result of
this time. Glory to God, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.

conceited

2012-01-19T18:19:00.002-05:00

conceit
excessive appreciation of one's own worth or virtue
A favorable and especially unduly high opinion of one's own abilities or worth.
excessive high regard for oneself

I love the fact that our church is doing a 'corporate' Daniel fast.
I love the fact that He loves me enough to point out my sin.
conceit

with it I judge others
with it i keep myself at the center of my thoughts

I repent of it and desire to love as He loved.
Onward with the fast.

Romans Bible Study #39 Romans 12:3-8

2012-01-18T17:04:00.000-05:00

Romans Bible Study # 39
Romans 12:3-8
Cessationism

3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. 4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; 7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; 8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. NASB

3 I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

4-6 In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't.

6-8 If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.
The Message

Just a reminder that Paul both here and in Ephesians, put in a “Therefore” (Eph. 4:1 and Romans 12:1,2) because all that has gone before is the foundation for the behavior changes that are to come. Christianity is not out to improve your morality, it is out to make all things new, so that the basis of your actions is a heart that has been changed and connected to the living God.

Jim Newheiser outline (I have used this guys outlines before, but ran into trouble at the end of this section)
III.Understand how your gifts function in the body (church). v. 4-5
A. The body is an important metaphor for the church. I Co. 10:17 12:27 Col. 1:24 2:19
3:15 Eph. 1:23 4:4,12,15,16,25
B. God has made us purposefully diverse.
1. There is a great diversity of grace gifts among God’s people.
2. Every believer has a unique function in the body.
3. We should enjoy the diversity among us.
4. There is even diversity among those who have a particular gift.
5. I believe that there is also a diversity among local churches.
C. God has designed our diversity to organically unite us. I Co. 12:12-18
1. None of us has all of the gifts.
2. None of us is independent of the others.
3. The body functions as a whole.
4. Your gift is given so that you might edify (build up) the body. I Co. 12:7 14:12
5. Our interdependence reinforces humility.
D. You must be a committed member of a local body in order to function properly.
1. If you aren’t in a local church, you cannot be built up by the gifts of others.
2. If you are not a member, your gift is not being used to edify others.
3. Is church membership biblical? Heb. 13:17 I Th. 5:12-13 I Co. 12:12
4. Church membership alone is not enough.
E. These truths have implications for how the church is to be run: plurality and
opportunity. I Pet. 2:5 I Co. 14:26,40 Eph. 5:19 Col. 3:16

B. Revelatory gifts were foundational in the early church. v. 6b Eph. 2:20
1. Prophets served as God’s mouthpieces, through whom He revealed infallible truth.
Ex. 4:16 7:1 Dt. 18:18-22 13:1f Eph. 2:20 4:11 I Co. 12:28 14:1 Acts 11:27-28 21:9f
Prophets were to prophesy in accordance with the faith. I Th. 5:19-22 I Co. 14:29
2. Revelatory gifts ceased when the Scriptural canon was closed and the Apostles
passed off the scene. Eph. 2:20 Heb. 2:3-4 II Co. 12:12

Right there, is where I ran into trouble and I would like us to look at another person’s perspective on this issue.

“The gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to the church to edify the body of Christ and to cause every member to be an important and useful part of the body. To this end the so-called revelatory gifts are for edification, exhortation and consolation (1Corinthians 14:3). This does not mean predicting the future or bringing spiritual information to the church that was not written in the Bible.” Bob Dewaay

Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. (1Corinthians 13:8-10).
Cessationists interpret "the partial to mean the incomplete revelation available through the gifts while the Apostles finished writing the New Testament and "the perfect to mean the completed canon of scripture. However, the context shows that Paul is contrasting the temporary and provisional nature of "gifts" with the eternal nature of agape love. Chapter 13 is about love as a necessary but missing foundation in a situation where the gifts were being abused. The Corinthians believed that gifts confirmed the presence of a superior spirituality in certain persons. Not the case, says Paul. The gifts are for building up the body of Christ, not exalting one over another. If the Corinthians were operating in the love of Christ they would have been concerned about the welfare of others, not selfishly parading their own spirituality before the church hoping for glory in the eyes of others.

1Corinthians 13 is not a chapter about the completion of the New Testament canon. Instead, Paul is discussing agape‘ love something we have now that will endure even into the age to come. In 1Corinthians 13:12, he contrasts "now" and "then": "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known." Paul (who had many revelations from God and wrote much of the New Testament) was not saying that his partial knowledge would be changed to full knowledge if he lived long enough for the canon to be available in written form. He he was saying that "then" he will "know" and "[have been] fully known." Clearly the object of Paul’s knowledge is capable of also "knowing him. The written canon of Scripture cannot be said to fully know Paul. It is Christ who Paul now knows and then will know fully. Consider what the Apostle John says about this: "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is (1John 3:2). What now is as seeing "in a mirror dimly shall be completed when we see "face to face. This personal, relational knowledge that is characterized by love and completed at a future date is nothing less than the knowledge of Christ. He fully knows us now, but when we see Him face to face our partial understanding will be completed, matured, perfected. Charles Hodge comments on 1Corinthians 13:9,10: "This is the reason why knowledge and prophesy are to cease. They are partial and imperfect, and therefore suited only to an imperfect state of existence. The revelations granted to the prophets imparted mere glimpses of the mysteries of God; when those mysteries stand disclosed in the full light of heaven, what need then of those glimpses?"
Bob Dewaay

The Bible does not teach that spiritual gifts would cease before the return of Christ and does not teach that they only validate apostles and fill in missing revelation. The primary passages that talk about the Acharismata@ (the Greek word translated "gifts" in key passages such as 1Corinthians 12:4,9,28,30,31 and Romans 12:6) have to do with the edification of the body of Christ. Bob Dewaay

Cessationism-the idea that the spiritual gifts are no longer in effect, comes from bringing to the scripture a thought that you then try to prove. We can not approach scripture that way. It leads to error.

Back to our study.

Barth thoughts:
Verse 3: The grace, that is his emphasis, and the accompanying knowledge that all that we are about to talk about is from grace.

Verse 4,5,6 “Fellowship is communion. It is, however, not a communion in which the ‘otherness’ of each particular individual is blurred or limited or dissolved, but that ONENESS which both requires the ‘otherness’ of each individual and makes sense of it. Fellowship is the ONE which lies beyond every ‘other’. 1 Cor. 12:12,13 One new man.

Verse 6b-8 Tolerance is, no doubt, a virtue without which none of us can live; but we must, nevertheless, at least understand that it is, strictly speaking, destructive of fellowship, for it is a gesture by which the divine disturbance is rejected. The ONE in whom we are veritably united is Himself the great intolerance. He willeth to rule, to be victorious, to be--everything. He it is who disturbs every family gathering, every scheme for the reunion of Christendom, every human co-operation. And He disturbs, because He is the Peace that is above every estrangement and cleavage and faction. (All that to say that this is not about ‘look at me’ I have a gift’, it is about ‘the gift has me’ and without Him and the giving of His gift I am nothing, but because He loves His body so much, He chooses to use me in this way.
This means that it is not in spite of a man’s particular gifts that he is a particular person and can think and do only what is particular, but precisely because of HIS particular gifts. It consists not in a man’s strength, but in his weakness; not in his possession, but in his deprivation not in his rightness, but in his wrongness not when he ascends his High place with all that is his, but when in order that God alone may be exalted, he descends from his height, and every secondary ethical action--even this negative action -- is bent back to its Primal Origin.

Prophecy; by faith a person is so given over to God, that God is able to speak through him, as though he were not. The receiver hears THE ONE.
Ministry/Serving; Meeting physical needs without any false motivation, led by God in such a way that the person does not feel, ‘less,’ but they are drawn to the power and love behind the action.
The receiver feels THE ONE.
Teaching; A person so given over to God that the person who is receiving encounters truth, he comes away knowing THE ONE.
Preaching; A stating of the “Krisis” of being one who does not know God, along with the promise of God’s redeeming love, in such a way that the hearer submits to the truth of THE ONE.
Giving; Giving so lovingly and freely as one who has been given to by THE ONE, that only THE ONE shines through.
Ruling/Authority; Knowing that authority has been given and exists in me by grace, I do not strive or fight or try to prove, it is just a ‘being’ in THE ONE.
Mercy; Giving mercy as a person, who has been shown mercy by THE ONE, realizing that at that moment he is being shown mercy there is a humor in the situation. Kind of like someone hands you a dollar and you turn and hand it to another, knowing that it had just been handed to you and was just passing through your hands from THE ONE.

Verse 3 - do you want to think ‘rightly’ of yourself, think of yourself as one among many who has received a gift that is not whole or complete until it is joined with other people who have been given other gifts and who have been given faith. Spiritual gifts can lead to pride, unless we are very aware of our own need of God, and the fact that all that we have is a gift.

Verse 4,5 - Receive what you have been given and give it away, and receive what others have been given and they are giving away. We are each inter-dependent. Our concern is a concern of love wanting the Giver to receive all glory for what He is doing in us.

Verse 6 - Do you have faith to speak God’s words and heart to a person, small group, church, co-worker, county, state, nation, world. Go as far and as wide as God puts in your heart.

Verse 7 - Same with serving, teaching or exhorting, God’s grace by faith plants a thought in your heart and you go and do according to that thought. Obey in little things and bigger things come.

Verse 8 - Now there is a change in the tone, there is an extravagance in the words. If you do ______ do it, with all the joy of a person who has been given an immense gift, a gift that you have to give away massively! Many people can give, the gift of giving, looks crazy. Many people have been called to lead, but gifted leaders, understand that what they are doing is eternal, so they have more diligence than any others. Many people and organizations show mercy, but sometimes it comes off as condescending or as a person who is just doing their duty. But to be showing mercy with cheerfulness, brightens the day of the person who is receiving and they no longer feel like they are being a burden. I see this every night at work. Some people can make a person feel better just by the way that they help them... and then there is the “paycheck person” who is only doing this to get a paycheck and it shows to everyone.

Gifts have fruit. If what you are doing is your gifting, it will flow and it will have fruit. If every time you serve, the situation gets worse, service is not your gift.

Gifts encourage humility, we all need what we all have, we are intert-dependent.
And we “know in part.” We don’t know it all. Our words do not get tacked on to the Bible as infallible, direct speakings from God. What ‘prophecy’ a person brings forward is to be ‘judged.’ We never do that with the word of God, but it is clearly directed in scripture that we do it with a word of prophecy that comes through one fallible human being to another.

This is a good word picture to understand the differing giftings and how they might operate differently in different people. We, as people, are the vessels delivering the message, service, teaching, or faith that God wants to bring into a situation. Those vessels could be like an oil tanker, a satellite dish, a hand truck, a fork-lift, a C-5 airplane, a pick-up truck, a train, an 18-wheeler, a clothes basket, and on and on. Each vessel was created for a unique purpose. Unfortunately, in the Body of Christ, if a person does not recognize this, they could become very angry and offended when the ‘oil tanker’ does not pull into their driveway. Well it is obviously not meant to make deliveries like that, but if people are judging based on their limited understanding of the person and the situation, they could easily become offended.
We are given differing gifts and when we resent others, we allow bitterness to take root. They are supposed to be different. It encourages humility and inter-dependence. They only have to answer to God for the how and when of using their gifting.

Do we really get the overwhelming weight of not forgiving others? Do we really hear what this scripture is saying?

Matthew 18:32 “Then summoning him, his lord *said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ 34 And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. 35 My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”

Let us not be offended at our differences, but humbled by them.

“I get all the mercy--and God gets all the glory!” James Smith

brutal honesty

2012-01-13T16:30:00.004-05:00

"honest open view into my mind, heart and life as God works His work in my life"
This is the phrase underneath the title of this blog. I like the cello, mainly because the sound that it makes can not be electronically duplicated. As people search for God they often come across "spiritual experts," (idiots) self-serving guru's teaching 'ancient principles' that may or may not work for days or weeks or even years, if you do them with 'all' that you've got, because, anything is better than BOWING. Repentance, is the door way of entrance into this life. Electronically generated, harmonics can "catch" most other instruments, but the cello, played by an expert has emotion and depth, beyond imitation. True and deep conversion has a moment of contact with the holiness of God, that cannot be faked. Unfortunately there is so much "electronic imitation" in the interest of the 'quick conversion' that a great number of souls are ushered into the 'kingdom' on the fast track of 'Jesus loves you and has a great plan for your life.' No bowing there, no contact with the holiness of God, just a quick self-centered prayer that puts you in touch with the great 'candy man' in the sky, who wants to meet all your needs. In cultures where baptism equals a death threat, there is a natural sieve that eliminates the self-centered, and demands that evangelists have a deeper message. So yes, I love the cello.

Work has been discouraging, more and more is piled on the donkey's back, good nurses who try to take "care" of their people are crying, literally crying, under the load of stress. Management, happily divorced from reality, marches on, just one more piece of paperwork, just one more change, just one more expectation piled on top of all the others, each being microscopically monitored by a paper pusher who cannot see one millimeter beyond their specialty. Who survives? Those who adapt to this style by becoming experts at lying and giving management what they want. Giving up on 'care' they sarcastically move on to transforming the 'call' of nursing into a job. This weekend, while I am off I will be working on a letter to my direct supervisor on the current state of life in the trenches. The favor of God has been on my efforts to do this in the past and I hope it will be again. The danger is to be led by frustration, to let 'pent up' anger spill over. "Just the facts, mam." Sergeant Friday from the show 'Dragnet' was right. Emotional arguments with high-pitched, high-decibel voices do not allow for a true investigation and resolution.

Home has been discouraging, the path to healthy, independent adults has a huge bump in the road along the way called, the teen-age years. It takes more energy, love, and perseverance than any human has, I guess that is actually the 'good' point. It is a time that forces the parent to drop their, "If I do this, all will turn out well." mantra and join reality, a harsh reality that demands time spent in prayer and seeking wisdom and grace from the Father and the Body of Christ.

Marriage has been discouraging, I'm not very good at the whole, "husband thing." I can give many books that call for a perfect, understanding, kind, patient, person who has as the center of his world the happiness of his wife. "Husbands love your wives, as Christ loves the Church." Really, could You have set the standard any higher? Could You have made the task any more impossible. Nope. Again that was the plan, and that is the good part, because it forces me to drop the mantra, "I can do this, I am patient, loving and understanding," and makes me face the ugly reality of my own self-centered existence and again, sends me outside of myself to the Father and His Body for grace, wisdom and prayer.

Church has been discouraging. I am different. I have walked a different path to get here. Diversity within the body, is one of the things that makes it beautiful. Each one brings something that further displays the manifold beauty of our God. Each one realizes the need for the 'other.' Each one reads the sentence, (Romans 12:10)
"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;" It is entirely impossible, once again. Humans, build towers to make their name great. Humans do everything from a motivation of self, no matter how noble or twisted, that is the motivation, the noble get praised, the twisted get held up to the blinding light of the media, so that we can all feel better about ourselves. 'Thank you Casey Anthony, we all feel better about ourselves now, move along, next!' God pushes the truth in our face, 'There is none righteous' and in case you didn't get it, 'No, not one.' And it is to these people that He says, 'give preference.' True the people have been changed, are in the process of transformation, are becoming more like Christ, have the life of Christ within them, but this is yet another impossibility. Yet another call for grace and prayer, submission, returning good for evil, overlooking, extending love, exposing your own flaws, risking love. One area of difference that 'breaks' me, is my view of the end times, it colors a lot of my other thinking on the Church. I can not teach on this view within my church, because it is at odds with the Pastor's view. I respect that, the sheep are his sheep, and I am to serve in such a way as to make his 'call' a 'pleasure,' not a burden. (Hebrews 13:17) "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you." I get it, when God, the Lord of the universe, says something would be 'unprofitable,' it is a good idea to back off.

I could counsel myself now... gratitude is the way out of this pit, silly boy, grumbling is for kids, you have been with God long enough to know better, but this was a time for brutal honesty, don't say I didn't warn you. Going back to my cello music now.

Immutability

2011-12-28T19:39:00.002-05:00

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.
Abraham Lincoln

Immutability - Like most attributes of God, His "never changing" is a comfort only when we know Him as Holy, Just, True and Love.

My year end thoughts are...slow in coming. Discouragement is the sin that is currently crouching at my door (Gen. 4:7) Gratitude will drive it away. Jesus gives me grace and mercy, He softens my heart and makes it pliable. He has promised to bring oil from the flinty rock, in Him, in Him, in Him, I hope, trust and abide, by grace through faith.

Romans Bible Study #38 Romans 12:1,2

2011-12-19T18:58:00.001-05:00

Romans Bible Study #38
Romans 12:1,2
Phrase: “the will of God”

Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. NASB

Romans 12:1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
The Message

“Therefore”
The importance of knowing the God that we serve and of bowing deeply before who He is and what He does has been Paul’s focus for 11 chapters, and now with that as foundation, he points us to “how to live.” But it is important, even essential, to see that they are not in any way disconnected. The knowing of who He is, and His acts IS the driving force behind, and foundation of, who we are and how we act.
The “therefore” is the knowledge of being a lost sinner. It is the saving grace that revealed that knowledge and then at the depth of despair revealed faith in the sin-atoning death of Jesus. Faith in the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit, when all of our ‘best efforts’ have mercifully failed.
The “therefore” is bowing before supreme, total, sovereignty, that is intent on displaying unfathomable mercy to individuals and one day, in a massive display of overflowing, covenantal mercy, to an ENTIRE nation.
Just after being launched into an amazing song of praise, (at the end of Chapter 11) Paul returns to earth to tell us how all that has gone before, can now be worked out in and through us.

“I urge you, brethren”
Paul Washer did a good job of pointing out this phrase and emphasizing that there is an importance and weight to the words that are coming up and Paul does not want any frivolity here. All the high cost that God has paid to bring us to this point is forcefully behind this message. We do an injustice to the God-man, sweating blood in the garden, if we are not appropriately, intensely, sober about these words. It is, as if, a friend is sitting us down to tell us about their battle with cancer. It is as life and death. It is like that warning siren has come over the TV, it is not a drill, you need to know what to do and where to go in order to survive.
“by the mercies of God”
This new way of living has only one foundation. Built on the solid rock of who God is, and the extravagant mercy He constantly is showing us. If it was built on any aspect of me, it would be subject to wild variations and change and would sink at the first storm. So right after spending three chapters on the massive, unshakeable sovereignty of God that has been pleased to show mercy to us, he points back to that fact and says, because of that you can truly LIVE! You do not go out and do your best trying to earn mercy, you bow before mercy in wonder and accept it as a gift. You are about to give away the only thing you have, your life and the motivation and the means are the same marvelous thing - ‘the mercies of God.’
“to present your bodies”
He gave them to us, we return them to Him and to His service, for His glory, which is what they were created for anyway. In gratitude we return them to their original purpose and in giving up our lives we find peace and fulfillment. Here the body, with the idol of self removed, becomes what it was meant to be, an instrument in the hand of God for His glory. The freedom of a slave.
Not a slave by compulsion, but a slave by grace-enabled willing love.
“a living”
‘Living’ meaning this is not a stagnant, still-life painting. We are working it out, it is both a one-time decision and a moment by moment commitment. Perfection is our goal, but it has a “knowing” behind its pursuit, that we will always be ‘vessels of mercy.’ We are a work in progress, requiring patience and grace from those around us, and giving that same patience and grace away that we have received from Him. Piper-- “Present a living holy body to God” means give your members—your eyes, your tongue, your hands and feet—give your body to do righteousness, not sin. That's what would make a body holy. A body is holy not because of what it looks like, or what shape it's in, but because of what it does.” Paul Washer‘s example of a man who made a commitment to God by going through his senses and saying, ”This is yours God, do as you please,” is powerful. ”These are your eyes Jesus, may they look on, only what pleases you.” That one commitment alone has helped me, since listening to that teaching.
“and holy sacrifice”
Holy, set apart, and given significance by God. ‘Holy’ any time that word is used in any way regarding us, we can be assured grace and mercy are at work. Giving up totally. A sacrifice implies death, our lives are lived in a sacrificial way. Repentance is a kind of death. A ‘sacrament’ is a visible means of seeing the grace of God in our lives; ex: baptism, communion, marriage. So the call is for our lives to be ‘sacramental’ visible expressions of the grace and mercy of God.
"acceptable to God”
After being made very aware of the truth that you were an enemy of God in the opening chapters of this book, this is an ‘amazing grace’ statement. Those who know in the depth of their being that they are now ‘acceptable to God’ give that acceptance away and shine like lights in the dark world. Attraction not compulsion. That acceptance brings a peace that goes beyond understanding. You can not be ‘argued’ out of it, such security.
“From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand” Lyrics from “In Christ Alone”
“which is your spiritual service of worship”
Worship, the point of our lives is to point to His life. Our mercy is only true mercy when it points others to the finished work of Jesus Christ. Piper states, “If our good deeds are not expressing the worth of God, then our deeds are not worship, and in the end will not be merciful. Making people comfortable or helping them feel good on the way to everlasting punishment, without the hope and the design that they see Christ in your good deeds, is not mercy. Mercy must aim to make much of Christ. For no one is saved who doesn't meet and make much of Christ. And not to care about saving is not merciful.”
“And do not be conformed to this world”
There is a tension in Christianity. Piper uses these words to show the two opposing sides.
“Adaptation and confrontation;
participation and separation;
in the world but not of the world;
do not be conformed to this world, yet become all things to all people that you might save some;
be indigenous yet be a pilgrim.”

“but be transformed”

Piper emphasized this is not “Okay, I had a list of bad things I used to do, and now I will replace it with a list of good things I will do.” Transformation, comes from the inside and flows out. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

“by the renewing of your mind"
This verse with the same word, ‘renewing’ makes it clear that it is a work of the Holy Spirit.
Titus 3:5 “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,” Which takes us back to Romans 8:13 “for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

“so that you may prove what the will of God is”
This whole section is from Piper and I could not “trim it down" any more than I did. It has value for our study but even greater value, when explaining a case of child abuse, and how the will of God relates to that kind of an event.

The Two Wills of God

There are two clear and very different meanings for the term “will of God” in the Bible. We need to know them and decide which one is being used here in Romans 12:2. In fact, knowing the difference between these two meanings of “the will of God” is crucial to understanding one of the biggest and most perplexing things in all the Bible, namely, that God is sovereign over all things and yet disapproves of many things. Which means that God disapproves of some of what he ordains to happen. That is, he forbids some of the things he brings about. And he commands some of the things he hinders. Or to put it most paradoxically: God wills some events in one sense that he does not will in another sense.

1. God’s Will of Decree, or Sovereign Will
Let’s see the passages of Scripture that make us think this way. First consider passages that describe “the will of God” as his sovereign control of all that comes to pass. One of the clearest is the way Jesus spoke of the will of God in Gethsemane when he was praying. He said, in Matthew 26:39, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” What does the will of God refer to in this verse? It refers to the sovereign plan of God that will happen in the coming hours. You recall how Acts 4:27-28 says this: “Truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” So the “will of God” was that Jesus die. This was his plan, his decree. There was not changing it, and Jesus bowed and said, “Here’s my request, but you do what is best to do.” That’s the sovereign will of God.

That’s the first meaning of the will of God: it is God’s sovereign control of all things. We will call this his “sovereign will” or his “will of decree.” It cannot be broken. It always comes to pass. “He does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’” (Daniel 4:35).

2. God’s Will of Command

Now the other meaning for “the will of God” in the Bible is what we can call his “will of command.” His will is what he commands us to do. This is the will of God we can disobey and fail to do. The will of decree we do whether we believe in it or not. The will of command we can fail to do. For example, Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Not all do the will of his father. He says so. “Not everyone will enter the kingdom of heaven.” Why? Because not all do the will of God.

Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, “This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality.” Here we have a very specific instance of what God commands of us: holiness, sanctification, sexual purity. This is his will of command. But, oh, so many do not obey.

Then Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” There again is a specific aspect of his will of command: give thanks in all circumstances. But many do not do this will of God.

One more example: “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:17). Not all abide forever. Some do. Some don’t. The difference? Some do the will of God. Some don’t. The will of God, in this sense, does not always happen.

So I conclude from these and many other passages of the Bible that there are two ways of talking about the will of God. Both are true, and both are important to understand and believe in. One we can call God’s will of decree (or his sovereign will) and the other we can call God’s will of command. His will of decree always comes to pass whether we believe in it or not. His will of command can be broken, and is every day.

The Preciousness of These Truths

Before I relate this to Romans 12:2 let me comment on how precious these two truths are. Both correspond to a deep need that we all have when we are deeply hurt or experience great loss. On the one hand, we need the assurance that God is in control and therefore is able to work all of my pain and loss together for my good and the good of all who love him. On the other hand, we need to know that God empathizes with us and does not delight in sin or pain in and of themselves. These two needs correspond to God’s will of decree and his will of command.

For example, if you were badly abused as a child, and someone asks you, “Do you think that was the will of God?” you now have a way to make some biblical sense out of this, and give an answer that doesn’t contradict the Bible. You may say, “No it was not God’s will; because he commands that humans not be abusive, but love each other. The abuse broke his commandment and therefore moved his heart with anger and grief (Mark 3:5). But, in another sense, yes, it was God’s will (his sovereign will), because there are a hundred ways he could have stopped it. But for reasons I don’t yet fully understand, he didn’t.”

And corresponding to these two wills are the two things you need in this situation: one is a God who is strong and sovereign enough to turn it for good; and the other is a God who is able to empathize with you. On the one hand, Christ is a sovereign High King, and nothing happens apart from his will (Matthew 28:18). On the other hand, Christ is a merciful High Priest and sympathizes with our weaknesses and pain (Hebrews 4:15). The Holy Spirit conquers us and our sins when he wills (John 1:13; Romans 9:15-16), and allows himself to be quenched and grieved and angered when he wills (Ephesians 4:30; 1 Thessalonians 5:19). His sovereign will is invincible, and his will of command can be grievously broken.

We need both these truths—both these understandings of the will of God—not only to make sense out of the Bible, but to hold fast to God in suffering.

Is it not plain therefore that there is one great task of the Christian life: Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We need new hearts and new minds. Make the tree good and the fruit will be good (Matthew 12:33). That’s the great challenge. That is what God calls you to. You can’t do it on your own. You need Christ, who died for your sins. And you need the Holy Spirit to lead you into Christ-exalting truth and work in you truth-embracing humility.

Give yourself to this. Immerse yourself in the written Word of God; saturate your mind with it. And pray that the Spirit of Christ would make you so new that the spillover would be good, acceptable, and perfect—the will of God.
I am grateful for work that John Piper put into that statement.

Barth stuff

The idea that what we are looking for or talking about is a new sets of rules of ethics and ‘how to live’ statements, is a superficial and totally un-biblical understanding of walking by the Spirit. This is not now the ‘practical’ that we can put side-by-side with the ‘theory’ that we have been studying for 11 chapters. NO, this is the out-flow of a true understanding of the mercy of God. Therefore, encompasses all of it and points to all of it as the foundation for the actions that flow from our hearts and out into the world.
The mercies of God - “If, therefore, the Church is to be a place of exhortation, it must be a Church altogether aware of its final and indissoluble solidarity with this world of “dry bones’; it must be a Church which has set its hope upon God only.” The man in who, in attacking others, does not also destroy himself had better keep silence in the congregation. Grace is the possibility not of a ‘good’ conscience, but of a consoled conscience. Barth mentioned ‘great sinners’ and then made this statement. Exhortation is evoked when all these dubious characters are seen to be no more than exaggerations of what we all are; Human exhortation, therefore, is justified only when it is seen to be void of human justification; that is to say, when it is grounded upon the mercies of God.
present your bodies -- This is not an obedience affecting only the ‘inner’ life of the soul or of the mind. Grace is the axe laid at the root of the good conscience which the politician and the civil servant always wish to enjoy, and which modern “Christendom” knows so well how to provide. Ethical behavior does not rely upon a number of moral ideals realizable in this world, rather it relies upon the forgiveness of sins! Grace makes an “absolute assault” upon men, it is not content to change a few things/behaviors. This is a very foundational truth that is being presented in these two verses and goes back to the concept, “to obey is better than sacrifice.” Ethics or ‘good’ moral behavior could be seen as sacrifice and to ‘obey’ is relying on God, depending on His grace and our connection with, and relationship to, Him. All the do’s and don’t ‘s that Paul is about to lay out for us in the next chapters are based on a foundation of grace that puts us all in the same boat of disobedience and needing mercy. The wrong attitude is, “Now that I am a Christian, I will... and then you begin to work on a list of things you will do and things you won’t do and God in His mercy will allow you to try that and fail, as often as you need to, until the day when you say, “God I can not do this, help me!” All of our ‘doing’ needs to point to God and His mercy and grace and power working through us. “To God be the Glory”

A young man turned away from Jesus one time, and it was said of him that he had, ‘too many possessions’ reading Barth, he expanded on this and said it could just as easily mean that he possessed too many ‘good moral virtues’ that he was taking credit for. This is how there can be ‘very good men’ who are not Christians. The man may be doing the behavior just to receive praise, or because his God given disposition is to be a servant, but if the reason for his actions rises no higher than him, than they have nothing to do with the grace and mercy of God and they do not give glory to God and so they are Belial=worthless. The behavior is not the thing, the root of the behavior is and to whom does the glory go. Therefore 1 Cor. 13 can say that even martyrdom can be ‘nothing’ if the ultimate motivation was not love, from and to God.

“not to fashion yourselves according to the present form of this world, but according to its coming transformation.” This world has moreover, form and shape; and it possesses a law , a general pressure towards concreteness, to light-created light!--to live and fullness, to begetting and being begotten. this pressure towards enjoyment, possession, success, knowledge, power, rightness; this vigorous movement towards an attainable, comprehensible perfection; this pressure, in fact, towards-- works, forms the mysterious pivot round which the whole world of human genius revolves... and at its roots human genius is eros, ego, self-love.

Human particularity and self will and arrogance are broken down by one type of thinking, repentance. Repentance is that thinking that puts us in touch with the mind of Christ. In repentance He is Lord and we pass from death to life.

Rapture in Revelation

2011-12-14T11:30:00.002-05:00

Rapture in Revelation

Reading Revelation as part of my daily readings and I am coming across more scriptures that convince me of a post-trib rapture.
Revelation 1:7-11 “7 BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

The Patmos Vision

9 I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, 11 saying, “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

Verse 7 is clearly a rapture scripture, the clearest one in the whole book, but no pre-trib person will refer to it, because it is obviously at the end of the tribulation, when Israel as a nation, sees Jesus and converts to “Him who they have pierced.” Also it is not a secret event, like a pre-trib rapture, all the earth sees Him.
Verse 9 can we all agree John (who was only on Patmos because they tried to boil him in oil and he did not die) and Paul both experienced severe tribulation, all of the apostles but John were martyred. The point is we persevere, we continue to live out the word of God and the testimony of Jesus, no matter what the cost, just like they did. Why would we expect rescue from tribulation when the author’s Paul, Peter and John all went through it.
Verse 11 the book, the entire book is sent to the 7 churches. Why? Why send a book to the churches if a majority of the chapters will be spent describing events that the church will be totally absent from the earth for. “You won’t be here but...” I don’t think so. There is no rapture of the church in Revelation, the place where it most obviously should have shown up, and it is absent in the description of the last days, there should be a, “and before all this starts to go down, Jesus will take His favored little church out of the way so they don’t get hurt.” sorry, no such thing is in the book.

Revelation 2:10 “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’ ”
Oh man Smyrna, it’s too bad for you. You have to endure tribulation unto death. Jesus expects you to be faithful in the midst of severe tribulation unto death. His only concern for you is the glorious truth that you won’t be hurt by the ‘second death.’ Wait a minute, what does Jesus have against the church at Smyrna that He is making them walk through something pre-trib says the church won’t have to walk through...easy solution, they are wrong. Tribulation purifies our love and trust like nothing else can.

Revelation 3:10 “ Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” I have answered this in other places but since it is the favorite scripture of the pre-trib people, I will zero in on it again. “I also will keep you” sounds alot like, John 17:15 “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.” The reason they seem to be the same is, the translation is accurate, they are the same greek word. tēreō
Which makes the meaning of 3:10 I will keep you in the midst of the world from the evil one. Ultimately satan will not have you, I have you. But you are not being “taken out of the world.” Trust me church, in the midst of persecution, be a living testimony of my faithfulness in the midst of persecution. That is what I hear.

Revelation 6:9-11 “9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.”
The martyrs cry out, during the tribulation, and are told to wait for the brethren and fellow servants who are yet to be martyred during the tribulation. So the church is still on the earth, persevering and believing and trusting unto death. They are brethren and fellow servants, there is no distinction made, that the church is in heaven and the ‘lesser loved by God’ are just a bunch of ??? I don’t even know what, still on the earth. Some would say they are Jews who believe, well when 2 or more Jews who believe “gather” on earth, what is that called... ding, ding ding Right, CHURCH!

I have only read up to chapter 6 so I may add more to this.

The literal truth and wisdom

2011-11-28T18:59:00.000-05:00

David Baron author of “Israel, In the Plan of God”
Writing in 1925 Baron “knew” that Israel, would one day be gathered together and be a nation again. He “knew” that Israel would only be in this land for a “short time” before terrible trouble would ensue, with another dispersion, and very quickly a complete and true “planting of God” - restoration of Israel to its promised/covenanted purpose would occur. He “knew” all of this because he believed the word of God, as a literal and true word. So far only the first part of what he said would happen, has happened, but we can be known as “wise and true” people like David Baron, by simply believing the true word of God to be literal.
A few paragraphs from his book.
“God has again and again proved to those who have believed His word and
trusted in His holy name, that He is a God of the impossible -- or, according to His own word to Abraham, that there is nothing “too hard” or “wonderful” for Jehovah. As fellow workers for Israel’s salvation, let us exercise strong faith in God and not be daunted by what may seem to us impossibilities.
We look on the Jewish nation now, and say, “What a moral and spiritual
desert!” We look on the promised land and say, “How barren, how desolate!”
Let us look to the rock whence we were hewn to the hole of the pit whence we
were digged. (Isaiah 51:1) Was not Abraham as good as dead? Was not Sarah
naturally barren?
Yea, have we not experienced the supernatural power of God in our hearts
and lives? Has He not quickened and transformed our own souls? And what He has done in the past He will do, only on a more glorious scale, in the future; and what He has done for us, He can and will do for others.”

Romans Bible Study #37 Romans 11:25-36

2011-11-21T15:24:00.000-05:00

Romans Bible Study # 37
Romans 11:25-36
Jehovah’s Interposition

25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written,

“THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION,
HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.”
27 “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM,
WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.”

28 From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; 29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. 32 For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.

33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 34 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? 35 Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? 36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
NASB

A Complete Israel

25-29I want to lay all this out on the table as clearly as I can, friends. This is complicated. It would be easy to misinterpret what's going on and arrogantly assume that you're royalty and they're just rabble, out on their ears for good. But that's not it at all. This hardness on the part of insider Israel toward God is temporary. Its effect is to open things up to all the outsiders so that we end up with a full house. Before it's all over, there will be a complete Israel. As it is written,

A champion will stride down from the mountain of Zion;
he'll clean house in Jacob.
And this is my commitment to my people:
removal of their sins.
From your point of view as you hear and embrace the good news of the Message, it looks like the Jews are God's enemies. But looked at from the long-range perspective of God's overall purpose, they remain God's oldest friends. God's gifts and God's call are under full warranty—never canceled, never rescinded.
30-32There was a time not so long ago when you were on the outs with God. But then the Jews slammed the door on him and things opened up for you. Now they are on the outs. But with the door held wide open for you, they have a way back in. In one way or another, God makes sure that we all experience what it means to be outside so that he can personally open the door and welcome us back in.

33-36Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom? It's way over our heads. We'll never figure it out.

Is there anyone around who can explain God?
Anyone smart enough to tell him what to do?
Anyone who has done him such a huge favor
that God has to ask his advice?
Everything comes from him;
Everything happens through him;
Everything ends up in him.
Always glory! Always praise!
Yes. Yes. Yes. The Message

Verse 25 - One last blow to pride, “don’t be wise in your own estimation.” God is in charge of all of this, anything you have is mercy, period. As Jerry says, it is revelation that helps us know God, not information. So, what we know about God has been revealed to us by God.

Verse 26 - The previous verse was talking about gentiles and contrasting them with the nation of Israel, so this verse is talking about ethnic, national Israel and it is an amazing verse. The sovereign, electing, grace of God has His way with a “nation.” As they behold “Him who they have pierced,” (Zechariah 12:10) they experience national repentance and a turning to their Savior. Grace for a nation. Mercy for a nation. All prophesied numerous times in the Old Testament: Ezek. 37:25-28, Isaiah 4:2-4, Zech 13:8,9, Isaiah 54:13, Isaiah 59:21, Isaiah 60:21, Jer. 31:34, Jer. 32:39-40

Piper felt to make a long argument for the total salvation of the nation of Israel.

If you ask, How does Paul know this? How can he be sure that the original covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is not simply and totally fulfilled in Christ's gathering a remnant from Israel and the nations? Why does he think that the original covenant with the fathers implies that one day ethnic Israel as a whole will be part of the body of Christ?

Here is one possible answer. There are many places in the Old Testament prophets where the covenant with Abraham is reaffirmed and applied to the people as a whole for the future. A few examples:

The prophet Jeremiah is speaking to the people of Israel in exile in Babylon and promising them a future, and the future he promises goes far beyond what they experience in coming back as imperfect, sinful stragglers to Jerusalem. So for example, Jeremiah 24:5-7.

Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. 6 I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them down; I will plant them, and not uproot them. 7 I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

That has not yet happened, and I think that God meant that it would happen in stages. That's what the prophetic perspective is like: it often sees the future as one scene like we sometimes see succeeding mountain ranges as one mountain. Jeremiah 31 is full of hope for Israel in a future that goes beyond anything they have experienced yet.

Verses 2-3: "Thus says the LORD: 'The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest, 3 the LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you."

Verses 10-11, 20: "He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock. 11 For the LORD has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. . . . 20 Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still.

Then come the familiar words of the New Covenant that we know includes more than Israel—it is bought by the blood of Jesus (Luke 22:20) for all his people-Jew and Gentile. But does it include less than all Israel? Here are the familiar words, addressed primarily to Israel as a whole:

Verses 31-33: "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah . . . I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. . . . I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

But listen to what follows, addressing the same people:

Verses 35: "Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night . . . 36 'If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the LORD, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever.' 37 Thus says the LORD: "If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the LORD.'"

In other words, I won't cast off Israel for what they have done. The prophet Ezekiel links the original covenant with Abraham and the everlasting commitment to the later people after the exile. For example in Ezekiel 16:60, God says, "Yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth [the root was holy!], and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant [all the branches will one day be holy]. Or Ezekiel 37:26, "I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore."

I think the apostle Paul read these promises and many like them, and was guided by divine inspiration to teach us that God's purpose for the nation of Israel as a whole is not yet complete. There was implicit in their election as a people not only that there would always be a remnant of saved Jews, but that in some future generation the people as a whole would be saved. If the firstfruits was holy, the whole lump will be holy. If the root was holy, the branches will be holy.

Verse 27 - God makes and keeps the covenant. Hosea and Gomer are the picture of it. Hosea marries Gomer, and no matter how unfaithful Gomer is Hosea remains faithful, committed, with covenant love.

Verse 28 - “enemies of the gospel” Those who have looked at history and seen the atrocities purported by “Christendom” against Jews, can well see why they would be resistant to the gospel. We have a lot of ‘baggage’ to overcome when witnessing to a Jewish person. From the big picture, their hardening has allowed the opening for us to enter in. But for the ways that Christendom has added to that hardening, God will hold us accountable as He did when a nation was chosen to discipline Israel and that nation ‘went too far.’ So there is a valid repentance necessary on the part of Christians for what has been done to the Jew in history by people who said they were followers of Christ.

Verse 29 - God’s call goes out, God’s word goes out and it does not come back fruitless. It accomplishes what it was sent out to do. His word does not fall short. His covenant promises do not ‘die.’ That is the underlying point of this three chapter journey. God made promises to Israel and no matter how “roundabout” their fulfillment is, THEY WILL BE FULFILLED, because they are MY promises, backed up by MY words.

Verse 30,31 - Piper had the most wisdom on this.
Consider the four stages of God’s design in history.

1) The time of Gentile disobedience—the time when God let the nations go their own ways and sink further and further into sin, while God patiently wrote a lesson book for the nations in the history of Israel as he gave them law and writings and prophets.

2) The time of Jewish disobedience—the time when they rejected their Messiah, Jesus Christ, and God gave them up to hardness.

3) The time of mercy shown to millions of Gentiles through the spread of the gospel to all nations and calling out a redeemed people of God—a fullness of the Gentiles.

4) The time of mercy on Israel as God completes his redemptive plan and takes away the hardening and saves the nation of Israel with a mass conversion to Christ.

Verse 32 - A lot of the hard to understand scriptures, in these three chapters, become easier to understand when you bow before this one verse. God has for His highest purpose, the best purpose, His exaltation, His glory. So if the path to that is “shutting us all up in disobedience” then so be it. To God be the glory.

Verse 33-36 Off we go into one of the most beautiful, majestic, “songs,” in the Bible. And it comes as a result of three chapters of contemplating God, His ways in history and His ways with the nations and His ways with with the chosen people and His ways with us as individuals.

“The Riches”

Take God’s “riches” first. God is rich in at least three senses.

1. God Owns All

First, God owns all that exists that is not God. Psalm 24:1 is the most familiar statement of this truth: “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” But Deuteronomy 10:14 is far more sweeping: “Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.” So not only does God own the earth and all that is in it, including you, but he also owns the reaches of space and the heavens beyond the heavens with all their angelic armies. In other words, nothing exists outside God that is not God’s. He owns it, and, as his possession, he may do with it as he pleases. Human wealth compared to God’s wealth is ridiculously tiny and laughable to boast in. Bill Gates is a pauper and has nothing compared to the poorest heir of God (Romans 8:17).

2. God Makes All

Second, God is rich in the sense that he made all that is and can make anything he pleases and as much as he pleases out of nothing. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1; Psalm 8:3; 104:24). In other words, his resources are infinite because the resources out of which he can make anything is nothingness, and there is an incalculable “amount” of nothingness. Or to say it more simply, if you can make what you please effortlessly out of nothing, then your riches are limitless, because your creativity is not limited by raw materials. You don’t need raw materials. God is infinitely rich, because he owns all that is, and because he can make more of anything that he pleases out of nothing.

3. God Is the Infinite Treasure of the Universe

Third, God is rich in the sense that he himself is the infinite Treasure of the universe. God does not have to create anything or to own anything in order to be rich. He is himself of infinite value. And since he exists as a Trinity of Persons in one Godhead, he has been able to enjoy the riches of his own glory from all eternity existing in the other Persons of the Godhead.

When Paul speaks in other places of “the riches of God’s grace” (Ephesians 1:7) and “the riches of his kindness” (Romans 2:4) and “the riches of his glory” (Romans 9:23), this is the main thing: God freely giving himself in grace and kindness to us for our enjoyment of his own all-satisfying glory forever.

Or the most personal and ultimate way to speak of God’s wealth is to call it “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (which Paul does in Ephesians 3:8)—not just riches that Christ gives, but the riches that Christ is. As Paul says in Colossians 1:27, “The riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Christ himself is the present guarantee and the future gift of the glory of God. When Christ died, he bought and he became our greatest Treasure. He himself is the gift and the greatness of the glory of God.

God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge are unfathomably deep; therefore:

1. all things are from him and through him; therefore
2. no one can give a gift to God so as to make him a debtor; and
3. no one can give any counsel to God about how he should do things; which is why
4. his ways and judgments are unsearchable and inscrutable to our finite minds; so that, finally,
5. we should give all glory to God, and be content with an utterly dependent Christ-exalting happiness in God.

(deep theological stuff)
“All things are from him and through him.”

But let’s not say more than we should here. There is another sense in which we must not say that all things are from God. For example, think of 1 John 2:15-16,

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.

Here John says that “the desires of the flesh” and “the desires of the eyes” and the “pride in possessions” is “not from God.” So in one sense “all things” are “from God.” But in another sense these evil things are not from God.

I take this to mean that sin does not come from God’s nature. That is, it’s not an extension or aspect of God’s nature or character. God is holy, and there is no unholiness in him. God is light, and in him is no darkness. The darkness and unholiness of sin do not arise as part of God’s nature or character. They don’t come from him in that sense. Sin can be from God and through God in the sense of ultimate and decisive cause, but not in the sense that sin comes from his nature or character. God wills that sin be, without himself sinning. It is not a sin when God, with infinite wisdom and holiness, ordains that sin exist. Sin is “from him” as the one who ordained it, but “not from him” as an expression of his nature.

Thomas and Israel in the day of the Lord

2011-11-15T09:01:00.003-05:00

God would not do something special to save the Jewish nation.
So goes the argument of some, but I believe God opened to me an understanding of Thomas and the nation of Israel in the day of the Lord.
Thomas was given the opportunity to see the nail prints and put his hand in the side of His Savior, because "none of those You have given Me, could be lost."
The Nation of Israel will see "Him whom they pierced." and will experience repentance and conversion, because for the sake of the Name of God and His unchanging covenant "all Israel will be saved."
In the same way God demonstrated positively amazing mercy and "coming down" to Thomas' level, He will do the same for the nation Israel.
And the words spoken to Thomas also apply to the 'day of the Lord,' because a greater blessing goes to those who are already in the air, who believed without seeing. They go on to resurrected bodies, while the nation Israel is a sign and a wonder in human bodies on the earth.

Romans Bible Study # 36 Romans 11:11-24

2011-11-15T08:58:00.001-05:00

Romans Bible Study #36
Romans 11:11-24
A Word to Those Without
Specificity

11 I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. 12 Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be! 13 But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too.

17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; 21 for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. 22 Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? NASB

Pruning and Grafting Branches
11-12The next question is, "Are they down for the count? Are they out of this for good?" And the answer is a clear-cut No. Ironically when they walked out, they left the door open and the outsiders walked in. But the next thing you know, the Jews were starting to wonder if perhaps they had walked out on a good thing. Now, if their leaving triggered this worldwide coming of non-Jewish outsiders to God's kingdom, just imagine the effect of their coming back! What a homecoming!
13-15But I don't want to go on about them. It's you, the outsiders, that I'm concerned with now. Because my personal assignment is focused on the so-called outsiders, I make as much of this as I can when I'm among my Israelite kin, the so-called insiders, hoping they'll realize what they're missing and want to get in on what God is doing. If their falling out initiated this worldwide coming together, their recovery is going to set off something even better: mass homecoming! If the first thing the Jews did, even though it was wrong for them, turned out for your good, just think what's going to happen when they get it right!
16-18Behind and underneath all this there is a holy, God-planted, God-tended root. If the primary root of the tree is holy, there's bound to be some holy fruit. Some of the tree's branches were pruned and you wild olive shoots were grafted in. Yet the fact that you are now fed by that rich and holy root gives you no cause to crow over the pruned branches. Remember, you aren't feeding the root; the root is feeding you.
19-20It's certainly possible to say, "Other branches were pruned so that I could be grafted in!" Well and good. But they were pruned because they were deadwood, no longer connected by belief and commitment to the root. The only reason you're on the tree is because your graft "took" when you believed, and because you're connected to that belief-nurturing root. So don't get cocky and strut your branch. Be humbly mindful of the root that keeps you lithe and green.
21-22If God didn't think twice about taking pruning shears to the natural branches, why would he hesitate over you? He wouldn't give it a second thought. Make sure you stay alert to these qualities of gentle kindness and ruthless severity that exist side by side in God—ruthless with the deadwood, gentle with the grafted shoot. But don't presume on this gentleness. The moment you become deadwood, you're out of there.
23-24And don't get to feeling superior to those pruned branches down on the ground. If they don't persist in remaining deadwood, they could very well get grafted back in. God can do that. He can perform miracle grafts. Why, if he could graft you—branches cut from a tree out in the wild—into an orchard tree, he certainly isn't going to have any trouble grafting branches back into the tree they grew from in the first place. Just be glad you're in the tree, and hope for the best for the others. The Message

God is out to decimate human pride, keep that in mind, and this section of scripture will make perfect sense. The pride of being the “chosen people” was wrecked when God chose a people not even seeking Him. And the pride of being chosen, by grace alone, is broken, when grace is truly seen as grace and the “chosen people”.. completely unworthy and having rejected God at every turn, are grafted back in by the same ‘amazing grace’ that we sing about, but do not fully comprehend or extend to others. And they are not only grafted back in as individuals, but to display the sovereignty of God’s choice, they are grafted back in as a nation. The purpose of God, the choosing of God, the ‘specificity’ of God, is exalted and the pride of man lies in ashes, as it should, as it must.
Also note that this is a very round-about way to go about ‘salvation.’ God is not in a hurry and rarely does He do things in a straight line. He is not ‘reasonable,' although He does invite us to ‘come and reason together.' He does things in His way, in His time, for His glory.
Barth thoughts: The fall is not the end, the stumbling is not the end, the knowledge that Israel is failing in its call, or that the ‘church’ is failing in its call, is contrasted with the fact that God has chosen to ‘keep’ it. Failure does not mean ‘the end’, because God is in control and chooses to be revealed to the world through ‘clay vessels.’
We stand in the presence of God, naked of any human righteousness, relying on the ‘divine’ forgiveness of sins. We await God. His grace that allows us to hear His the life-giving word, that He utters. Election is by grace, it is hazardous, to be so certain as to remove the fear of God. Our hope is totally in Him. “He that scattered Israel will gather him.” Jeremiah 31:10

Verse 11 - The stumble is just that a stumble, not a fall. In the big picture God is working out salvation. This is part of the plan, a plan that ultimately includes Israel. Honestly, we would not want it any other way. It is a great comfort to know that when God chooses, He continues to choose and pursue. To be “called according to His purpose,” is our rock.
Verse 12 - God is always about ‘over flowing giving’ over and above our expectations, and redeeming situations in such a way that they shout, “Glory to God.” He is taking the stumbling of Israel and turning it into salvation for the gentiles. Wow. Imagine what He will do when He causes Israel to turn to Him again!
Verse 13,14 - I want you gentiles to really get this, because as you live and love God, Israel will see that and say, “Hey that is ours, we want that again.”
Verse 15 - “Life from the dead”, the resurrection of the last day. Same day as Jewish conversion of the nation as a whole. Daniel 12:1,2 Zech. 13:8,9
8 “It will come about in all the land,” Declares the LORD,
“That two parts in it will be cut off and perish; But the third will be left in it.
9 “And I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name,
And I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’
And they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”

Life from the dead, one of the most prevalent themes in scripture
Isaac from Abraham and Sarah
Samuel from Hannah
Honey from Samson’s lion carcass
The nation of Israel, this is really the only reason why Jesus could say to Nicodemus that he should know “you must be born again.” The nation had many prophecies about it, the individual had a few about hearts of stone being made new, but there were more about the nation rising from the ashes.
The old woman’s son Elijah
The widow’s son Elisha
Ezekiel’s dry bones
The widow’s son Jesus
Lazarus Jesus

Verse 16 - GRACE and only grace refers to a people as ‘holy’ when they are not. It sees the ultimate purpose of God, being fulfilled. It sees the people as “set apart” by God for a purpose that will not be overcome. It sees an ‘everlasting covenant’ made and kept by God.
Jeremiah 24:5-7.
Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. 6 I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them down; I will plant them, and not uproot them. 7 I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
Verse 17,18 - Here is where a true deep understanding of grace will show up in the life of a person. If you can look at someone else’s life and say, “Well I would never do that...” “They are so bad, there is no hope for them...” “He is getting what he deserves, and I’m glad...” You do not know grace. The fact that Israel is broken off, and that we are grafted in is all God. “From Him, through Him and to Him are all things.” Grace at its most true root, is a pride-killing machine. If you are saying ANYTHING about the branches that were broken off, that implies you are better than them, you have fallen from grace. Galatians 5:4 “You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.” If you are secretly thinking or relying on ANY goodness inside of you as the source of your being right with God, Paul says, you are not ‘just a little bit wrong’ no, he says, “you have fallen from grace.” Some very famous people have fallen short of this command, “do not be arrogant toward the branches.” Martin Luther was one of them, the anti-semitic tone in some of his writings, was twisted and used by the Nazi’s.
Amazing how when you open a door just a ‘crack’ all sorts of evil can rush in. (stop and pray)
“Oh God, help us to stick to the simple truth of your word as we study Your Bible. Keep us, by Your Grace, without You and Your Mercy, we will fall.”

Verse 19,20,21 - ‘You stand’ indeed you do, but not by anything in yourself, but by faith in what God did. That is the only ground of standing, and in the purpose of God, they were removed from that ground and you were planted, but be very aware that what you have gained is a gift, and the thought that you ‘earned’ the gift can and will and should drop you out of and cut you off from the tree, ‘without prejudice’ the same as it did to them.
Verse 22 - The most amazing, practical command we have been given to save us from turning to sin. “Behold,” look, focus on, consider, not just the kindness, but the severity of God. You need both sides of the coin. Both sides are real and have real consequences. Both sides are necessary if you are to have a true view of God. A true understanding of God requires embracing His severity as good, and just, and right. The balance of the two, leads to a productive life for Jesus. The leaning in either direction and the putting more weight in either direction, leads us down all sorts of wrong paths, either too harsh or the much more common sin these days, way, way, way, too lenient. “God is love and He would never send anyone to hell,” is a prime example of this type of thinking. Severity is necessary for heaven to be a place of perfection. Severity, and justice, at a deep level, we cry out for it, but in the back of our mind is, “but I want mercy for my sins.” It is in fact, in our looking at the severity of God, truly contemplating it, that we come to a real, true, deep appreciation for the kindness of God. God does not choose to use the words “cut off” very often and we should take them seriously.
Piper thoughts: Philippians 2:12 Fear is a part of our salvation. mercy/wrath salvation/judgment Look at the kindness AND severity of God. Exodus 34:6 Matt. 10:28 Neh. 1:11 Isaiah 11:3
Three times in this section arrogant, pride, conceit are mentioned.
Fear keeps us from looking at His love, with lightness, triviality, or silliness.
From my own life is an example of “fear" balancing and strengthening love.
Laura was divorced by her first husband. The divorce was the result of leaving Laura for another woman. When I married Laura, I was very aware that God deeply loved her and was not going to allow her to be hurt in that way again. I knew that divorce was not an option and that God was the ‘enforcer,’ in this situation. So behind the love that we share, is a “you had better never go there.”
One last thought on this verse Psalm 36:1 “Transgression speaks to the ungodly within [a]his heart; There is no fear of God before his eyes.” So, because there is no fear of God, transgression/sin is in charge of his decisions and his life.

Verse 23 - “God is able” that is such hope-giving, despair destroying word. (prayer) Lord, we receive the truth of this word, when we look out at any un-believing people that we know or will meet. “God is able,” hang it as a banner over our lives. Put it always before our eyes, so that it is all that we can see. Thank you Lord.

Matt. 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. 10 The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Ezekiel 11:19
And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,
Ezekiel 36:26
Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
God has chosen to take our hearts of stone and make us His children, and He can and will do the same with Israel.

Verse 24 - Ok quiz time, we have been studying Romans for a while now, “much more,” is a phrase that Paul has used before, remember where? The main spot was in Chapter 5 where the ‘much more’ was regarding the Life of Jesus and how it so overwhelmed the death that Adam brought in to the world. So in the same way that the life of Jesus was so much more than the death of Adam, it is ‘much more’ simple and believable to graft a natural branch into a natural tree. When it happens all of their history as a people, all the struggles, all the laws, all the festivals will make sense. All the types and shadows will be seen as the God-glorifying ‘lessons’ they were intended to be.
Zechariah 12:9 And in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

2Kings 19:20-28 is an example of God’s (unseen) controlling hand of a gentile king and his army.
20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard you.’ 21 This is the word that the LORD has spoken against him:
‘She has despised you and mocked you,
The virgin daughter of Zion;
She has shaken her head behind you,
The daughter of Jerusalem!
22 ‘Whom have you reproached and blasphemed?
And against whom have you raised your voice,
And haughtily lifted up your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
23 ‘Through your messengers you have reproached the Lord,
And you have said, “With my many chariots
I came up to the heights of the mountains,
To the remotest parts of Lebanon;
And I cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypresses.
And I entered its farthest lodging place, its thickest forest.
24 “I dug wells and drank foreign waters,
And with the sole of my feet I dried up All the rivers of Egypt.”
25 ‘Have you not heard? Long ago I did it;
From ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass,
That you should turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps.
26 ‘Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength,
They were dismayed and put to shame;
They were as the vegetation of the field and as the green herb,
As grass on the housetops is scorched before it is grown up.
27 ‘But I know your sitting down,
And your going out and your coming in,
And your raging against Me.
28 ‘Because of your raging against Me,
And because your arrogance has come up to My ears,
Therefore I will put My hook in your nose,
And My bridle in your lips,
And I will turn you back by the way which you came.

The first resurrection of the dead, POST TRIB.

2011-11-06T19:40:00.001-05:00

Rev. 20:4 Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

We read Revelation 20:4-6 and see that martyrs of the Great Tribulation, overcomers of the 666 era, are given prominence as they come into the glory. They head up the parade of all the saints who belong to Christ who come up from their graves in the Resurrection, which John is clearly told is the First Resurrection. So the Resurrection of the righteous dead comes after the Great Tribulation.

1 Corin. 15:51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this [s]perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

1 Thes. 4:13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Paul knew that the dead preceed the living in the rapture. The dead go up in the first resurrection, the one that comes at the end of the tribulation. Even Martha knew it when she professed at the grave of Lazarus, John 11:24 Martha said to Him, “ I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

Post Tribulation rapture/resurrection

2011-11-03T14:02:00.003-04:00

Copied most of this from a very good web site. It seems never ending to me the Biblical evidence for a Post-tribulation rapture. It seems clear that the church should be being taught to prepare for the worst.
When the Bible speaks in 1Cor. 15 of the Resurrection of those who are Christ's at His coming we are talking here about a specific day and a point in time. This will be a blockbuster day! The graves will open up! The sea will give up its righteous dead. Dear saints, this will be a real event! And it will happen on a real and specific future day in history.
And where in the latter days might "that day" be placed? Four times Jesus tells us that He will "raise" His people "up". And He also tells us precisely when He will do that. He says that He will raise His people up at the "last day". (John 6:39,40,44,54)
We know from 1Thes. 4:15-17 and 1Cor. 15:51 that the Rapture of the living is Biblically welded to the Resurrection of the dead in Christ.
So if the Resurrection comes at the last day of this age then we can say this with 100% assurance.
The combined Resurrection-Rapture will come at the "last day" too.
This is just one of many instances where the Pre-Tribulation Rapture doctrine flies in the face of the clear Word of God.

In Matthew 24 Jesus is answering the disciples questions about the end times. In Matthew 25 the parable of the sheep and the goats, Jesus has gathered the ‘nations’ to judge them based on how they treated the Jewish people in the end times. There are many ways to interpret this parable, but the use of the word ‘nations’ and Jesus referring to the needy ones as 'brothers of mine’ makes this view valid.
Scriptures that reveal, "servants" helping and 'co-enduring' in the end times. And scriptures that speak of 'continuing' to serve God faithfully in the midst of tribulation.
Psalm 102:12-17, Romans 10:14-17, Isaiah 62, Amos 9:8-11, Deut. 32:21, Isaiah 28:9-22, Rev. 12:11, Isaiah 35:4,5, Rev. 7:9-14, Rev. 12:6, Jeremiah 4:19-21. That last one is Jeremiah expressing deep anguish over what has been revealed to him that his people are soon to walk through. Revelation and Daniel and Matt. 24 nd others clearly reveals the severity of the trial of the end times on the Jewish people. Surely, the church is not going to be 'less than' Jeremiah, not anguishing, or sticking around to be a witness, but content to be escorted off the scene, to a place of contentment and joy.
All that to say, I see it both in the scripture, and as a scriptural principle, that tribulation, is both necessary and good for the Body of Christ. A major purpose of the Church is to finish the race, and to provoke Israel to jealousy. The idea that we are special, and so must be spared from tribulation, is a "good times American gospel", that would fall flat on its face in other nations, where persecution is a daily occurrence.

Romans Bible Study #35 Romans 11:1-10

2011-10-20T13:13:00.001-04:00

Romans Bible Study #35
Romans 11:1-10
The Oneness of God
Immutability

Israel Is Not Cast Away
1 I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 3 “Lord, THEY HAVE KILLED YOUR PROPHETS, THEY HAVE TORN DOWN YOUR ALTARS, AND I ALONE AM LEFT, AND THEY ARE SEEKING MY LIFE.” 4 But what is the divine response to him? “I HAVE KEPT for Myself SEVEN THOUSAND MEN WHO HAVE NOT BOWED THE KNEE TO BAAL.” 5 In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.
7 What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; 8 just as it is written,
“GOD GAVE THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR,
EYES TO SEE NOT AND EARS TO HEAR NOT,
DOWN TO THIS VERY DAY.”
9 And David says,
“LET THEIR TABLE BECOME A SNARE AND A TRAP,
AND A STUMBLING BLOCK AND A RETRIBUTION TO THEM.
10 “LET THEIR EYES BE DARKENED TO SEE NOT,
AND BEND THEIR BACKS FOREVER.” NASB

The Loyal Minority
1-2Does this mean, then, that God is so fed up with Israel that he'll have nothing more to do with them? Hardly. Remember that I, the one writing these things, am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham out of the tribe of Benjamin. You can't get much more Semitic than that! So we're not talking about repudiation. God has been too long involved with Israel, has too much invested, to simply wash his hands of them.
2-6Do you remember that time Elijah was agonizing over this same Israel and cried out in prayer?
God, they murdered your prophets,
They trashed your altars;
I'm the only one left and now they're after me!
And do you remember God's answer?
I still have seven thousand who haven't quit,
Seven thousand who are loyal to the finish.
It's the same today. There's a fiercely loyal minority still—not many, perhaps, but probably more than you think. They're holding on, not because of what they think they're going to get out of it, but because they're convinced of God's grace and purpose in choosing them. If they were only thinking of their own immediate self-interest, they would have left long ago.
7-10And then what happened? Well, when Israel tried to be right with God on her own, pursuing her own self-interest, she didn't succeed. The chosen ones of God were those who let God pursue his interest in them, and as a result received his stamp of legitimacy. The "self-interest Israel" became thick-skinned toward God. Moses and Isaiah both commented on this:
Fed up with their quarrelsome, self-centered ways,
God blurred their eyes and dulled their ears,
Shut them in on themselves in a hall of mirrors,
and they're there to this day.
David was upset about the same thing:
I hope they get sick eating self-serving meals,
break a leg walking their self-serving ways.
I hope they go blind staring in their mirrors,
get ulcers from playing at god. The Message

Verse 1 - Want proof that God hasn’t rejected His people, front and center, look at me, says Paul, I am an ethnic Jew, of the tribe of Benjamin. He is a physical descendant of Abraham, it is obvious he is not talking “spiritual” or “church” here. He mentions his specific tribe.
Verse 2,3 - “whom He foreknew”, In Romans 8 it is us as believers whom He foreknew, so it is no accident that Paul uses this word. Remember the whole point of this section is, if it can be proven that God is not/will not keep His promises to Israel, who is to say God will keep His promises to us. Elijah, one of the “largest” characters in the Old Testament, was tired, fearful and discouraged, he looked around and all he could see was, “God has abandoned the nation, and I alone and left.”
Verse 4 - God’s response, “aaahhh poor baby, yes so sad for you” NOPE, “I have kept...” Again the Sovereign God speaks of His undeniable call, I have kept, is a precious, grace-filled phrase. Seven like you, no, 70 like you, no 7,000 like you, who have not bowed the knee to the false God.
Verse 5 - What He did back there, He is doing today. The same yesterday, today, forever. The immutability of God=He never changes. He is perfect, so it follows that He cannot change, otherwise that change, would be a move away from perfection. Hebrews 6:16-19 His promises are unchanging, we can rest/trust in them/Him. His truth is unchanging. Malachi 3:6
Verse 6 - “I have kept, for Myself..” There is not any “work” being done by the remnant to make them the remnant. It is all God, It is all grace!
Verse 7 - Again the reality that God has a plan, and in that plan there is hardening.
Verse 8 - In that plan Israel, falls short of their call, by the plan and purpose of God, and that opens a door to the gentiles.
Verse 9,10 - These verses seem so shocking, so much a “curse” that it took a while for them to make sense to me. But lets turn our minds to the One who “became a curse.” David was upset at those who were rejecting God. He was “defending God,” but ultimately God defended Himself not by carrying out the curse on those who reject Him, but by having His Son take the curse on Himself. I wonder how much of our defending God, would be shut down, if we listened to the Spirit who ‘might’ be saying, ‘Pray that God would choose that one, like He did Paul.’Also these two verses are part of an entire chapter. Yes, Israel, was ‘hardened,’ but it was for a purpose. Sometimes in Bible Studies it is easy to get “buried” in one or two verses, but often the answer is to look at the entire context. In this case the hardening is one step on the way through the story. The hardening opened the door for the gentiles, who then open the door back up for Israel, and all for God’s glory! Jeremiah 31:10-12

Barth thoughts:
His emphasis on this passage was that hope, has no hope ‘in us.’ It has to be
God choosing, God preserving a remnant. Also that hope can only exist where there is no hope. If I could formulate a plan to ‘get out of it,’ there would be no need for hope. God is one, He is the God of wrath that hardens, and the God of mercy that preserves a remnant. The church needs to face up to the truth of its guilt and then repent. Election is by grace and that is the humiliation of the church. Those 7,000 that are preserved by God, are 7,000 miracles of mercy. We are no different from those that David and Isaiah are ‘cursing’ at the end of this section. “There but for the grace of God, go I.” is a good and true sentence.

Outline
God has Preserved a Remnant in Israel. Romans 11:1-10 1/12/03 #45
I. Introduction
A. What are God’s plans for the people of Israel?
1. Some believe the Jews are God’s people and have an unconditional right to the
land. (Dispensationalism) Gen. 12:1f
2. Others believe because the Jews rejected Jesus the Messiah, the Church has
replaced Israel and inherited all their promises. (Covenant Theology). Gal. 3:29
(If anyone in this Bible Study still believes that, we need to start over)
B. Paul, in Romans chapters 9-11 addresses the question of God’s plan for Israel.
1. Israel’s falling away is according to God’s sovereign purpose in election. 9:1-29
2. Israel willfully rejected the gospel. 9:30-10:21
3. God’s rejection of Israel is neither total (11:1-10) nor final (11:11-32). 11:1-32
4. God’s plan for Israel displays His magnificent wisdom. 11:33-36
II. God’s rejection of Israel is not total: He is presently preserving a remnant. v. 1-6
A. Has God totally cast away His people? v. 1a
1. Why might one conclude God is finished with Israel? 9:31-32 10:3,21 Mt. 21:33f
2. May it never be!
B. Personal evidence: Paul himself is an Israelite of unquestioned pedigree. v. 1bPhil. 3:5 II Co. 11:22
1. If ever there appeared to a hopeless case, it was Saul of Tarsus. Ga. 1:13-14 I Tim. 1:13-15 Acts 9:1-2
2. God chose this Jew as His instrument of bringing the gospel to the Gentiles. v. 13
C. Theological evidence: God cannot reject His covenant people. v. 2a
1. Israel is foreknown (foreloved) according to God’s sovereign will.8:29Dt. 7:6-8 Amos 3:2 Gal. 4:9 Acts 2:23 I Pe. 1:1-2
2. Is Paul here referring to God’s concern for the elect within Israel or His interest
in the nation as a whole?
3. God has foreordained this people to privileges and blessings which cannot be
revoked. I Sam. 12:22 Ps. 94:14 135:4 Jer. 31:37 Ex. 4:22 19:6 Deut. 14:2 26:18
4. The hardening of the majority should not be interpreted as a complete rejection
of His people.
D. Historical evidence: God preserved a remnant in the days of Elijah. v. 2b-4
1. Israel’s present situation is like what occurred in Elijah’s day. v. 2b I Ki. 17-19
2. Elijah thought he was the last faithful Israelite. v. 3 I Ki. 19:9-10
Elijah implies that God is limited by man’s failures.
3. God declares that He is at work in Israel, in spite of human appearances. v. 4
4. God has faithfully preserved a remnant throughout the history of Israel, no
matter how widespread her apostasy and unbelief. 9:27 Is. 1:9 10:22 Jer. 23:3
31:7 Joel 2:32 Amos 5:15 Micah 2:12 4:5-7 7:18 Zeph. 3:13 Mal. 3:16
5. God’s promises to Israel are fulfilled in the remnant.
E. Contemporary evidence: God is presently preserving a remnant among His people
Israel . v. 5 9:27-29
1. Even though the majority rejected the Messiah, God saved many Jews in the
early church. Acts 2:41 4:4 21:20 John 1:11
2. God has continued to save a remnant from among the Jews throughout the
history of the church. III. God saves and hardens according to His sovereign good pleasure. v. 5b-10
A. The faithful remnant exists by God’s gracious choice. v. 5b-7
1. The 7000 in Elijah’s day were kept by God’s sovereign efficacious grace. v. 4
2. Grace and works are mutually exclusive. v. 6 Eph. 2:8-9
3. Those who obtained salvation were not those who sought it, but those who were
chosen by God. v. 7a 9:16 II Ti. 1:9
4. Those who claim God’s election is based upon God’s foreknowledge of our
worthy acts (even faith) undermine grace!
5. If you have been preserved from the world (Baal), it is God’s work! 12:1-2
B. The rest are hardened by God. v. 7
1. They refused to seek salvation in God’s way. 9:32 10:3
2. Many professing Christians make the same fatal error.
3. God has sovereignly and judicially hardened them. 9:18 Ex. 4:21
a. Hardening, like election, is God’s act. ) Our two
b. Hardening, unlike election, is deserved. ) truths
4. Israel’s disobedience has not frustrated God’s plan, but fulfills divine prophecy.
C. Israel’s present hardness is in keeping with their past history. v. 8-10Deut. 29:4 Isa. 6:9-10 29:10 Ps. 69:22-23 Mt. 13:14-15 Mark 4:12 Jo. 12:40
1. God gives them a spirit of stupor. v. 8 Isa. 29:10 6:9-10Mt. 13:14-15Mark 4:12
2. God brings a snare, a stumbling block, retribution, darkness and servitude upon
them . v. 9-10 Ps. 69:22-23 Ro. 15:3 John 2:17 15:25 Acts 1:20 Mt. 27:43
3. Even when God hardens Israel, He preserves a remnant through whom He will
bring great future blessing. Isa. 6:13 29:17
4. The existence of the remnant implies hope for the future.
IV. God’s rejection of Israel is not permanent: He has a plan for Israel’s future. v.11-12
A. Has Israel fallen beyond recovery? v. 11a
B. Israel’s transgression has led to the salvation of the Gentiles. v. 11b
C. The Gentiles will provoke the Jews to jealousy so that Israel might be restored to blessing. v. 11b
D. The fulness of Israel will result in even greater blessings to the world. v. 12
V. Concluding Applications.
A. Be prepared to be in the minority, even within the visible church.
B. God has preserved a faithful remnant of believers throughout church history.
C. God is doing far more than you may think! His faithfulness is not limited by human
faithlessness. Don’t despair. I Co. 15:58
D. Don’t harden yourself against God’s gracious offer of salvation.
JIM NEWHEISER

church and Church

2011-10-20T06:46:00.002-04:00

Over the centuries the Church has done enough to make any critical person want to leave it. Its history of violent crusades, pogroms, power struggles, oppression, excommunications, executions, manipulation of people and ideas, and constantly recurring divisions is there for everyone to see and be appalled by.

Can we believe that this is the same Church that carries in its center the Word of God and the sacraments of God's healing love? Can we trust that in the midst of all its human brokenness the Church presents the broken body of Christ to the world as food for eternal life? Can we acknowledge that where sin is abundant grace is superabundant, and that where promises are broken over and again God's promise stands unshaken? To believe is to answer yes to these questions. Henri Nouwen

The truth of this quote is undeniable, but there is a church in the world and then there is the Church. There is an invisible remnant, kept true and faithful by God. What is seen is a stumbling block, but it can not be denied. I turn to Patrick of Ireland for the only response the Church can give to criticism of the church, "You are right, much evil has been done in the name of the church, I am a part of that and for that I repent and apologize, and in place of power and authority and manipulation, i desire to live according to this...
" Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.” Patrick of Ireland

love or nothing

2011-10-13T18:51:00.002-04:00

Feel like i had a God moment last night at work, He said, "You do your job well...(pause)...but that is not the goal, love is." Love or nothing.

Romans Bible Study #34 Romans 10:4-21

2011-10-10T14:55:00.001-04:00

Romans Bible Study #34
Romans 10:4-21
The Light in the Darkness

4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

5 For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness. 6 But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: “DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), 7 or ‘WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” 8 But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, [g]resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”
14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him (Q)whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!”
16 However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
18 But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have;
“THEIR VOICE HAS GONE OUT INTO ALL THE EARTH,
AND THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD.”
19 But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? First Moses says,
“I WILL MAKE YOU JEALOUS BY THAT WHICH IS NOT A NATION,
BY A NATION WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING WILL I ANGER YOU.”
20 And Isaiah is very bold and says,
“I WAS FOUND BY THOSE WHO DID NOT SEEK ME,
I BECAME MANIFEST TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK FOR ME.”
21 But as for Israel He says, “ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE.” NASB

4-10The earlier revelation was intended simply to get us ready for the Messiah, who then puts everything right for those who trust him to do it. Moses wrote that anyone who insists on using the law code to live right before God soon discovers it's not so easy—every detail of life regulated by fine print! But trusting God to shape the right living in us is a different story— no precarious climb up to heaven to recruit the Messiah, no dangerous descent into hell to rescue the Messiah. So what exactly was Moses saying?
The word that saves is right here,
as near as the tongue in your mouth,
as close as the heart in your chest.
It's the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God—"Jesus is my Master"—embracing, body and soul, God's work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That's it. You're not "doing" anything; you're simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That's salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: "God has set everything right between him and me!"
11-13Scripture reassures us, "No one who trusts God like this—heart and soul—will ever regret it." It's exactly the same no matter what a person's religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. "Everyone who calls, 'Help, God!' gets help."
14-17But how can people call for help if they don't know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven't heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? That's why Scripture exclaims,
A sight to take your breath away!
Grand processions of people
telling all the good things of God!
But not everybody is ready for this, ready to see and hear and act. Isaiah asked what we all ask at one time or another: "Does anyone care, God? Is anyone listening and believing a word of it?" The point is: Before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ's Word is preached, there's nothing to listen to.
18-21But haven't there been plenty of opportunities for Israel to listen and understand what's going on? Plenty, I'd say.
Preachers' voices have gone 'round the world,
Their message to earth's seven seas.
So the big question is, Why didn't Israel understand that she had no corner on this message? Moses had it right when he predicted,
When you see God reach out to those
you consider your inferiors—outsiders!—
you'll become insanely jealous.
When you see God reach out to people
you think are religiously stupid,
you'll throw temper tantrums.
Isaiah dared to speak out these words of God:
People found and welcomed me
who never so much as looked for me.
And I found and welcomed people
who had never even asked about me.
Then he capped it with a damning indictment:
Day after day after day,
I beckoned Israel with open arms,
And got nothing for my trouble
but cold shoulders and icy stares. The Message

“ Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.” Patrick of Ireland
This is what it means to be the end of the law, the inferior thing that could only hope to change external behavior and could not even do that consistently is replaced by the very life of Jesus flowing through us.

The law brings death because one failure is a failure of all. “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.” James 2:10

Verses 6,7 Moses in Deuteronomy is speaking of the law, but Paul uses the verses to speak of Christ. The right answer, just like in Sunday school is Jesus.
Verses 8 The solution is a special kind of word. A word of faith. A word that connects us to the finished work of Jesus. A word that denies any power or ability that we have. A miracle word.

Verse 9 Jesus is the most attacked name there is. And His resurrection from the dead is one of the most attacked doctrines. Questioning God’s ultimate power over death is like saying He is not who He says He is, and so affirming that power is a way to express, He alone is God.
Verse 10 This verse “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.” James 2:19 speaks of a belief that is not united with saving faith. The fact that “every knee will bow,” says that truth is truth and one day all will acknowledge it. God’s calling and election of us gives us a much higher privilege, to believe, confess, and live for Him now.
Verse 11 This is a slice of Isaiah 28:16 “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.” Amazing Grace has revealed to our hearts the “precious cornerstone.” This lesson is more and more a call to be truly, deeply, grateful, for all that we have been given.
Verse 12,13 Belief has no specific ethnic requirement. It is a free gift, and has only a “whoever” attached to it.
Verse 14,15 Starting from the end of the matter, Paul works his way back to the foundation of this process. One who is sent, preaches the news, resulting in hearing, and being called into the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ!! I have heard whole sermons on the word “sent.” It is a precious thing to be sent by God, it speaks of having His delegated power, authority and anointing. Preaching from such a one, results in many hearing the “word of Christ,” which is the call of God to their soul.
Verse 16 Isaiah was told and Paul and every preacher has experienced, not all have ears to hear and eyes to see the truth. The vocation, the calling, is to proclaim, the harvest is not your responsibility.
Verse 17 The root of faith is uncovered. At some point the blessed, called, person has been a hearer of the word of Christ. The anointed word, that has within it, the Life of the Son of God. That kind of word is a costly word, both to the proclaimer and the hearer.
Verse 18 The voice is the voice of creation and what is usually spoken of as “general revelation” that revelation that everyone gets. It is enough to make one accountable.
Verse 19 This verse seems to be a transition to me, we are now setting a course to glance into the mystery of God’s wisdom in all of history. The law and the chosen nation fail, this failure leads to the revealing of the path of faith to a people formerly ‘outside’ of God’s covenants and promises. But the purpose of the outsiders getting this gift is to make the insiders jealous and angry to the point of winning them back to their original purpose. God’s promises come to fruition NO MATTER WHAT!
Verse 20,21 lots of comments on these verses below, I was very encouraged to see that two sources that I trust, John Piper and Charles Spurgeon agreed on the issue of the sovereignty of God being truth, side-by-side and not in any way contradicting, the truth that men are given a choice, and encouraged to choose Christ. Philosophy might say that is impossible but when scripture reveals two truths it is better to just “bow” and believe both truths.

Bonus stuff:
The reason it is not submission to God’s righteousness when we seek justification by trying to obey God, even with God’s help, is that it dishonors "Christ as our righteousness." It says to God, "My humble, Spirit-empowered behavior will be the ground of my righteous standing before you," while God is all the while saying,
"No it won’t. I have assigned that glorious role to the righteousness of my Son, Jesus Christ. When I accept you and vindicate you and declare you righteous in my sight, I will accept you and vindicate you and declare you righteous in my sight because on the ground of his righteousness alone. Perfect divine righteousness, performed by my Son, is the only righteousness that will justify in my court. You shall obey me through faith! But all your imperfect obedience will be the fruit of your justification, not the root. My Son alone will have that honor.
The submission to God’s righteousness that God requires of us is not simply that we submit to Christ’s enabling power as the key to our sanctification, but that first we submit to Christ’s perfection and pardon as the key to our justification. And if we try to merge them, we will cut Christ’s honor in half.”

verse 11-13 The ‘whoever’ and the ‘no distinction’ is unbelievably good news to the gentiles.
The amazingness of the gentiles coming into the kingdom from Acts 13:48
“When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.”
Paul’s Gospel had to be preached from OT texts, there was no NT at the time, so he labors to show that what he is preaching is not new, but is a New Revealing of the old.

Verse 9 “Jesus”, Verse 13 the “Name of the Lord”. = Jehovah
Quoting Joel 2:32 Paul does some amazing things by the Spirit of God. verse 13 he is quoting a text regarding Jehovah and substituting Jesus. This is in fact a good place to take the cults who teach that Jesus is not God and did not claim to be God. Paul here is saying, “See here where it says Jehovah in the Joel, you can put Jesus right in there.”

A. Believe in the Lord and you will not be disappointed (ashamed). v. 11
Paul repeats the promise of Isa. 28:16 with a new emphasis: “ whoever”. 9:33b
emphasize the “whoever” of the call

Verse 20,21 God saves His people using a process.
1. Paul has already shown how people are saved, from the Divine perspective.
a. God saves people by His sovereign grace. 9:15-16,18
b. The golden chain: foreknown, predestined, called, justified, glorified. 8:29-30
2. Now Paul shows how people are saved from the human perspective.
a. God accomplishes his saving purpose through us. Acts 13:48 18:9-10
b. Paul sets forth the chain of events in salvation, from the human side. 10:13-15

(Kings from man’s perspective Chronicles from God’s perspective)

The preacher must be sent. v. 15a 1:1,5 Gal. 1:15-16 2:2 Acts 26:17 Eph. 4:11f
1. Beware of preachers who are not sent by God. Jer. 14:14 23:21 27:15 I Co. 3:11
II Co. 3:1 11:13-15 Mt. 7:22-23
2. How can you tell that a person is sent by God? John 20:21 II Co. 5:20 I Co. 3:11
3. God sends forth preachers, including missionaries, by means of the church.
Acts 13:1f 14:26-28 II Ti.2:4 I Ti.3:15 Mt. 16:18

God’s acceptance of the Gentiles is meant to provoke the Jews to jealousy, leading
to their salvation. v. 19 11:11,14

Divine election and the free offer of the gospel are again taught side by side. v. 21
1. God gives an universal invitation, but only those whom He has chosen come.
Mt. 11:25-27 22:14
2. God sovereignly reveals Himself to those who were spiritually dead. v. 20 9:30
I Ti. 1:13 John 6:44,37
3. God hardens and cuts off the Jews. John 12:37f Isa. 53:1 Mark 4:12
4. God repeatedly and graciously stretches out His hands to disobedient obstinate
people. Mt. 11:28 23:37 Lu. 14:21-24 13:6-9 Acts 7:51-53 Jer. 7:13 Isa. 5:3 1:18f
5. Israel is fully responsible for her stubborn unbelief. John 5:40 Heb. 3:15

“verse 20 Sovereign grace predestines. verse 21 Man is responsible. Both are true.They are not contradictory, even if to us they seem to be. In eternity both truths will converge.” Charles Spurgeon

RE: Verse 20,21
My aim here this morning is not to analyze how this can be, but to urge us all to embrace the paradox of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. The sad thing is that some embrace the sovereignty of God over the human will and say: "It is wrong to portray God with his arms stretched out, inviting and calling." And others embrace the responsibility of man and say, "If God invites and calls and beckons, then he can't really be sovereign over man's will, and man really is ultimately self-determining and God is not really in control of all things."

Both of these are sad mistakes. It is sad, because one group rejects something deep and precious that God has revealed about himself for our strength and hope and joy and love - namely, his absolute sovereignty. Oh, how sweet it is when all around our soul gives way, and we need a reliable and firm rock in a world that sometimes seems utterly out of control and meaningless and cruel. Oh, how sweet at these times to know that God is not good and helpless, but good and sovereign. And the other group (who embrace the sovereignty of God) sometimes rejects something utterly crucial for understanding the justice of God in dealing with people, and they fail to see how we should plead with people and persuade people and invite people and woo people with tears, to Christ, and on behalf of Christ.

So my aim is not to explain the paradox but simply to underline it with three other examples (and there are many more), in the hope that God will cause your mind to submit to his word, whether you can explain it all or not.

In Matthew 11:25 Jesus says, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children." And then in verse 28, he says, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He has hidden the truth from some, and he invites all.

In John 6:35 Jesus says, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." And one verse later he says, "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out." All are invited to Christ. And the Father gives some to Christ.
In Acts 13:38 Paul says to the synagogue in Antioch, "Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man [Jesus] forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed." And in verse 48 Luke says, ". . . And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed." All are invited to believe and be forgiven. And as many as were appointed to life did believe.
I am not explaining it this morning. I am simply proclaiming it. This is what it means for God to be God. Man is not the final, ultimate sovereign over his own life. God is. God is the potter. We are the clay. But on the other hand, God "desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). He holds out his hands all day long to Jews and the Gentiles of the Twin Cities. He calls, he beckons, he invites.
Call---Believe---------Heard-----Preacher---------Sent

birthing

2011-10-06T13:35:00.001-04:00

oil out of flinty rock
water out of rock
anything good out of me
church of Esau is the church of jacob
Faith is miracle, belief is miracle

the leaving of the 99 to find the 1

God is birthing something in me, not sure what
but these are the beginning thoughts, and I also
enjoyed reading Psalm 27 today.

I hope to take you with me on this journey

humility

2011-10-04T20:46:00.001-04:00

"How is that Spirit of Christ going to come into a world desperate for reality and truth? He needs a body to indwell; He needs flesh and blood to convey the very Spirit of Jesus. We have been busy preparing ourselves with all the riches of the world. We have supposed that what He is waiting for is a Church confident of its power, able to match and outdo the world in assertiveness, grandeur, and wealth. But He has been waiting for a very different Church, a very different body to convey Him into His kingdom and into the world; a Church that most resembles a lowly donkey, a colt. ..And we--and the world--shall not see Him again until we are willing to be that.
If at the heart of a lie is pride and arrogance, than at the heart of the truth is humility." Art Katz in the book "The Spirit of Truth"

Romans Study # 33 Romans 9:30-10:3

2011-10-02T15:04:00.001-04:00

Romans Bible Study #33
Romans 9:30-10-3
The Crisis of Knowledge

30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is [a]by faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 just as it is written,
“BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE,
AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”
Romans 10
The Word of Faith Brings Salvation
1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. 2 For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. 3 For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. NASB

How can we sum this up? All those people who didn't seem interested in what God was doing actually embraced what God was doing as he straightened out their lives. And Israel, who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it. How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing. They were so absorbed in their "God projects" that they didn't notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road. And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling. Isaiah (again!) gives us the metaphor for pulling this together:
Careful! I've put a huge stone on the road to Mount Zion,
a stone you can't get around.
But the stone is me! If you're looking for me,
you'll find me on the way, not in the way.
Romans 10
Israel Reduced to Religion
1-3Believe me, friends, all I want for Israel is what's best for Israel: salvation, nothing less. I want it with all my heart and pray to God for it all the time. I readily admit that the Jews are impressively energetic regarding God—but they are doing everything exactly backward. They don't seem to realize that this comprehensive setting-things-right that is salvation is God's business, and a most flourishing business it is. Right across the street they set up their own salvation shops and noisily hawk their wares. After all these years of refusing to really deal with God on his terms, insisting instead on making their own deals, they have nothing to show for it. THE MESSAGE

I finished this lesson on Sunday and had it on my computer reviewing it for spelling errors when the power went off and the lesson went out into the abyss. I re-did it but this lesson is shorter, and I am hoping will leave more time for feedback and discussion.

Verse 9:30 Our lead in to this section was that a people who were “not my people” were chosen by God and made righteous. God is our ultimate judge and we can not work our way to Him. This is the Krisis of knowledge that Barth speaks of. (I think he uses a ‘k’ because it is an ultimate Krisis he is talking about, not a little crisis.)
Verse 9:31 Faith is miracle, otherwise it is not faith. The law had a purpose, not to lead to God, but to show that God was Other, that there is no system or way to get to Him outside of the way He provided, faith. Faith goes all the way back to Abel and Abraham, the letter to the Hebrews makes this clear. Faith is not an invention of Christianity it existed in the Old Testament. 1 Peter 1:10-12 Pursuing righteousness through the law is a dead end.
Verse 9:32 The law was put there to cause a stumbling. To cause people to go, this isn’t working, this isn’t bringing me the healing and grace of God that I need. “Wrong way” is the sign on the entrance to the street called “Law Street.”
Verse 9:33 This is another way of saying we are under judgment and there is only one way out and only He can put us in that way.
“The church is death before resurrection, the fasting of a bride who does not have her bridegroom, a solitary company in a desert with no support. Jesus is the hidden God who can be apprehended only indirectly not through works but through faith.” Barth

Verse 10:1 Paul is convinced of God’s sovereignty but it does not hinder, slow down, or stop, his intercessory prayer for those he loves.
A quick study of God’s Electing Sovereignty and our call to keep praying.
A. Paul prayerfully yearns for Israel’s salvation. 9:1
1. He once was what they still are. Phil. 3:6 Ga. 1:13-14 Acts 22:3 21:20
2. His belief in election does not stop him from caring, praying, and working for
the conversion of those who are lost. II Ti. 2:10 I Co. 9:16-27
3. His care for the lost reflects God’s concern for the lost.
Ezek. 18:23,32 33:11 I Ti. 2:3-4 II Pe. 3:9 Luke 23:34 Acts 7:60
4. Even when people are hard, he does not write them off or give up on them.
B. Why pray if God has already chosen who will be saved? 9:15-16 Eph. 1:4
Jo. 6:44
1. God tells you to pray for the lost. Eph. 6:19
2. God answers your prayers. Mt. 7:7-11 James 5:16
3. God uses your prayers as a means to the salvation of the lost. 10:14-15
4. Don’t use your limited knowledge of God’s secret will as an excuse to disobey
His revealed will. Deut. 29:29
5. Pray because God alone can change the hearts of the lost. 8:7-8 3:10
Jo. 6:37,44
Acts 16:14 Ezek. 11:19 II Ti. 2:25-26 Election encourages prayer. Jim Newheiser

Verse 10:2 In the presence of God all of the “goodness” that zeal for religious pursuits can produce, will have no final validity. It will be nothing more than a “tower of Babel.” The lack of knowledge is the lack of knowing that God is completely Other. Our ways are under judgment. We are under judgment.

Verse 10:3 Barth had an excellent section on how even we in the church are seeking to establish a righteousness of our own.

“Who does not substitute for the righteousness of this unapproachable God some very refined, very excellent, very significant, righteousness of his own, to which is added, of course, some such phrase as ‘with the help of God’ or ‘trusting in God’? Who does not substitute some plan or program or method, some new thing, some new ‘interpretation of the truth’, some movement or task, which gives us less to create but more to do, less to ponder but more to talk about, less to endure but more to undertake, than does the righteousness of God? And so we introduce a ‘thing’ by which men--and especially religious men--secure an advantage for themselves. Immersed in the happiness of doing and speaking and inaugurating, busy with reforms and revolutions, they are able to forget the judgment hanging over their heads, and so the ‘thing’ on which they are engaged turns out more to their credit than if they were to seek naught else but to fear and to love God above all things. Was there ever a period when the Church was free of the temptation to substitute a human righteousness of its own for the righteousness of God?” Barth

John Piper on the importance of teaching our children and anyone we teach the truth of righteousness by faith.

Teach the children to look to Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins and for the righteousness they need to stand before God.

Help them see that Christ is their only hope. Show them what it means to cleave to him and hope in him and cherish him as more precious than life.

Teach them that trusting Christ as the king of righteousness not only brings them a right standing before God, but also dethrones sin in their lives.

Help them see how two things happen when faith connects them to Jesus: one is that his righteousness counts for ours before God, so that we are fully accepted in Christ; and the other is that power begins to flow though this connection to overcome sin. So a progressive personal righteousness is the necessary fruit of a perfect imputed righteousness.

Of course, we won’t use that language (progressive, personal, imputed) with a seven-year-old. What will we say? We will say:

"Talitha,(John Piper’s daughters name) mommy and daddy have lived a long time and have learned from the Bible and from our lives that we and you will never be good enough to meet God’s perfect standards. We still make mistakes after all these years. We sin. That’s why the Bible says that God gave us his Son to die for our sins and to be our righteousness. His perfect death counts for our punishment, and his perfect obedience counts for righteousness, if we trust him. So always look to Jesus. Always trust Jesus. And remember, Talitha, since God didn’t spare his own Son, but gave him for us all, he will surely give us everything we need in this life and the next (Romans 8:32; Philippians 4:19). All the promises of God belong to us because of Jesus. So when you trust him, be sure that you trust him for everything he has done and everything he has promised and everything he has purchased. And that faith will help you not to sin, because when you trust Jesus to give you the best future, you won’t want to sin to make a better future. So always trust Jesus for everything he’s done and everything he promises. By faith he will be your perfect righteousness, so that you don’t have to fear, and by that same faith he will help you do what’s right."

Finally, pray for the children.

Pray for the little ones. Pray for the prodigals without ceasing. Let Romans 10:1 be your daily testimony: "Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved." Don’t grow weary. Don’t let go. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Tell it often, tell it well. Be patient and pray. Amen.

Barth on faith and the lie of "with the help of God"

2011-10-02T12:48:00.002-04:00

“The church is death before resurrection, the fasting of a bride who does not have her bridegroom, a solitary company in a desert with no support. Jesus is the hidden God who can be apprehended only indirectly not through works but through faith.” Barth

and one more from Barth
“Who does not substitute for the righteousness of this unapproachable God some very refined, very excellent, very significant, righteousness of his own, to which is added, of course, some such phrase as ‘with the help of God’ or ‘trusting in God’? Who does not substitute some plan or program or method, some new thing, some new ‘interpretation of the truth’, some movement or task, which gives us less to create but more to do, less to ponder but more to talk about, less to endure but more to undertake, than does the righteousness of God? And so we introduce a ‘thing’ by which men--and especially religious men--secure an advantage for themselves. Immersed in the happiness of doing and speaking and inaugurating, busy with reforms and revolutions, they are able to forget the judgment hanging over their heads, and so the ‘thing’ on which they are engaged turns out more to their credit than if they were to seek naught else but to fear and to love God above all things. Was there ever a period when the Church was free of the temptation to substitute a human righteousness of its own for the righteousness of God?”

Romans Bible Study #32 Romans 9:14-29

2011-09-20T10:58:00.001-04:00

only 10 pages this time, but there is soooo much depth to this, i dare not shorten it.

Romans Bible Study #32
Romans 9:14-29
The God of Esau
Capricious

14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! 15 For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.” 16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.” 18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” 20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? 21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? 22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. 25 As He says also in Hosea,

“I WILL CALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, ‘MY PEOPLE,’
AND HER WHO WAS NOT BELOVED, ‘BELOVED.’”
26 “AND IT SHALL BE THAT IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM, ‘YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,’
THERE THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF THE LIVING GOD.”

27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “THOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL BE LIKE THE SAND OF THE SEA, IT IS THE REMNANT THAT WILL BE SAVED; 28 FOR THE LORD WILL EXECUTE HIS WORD ON THE EARTH, THOROUGHLY AND QUICKLY.” 29 And just as Isaiah foretold,

“UNLESS THE LORD OF SABAOTH HAD LEFT TO US A POSTERITY,
WE WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE SODOM, AND WOULD HAVE RESEMBLED GOMORRAH.” NASB

14-18Is that grounds for complaining that God is unfair? Not so fast, please. God told Moses, "I'm in charge of mercy. I'm in charge of compassion." Compassion doesn't originate in our bleeding hearts or moral sweat, but in God's mercy. The same point was made when God said to Pharaoh, "I picked you as a bit player in this drama of my salvation power." All we're saying is that God has the first word, initiating the action in which we play our part for good or ill.

19Are you going to object, "So how can God blame us for anything since he's in charge of everything? If the big decisions are already made, what say do we have in it?"

20-33Who in the world do you think you are to second-guess God? Do you for one moment suppose any of us knows enough to call God into question? Clay doesn't talk back to the fingers that mold it, saying, "Why did you shape me like this?" Isn't it obvious that a potter has a perfect right to shape one lump of clay into a vase for holding flowers and another into a pot for cooking beans? If God needs one style of pottery especially designed to show his angry displeasure and another style carefully crafted to show his glorious goodness, isn't that all right? Either or both happens to Jews, but it also happens to the other people. Hosea put it well:

I'll call nobodies and make them somebodies;
I'll call the unloved and make them beloved.
In the place where they yelled out, "You're nobody!"
they're calling you "God's living children."

Isaiah maintained this same emphasis:
If each grain of sand on the seashore were numbered
and the sum labeled "chosen of God,"
They'd be numbers still, not names;
salvation comes by personal selection.
God doesn't count us; he calls us by name.
Arithmetic is not his focus.
Isaiah had looked ahead and spoken the truth:
If our powerful God
had not provided us a legacy of living children,
We would have ended up like ghost towns,
like Sodom and Gomorrah. The Message

I know we are on the right path in this study because every bit of this is against the pride of man.

Psalm 106:8 Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name,
That He might make His power known.

Barth and others
At the depth of this truth lies “the transformation of our misery.” Barth
Wherever men are serious, the scandal of predestination must be set forth and received. Barth
“The more a man finds these texts to be harsh, the more is he wedded to his own righteousness. Inasmuch, however, as he is able to live quietly with them, his heart rests altogether in grace.” Steinhofer
If we conceive of God as conformed to our human ideas, as one cause in a series, as one factor among other factors, He is not the Cause, the Absolute, the Eternal, Personal God-- but rather the “No-God’ Barth

Verse 14 Our minds are still bending and creaking under the weight of Jacob I loved, Esau I hated, and in our man-centered thoughts we cannot get around the question, Isn’t that unfair? Most of those who comment on this section and agree with the premise of this question, say that it cannot mean what it plainly says because that would make God to be a capricious God. A God subject to whim, and erratic in His behavior, the opposite of steady and constant. What they are missing is, God is being faithful to Himself in this, Faithful to His Total Freedom to do what He knows needs to be done to “fulfill all righteousness.” He is the definition of righteousness, not any idea we might have. Most often those who could not handle the Jacob-Esau thing said that Paul was talking about the nations, but he spoke of the two in Rebecca’s womb, and said specifically before they had done anything, so there is an aspect where this truth is ‘national’, but you cannot escape the other meaning that is strongly indicated. Two lives were forming in the womb and one was chosen. We cheapen this section if we do not notice the struggle indicated in verses like this one. This is a battle for the mind, to transform and convert us from a lifetime of man-centered thinking. The fact that we all know to be true is those who have been through a lot are kinder, more humble and more mercy giving. So our wisdom, which would be; avoid trials and struggles, is shown to be shallow and in a word, “wrong.” This and many other examples demonstrate that we have no right to question God, and HE agrees as we can see in HIS answer to the question, “Is there injustice with God?”
Verse 15 His answer is no answer it is a restatement of an unchangeable fact. I will decide, I will decide.The fact that it is “I” who am doing the deciding means that there is no unrighteousness. My freedom to do as I please, leaves Me totally free to do the righteous thing. Because I am God, my definition of righteous is best and highest. And that definition is, whatever brings glory to My Name. Mercy and compassion will be shown because that is Who I am, and it will be shown to whoever I decide because, only I know how to make My plan work out for My the glory of My Name.

In the context, the phrase Paul quotes here is connected to God’s name. This event from the Jewish Bible’s book of Exodus is the closest we come in the Jewish Bible to the innermost nature of God (Dunn 2:562).

“Exodus 33:19 is a statement of God concerning Himself, it must therefore be looked upon as inconvertible and unexceptional doctrine.” James Morison

Verse 16 God is not afraid to keep beating the same drum from an unlimited number of angles, so this statement looks at this truth from the angle of, ‘how much does man have to do with Your decision God?’... um... nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing. Is your pride rising up yet, does the fact that you are in line to get absolutely no credit for all of this crawl under you skin and cause you to protest, if it does, then that is proof that you are really beginning to understand the depth of Grace and the height of God. No chest-thumping, “look what I did” allowed, probably be a big sign at the entrance to heaven, “You had nothing to do with your getting here.” Your ‘will’ had nothing to do with it and your ‘do’ had nothing to do with. Bow, bend the knee, and enter as a ‘victim’ of My Mercy.

This means that the working out of God’s strategy in human history doesn’t depend on human effort. The phrase "desire or effort" in v. 16 describes the totality of our human capacity (Dunn 2:552). God’s strategy in human history isn’t dependant on human effort.

Verse 17 Pharaoh is brought in as exhibit A that God’s freedom, includes the freedom to harden. God raised Pharaoh up, to demonstrate His power and to proclaim His Name in all the earth. So that ties in to what we know to be true about righteousness, God’s Name receives glory. So man is not the pinnacle, the ultimate thing in the universe, God is, and His Name receiving glory is, and in fact, if we give our lives for anything else, we will begin to sense that an emptiness and the question, ‘Is this all that there is?’ will mercifully creep into our consciousness. There is mystery here still, Pharaoh is held accountable and the scripture says both God hardened Pharaoh’s heart and Pharaoh hardened his heart, but significantly, God tells Moses He will harden Pharaoh’s heart before Moses has even gotten to Egypt. So again, there is mystery here as to how our will, our choice fits into this, but we do know it is not the foundation, God’s call and election is.

Verse 18 is the conclusion of the previous verses and many, many ‘good’ Bible commentators, run in all sorts of directions to make this verse not say, what it clearly says. Let’s read it. “So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.” Very straightforward, very unapologetic, very clear. Two reasons why people run from the truth of this verse. If they forget that God has a grounding, foundational motive of bringing glory to His Name, then they say that this verse makes it seem like God is capricious, acting on a whim, impulsive, unpredictable, given to errors in judgment, the opposite of faithful and reliable. The second reason to try to twist this verse to mean something else, is it says God was in control when sin was happening. What Pharaoh did was “sin.” That is “outside of the box" for most people, God ordaining that sin take place. But I want God to be in control at times like that. I want Him to be in control of satan, as He was in the story of Job. This verse in Isaiah, backs up what Paul is implying here. Isaiah 54:16
“Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows the fire of coals And brings out a weapon for its work; And I have created the destroyer to ruin.”

Our definition of the man Moses as elected and of the man Pharaoh as rejected is repellent, meaningless, and utterly incapable of proof. The election of the one and the rejection of the other have meaning only in the freedom of God and by the miracle of revelation, and the very purpose of the occurrence is -- to show My Power, and that My Name may be declared throughout all the earth. In order for the church or the individual to become ‘elect Moses’ it must recognize and ponder the fact that it is Pharaoh, and Esau. Barth

Verse 19 makes it even more obvious that the clear and simple interpretation of verse 18 is correct, because Paul knows exactly where such a clear and simple interpretation would lead: directly to this question. Again there is an unexplained mystery here, beyond our ability to comprehend. The question is why does it surprise us that some things would be ‘mysteries’ beyond our comprehension when we are talking about God, and that is where Paul is going with His answer.

Verse 20 Listen it is nice and good and true, that Jesus is our friend, as well as Lord and Savior, but that does not negate the fact that God is also a “totally other” being and we stand in relation to Him, not as lesser person to greater person, but as inanimate object, “clay”, to all-wise, all-knowing Creator “potter.” “O man” is in this verse for a reason, to contrast with “God.” Romans spent many chapters on the ‘bad news’ before we ever got to the ‘good news,’ and this is just a little reminder, the separation, between you and God is permanent and solid, UNLESS, God acts. The ridiculous picture is of a piece of pottery, clay, dirt, sitting there, rising up in all its greatness, (really get a vision of how ridiculous this is) and calling into question, the motivation, the skill the wisdom of the potter!! It is hilariously stupid, but it is an accurate picture.

‘So it is precisely the knowledge of God’s freedom and power and grace which does NOT throw men wholly out of gear, because such knowledge is indissolubly one with the knowledge that they are men and not God. It is precisely the man who respects God as God who will have no occasion to object, for he will neither fear nor desire the dissolution of his responsibility: such a man will become NOT insane, NOT immoral, NOT criminal, NOT a suicide. '
‘On the one side stands the purposeful master of the universe and on the other side stands the material which serves His purpose and becomes His work.’ Barth

Verse 21 If we begin to recognize who we really are and who God really is, then we will not be so stupid as to second-guess His choosing, and we are growing in our understanding and appreciation of His wisdom through these 3 chapter, and of course, Paul ends the chapters with a “bursting out in song to God” because he begins to see the amazing wisdom of God.

Verse 22 God can only be seen in one of two ways, the first and most common is to compromise His justice and wrath, and to 'make up’ a god who fits nicely into our categories. The other is to see that He is truth, and justice and love and to know for a fact that we are incapable of obeying Him and are destined to die at His hands. It is only revelation from Him that reveals this to us and opens us up to the revelation of His mercy, only when Jacob wrestles with the truth of God is He renamed Israel, and only in accepting and repeating his name as 'Jacob’ deceiver, cheater, can God change his name to Israel.
Verse 23 Vessels of mercy, definitely gives the picture not of a container that is meant to sit on a shelf, but of a vessel to be used to pour out, what it has received on others! You can’t have truly known your own need of mercy and the miraculous receiving of mercy, without also wanting to “tell somebody.” This truth that it is all God and “being chosen," does not create haughtiness, but just the opposite, it creates in us ‘humility.'
Verse 24-29 We cannot truly appreciate here what an amazing thing the Holy Spirit is doing through Paul and how it would have stunned the early hearers. The Jews were God’s people, with the promises and all that was stated at the beginning of the chapter. The Gentiles were the outsiders. Even these verses Paul is quoting would have been seen in there original context as promises to the Jews that whereas God had rejected them for a time, He was now accepting them again. There was nothing here for the Gentiles, there was no “leftover” blessing to give to Esau, it had all been given to Jacob. So it is stunning, that the Holy Spirit is now saying, see, there is a two-fold hidden meaning here, a mystery is being revealed, this was also referring to the gentiles.
The time of the gentiles has come, the blessing of God is on them too, His mercy is shown to them too. The same mercy that preserves a remnant of the Jewish people, is performing a gathering of the gentile people. Without God, without His mercy, this chosen people would have become like the worst of the “non-chosen.” The knowledge of this mercy, this revelation, as the one and only source of life, makes of us not arrogant but humble people. The “apostle to the gentiles” was a “Hebrew of Hebrews.” Why? because he of all people could explain where this “Faith” had come from, what the connection is and how amazing it is that God worked it all out.

Piper thoughts and mine and others.

Some will glorify God’s mercy and grace; others His justice and wrath. Either way, we all fulfill our purpose according to how the Lord has decided we will glorify Him. The manner in which we glorify God is largely dependant upon that in which we trust. If it is earthly – people, money, soldiers, strength – we will likely experience and glorify God’s wrath. If it is spiritual – God and His Word alone – we will likely glorify his mercy and grace. If God is veiwed as a many faceted diamond, then as we grow to know and appreciate each angle, His beauty and majesty will increase in our eyes. “Magnify the Lord with me,” the psalmist says, we can not of course make Him bigger, but we can so focus on His greatness from every angle (including wrath and justice) that His “bigness” is more real to us.

This is about the hardest, truest, deepest statement you will ever read about going through pain and loss.
‘In reality our pain and losses are always a test of how much we treasure the all-wise, all-governing God in comparison to what we have lost,’ John Piper

Piper gave a few examples of people who had experienced tragic losses, who found comfort in the fact that God is sovereign in all things. Some would think, just the opposite, that in tragic circumstances people would only be comforted by robbing God of His sovereignty and saying that “event” was out of His control, but that now He was here to comfort, but such is not the case.

The deepest reason this is right, Paul says, is that it displays most fully the glory of God, including His wrath against sin and his power in judgment, so that the vessels of mercy can know Him most completely and worship Him with the greatest intensity for all eternity.

Jonathan Edwards, answering the question why a good and holy God would decree that there be hardening and evil.

“It is a proper and excellent thing for infinite glory to shine forth; and for the same reason, it is proper that the shining forth of God’s glory should be complete; that is, that all parts of his glory should shine forth, that every beauty should be proportionably effulgent [=radiant], that the beholder may have a proper notion of God. It is not proper that one glory should be exceedingly manifested, and another not at all. . .

Thus it is necessary, that God’s awful majesty, his authority and dreadful greatness, justice, and holiness, should be manifested. But this could not be, unless sin and punishment had been decreed; so that the shining forth of God’s glory would be very imperfect, both because these parts of divine glory would not shine forth as the others do, and also the glory of his goodness, love, and holiness would be faint without them; nay, they could scarcely shine forth at all.

If it were not right that God should decree and permit and punish sin, there could be no manifestation of God’s holiness in hatred of sin, or in showing any preference, in his providence, of godliness before it. There would be no manifestation of God’s grace or true goodness, if there was no sin to be pardoned, no misery to be saved from. How much happiness soever he bestowed, his goodness would not be so much prized and admired, and the sense of it not so great . . .

So evil is necessary, in order to the highest happiness of the creature, and the completeness of that communication of God, for which he made the world; because the creature’s happiness consists in the knowledge of God, and the sense of his love. And if the knowledge of him be imperfect, the happiness of the creature must be proportionably imperfect. (Jonathan Edwards, "Concerning the Divine Decrees," in The Works of Jonathan Edwards (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1974), p. 528)

So I ask, "Is God less glorious because he ordained that there be real evil and real guilt and just punishment?" Paul’s answer is, no, just the opposite. God’s glory will shine the more truly and brightly for having decreed and governed this universe as we know it. The effort to rescue God from his sovereignty by denying his foreknowledge of sin or by denying his ultimate control over sin is destructive for faith and hope and worship. It is a great dishonor to his word and his wisdom. Christians, if you love the glory of God, look well to the teaching of your church and your schools. Test them. But most of all look well to your souls.

The point here is that even though the Egyptian Pharaoh defied God and hated the people of Israel, God had actually raised Pharaoh up for to fulfill God’s purpose. Even in his hatred and rebellion, Pharaoh serves as a witness to God’s greatness and glory. When human beings react against God, they think they’re acting on their own, and they think they can short circuit his plans, but actually God is using their very resistance to accomplish his purposes. God used Pharaoh’s resistance to display his power and make his character known.

Paul’s point here seems to be that even God’s enemies serve God’s purposes in the world.

Found this when searching through many other people’s opinions on these verses.

We can trust in God’s fairness because GOD IS MOTIVATED BY MERCY.

Often even when we can’t understand someone’s action, we can accept the action if we trust the person’s motive. When my third son was two years old he had to be admitted to San Antonio Hospital because he had severe croup. I’ll never forget when they put an IV line into my two year old son’s arm. He screamed so loud and fought so hard that he had to be physically restrained. He didn’t understand why I would allow people to do such a painful, horrible thing to him. He looked into my eyes like I was betraying him, yet he also cried out for me to comfort him because he still believed that I loved him. He didn’t understand the action, but he trusted my motive.

I think we’re a lot like that in our relationship with God. When God allows things to happen that seem painful and don’t make sense, we cry out because we don’t understand. But we can trust that he’s motivated by mercy and compassion, not cruelty and vindictiveness. As we struggle with God’s fairness in how he works out his plan, it helps us trust God when we remind ourselves that he’s motivated by mercy.

Timothy Peck

Romans Bible Study #31 Romans 9:6-13

2011-09-03T23:37:00.002-04:00

12 pages many hours later, these verses deserve every ounce of attention we give them.

Romans Bible Study #31
Romans 9:6-13
The God of Jacob

6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; 7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.” 8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. 9 For this is the word of promise: “AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.” 10 And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; 11 for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, 12 it was said to her, “THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.” 13 Just as it is written, “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.” NASB

6-9Don't suppose for a moment, though, that God's Word has malfunctioned in some way or other. The problem goes back a long way. From the outset, not all Israelites of the flesh were Israelites of the spirit. It wasn't Abraham's sperm that gave identity here, but God's promise. Remember how it was put: "Your family will be defined by Isaac"? That means that Israelite identity was never racially determined by sexual transmission, but it was God-determined by promise. Remember that promise, "When I come back next year at this time, Sarah will have a son"?
10-13And that's not the only time. To Rebecca, also, a promise was made that took priority over genetics. When she became pregnant by our one-of-a-kind ancestor, Isaac, and her babies were still innocent in the womb—incapable of good or bad—she received a special assurance from God. What God did in this case made it perfectly plain that his purpose is not a hit-or-miss thing dependent on what we do or don't do, but a sure thing determined by his decision, flowing steadily from his initiative. God told Rebecca, "The firstborn of your twins will take second place." Later that was turned into a stark epigram: "I loved Jacob; I hated Esau." The Message

stark-rigid, bare, blunt, severe epigram-a concise, terse, statement or poem

Verse 6 The basis of this section is: even though many individual Jews are not at this time knowing God, it is not proof that God’s eternal, unchanging Word has failed. If God’s word failed for them it could fail for us, so Paul must defend it, and enlighten us on this topic. Israel, is the receptor of the promises of God, but only the individual believers in the nation whom God chooses are the remnant that He preserves. Chapters 9-11 will progress us through this start with the individual Jew, through the time of the gentile church, and back to God’s sovereign, electing, choice of the nation of Israel, God’s word will stand. “Let God be true and every man a liar.” That statement was from Chapter 3 of this same book, in reference to this same question, so now Paul is progressing in his answer.
Verse 7 Through Isaac, laughter, how can God bring life out of this dead man and his wife’s dead womb? It is a sovereign miracle. This verse is a start in Paul’s argument. The start is; none of this is because of you. Sarah was right to laugh, there is no ‘natural’ possibility that Isaac is ever going to see the light of day. “But God”
Verse 8 The children of the promise. Ishmael, was Abraham’s best shot, Sarah knew she could not provide the heir, so why not do it this way, “helping God” leads to all sorts of painful scenes in life. Better to wait and trust, even and especially when such waiting looks preposterous. A promise is something that is still out there. Hope is our word. Satan can not give hope. Only God can. Our best shot always falls short, but our trust in His Word of Promise never falls short. So laugh Sarah laugh, it is funny, it is impossible and yet...
Verse 9 When God comes, He brings the miracle son and such are we in this world. So this is the end of Part 1 of the answer to the question God’s word didn’t fail, did it? No, but only some are chosen to display the truth of God’s word. They are not born of the flesh, they are born of God. They are not, ‘we figured out how to make this happen.’ They are ‘laughter’, ‘you gotta be kidding’, ‘that’s impossible’, children of a promise that only God could make, and that only God could bring to pass. That’s us.

Part 2 of the answer goes even further, and here we had better re-affirm our commitment to let the word of God change us and to never try to change the word of God, because I was researching this section and came upon some who could not handle it, so they changed God’s word.

Jesus, we ask for Your mercy, that we would be changed by Your word. Amen.

I am reminded of a time in my younger years, when my girlfriend and I were in what we thought was a quiet, secluded part of a state park. What we did not know was we were about 15 feet from an active set of Amtrak train tracks. So, all of the sudden, there is a noise and a rumbling and it is getting louder and louder and I jumped up, not knowing what to do, but knowing that whatever was making that noise, I was absolutely no match for it, and then...relief, it is just a train. But that ‘heart-pounding’ moment when all I knew was something was coming and I was no match for it, is what we feel on the verge of these verses in Romans that have caused many to stop and reject this portion of scripture.
Verse 10 Paul is wiping out any argument against what he is about to say. At this point one could say, “yeh that Ishmael was the son of a slave woman, not a Hebrew.” Rebekah has twins in her womb, obviously both are children of Isaac. (can you hear the rumbling getting closer, growing louder)
Verse 11 Not just twins, but twins who were still in the womb. “Do” was not a word that could be applied to them. No works had been done by them. Up till now the contrast was between works and faith, but now we are going deeper, Paul is building truth and the truth that is revealed here is the contrast between works and “Him who calls.” So there is something underneath and before our ‘faith.’ Otherwise it would be “our faith” and something we could boast in, but there will be none of that!! God’s purpose... His choice... Him who calls (the rumbling is so loud now that the ground is shaking and any thought of ‘I can handle this’ is G-O-N-E!) God is going to be glorified as a Free, Sovereign Being, like no other in the universe.
Verse 12 “It was said to her,” not she was consulted, or she was given a choice, no, “It was said to her” this is how it is going to be, Period! I am God, I call the shots, what I say, goes!
Verse 13 CRASH! Head on against all our thoughts of our own righteousness, or goodness or some quality of ‘my faith’ that led God to choose me ..comes this verse. If His choice could be traced back to something in us, then He would actually be obligated by us, we would be in control. God is free, Free to choose and not choose. Double predestination is the term and many people who have studied and tried to explain these verses cannot handle it and so they dance around and do back flips and all sorts of amazing twists and turns to avoid the plainly stated truth. This is a quote from the book of Malachi, not the book of Genesis where the story of Jacob and Esau is recorded.
Malachi 1:1 The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi.
2 “I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob; 3 but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.” 4 Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins”; thus says the LORD of hosts, “They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the LORD is indignant forever.” 5 Your eyes will see this and you will say, “The LORD be magnified beyond the border of Israel!”

So in the context, it is actually God answering the question, “How have You loved us?”
Amazing, His answer, My love is shown in My choosing you, My free and sovereign choice of you is the proof of My love. And maybe we should leave it where He leaves it. Right there.

So, Thank You God for Your choosing us, for the love that You have shown to us. Thank You for all that You have done to bring us under the shadow of Your wings. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

This thought is from Reggie Kelly
Though personally and nationally 'unholy' in the sense of regeneration, they are nonetheless rightly and justly called, "the people of your holiness" (Isa 63:18) in the sense of set apart. The nations and most of the church, do not get this. That is why so many will stumble, when judgment begins at the house of God. It is the mystery of election that sees God as just in His sovereign 'right to choose as He will choose' . He holds the sovereign prerogative to give an irrevocable election, whether it be concerning a Land or a people, even before, and independently of the necessary fulfillment of the conditions. Not because the conditions don't require fulfillment, but because God is jealous for the source and cause of that fulfillment, that it be nothing of man, so that no flesh can glory. Why and how God is able to do this is at the heart of the mystery of electing grace. (Remember we are headed for this verse, “and so all Israel will be saved” Romans 11:26, what He has done in our lives as individuals, He will one day do for a nation, and if we truly know that it was nothing in us that prompted Him to do that work in us, it will not cause us to stumble when there is nothing in them that causes Him to choose them.)

These were good thoughts from John Piper
Let’s look at the three closest parallels in Paul’s writing where he used this word "purpose," and work our way back to verse 11.

Romans 8:28

Look first at Romans 8:28, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Here he says that God calls people to himself but there is something behind that call, namely, God’s purpose, guiding whom and how he calls. We are called "according to His purpose." So God’s purpose has to do with guiding his saving work, in this case his calling.

2 Timothy 1:9

Next, let’s look at 2 Timothy 1:9. Here again he connects God’s calling his people to his purpose. "He saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity." Here we see four things:

First, God’s purpose is eternal – "from all eternity," he says. It doesn’t originate or respond to anything. It is eternal.
Second, God’s purpose is related to Christ from all eternity. Christ is not an afterthought. God’s purpose was in him and through him from all eternity.
Third, God’s purpose is linked with grace. "According to his own purpose and grace." It is a gracious purpose. It’s a purpose to exercise grace.
Fourth, the purpose of God rules out works as the basis of his saving call: "He saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to is own purpose." His own purpose is the basis of his call, not our works.
Ephesians 1:4-6, 11

The third parallel is in Ephesians 1, first in verse 11 and then verses 4-6. Ephesians 1:11 says, "We have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will." Notice two things.

First, not just our calling but also our predestination is "according to His purpose." So God’s purpose governs his predestination.
Second, Paul says that it is a free and sovereign purpose, not governed by anything outside of God. He says, "According to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will." What’s the point of saying that this Purposer "works all things after the counsel of his will"? The point is that he governs all things, and that he does not base his governance ultimately on anything in man or in nature, but only on himself. "He works all things after the counsel of his will." We are not finally decisive in turning the will of God; God alone is decisive.
The next verse (12) comes very close to defining God’s purpose. It’s a continuation of verse 11 and tell us what the purpose is of him who works all things after the counsel of his will, namely, "to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory." In other words He does all His works to this end: that we would "be to the praise of His glory." His purpose here is the praise of His glory.

It is even more pointed in verses 4-6. Follow the purpose statements up to their highest point in verse 6: Eph 1:4"Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will [probably another way of referring to his purpose], 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." There it is again. God’s purpose is to bring about the praise of the glory of his grace. All election, all predestination, all calling, and all redemption is according to this purpose – for the praise of the glory of his grace.

What Is God’s "Purpose"?

Now back to Romans 9:11. God performs the unconditional election of Jacob over Esau "so that his purpose according to election would stand." From all we have seen so far, as well as the context of this paragraph, I would state the purpose like this: God’s purpose is to be known and enjoyed and praised (or if you like alliteration: to be seen and savored and sung) as infinitely glorious in his free and sovereign grace. This is the purpose that governs all the works of God. He elects, predestines, calls, redeems, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies to this end – for this purpose: to be seen and savored and sung as infinitely glorious in his free and sovereign grace.

But "infinitely glorious" I mean perfectly beautiful and immeasurably great.
By "free" I mean the final reason for all events in the universe is in Himself and not another. The decisive influence of all that happens in the world is God’s. He works all things, not just some things, after the counsel of His own will. He alone in all the universe has the freedom of ultimate self-determination.
By "sovereign" I mean that nothing can thwart what He wants most to do.
God’s purpose is to be known and enjoyed and praised as infinitely glorious in His free and sovereign grace. And this purpose is "according to election" – it is an electing purpose – because if God did not elect unconditionally He would not be free, He would not be sovereign, and He would not be glorious.

Not free, because then men would determine their own election, not God. He would be bound (not free) to conform to their own self-determination.
Not sovereign, because instead of doing successfully what He wants most, He would be thwarted again and again by self-determining man.
Not glorious, because God’s absolute freedom and sovereignty are the essence of the glory of His grace.

More from Piper

"But Because of Him Who Calls"

But that is not what he says here. He says, "not because of works but because of Him who calls." Why? Because faith is a condition of justification, but it is not a condition of election. Election is unconditional. But justification is conditional. Before we can be justified we must believe on Jesus Christ. But before we can believe on Jesus Christ we must be chosen and called. God does not choose us because we will believe. He chooses us so that we will believe.

Notice carefully how Paul says it. "God’s purpose according to election will stand . . . because of Him who calls." Notice it does not say: his purpose stands because of His calling. It says because of HIM who calls. God will one day call His elect. But His election is not based on that calling. It is based on Himself and his free and sovereign will to call.

So to paraphrase the verse: "God’s electing purpose will stand not because of any foreseen deeds, and not because of any foreseen faith; but simply because of Him – because of God." I used to squirm out of this truth, by saying, that God is not stuck in time, so He was choosing Jacob based on things that He knew Jacob would do, but the scripture really does not allow one to squirm out from under this at all.

The ultimate ground of God’s election is God. This is simply another way of saying: for God to be God he must be free and sovereign. This is his glory. This is what it means to be God.

The Application to Our Lives

There is more to see. So much more to see. But for now the application to our lives is clear. If the purpose of God – flowing from the very essence of what it means to be God – is that he be known and enjoyed and praised as infinitely glorious in his free and sovereign grace, then the meaning of our existence is clear. We exist to know and enjoy and praise and display the glory of God’s free and sovereign grace. We exist to see and savor and sing – and spread a passion for – the glory of God’s grace.

And underneath this meaning for our lives is the massive assurance: This purpose will stand. And all who are in Christ by faith will stand in it. So spend yourself for this great purpose while you live. All the elect in Christ prevail, God’s purpose stands, it cannot fail.

Reggie Kelly again.
To refuse to bow to the election of God is to bow down to another god, the idol of human self-determination. It manifests a self sufficient refusal of the knowledge of God. That is why I see this issue as the principal stone of stumbling that will test many hearts in these treacherous days of ultimate strong delusion.

More thoughts from Piper
Three Reasons Why the Doctrine of Unconditional Election Is Good News

It is good news because it means no unbeliever is so bad that they can say in response to our gospel pleading, "I can’t be elect; I am too evil. I have sinned too long and to deeply." God’s election is not based on how much we do or don’t sin. It is not based on anything we do or think or feel or choose. Therefore, the proper response to that kind of despair is to say, "Who do you think you are to exalt your sin to the level of God? Who do you think you are to wallow in your despair and make your sinful will the sovereign of the universe, as if you could decide who is elect and who is not by the quantity of your sinning?" No! You have no right and no power to declare yourself beyond God’s election. He and he alone decides who is elect. And he decides NOT on the basis of your sin or your righteousness, but on the basis of his inscrutable will alone. You may not play God with your sin. None of it proves you are not elect. Repent, therefore, and call on the name of the Lord through Jesus Christ who has died for sinners. For he has said, "Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.’" To the despairing soul who feels he has sinned himself out of the possibility of election, unconditional election is good news.

The doctrine of unconditional election is good news because it preserves the praise of God’s glorious grace at every point in our salvation. There was not, and is not, nor ever will be, a point where we become the decisive cause of our salvation. God has chosen us freely so that we may not boast in ourselves but in God. This is good news because we were made to find greatest joy in praising, not being praised. Probably the deepest corruption that we have all inherited from the Fall – and it is especially and blatantly prevalent in the last 50 years – is that we believe and feel that happiness and health come from being praised, rather than from praising God. We think that psychological health comes from being made much of, rather than from being freed from that need to enjoy making much of God forever. That is why we were made, and that is where the greatest and deepest and longest joys are found – not in being made much of, but in forgetting ourselves in the joy of making much of God’s glory, which consists very much in his free and sovereign grace. Unconditional election is designed for that great and happy end. Therefore it is good news.

The doctrine of unconditional election is good news because when, by grace through faith, you know yourself loved by God, forgiven, justified, accepted, this doctrine of election assures you that the roots of your salvation – the roots of God’s almighty commitment to save you – are not shallow, but go down deep into the counsels of eternity. It is good news to know that the root of your salvation goes down forever and ever into eternal grace and never gets to a point where it is contingent and fragile and dependent on your foreseen faith or your foreseen good works.

Moses asks to see God’s glory. God obliges by saying: Here’s my goodness, my name. And to his name he attaches this sentence: "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." In other words, I think God is saying to Moses, and to us, my glory is expressed in my name, Yahweh (Lord), and my name is expressed in my freedom to have mercy on whom I have mercy. This is who I am. This is my name. This is my glory. My essence as God consists essentially in being free from any constraint originating outside my own will. This is the essence of what it means to be God. This is his name, my glory.

One confirmation of this is that back in chapter 3 of Exodus Moses asks God what his name is so that he can tell the Israelites who sent him. God answers in verse 14: "God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And he said, ‘Say this to the people of Israel, "I AM has sent me to you."’’" In other words, God explained his name here as "I am who I am." And in Exodus 33:19 he explains his name as "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy." The structure is the same, and the meaning is simply expanded. God’s name, the essence of his glory, is that he IS absolutely and without cause or constraint from outside himself. He is who he is. And, expanding on that in chapter 33, he says his name, his essence, is, "I have mercy on whom I have mercy" – that is, I am absolutely self-existent and absolutely self-determining. I exist freely, without cause or control from any other. And I have mercy freely. At the deepest decision of my mercy there is no cause or control or constraint by anything outside my own will. That is what it means to be God, Yahweh. That is my name and the essence of my glory.

Therefore the doctrine of unconditional election stands and God is righteous in it.

And I close with the reminder of how good this news is:

No amount of sin that you have ever done can keep you from being God’s elect. God was, is, and always will be free. And your past record of sin was and is no hindrance to your being elect. Call on the name of the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.
And let all the praise for your salvation go to him and not yourself. You were made for this. Find your joy in making much of God and his grace, not making much of yourself. And when you find your rest in Christ through faith, glory in this: the roots of your security go down forever in the eternal grace of God. Amen.

Why election is good news?
1) No one is so bad that he is outside of God’s choosing
2) God’s grace, not myself, my intelligence, my choosing
3) When my faith and love for God is most fragile, I can
remember that God’s choosing of me, is rooted in who
He is, not in anything I do.

The Mystery
God elects, predestines, calls, but He does so without changing the
fact that individual people are held accountable for their choices in
this life, and there is no injustice in that. We are held responsible.

God in His sovereignty renders certain the belief of the elect without
taking away our responsibility. It is a mystery, but both truths are in
the Bible. What is not in the Bible is that man makes a choice outside
of the will of God. Man is not sovereign.
Barth:
“He comes to thine aid for His own sake and not for thine” Schlatter
His is miracle or absence of miracle.
Only as free, regal, sovereign, unbounded and incomprehensible, can we comprehend God and do Him honour.
Be careful that you feel good enough or wise enough to judge the goodness or wisdom of God.
The church of Jacob lives its life in fear of Esau, realizing that it is only separated from Esau, but the electing grace of God.
Hope comes only from God, we must decrease, He must increase.
The church is inadequate, transient men, proclaiming the eternal and absolute Word of God.
The Ishmael church is any church that is attempting to help God by its own efforts and that busies itself doing ‘good’ things. Totally unwilling to admit that they are poor, blind, weak and needy. The Isaac church laughs at the impossibility of God choosing to use it, it would take a miracle for that to happen, and that is, of course the ‘point.’ It does take a miracle and God gets the glory when Isaac is born, not Sarah’s womb or Abraham’s body which are both dead.
Life out of death, resurrection is the theme of the church.

This is the eternal absolute word of God. It is not a transient, human word. It is unprecedented. It is not “one thing” among “other things.” It is OTHER, as He is other. As Abraham’s seed, we must realize and accept that we are not established by ourselves, we are established by God, by a miracle, out of death - life.

John Stott offers this helpful analysis:

If therefore God hardens some, he is not being unjust, for that is what their sin deserves. If, on the other hand, he has compassion on some, he is not being unjust, for he is dealing with them in mercy. The wonder is not that some are saved and some are lost, but that anybody is saved at all. For we deserve nothing from God’s hand but judgment. If we receive what we deserve (which is judgment), or if we receive what we do not deserve (which is mercy), in neither case is God unjust. If therefore anybody is lost, the blame is theirs, but if anybody is saved, the credit is God’s. (Romans, pp. 269-270).

This is the main point of the entire chapter. No matter how disappointed we may be, God’s Word has not failed, nor will it ever fail. Numbers 23:19 puts it this way: “Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” Isaiah 55:11: “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

* God’s purposes always promote His glory, even if we don’t understand what He is doing. The real question is not why God rejected Esau but why he chose Jacob. He elected to lavish mercy on the deceiver Jacob, even though he deserved justice. Esau simply received what was coming to him. Without mercy Jacob would have been passed over as well. Likewise, we are all born objects of God’s wrath (Ephesians 2:3). It’s only through His electing love that we receive mercy. Everything comes back to God and no one deserves salvation. If you got what you deserved, you would go to hell. And so would I.

Wisdom

2011-09-02T11:00:00.002-04:00

Art Katz defining wisdom - The unique and particular application of the mind of God to a present or future circumstance for which nothing of your past will have prepared you (and even if something in the past were given of God you cannot make the application because of a similarity- You need what is appropriate now, the present truth as it is in Christ Jesus for this situation. Wisdom is what God Himself gives out of His own mind in the appropriateness that only He can recognize and ive answer for a situation that has not previously come - that cannot be answered by any past experience and needs the present NOW understanding of God to resolve. The issue is not convenience but the Glory of God. Furthermore Art noted in his sermon on "The pursuit of Wisdom" that we are to be seeking wisdom, crying out for it, realizing our desperate NEED of it, that and that alone will put us in the disposition to get it. And when we begin simply "walking" in that wisdom then that disposition will lead to the "character" that one begins to live out, as one is "walking" out the truths of God. So what we are looking to do and see in our children is the disposition to be wanting truth, that is a gift from God, so once again, our prayer is simplified, "Lord choose _____, my child, and give them this gift." God make us aware of our desperate need of You, In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Romans Study #30 Romans 9:1-5

2011-08-15T10:59:00.001-04:00

Romans Bible Study #30
Romans 9:1-5
The Freedom of God

1 I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, 5 whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. NASB

1-5 At the same time, you need to know that I carry with me at all times a huge sorrow. It's an enormous pain deep within me, and I'm never free of it. I'm not exaggerating—Christ and the Holy Spirit are my witnesses. It's the Israelites...If there were any way I could be cursed by the Messiah so they could be blessed by him, I'd do it in a minute. They're my family. I grew up with them. They had everything going for them—family, glory, covenants, revelation, worship, promises, to say nothing of being the race that produced the Messiah, the Christ, who is God over everything, always. Oh, yes! The Message

This section starts with a heart cry, whose heart?, Paul’s, no, deeper, Christ’s heart and the heart of the Holy Spirit. A heart cry, not a disconnected, educated lesson, but a CRY! A cry of pain, of sorrow, of unceasing grief. Only revelation, from the heart of God, brings about this kind of change in a man. Education; highly exalted in our society, is of no use in forming this kind of heart. Oh God, You will have to do this work, or this work will not be done. Give us this kind of heart, we pray.
He just spoke of how we cannot be separated from the love of God, but if such a thing were possible, his heart would be willing for it. What has he gone through, what has he been brought through that he could have such a heart? These are the people who reject his teaching, who stone and whip him every chance they get and some even made a vow that they would not eat until they killed him, and yet for this people he has such love. What has made his heart one with Christ, deeply connected to the Holy Spirit?
The giant of the OT, Moses, and the giant of the NT, Paul, both were so in touch with the heart of God, that they could wish themselves accursed, to see this people change. (Exodus 32:32) It is not possible make ourselves accursed in the place of another, because God does not allow it, but to have that kind of heart is our goal.
So much has been lost by this people who had all of these things, including Christ according to the flesh. Exodus 4 Israel is the first reference to ‘sons’ in the Bible.
God’s first ‘adoption’ was this nation. This tiny group of people among the powerful peoples of the earth. He set them apart, He brought them out. He gave them His name and identified them as His possession. There is an amazing thing happening here, this nation has to fail in its call in every area and every time that it tries to grab hold of it in its own strength, but, this nation cannot ultimately fall, because the call was from God, the covenant was from God. His Name and His faithfulness is at stake in this ultimate fulfillment, NOT through some other people some other way, but through this people on this earth. Fulfilled THROUGH HIM, not education, skill, expertise, human gifts of any kind. Saved by God, or not saved at all, just like us. So they have to go through a time of death, a time of being set aside, in order for the fulfillment to come through resurrection. God’s ultimate and unchanging pattern. Eph. 1:6 “to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”

The purpose of this section (9-11) is to show that God is God. The Potter can elect and choose. This section is a laser beam aimed at the works-oriented mentality of humanity. “So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.” Romans 9:16

If you dig deep enough, the cross is at the heart of our understanding. We did nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing, to go from being an enemy of God to a saved and chosen friend. What Jesus did on the cross is all that was done, period.

You have to be in right relationship with the Spirit to pray rightly.
Apostolic heart is jealous for God’s Name, God’s word and as a result Israel. God will answer Paul’s prayer, but in a way that no one could have dreamed up, and as this plan is unfolded through and to Paul, he is brought to that great time of worship and praise at the end of Chapter 11.

National culpability, verse 4 “Israelites.” God has a view of mankind that is both individual and national. He brings judgment both on the basis of individual sin and national sin. His choosing of this nation is not a 'changeable’ thing. This verse, 11:29 “for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” is often used for many things, but is specifically in reference to Israel, another reason why “replacement theology” is wrong.

Galatians 3:28“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”Just as a side note, this verse is used to argue for replacement theology, Paul is laboring in this book to show the inadequacy of the law and the true salvation of being ‘in Christ by faith.’ When we come to Christ by faith we are children of Abraham and we do inherit the promises, as individuals, BUT, this does not eliminate the “call and election” of Israel, and Israel alone, to be a chosen nation.
So when 1peter 2verse 9 says all these promises they are Israel’s promises which are yet to be truly fulfilled in them. 9 “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.” These verses could be used to ‘teach’ replacement theology if you did not know that these are Israel’s promises in verse 9, being given to the gentiles in verse 10 and one day they will find their literal fulfillment in the nation of Israel on the promised day when the natural branch is grafted back onto the vine. (Romans 11:24) Very few people are willing to do what we are striving to do, see the whole truth of God as it is revealed by the Apostle over 3 chapters. God we continually ask for grace to let the scriptures change us.

It is important that when Balak was willing to pay Balaam to curse Israel, he could not, because God would not. Numbers 23

Judgment begins with the “household of God” (1Peter 4:17) one aspect of God’s judgment is its ‘national’ view. Our “nation” as individual believers is “the household of God.”

Lastly a comment from Reggie Kelly regarding these chapters.
“The temptation is always to exalt reason over revelation. Without the profound difficulty and mystery of Ro 9, we could not have Paul’s glorious doxology in Ro 11:33-36, because the way to that glory must pass through the perplexities of Ro 9, offenses notwithstanding. Paul simply does not answer the dilemma of election with the naturally expected appeal to free will. He does not satisfy our natural objections by that more ‘reasonable’ solution. Rather, he says “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?” And “so then, it is NOT of him that wills or of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy.” I just have to leave it there. I dare not say more than scripture, but I must not say less. For this, any servant that refuses to compromise will suffer great loss and reproach, as I’ve often experienced the intimidation of the powers tempting me to refrain from getting anywhere near the subject, lest I open the proverbial can of worms. However, such convenience can only be maintained if the subject of Israel be kept at a comparatively minimal and superficial level; but is that God’s intention?” Reggie Kelly

The next mountain we are to climb by the grace of God is the famous section on Jacob and Esau.
God prepare our hearts, give us eyes to see and ears to hear, in Jesus’ Name. Amen

Romans Study #29 Chap. 9-11

2011-08-01T13:21:00.001-04:00

Romans Bible Study #29
Reading Chapter 9-11

“I seek not to understand in order that I may believe; rather, I believe that I may understand.” Anselm of Canterbury
I am indebted to many wiser-than-I men who I look to, to help me wade through these deep waters. Art Katz has a most appropriate teaching that relates to how we should look at these chapters. It has long been our goal to, “not change the scriptures but to let the scriptures change us.” These chapters are like the burning bush that Moses turned aside to see. It is said that once he turned aside to see that bush, that he would be forever changed, he could never ‘turn back’ to where or who he was after seeing this sight. That kind of ‘life-changing’ time is awaiting us in these chapters. It is impossible for a bush to be burning and yet not be consumed. It is impossible for God to be free, sovereign and the ultimate cause of all things, and to hold us accountable for our actions. One thing to keep in mind is that although scripture compares us with sheep at times it also compares us to clay on a potter’s wheel. The clay is not just ‘a little less smart than the potter,’ it is completely something “other” than what the potter is. The Potter has the right to do with the clay what He wants. Mercy, wisdom, sovereignty, are all on display in these chapters. These great truths push aside a lie called ‘replacement theology,’ which essentially states that God’s Old Testament promises to Israel are fulfilled by the church and that God is done with Israel.
Romans 9-11 do not stand alone in the Bible, they complete the truth of the Sovereign God of the Bible. He Who will NOT suffer His plans to be thwarted. He intended for Israel to be a light to the other nations demonstrating His government. Blessing the nations by being a nation ruled by Him. If these promises are not fulfilled God is not God. If they are not fulfilled totally by Him without the help of man, it is not grace. Election/Predestination is grace in its most pride-killing form, and these chapters will not let ‘man’ squirm out from under the truth that ultimately God is in total control of all things.
Jeremiah 31:35-37Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: "If this fixed order departs From before Me," declares the LORD, "Then the offspring of Israel also will cease From being a nation before Me forever." Thus says the LORD, "If the heavens above can be measured And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel For all that they have done," declares the LORD.
These chapters are one complete thought and so tonight we will read them straight through and that will be our study.

real conversion

2011-07-21T16:10:00.000-04:00

North Korean Christians make the decision when they come to faith that one day they will die for Christ.

Romans Study #28 Romans 8:28-39

2011-07-15T19:53:00.000-04:00

Romans Bible Study # 28
Romans 8:28-39

Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? 33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written,
“FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG;
WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.”
37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. NASB

Romans 8:28That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

29-30God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.

31-39So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:
They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. The Message

A massive amount of divine energy is needed to bring the promise of Romans 8:28 to pass. “God causes” is more massive than we could ever wrap our minds around. To quote Jerry, “God is always painting on a canvas bigger than we can see.” So tempting in the middle of the latest trial to rise up and question God. To pout and go off to self-pity land and commit some sin to “get back” at Him. I have actually done that. How incredibly stupid. What should we do? Focus on the truth, “God, You promise to cause all things to work together for Good, (be very, very aware, it does not say your good, it just says good. You are not the center of the universe, He is, and He knows what is ultimately good.) and so You are busy working right now and ultimately this is good. I can’t see it, I don’t know how, but I trust You and the Holy Spirit who is right now praying for me, and Jesus who is right now interceding for me. All the power of heaven is causing this to work together for the good!”

The promise is not to everyone. Ah Oh. We must all come to terms with this truth. All men fall short. All men deserve hell. So the fact that God has worked to overcome this and to make a way and has chosen some to reflect the amazing grace that He has shown, is a grace, is mercy. No one would be foolish enough to proclaim that he just chose to love God. No, before love appeared in our hearts, there was only stony disobedience and rebellion and pride. God chose us and called us and brought us in, revealing His Son to us, on the cross. We would not want this promise to rest only on our love, because our love is fickle and “all too human.” No, we need this promise to rest on a far stronger, far better foundation, “being called according to His purpose." This love in fact, flows out or our being called.
John Piper has some scriptures that speak of this “security.”

“Jude 1:1, "Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, loved by God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 1:8, "[God] will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
In other words, God will confirm you to the end because he called you. That is what God’s faithfulness means. God called you according to his purpose to save you, and God always does what he purposes to do. That is his faithfulness.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, "Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it."
God is faithful. Therefore, if he called you, he will keep you.” Piper

June 25th Oswald Chambers. RECEIVING ONE'S SELF IN THE FIRES OF SORROW
"What shall I say? Father, save me, from this hour? But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify Thy name." John 12:27-29 (R.V.)

My attitude as a saint to sorrow and difficulty is not to ask that they may be prevented, but to ask that I may preserve the self God created me to be through every fire of sorrow. Our Lord received Himself in the fire of sorrow, He was saved not from the hour, but out of the hour.

We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to receive ourselves in its fires. If we try and evade sorrow, refuse to lay our account with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life; it is no use saying sorrow ought not to be. Sin and sorrow and suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them.

Sorrow burns up a great amount of shallowness, but it does not always make a man better. Suffering either gives me my self or it destroys my self. You cannot receive your self in success, you lose your head; you cannot receive your self in monotony, you grouse. The way to find yourself is in the fires of sorrow. Why it should be so is another matter, but that it is so is true in the Scriptures and in human experience. You always know the man who has been through the fires of sorrow and received himself, you are certain you can go to him in trouble and find that he has ample leisure for you. If a man has not been through the fires of sorrow, he is apt to be contemptuous, he has no time for you. If you receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other people.

Foreknew, predestined, God is before all, we are objects of His love, His sovereign choice. His love, His choosing is our foundation. “Conformed to the image of His Son” and Barth adds that “the image to which they are conformed is the death of Jesus. Philippians 3:10 “ that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;”
He goes on to explain this, “When, like Job or Paul, men proclaim the death of Jesus; when they are able to rejoice in tribulation as their glory and salvation; when in their distress, in spite of it and because of it, they shine forth as lights in the world, then is fulfilled in them the occurrence of divine fore-ordination, and God operates in them and through them.” It is not a thing or action that we choose but something that He creates in us, it is the unobservable, but very real sonship.

Predestined, called, justified, glorified, all past tense, all “done” works.

If God is for us... what else matters.

Paul argues from the top down, the greatest height of love was shown in the giving up of His Son, all else is ours, because all else is less than that.

Many charges can be brought, Stephen was martyred due to false charges, but none of these charges will “stick”, because God is the ultimate One who decides which charges stick. So again the argument is from the top down, God says no charge will stick and so that is the end of the story. Barth says these things are too great to speak about AND too great to be silent about!!

Jesus intercedes for us. Perfect God who has our ultimate good in mind, intercedes for us.

35 We are subject to all of these things and none of them separate us from His love. It is a thorough list of 7 things including “sword,” which is to say the beheading, that tradition says, is how Paul died.
We can go through each of these verses and ask, What is the grace of God in this verse for us?
Ultimately no one has the power to be against you... so that offensive person
is not... there is no need for revenge or pay back or even taking offense.

These verses provide
massive security for
merciful service through
many sufferings J. Piper

Suffering that could/will make the “love of many grow cold.”
Matthew 24:12
Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.
That’s the “agape” of many will grow cold, I have often puzzled over that verse... so a proper understanding and revelation of these verses to our hearts is key. Key because the times of trouble are real and we need a real foundation of belief in our life to get us through.

This little section of Ephesians fits in nicely here. Eph. 1:18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might 20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

This is all too glorious for us to comprehend, so we join with Paul and pray that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened to know these amazing truths.

Our next time together we will read Romans 9-11 because it is one cohesive thought and needs to be considered as a whole, before we start to break it down. Right now I will share what I believe the gracious God revealed to me about how Romans 8 leads into this next section, as Paul continues to build systematically his argument, his teaching, in this amazing book.

Romans 8 finishes with the amazing section that a whole list of things that can happen to us, DO NOT separate us from His love. Then Paul says the love that God has put in him for Israel, leads him to be willing for the ultimate being 'cut off' from God, if it would mean their salvation. Then he describes the great mystery of the ages, how God elected a nation, how He allowed that nation to turn from Him and kill their Messiah, how He turned that death into salvation for the gentiles (and believing Jews), and how ,now, the call to the church is to be willing for the whole list of things from Romans 8 to happen to them as they reach out with supernatural magnanimity to a people who are being extremely persecuted (beyond the Nazi time) in the last days. Our reaching out to them means our loss, our being associated with them means, like Corrie ten Booms' family, we may be hunted down and killed with them, but that knowledge does not stop us from loving because NOTHING can separate us from the love of God. In showing that kind of supernatural love, we prepare the hearts of ‘Israel’ to receive the return of the “one whom they had pierced.”
Only God in His grace and mercy could reveal that to my mind, and heart I am so grateful to Him

Romans 8 leads into Romans 9

2011-07-15T15:06:00.004-04:00

I love it when a simple truth is also a deep amazing revelation.
Example:
Romans 8 leads to Romans 9.

Romans 8 finishes with the amazing section that a whole list of things that can happen to us, DO NOT separate us from His love. Then Paul says the love that God has put in him for Israel, leads him to be willing for the ultimate being 'cut off' from God, if it would mean their salvation. Then he describes the great mystery of the ages, how God elected a nation, how He allowed that nation to turn from Him and kill their Messiah, how He turned that death into salvation for the gentiles (and believing Jews), and how ,now, the call to the church is to be willing for the whole list of things from Romans 8 to happen to them as they reach out with supernatural magnanimity to a people who are being extremely persecuted (beyond the Nazi time) in the last days. Our reaching out to them means our loss, our being associated with them means, like Corrie ten Booms' family, we may be hunted down and killed with them, but that knowledge does not stop us from loving because NOTHING can separate us from the love of God. In showing that kind of supernatural love, we prepare the hearts of ‘Israel’ to receive the return of the “one whom they had pierced.”
Only God in His grace and mercy could reveal that to my mind, and heart I am so grateful to Him

Psalm 102:12-14 "spiritual self-seeking"

2011-07-09T21:49:00.002-04:00

12 But You, O LORD, abide forever,
And Your name to all generations.
13 You will arise and have compassion on Zion;
For it is time to be gracious to her,
For the appointed time has come.
14 Surely Your servants find pleasure in her stones
And feel pity for her dust.

God is waiting for the attitude of the church to be one of compassion. When Israel is being crushed, the church rises up to join the Lord in a heart of compassion for this humbled people.

In the midst of a message explaining this, Art Katz, went into a "Spirit-led" rant against the "spiritual self-seeking" of a people who even in the guise of "wanting more of God" are actually seeking for an increase in themselves. The subtlety of pride is exposed by this. It is a deep thing. One that I have come to acknowledge was very present in me, as i went from conference to conference, seeking a "touch" or a "word" that would set me up as one of the 'ones' with power and anointing.

Here is his rant, as best as I could transcribe it. Speaking to people at a place where they had gone, (outwardly) for more of God, but underneath....

"because He (God) has waited for you to come to this condition. You hard Americans, you callow, shallow, evangelical charismatics who are rooted in self-centeredness, with an overlay of seeming spirituality but your self-interest is the predominant factor that is the center of your being and moving, even coming to a place like this to learn ministry and how to obtain...It's Deep! and it is the wrong principle, its the wrong center, the right center is an identification with God, in those things that are contrary to self-interest, even spiritual self-interest and it shows itself in a way that beggars the mind and stupifies the imagination that a gentile would be so identified with Jews in their ultimate depravity of distress and judgment, that they would take it upon themselves as being appropriate to themselves. It is not from a distance that you cluck your tongue 'too bad about those Jews' you are with them in it, you are not just having mercy about the dust, YOU"RE IN THE DUST and when God sees that He can now deliver Israel, because the issue of Israel has produced in you that quality of divine character which is at the heart of God Himself, and is the very genius of deity, which is compassion!" ART Katz

The Hindering Power of Self-Reliance

2011-06-28T14:21:00.003-04:00

OK, so if you made it past that title, you may be one of the few, the chosen, who will dive deeper to understand more. Remember as Piper says, "you rake, you get leaves, you dig you get treasure"

Speaking of the church during the final 7 years, especially the church that travails for the breakthrough at the mid-point 3 1/2 years.

We need to see that the events of the last 3 1/2 years are preceded by the events of the first 3 1/2 years. These events are likewise described with great detail and specificity (Dan 11:23-30) so that will be recognized by at least a sizeable remnant of the true church of God (Dan 11:33).

These events and the urgency that they signify will have a ‘straightening’ affect on the church. The sure and certain approach of the final tribulation will crowd the church to a place of deepest intercessory travail. Through a process of crisis urgency and transforming revelation, the church will be increasingly freed of the hindering power of self-reliance (2Cor 1:9), since this is what gives Satan power to accuse the saints. Where there is no confidence in the flesh, his power to accuse is canceled. As Israel is transformed only after they have been brought to an end of their power (compare Deut 32:36 with Dan 12:7), so must the church pass through a time of profound self-emptying before it can be raised (or birthed) to the fullness of kingdom love and power.

The Accuser will be cast down at that time by the same means that his power is broken now, namely, by the revelation of the gospel. But we must understand that there are degrees of apprehension of revealed truth, and we know that the greater the death to our own sufficiency will be the greater resurrection in the revelation of grace and glory, as the light shines brighter to the ‘perfect day’. This is why that even while the Antichrist is ‘wearing out’ the saints of the most high (Dan 7:25; Rev 13:7), they shall mount up with wings and overcome more and more as they are purged, purified, tested, and made white “even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed” (Dan 11:35; 12:10)., since this is what gives Satan power to accuse the saints. Where there is no confidence in the flesh, his power to accuse is canceled. As Israel is transformed only after they have been brought to an end of their power (compare Deut 32:36 with Dan 12:7), so must the church pass through a time of profound self-emptying before it can be raised (or birthed) to the fullness of kingdom love and power.
The veil that holds back the in-breaking of apocalyptic revelation is proportionate to the strength of the flesh. This is a profoundly important principle. This is why it is not until Israel’s power has been broken that “all these things shall be accomplished.” So is it any different with the church? What is the church but a people that have learned that grace only appears when one has come to an end of their own power? So the church that can overcome in the final test is a church that has learned that kingdom strength comes only at the end of our own strength. This is the basis by which we may confidently know that the church will be perfected in love in time for its final witness.

a portion of an article by Reggie Kelly, the whole thing is here...
http://the.mysteryofisrael.org/articles/daniel-as-a-type-of-the-godly-remnant/

Romans Study # 27 Romans 8:11-27

2011-06-21T19:57:00.000-04:00

Had to take it down do some editing and now re-post.

Romans Bible Study #27
Romans 8:11-27
Sonship, Suffering, Glory
Word: HOPE

11But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. 12So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-- 13for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" 16The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,
17and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
19For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. 24For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
Our Victory in Christ
26In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. NASB

9-11But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God's terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!
12-14So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!
15-17This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!
18-21That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.
22-25All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.
26-28Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
The MESSAGE

verses 9-12 God is the source of that body of yours, it should be used to bring Him glory.
Verse 13 lesson 26 was all about this. We are in the middle of a violent rebellion against the flesh that pushes us to ignore and disobey God. The devil and the fight against him is not mentioned in Romans except where he is seen as a defeated foe. So, we are our main problem. Self violence to self, not other people’s sins , but to your harshness and critical spirit. Relying on God’s word and faith to take us onlward in the Christian life.

Verses 14-17 WOW! The amazing truth that we are sons, heirs, of God. It is too big to wrap our minds around. What He owns we own. We inherit the earth. We truly are His son, that implies approval and love. If I know God approves of me, I can pass that approval on to my wife and kids. That Approval can be something that is freely given not earned, freely given. Then it is not a burden buy a tremendous 'setting free.” Spend time with the God who chose you, who sees the end from the beginning and loves you. As my heart cries, “Abba, Father" something transformational happens.
Verse 17 “suffering” We suffer with Him, by imitating what He did, giving up self to do what the Father wants. Being that grain of wheat that unobtrusively falls into the ground. Those sufferings are never the focus, the focus is on the next life, with the incredible rewards that come to a son, heir, such as us. Verse 18 Suffering will come but our hope is built on the truth that “glory will be revealed to us.” Not now, not here, will be revealed.
Verse 18-20, corruption and death in this world, came as a result of the fall, they are not the perfect will of God, and somehow, creation knows this and waits eagerly, with their necks craning to see, are they coming yet?, is that them?, is this the time?, is our freedom coming finally?
Thank God for hope, a firm belief in a firm outcome. The whole of creation is subject to futility, (can I get an Amen?) in HOPE.
Futility -- an act having no useful purpose, An action to achieve a goal that is unachievable.
I picture treading water, digging a hole and then filling it in. Feeding a teen-ager... ha ha.
Verse 21 slavery to corruption, “it’s all gonna burn”, “we’re all gonna die”, “death and taxes”
As soon as you are born, you start dying. Decaying...not a lot of good news about this life.
Verse 22 All pain is labor pain, even the pain of suffering and death.
If you are in the hospital and hear a woman
groaning and crying out, your response to that groaning will be totally different if you are on the maternity ward or on oncology unit! The perspective that we are to have is; this is childbirth not oncology. Death where is thy sting, Grave where is thy victory? The groaning, the pain of this life is going somewhere- toward new life, not death.
Verse 23 Believers are not protected from the corruption and futility of this world. Bad things happen to us. Over and over Paul makes it clear in this verse, “yes, you too, will suffer the futility of this creation, the futility, the decay, but in hope.” There is no “king’s kids don’t have to ... verse in the Bible. Just the opposite, we are called to have faith and trust in what we cannot see, called to see this life as a “stopover” on the way to reality.
Verse 24 The now and the not yet of salvation, all we have is hope, there is nothing that we can
see, nothing tangible. So it is hope, a sure belief in a sure thing, that will get us through this life of futility and decay.
Verse 25 The surety of our hope, enables and strengthens our hearts to persevere. God is the guarantor so it will happen!!
Verse 26 The “third person” of the Trinity is introduced and shown to be working on our behalf. He is a person. He does love us. He does have the ‘mind of God’ on every issue, on every thing that concerns us. He always prays in unison with the Father. He always prays for our ultimate “good.” We will not always know the will of God, and sometimes the reason we will not know the will of God will have nothing to do with some sin in our lives. We just will not know it. At those times the Holy Spirit is there to take the burden off of us and to pray for us, and to always be praying the will of God for us, the exalting of Jesus through us, always praying for the ‘working together for the good’ for us.

Prayer, fasting, and tithing are manifestations of the fact that we are weak. Praying says I am weak spiritually and need God. Fasting is becoming voluntarily weak physically. Tithing is becoming voluntarily weak financially. All to show that God is the unseen source of our lives. Prayer is a manifestation that we are desperate. Help, help, help, is our constant prayer.
The Spirit does not need to groan, the Spirit is expressing our groaning, and connecting it to the sovereign, all-knowing will of God. We don’t dictate to God, we humbly groan, not knowing what is our ultimate best. This verse is totally connected to the verses before it. Here we are in this very real world where bad things happen to everyone, no one is spared. Futility is real. Death is real. But death is not final, futility is not the final word. Yes, we are IN this world and suffering is real, but when we are beyond the point of knowing how to pray, we can be comforted that the burden is not ours, the Spirit will pray for us, intercede for us, according to the will of the Father, our Ultimate Good!! Our hope is not in this life, there is a river who streams make glad. If our hope was only in this life we would be pathetic.The amazing, incomprehensible inter-play of the Trinity is glimpsed here and this little glimpse overwhelms our senses.

This is such a good lead in to our next lesson.
Need to just take time before we pray to thank the Holy Spirit for interceding for us, when we don’t know how to pray.

Various quotes and thoughts:
“Sanctification has its seat in the heart; but it regulates the whole man, and appears in his conduct in every-day life. If a man experiences the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, then . . . sin grieves him, Satan tries him, the world troubles him, and Heaven attracts him. (hope)

Spirit of Jesus, sanctify us deeply, thoroughly--that we may be just like Jesus! Sanctify us . . . by every trial, by every affliction, by every privilege, by every comfort!"
James Smith

John Newton’s “It’s going to be worth it,” story/ illustration updated to modern times....
The power of a proper view of eternal reward.
Driving to a bank. When you get to the bank massive $ will be deposited into your account, from an inheritance. Next to the bank is your favorite new car parking lot. The $ would enable you to buy every car on the lot. 25 feet from the bank your 1997 Ford Escort breaks down. Imagine how silly it would be to walk that last 25 feet, crying and wailing, “my car is broke, my car is broke.” So as our bodies start to show decay- keep in mind the hope of eternity.

This study brought to me a new appreciation for the word hope. It passes away in the next life. No more need for it, but it is sooooo needed here and the gift of it from God is sooooo important to our “making it” in this dark, bleak, world. I looked at a picture of a person, who is far, far, from fulfilling the purpose of God for their life and the word ‘hope’ came to me, and now my ‘looking’ at that picture and at that person, must change, because God is in control and God has subjected all things to futility in HOPE. I need to join my thoughts with His and to have hope, for the lives of those around me and for my own life.

I have never met the man I could despair of after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God. Oswald Chambers

God used circumstances in Hannah’s life, that He was the author of, to drive her faith and trust to Him. Hannah knew what hope means.

5 But he gave a double portion to Hannah, for he loved her even though the Lord had kept her from conceiving. 6 Her rival would taunt her severely just to provoke her, because the Lord had kept Hannah from conceiving. 7 Whenever she went up to the Lord’s house, her rival taunted her in this way every year. Hannah wept and would not eat. 8 “Hannah, why are you crying?” her husband Elkanah asked. “Why won’t you eat? Why are you troubled? Am I not better to you than 10 sons?”

1 Samuel 1:9 Hannah got up after they ate and drank at Shiloh. Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s tabernacle. 10 Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears. 11 Making a vow, she pleaded, “Lord of Hosts, if You will take notice of Your servant’s affliction, remember and not forget me, and give Your servant a son, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut.”

12 While she continued praying in the Lord’s presence, Eli watched her lips. 13 Hannah was praying silently, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and scolded her, “How long are you going to be drunk? Get rid of your wine! ” 15 “No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman with a broken heart. I haven’t had any wine or beer; I’ve been pouring out my heart before the Lord. 16 Don’t think of me as a wicked woman; I’ve been praying from the depth of my anguish and resentment.” 17 Eli responded, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant the petition you’ve requested from Him.” 18 “May your servant find favor with you,” she replied. Then Hannah went on her way; she ate and no longer looked despondent.

Hope

2011-06-16T20:49:00.001-04:00

I have a new appreciation for the word hope. It passes away in the next life. No more need for it, but it is sooooo needed here and the gift of it from God is sooooo important to our “making it” in this dark, bleak, world. I looked at a picture of a person, who is far, far, from fulfilling the purpose of God for their life and the word ‘hope’ came to me, and now my ‘looking’ at that picture and at that person, must change, because God is in control and God has subjected all things to futility in HOPE.(Romans 8:20) I need to join my thoughts with His and to have hope, for the lives of those around me and for my own life.

"I need a miracle"

2011-06-12T13:14:00.002-04:00

Praying for some friends lately, battling cancer; "Lord, _______ needs a miracle."
Prayed four names in there and then was stopped in my tracks. "Lord, I need a miracle."
The same type of miracle you performed when I was born again, now it is not a salvation miracle, but a sanctification miracle that I need. Make me more like Jesus, "by the Spirit, putting to death the deeds of the flesh." Romans 8:13
I need a miracle, to be a loving husband, father, friend, servant of the Most High.

And maybe, if I come to truly understand, that I need a miracle, I will be far more gentle with other people, who need their own miracle.

Romans Study #26 Romans 8:13

2011-06-06T12:47:00.002-04:00

Nest time I'll resume the Romans Study in it's usual form,
picking up in verse 11 and going to verse 27, but this verse
deserved a study all its own!

Romans Bible Study #26
Romans 8:13
The Practical Application Verse

Romans 8:13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. NASB

12-14So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go! The Message

13For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever. Amplified

It is no exaggeration to say that Romans has been building to this point. It is no exaggeration to say that my life has been lived up till now to teach this lesson. This is the practical, “how do we make this thing called the Christian life work” verse. “by the Spirit putting to death the deeds of the flesh.” This isn’t for the Christian who is OK with his walk with God. This isn’t for the one who is content with where he is at and is pretty sure he is better than most. This is the lesson for the one who is crying out, “God I’m failure, I’m letting You down, I’m letting my family down, HELP!!”

The Message translation misses it here, there is no picture of the violence that a believer is to take toward the ‘killing’ of his own flesh. This verse is giving us a key difference between life and death. It is no ‘formula,’ but a principle, and all the glory goes to God. It is a process as we have learned, but not one in which we are a helpless bystander, but a co-worker with God. By His Spirit we are given a scripture to fill our mind with. We violently wrap our mind around the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and cling to it. With every choice to fix our mind on the truth, we are defeating the enemy. We are shown a truth and we believe in it. In the same way “you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” We saw the truth and we believed in Him. Now a scripture is revealed to us by the Spirit that applies to our situation and we believe it and act upon it. His power is released in the first instance to save, and in this instance to continue the violent process of sanctification.

So as we try to make this verse practical we look back a couple verses in Romans and see that we are to set our minds on the things of the Spirit.
Romans 8:5,6 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
What are the things of the Spirit? That phrase “the things of the Spirit” is used one other time by Paul.
1 Corin. 2:13,14 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
This would answer the question what are the things of the Spirit, by saying they are the words of God, in the Bible, and on the tongue of our brothers and sisters in Christ when they are speaking God’s truth to us.

Two scriptures to back up where I am going with this.
Matthew 11:12
“From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.”
“But if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body” The best selling “guy” movies have this premise, a heroic tale of a man who uses violence to overcome an enemy that is out to destroy, him and his family. This is easily translated to the Christian life. It can be viewed, as a battle between your body/flesh/self, and the new life that God has placed in you by the Spirit. It is NOT just about what I don’t do anymore. It is a positive life change, what I do now is “by the Spirit.” We don’t just stop lusting after other women, we learn how to love our wives and daughters and how to demonstrate to our sons, the correct attitude toward women.
We don’t just stop having angry outbursts, we model the contentment and peace of a man who knows that God is in control. 1 John 5:16
“If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this.”
“The wages of sin is death” so how can there be a sin ‘not leading to death.?’ This is the sin that the Holy Spirit has not convicted that person of yet and if we try to confront it in any way other than prayer to God, we are moving ahead of the Holy Spirit and we will bring death to the situation. In the phrase, ‘putting to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit,’ by the Spirit, becomes very important. The sins we are working on, violently opposing, in our lives are the ones that the Spirit has put before us and convicted us of. They are specific and few in number.
Mine currently is stopping putting Laura down, not necessarily with words but with looks, or gestures. Also holding the boys accountable when they are being disrespectful. The first is the sin of pride and the second is laziness or sloth, the desire to not have confrontation and to just “get along.” The scriptures that I believe the Spirit has equipped me with to fight the first sin are, “love is kind, love believes all things, hopes all things.” and (I picked on The Message translation earlier, now I will praise it, this translation of the husbands lover your wives section is terrific) Ephesians 5:25-28 “Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ's love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They're really doing themselves a favor—since they're already "one" in marriage.”The las scripture is “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” Matt. 5:22 Effectively when I put down Laura I am saying “you fool” and God has very harsh words for a person who says that. As men we are to lead, guide and protect the weaker vessel, not get puffed up that we are the stronger vessel. To love as Christ loved the Church. What a high calling. Ephesians 4:30,31 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
The scriptures for the boys are,
Ephesians 6:4
“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."
Proverbs 4:5
“Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding!
Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth."
I tend to be quiet, but this says, I must speak words that will give my sons wisdom and understanding. They should benefit from what I know, even if at first it appears they are doing the opposite. That does not give me the right to ‘abandon my post’ which I have done in the past.
It is clear that Romans 8:13 is telling us to put to death. The only offensive weapon in the armor of the Spirit is the sword. So the Spirit and the Word work together to bring about the change in me the same as they did when I was born again.
Col. 2:6 “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,"
Gal 3:5 “So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?"
Romans 10:17
“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ."
The Gal. and Rom. scriptures emphasize hearing and the word for ‘word’ in the second one is Rhema which is the now word, the revealed word, made real to you in that moment. So other believers can definitely be used by God to speak a scripture into our lives that we can then use to fight against the sin. As we confess our faults to one another, God may open a scripture to us that can then be our “fighter verse” against the deeds of the body. Two of the scriptures emphasize that we are ‘hearing’ the word, so we need to be faithful to share our struggles with others and be willing to ‘hear.'
This next scripture demonstrates the extreme nature of the battle that we are in.
2 Samuel 23:9 and after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there to battle and the men of Israel had withdrawn. 10 He arose and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary and clung to the sword, and the LORD brought about a great victory that day;
May we be like Eleazar, clinging to the sword of the Spirit, by the power of the Spirt until the LORD brings about a great victory.

James speaks of the ‘method of sin.' James 1:14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

We can by the power of the Spirit stop this ‘method’ in its infancy using these truths.
Sin is never completely defeated in our lives, but we are not without our defenses. We are not helpless against it, “that’s just the way I am,” does not cut it.

Romans 8:13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. NASB

This is not a method or formula, but a living and active, conversation with the living God. He convicts us of a sin, we cry out for help, He gives a specific scripture, either through our own reading of the word or through a brother.
We desperately cling to that word and look for the Spirit of God to make it real in our lives.
Genesis 4:7
“If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
This is the first occurrence of the word sin in the Bible, and the instruction from God to Cain was “you must master it.”

Romans 6:14
“For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
This verse in Romans gives us hope that grace is the path to mastering sin. And Romans 8:13 is the paradoxical answer to the question how? The Spirit and your cooperation with the Spirit and the word. We are effectively killing that which is already dead. This time on earth has a number of purposes but one of them is to demonstrate that the truth of God, can change a man.

This lines up perfectly with the John Bevere teaching and Jerry’s teaching on the ‘face of grace.’ We can live victoriously by grace.

Ephesians 4:20-24 “But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”

Gal 6:8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

simple test

2011-05-30T10:48:00.000-04:00

We act like pagans in a crisis, only one out of a crowd is daring enough to bank his faith in the character of God. Oswald Chambers

Romans Bible Study #25 Romans 8:1-10

2011-05-06T16:03:00.000-04:00

Romans Bible Study #25
Romans 8:1-10
The Spirit - The Decision
Word -scandalon

Deliverance from Bondage
1Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
3For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
4so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
7because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
8and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
10If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. NASB

The Solution Is Life on God's Terms
1-2With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.
3-4God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn't deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that.
The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn't deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.
5-8Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn't pleased at being ignored.
9-11But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God's terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!
The Message

Condemnation is pushed out of our lives as Jesus Christ lives in us.
We are. in Christ Jesus, that knowledge comes to us from the grace and mercy of God. We go all the way back to the garden and eat from the tree of life, we have put aside the knowledge of good and evil. Sin is condemned, the wrath of God is poured out, but all on Jesus. The law is fulfilled in us, not in the sense of perfection, but in the sense of ‘direction.’ Grace is working outward from an inward place. The Holy Spirit indwelling us is directing us toward truth and life. Our life course is headed toward God. No longer under the demands of the law as an outward rule book, we are in the open spaces of God’s freedom and grace.

An Example of this:
Jesus words on the Sabbath, Mark 3:23-28
23And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain.
24The Pharisees were saying to Him, "Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"
25And He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry;
26how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?" 27Jesus said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
28"So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

That is, this religious observance was intended for man's benefit, not his enslavement.

The sabbath was not an end in itself, an absolute that admitted no exceptions. It was intended for man's benefit, his well-being. To elevate it to a place of tyranny over man is to make more of it than was intended; indeed, it would overthrow it altogether.

Moreover, it is Jesus who possesses the authority to decide these things (v.28). His Lordship over "even" (ascensive kai) the sabbath demonstrates again the significance of his person and the "new" order of things marked by his arrival. The statement as it is neither confirms nor disallows the continuation of sabbath observance, in explicit terms. But it emphatically affirms Jesus' inherent right to do with the law as he sees fit, and so the foundation for an epochal shift in the meaning of the sabbath is clearly implied.

Significant also is the fact that he designates himself here "Son of Man." Mark's so-called "messianic secret" is not so secret here! And for good cause: Jesus is facing an opposition which is demanding justification for his activity. David had the right to lay claim to exception to ritual law; no less a right belongs to the Son of Man. And lordship over the sabbath is something which no mere man could claim, but for Daniel's Son of Man the situation is much different.

More significant still is the portrait of Christ painted here. His coming has ushered in a new age in which the promised salvation of God is realized. The gospel of Christ offers a rest which is more than physical and temporal but, in him, spiritual and eternal. End of example, back to the lesson.

6For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
7because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
8and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
These verses form one thought, if I begin thinking about and being ruled by MY attempts to overcome sin, sin will overcome me everytime, and even my temporary victories are failures, because they serve only to exalt me and my system/formula/self. Then comes the next set of verses.

9However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
10If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
More and more, by growing awareness, we come to see that the Spirit is now at the helm of our lives. This process of sanctification brings us to a place where we ‘give up’ on a method or formula for success and we begin to rely on the Spirit. What does this look like?
“God, this sin has me beat, thank You, for showing me once again that in me dwells no good thing. Thank You for showing me once again that my efforts at reform will end in failure. Thank you for providing the only way out. Your Son, His Spirit, Your very life in me, working through me. Take control, be glorified, do such a deep and wonderful work, that all who see it will say, “that couldn’t be him, that must be his God!”

The progression of this book is so divinely organized, it is a thing of true beauty.
1) You are bad, with no hope of ever being good.
2) God “set this up” and also “set up” a way of escape.
3) The law was to show us our need of faith. Faith is the only way to be set free.
4) Faith puts us in touch with all the goodness of God, His peace, His righteousness.
5) This new life makes us free from sin.
6) This flesh keeps us dependent on God, it is opposed to God, but its opposition, drives us right back into the arms of Jesus, where we belong.
7) The law is no longer your master, the Spirit is, and it is like you have come out of a very narrow trail with thorns and briers and now you have come to a wide open field with space and beauty, in abundance. “Ahhhhhhhhh” your inner man says, this is what I was created for!

1 Cor 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. We are not there yet, and we make a mistake when we, think, act and talk like we are. Barth will not let us think that our ingenuity is capable of defining God. “We stumble when we suppose that we can treat of Him, speak and hear of Him–WITHOUT BEING SCANDALIZED.” “In Him the flesh has been deprived of its independence and restored to God who created it. In Him the disorder and corruption under which it groans has been laid bare, and thereby the hope of redemption which it awaits has also been exposed. In Him its independent might and importance and glory have been condemned, and thereby its glory and significance as the creation of God have been restored.
It is imperative that we from the human point of view should be scandalized; imperative that we should recognize that not flesh and blood but only the Fatihr which is in heaven can reveal that there is more to be found here than flesh and blood.
The purpose of the mission of the Son of God, a purpose veritablyy attained, is–that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Thus the condemnation of sin inChrist is the revelation of the righteousness of God, which religion seeks after but never finds.

Verses 5-9
This being “in the Spirit” swallows up the “in the flesh” of our previous life. Like an eclipse, gradually, through the process of sanctification, the one totally blocks out the other. The totality is not until our flesh is in the grave, but the assurance is that that is the place we are headed towards.
Without “in the Spirit,” the world seeks to reform men, by passing laws and inflicting punishments. Evil only increases because the soure of the evil remains. What is needed is a severing fo the root of evil and that is what happens when we are ‘in the Spirit.’ The ax is laid to the root of being “in the flesh.”
Verse 10 This being in Christ is God acting upon us from outside of us. We were ‘in the flesh; apart from any toher choice od our own, and we are ;in Christ’ apart from any choice of our own. Sometimes we are in danger of exalting our “choice” over and above the God who gave us the grace to make the choice. (Calvinism and Arminianism do not need to be mutually exclusive.)

This scripture demonstrates the balance between the sovereign choice of God and the belief that we exercise.
"But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth"
2 Thessalonians 2:13

“There are three things here which deserve special attention. First, the fact that we are expressly told that God's elect are "chosen to salvation": Language could not be more explicit. How summarily do these words dispose of the sophistries and equivocations of all who would make election refer to nothing but external privileges or rank in service! It is to "salvation" itself that God has chosen us. Second, we are warned here that election unto salvation does not disregard the use of appropriate means: salvation is reached through "sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth" It is not true that because God has chosen a certain one to salvation that he will be saved willy-nilly, whether he believes or not: nowhere do the Scriptures so represent it. The same God who "chose unto salvation", decreed that His purpose should be realized through the work of the spirit and belief of the truth. Third, that God has chosen us unto salvation is a profound cause for fervent praise. Note how strongly the apostle express this - "we are bound to give thanks always to God for you. brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation", etc. Instead of shrinking back in horror from the doctrine of predestination, the believer, when he sees this blessed truth as it is unfolded in the Word, discovers a ground for gratitude and thanksgiving such as nothing else affords, save the unspeakable gift of the Redeemer Himself.” AW Pink

1 Corin. 1:28 “and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,”
These truths are not “apparent” just from looking at life, in fact they are hidden and must be revealed.
So God chose us and gives us the grace to be “in Christ.”

Stumbling block - Scandalon

This from a guy named Steve Dewitt.
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles… (Verses 21-23, emphasis added)
Salvation by faith in a crucified Savior is counterintuitive to us
The gospel is a stumbling block when you are blind. The Greek word for “stumbling block” is scandalon defined as that which gives offense or causes revulsion, that which arouses opposition, an object of anger or disapproval. (BAG)
We get the word scandalous from it. The cross is offensive to human way of thinking and it rubs the natural man the wrong way because it requires us to do the exact opposite of what man and his pride thinks he needs to do.
Let me illustrate this with a Chinese finger trap. You put one finger in each end and when you try to pull them out again, you’re stuck. You can’t get out. Do you know how to get out of a Chinese finger trap? You push your finger in so that you can pull your finger out. The way out is the way in. That’s counterintuitive. Here are some reasons that believing in Jesus is counterintuitive…
Contrary to human religion (Verse 22)
Every religion man comes up with has something to do with man making his way to God. Paul points out in verse 22 that the Jews demanded a sign. They wanted to see something that out of their wisdom they could judge as true. You may recall the Jews asking Jesus repeatedly for a sign or a miracle. They wanted to make their own judgment and all the religions of the world do the same. They magnify in some way man’s ability to do or think or earn his way to God or Allah or Nirvana or Jehovah or whatever. Man’s kind of religion always ends up worshipping man in some way. Christ crucified rubs man the wrong way.
Contrary to human thinking (Verse 22)
Paul says in verse 22 that the Greeks seek wisdom. They want to rationalize their way to God. In the end, who gets the glory if man’s wisdom leads him to God? Man does. Who gets the glory if human eloquence and human words lead man to God? Man does. To the Greeks in the Roman Empire, if someone was crucified he was the worst of criminals. A crucified Savior? How could God save mankind by something so ugly and weak and despised as a Roman cross? That doesn’t jive with our way of thinking. The Jews want power and in the cross they get weakness. The Greeks want wisdom, but in the cross they get apparent folly. 5
Contrary to human pride and self-sufficiency
This is the big one. The human heart does not want to do what the gospel requires – humble itself. All the major objections to Christianity in some way stem from this
fundamental flaw within us. List key doctrines and the objections will come; the atonement is too bloody and predestination seems unfair and God saving some and not everyone is too exclusive and eternal punishment in hell isn’t right and a loving God wouldn’t do it this way. The gospel rubs the modern man or woman the wrong way and since we are the judge of the way it ought to be, we simply call it ridiculous. There is a movie out right now that says exactly that. Religulous! Religion is ridiculous to Bill Maher for all the same reasons Paul explains here. It strikes our sensibilities the wrong way because it elevates God and humbles us and we don’t like that. The gospel is a scandal. It always has been. It always will be. We have to admit that….
God is wiser than us (Verse 25)
For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. The key to understanding this passage is adding the word “apparent.” God’s apparent foolishness in the cross is actually the eternal wisdom of God. Man’s apparent wisdom is actually foolishness. So things are not as they appear. Take all the talking points of all the philosophers and talk show hosts and writers and columnists and politicians and statesmen and professors and teachers. Take all the things they’ve ever said and pile them up. The smallest thought that God has ever had eclipses all the wisdom man has ever accumulated. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)
God’s Word is like the traveler to the Country of the Blind and the secret to the Chinese finger trap. It is telling us what is wise and what is folly. It is also calling us to wonder and worship. Do you realize that were it not for God’s gracious calling in our lives, we would still be blind and solidly in the category of “those who are perishing” in verse 18? The right response of a recipient of grace is not pride but wonder and worship. There is nothing here for anyone to take pride in. The Corinthian Christians were finding their identity in eloquent speakers and teachers in the church. What? Who died for us? Who called us? God did. Let’s
praise Him!

Lastly this from Paul Washer. When you are teaching your children to take their first steps they must come to a place where they let go of the chair or table or whatever they are holding onto and they walk without holding onto anything. You don’t get them there by saying “Let go of the table.” You get them to walk by saying, “Come to Daddy.” and so it is with God and us. The focus is not on what we need to let go of, but on the great and beautiful God we are being called toward.

End Times objections

2011-04-23T07:20:00.002-04:00

In addition to the "quick and clear" view of the end times.
http://hisrelentlessaffection.blogspot.com/2010/11/end-times.html

I felt to add a "Page 2" that answers common questions, especially from those who thought their view of the end times involved a pre-trib rapture. Those questions and answers are pasted below.

Arguments against this view of the end times answered.

What about “no man knows the day or the hour?"
Refers to the “day of the Lord.” The final day, Daniel 12:11"From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.
12"How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days!” There is in this precise passage a “mysterious” 45 days at the end. God the Father will pick the final day from these 45 days, so it really is not about “times and seasons, it is about a specific day and hour, that “no one knows.”

What about “this generation shall not pass away before...”
So God is out to stumble pride as its own self-inflicted judgment. The means and measures by which this is accomplished is another conversation, but one thing is clear, God’s selective mode of revelation will always raise problems for natural reason that will defy solution by mere brain power regardless of exegetical skills. It is the humility of repentance that clears the way for the entrance of light (but then again repentance is also the result of revelation as seen in the case of Paul and the future remnant of Israel; Zech 12:10). I make this point because it explains what I think underlies the larger purpose of the Father in Jesus’ use of the term ”generation”. I am suggesting that Jesus well knew the versatility of the language and that it would be a potential source of perplexity.
Jesus well knew the versatility of this term, as evident from his unique and profound use of it in His rebuke of the Pharisees in the preceding chapter. The confrontation with the Pharisees in chapt 23 sets the stage and context for what follows on the same day in the Olivet prophecy. In Mt 23:29-36 Jesus describes a phenomenon that is far too little considered in biblical theology. It is what some have called ‘corporate solidarity.’ Jesus cites the self-assured boast of the Pharisees, “If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets,” as proof that His contemporaries are in the same generational line of those that slew the prophets. It is THIS GENERATION that remains in an unbroken continuum “until YOU shall say blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord’” (Mt 23:39). The day of national repentance ends the age enduring opposition of ‘this generation’.
More than an issue of mere bloodline, the concept of generation represents a particular spiritual disposition or nature. So long as this perversity of spirit and God rejection persists in the Jewish nation, so does the exile continue, and so does “this generation” remain; it only ends when ‘all these things’ shall be fulfilled. This is consistent with the use of the term in Moses and the prophets (Deut 32:5, 20 et al), in John Baptist, and it was Stephen’s use of the same essential indictment, if not the precise term, that cost him his life (Acts 7:51-52; cf. also 1Thes 2:16).
Notice the the Lord’s unique use of ‘you’ in His indictment. It is the same in Stephen’s apologetic. It is the generic ‘you’ of corporate solidarity, hence an abiding generation. It is a generation that does not escape judgment, regardless of its particular location in chronological time, ‘UNTIL’ …. This is why Jesus could speak of a future day of public acknowledgment of His messianic dignity, and describes it in terms of the generational ‘until YOU will say.’ It is why He could indict His own contemporaries as present in the killing of the prophets in the very persons of their fathers (“whom you slew”). And it is why Zechariah can speak particularly of the last generation of Jewish survivors of the last tribulation as ‘looking on Him whom THEY have pierced,’ as though they were the actual historical murderers of the Messiah. And they were; because they performed it in the persons of their Jewish forebears. Thus, the surviving remnant of Jacob’s trouble will see themselves as part of an ongoing generation, the generation that has always resisted the Spirit and slain the prophets. This, of course, assumes a powerful revelation, but we believe that such revelation will be amply communicated through the witness of the tribulation church. This witness, though very powerful, will not at first prevail to turn the larger part of the remnant to faith, but it will be the effectual seed that the Lord will quicken at the moment of His appearing, “when the Deliverer comes out of Zion to turn ungodliness from Jacob.” Only then will they ‘look on Me whom they pierced.
Finally, and here I go back to the amazing way that God hides His mysteries. It has always been striking to me that immediately after Jesus says “this generation shall not PASS AWAY till all these things be fulfilled,” He then most significantly adds: “Heaven and earth shall PASS AWAY, but My Word shall never PASS AWAY.” I believe that Jesus well knew and even anticipated how that ‘that’ generation would appear to pass without the fulfillment of “all these things.” I believe it is precisely because He knew that His words would be pointed to by the gainsayer as evidence of the failure of prophecy that He adds the revelatory caveat that sooner would heaven and earth PASS AWAY than one jot or tittle of His word to fail or fall to the ground. Impossible! So by divine design, we are left with a choice of faith, but this need not require a choice between the false alternatives of a spiritualizing preterism or unbelief concerning the Lord’s prophetic accuracy.
Yours in the Beloved,
Reggie Kelly (Reggie answered this better than I ever could, so I just pasted his take on it)

What about “He comes as a thief in the night”
2For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.
3While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.
4But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief;
5for you are all sons of light and sons of day We are not of night nor of darkness;
6so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.
What about “He could come at any moment”
2nd Thes. 2:1 Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him,
2that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.
3Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy (The abandonment or forsaking of faith or commitment to follow the Lord, often described as a turning away)
comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
4who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
5Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things?
6And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed.
7For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.
8Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;
9that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,
10and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.
What about Rev. 3:10?
10“Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”
To be “kept" by God is not to be removed but to be preserved through. Like the Hebrews during the Egyptian plagues. Like Paul during his many persecutions and like Jesus specifically warned and prayed for his own disciples...warning --John 16:1"These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling.
2"They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.
3"These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.”
...prayer---John 17:15"I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from )the evil one.

What about Rev. 4 the 24 elders?
In Rev. 4:1, John does not represent the church. John is about to have an incredible vision, but this one apostle is never given as a symbolic representative of the entire church.
Rev. 4:4 the 24 elders, my best explanation is 12 tribes of Israel and 12 apostles=24. I can’t think of any good reason, why 24 would represent the church.
Twenty Four : 24 - Biblical Numerology Meaning: deals in reference to a heavenly government and a heavenly worship.
What about, “The church isn’t mentioned after Rev. 4“
Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst." Church is a gathering of people where Jesus is the center. The “elect” and the “saints” are mentioned, so if any two of them gather, guess what, that is ‘church.’ Many are saved during the tribulation, so the Holy Spirit and the church, are busy and active during the tribulation.

kairos

2011-04-23T06:48:00.003-04:00

The Lord spoke to our congregation through our pastor, that we are in a Kairos time, a time specifically opened up by God for us to move forward in something that God has called us to. He is not a 'guru' he is a pastor, so it is up to us to seek God and to persevere in what He has called us to. One thing for me is the accumulation of some insight into the church's roll in the end times. I need to be open to spreading that any chance that I get, "to take the tablets and run with them." Hab. 2:2
Up until this point, this has met with a resounding "thud!" In this Kairos time it is not up to me to 'bear fruit,' that is the work of God. If He tells me to go into the room and break the alabaster box of perfume, Obedience Is My Only Option, and it does not matter if the disciples and those around question my actions and call it stupid,and a "waste."
Obedience Is My Only Option.
Homeschooling friends recently let me into their house to share the "quick and clear" word of God from Matt. 24 and Daniel regarding the end times that was given to me by Reggie Kelly. No one said, when I was done, "Well that settles it, this is the truth." But I spoke, and they listened and had some questions... and now days later it comes to me, the fruit is not up to me, just the obedience. Praise God.
So this blog is still about my real life, my main struggle right now is anger and resentment, I lose track of mercy and gratitude and end up in a dry and weary land of my own making quite often, BUT GOD rich in mercy, keeps up a conversation with me, and breaking will come and fruit will come, and change will come, sanctification is a life-long process ending only when this flesh finds itself separated, empty and in the grave. God forgive those teaching a sanctification that is whole and complete and entire on this earth. Romans 7 proves them to be wrong, mislead and misleading. Mislead is forgivable, "misleading" teaching a falsity, is scarily dangerous and we are deeply warned against it in scripture.
Recently the truth of "ministering unto the Lord" has been re-given to me, and I pray for the grace of God to take it up again. His mercies are new every morning.
A word of encouragement, while reading through the gospel of John last night with friends, the words about a woman with a newborn forgetting the pain of childbirth came to me in a new light, the light of going through a long and painful process with an unbelieving friend/relative/co-worker, the travail of those days will be forgotten when we are holding the newborn in our arms. Thank You Jesus, all glory to you, for hiding truth from the wise and giving it to the simple. At that time Jesus said, "I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants." Matthew 11:25

Romans study #24 7:14-25

2011-04-19T05:43:00.002-04:00

It happens for the glory of God, the simple answer to the why
in the life of a believer.

Romans 7, this last section is famous, many argue over what is
a very clear and straightforward meaning. Holy Spirit come and
remove the blinders, the veil and the things that hinder us grasping
the living truth of these words, In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Romans Bible Study #24
Romans 7:14-25
The Reality of Religion
Indwelling Sin vs. Indwelling Savior

Romans 7:14-25
The Conflict of Two Natures
14For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.
15For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
16But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.
17So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
18For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
19For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
20But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
21I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.
22For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,
23but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.
24Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. NASB

14-16I can anticipate the response that is coming: "I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience?" Yes. I'm full of myself—after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison. What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary.
17-20But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.
21-23It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.
24I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?
25The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different. THE MESSAGE

There is actually a controversy that Paul is not talking about himself as a Christian in these verses. It is obvious that he is and so I won’t spend even one second on that controversy. Like a lot of controversy about Bible passages this stems from the person coming into the reading of this passage with a belief that he wants to “prop up" and prove. This leads to a blindness when reading the passage. A third grader reading this section could answer the question, “Who is Paul talking about in these sentences?", but many theological ‘experts’ cannot.
This is the very real struggle of the Christian life. It is a difficult life. We are swimming upstream against our nature, our flesh moment by moment. This is a very practical and very real section of scripture and we need to see what is being said, without denying it or running from the truth of it.
You fall, it happens, and then Paul is giving us a pattern on “getting up.” You do not deny that you just fell, in fact you say that the very law that convicts you and points out your failure is good. Indwelling sin, your flesh, still remains as a player in this game and it landed a punch.
I am a wretched man. I need a great God. I have a great God, His life in me, will overcome and be ultimately victorious. That is the pattern on how to get up. As a woman said the other night at work, and I immediately wrote it down, “We need all the help we can get!”
We are not called to “settle in sin” or “make peace with sin.” This is to be a battle, a struggle that takes place from a position of rest and victory. As Steve says, it is like we are watching the replay of a game, we know who wins, so we don’t get upset at the temporary setbacks.

The height of glory at the beginning of verse 25 is tempered with the reality of the battle still raging at the end of verse 25. The battle rages, this can not be denied. The glory of being “in Christ” and all the benefits listed in a previous lesson is still a huge hope and a joy for us, but we are not blind optimists, we are realists. Yes, I fell and I will fall, my righteousness is not the issue here. My perfection is not attained, but I know what sin cost my Lord, and I battle, with the strength of His might. I am not separate from fallen humanity. I am not surprised or ‘taken aback’ by any fall of any of my brothers. “Restore such a one in a spirit of meekness.” When the apostles were ready to call down fire on the unrepentant village, Jesus reminded them, “You know not what manner of men you are.” It is true, when we are standing in, “I don’t believe they did that,” judgment of anyone, we are displaying pride, and it stinks in the sight of God, whose grace saved us and keeps us.

John Piper quote - “So argument #10 is that Paul's shout of victory in verse 25a, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord," is not a signal that he has moved to a new, triumphant kind of life above the battles and losses of Romans 7. Instead this shout of hope is followed by a sober, realistic summary of everything we have seen, namely that Paul, the Christian, is both a new man and an old man. He is both indwelt by the Spirit and harassed by the flesh. He is freed from the dominion of sin and indwelt by remaining corruption. This will be his lot until he dies or until Christ comes. That is the Biblical realism of Romans 7.”
Again quoting Piper “So the question is: How are we to live in view of this double truth about ourselves? The answer comes from watching the amazing way that Paul speaks to us about our deliverance and our newness in Christ. What he does again and again is to say: This new man is who you decisively and irrevocably are in Christ. This free man is your deepest and truest identity. Now act on it. Look to Christ, trust his help, and by his Spirit become what you are.

If your besetting sin is anger, affirm that in Christ you have died to that identity and in Christ you have his patience and kindness. Look to him and trust in him and rejoice in him. And fight against anger as one who has the victory in him.
If your besetting sin is heterosexual or homosexual lust, affirm that the truth that in Christ you have died to this fallen and distorted identity. I recall many conversations with Joe Hallett who came out of the homosexual life and lived among us with AIDS for 10 years and died a few years ago. He never tired of saying: Do not say "I am a homosexual." Say rather, "I struggle with homosexual desires." That was not a superficial mind over matter trick. It was a profound Biblical insight into Romans 6 and 7: In Christ our old selves have died – whatever their distortion and corruption – and we are decisively and irrevocably new. In Christ Jesus homosexual, fornicator, adulterer, covetous, thief, alcoholic, are not who we truly are. Affirm that by faith in Christ. Trust him as your all-satisfying treasure and look to him for the help to become (as much as possible in this life) who you truly are in Christ.”

Martin Luther quote, “Paul, good man that he was, longed to be without sin, but to it he was chained. I too, in common with many others, long to stand outside it, but this cannot be. We belch forth the vapours of sin; we fall into it, rise up again, buffet and torment ourselves night and day; but, since we are confined in this flesh, since we have to bear about with us everywhere this stinking sack, we cannot rid ourselves completely of it, or even knock it senseless. We make vigorous attempts to do so, but the old Adam retains his power until he is deposited in the grave. The Kingdom of God is a foreign country...There is no sinless Christian. If thou chancest upon such a man, he is no Christian, but an anti-Christ. Sin stands in the midst of the Kingdom of Christ.”

A young man wrote to Paul Washer lamenting his sinfulness. Paul wrote back to him that he was more joyful than this man was even though this young man was probably more spiritual than he was. “The reason, young man is your joy comes from your performance, quiet time, avoiding certain sins, you are an idolater, your joy does not come from what Christ has done and is doing for you, your joy is coming from what you can do for God, You are an Idolater!
God has destroyed all my hope in self and I am cast upon Christ and His glory.”
The motivation of God is His Glory and that should be our motivation also.

Other scriptures that back up the idea that this is a battle. Last thing from Piper.
Become What You Are

Let's close by looking at how Paul says this, so that you can see it is really there in the Word of God. The way he does it is with a strong statement of fact that Christians are new, accompanied by an equally strong command that we become new. Here are some of the examples in the New Testament.
1. Statement of newness: Romans 6:14, "Sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace." Command to become new: Romans 6:12, "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body."
2. Statement of newness: Romans 6:18, "Having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." Command to become new: Romans 6:19, "Present your members as slaves to righteousness."
3. Statement of newness: Romans 6:6, "Our old self was crucified with Him." Command to become new: Romans 6:11, "Consider yourselves to be dead to sin."
4. Statement of newness: Colossians 3:9, "You laid aside the old self with its evil practices." Command to become new: Ephesians 4:22 "Lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit."
5. Statement of newness: Colossians 3:10, "You have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him." Command to become new: "Ephesians 4:24, "Put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth."
6. Statement of newness: Galatians 3:27, "All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." Command to become new: Romans 13:14, "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ."
7. Statement of newness: Galatians 5:24, "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." Command to become new: "Romans 13:14b, "Make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts."
8. Command to become new: 1 Corinthians 5:7a, "Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump [of dough]." Statement of newness: 1 Corinthians 5:7b, ". . . just as you are in fact unleavened."

When Paul says in Romans 7:25b, "I myself with my mind am serving the law of God," he means, By the transforming power of the Spirit I set my mind on the treasure of Jesus Christ and all that God is for me in Him (2 Corinthians 5:19; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Colossians 2:3, 9); and all that I am in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17) and all I will become through Him (Philippians 1:11). And I believe Him and trust in His help and power. And I act on that faith. And if I stumble, I do not yield to the temptation to deny Christ or my true life in Him. I repent and I revel in His forgiveness and I fight on.

the only way

2011-04-08T23:26:00.001-04:00

Jesus Christ won the victory through death and resurrection, but we will spend all day looking for an easier way. There is no other way, and it was never to be easy...and before you quote Paul or John, stop and think about their lives, their very real lives. The church does not get taken out before the tribulation, the tribulation is the means of making the bride pure and spotless, and presents the church with the chance to glorify the Father, and shine as a light in the darkness. "If you want to find Jesus, follow the path of suffering." Reggie Kelly

prophet

2011-04-04T21:15:00.002-04:00

"The first function of the prophet is to restore true worship to the church."
Art Katz

Part of a message on "Eternal Hell" part 2

available for free download here
http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/viewcat.php?cid=173&min=80&orderby=titleA&show=20

this message is about 1/2 way down the page
p.s. I recommend any and every sermon by Art Katz

Romans Study #23 7:7-13

2011-04-03T15:35:00.001-04:00

Romans Bible Study #23
Romans 7:7-13
The meaning of religion
word: covet

7What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET."
8But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.
9I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; 10and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;
11for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
13Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. NASB

7But I can hear you say, "If the law code was as bad as all that, it's no better than sin itself." That's certainly not true. The law code had a perfectly legitimate function. Without its clear guidelines for right and wrong, moral behavior would be mostly guesswork. Apart from the succinct, surgical command, "You shall not covet," I could have dressed covetousness up to look like a virtue and ruined my life with it.
8-12Don't you remember how it was? I do, perfectly well. The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of "forbidden fruit" out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me. Without all the paraphernalia of the law code, sin looked pretty dull and lifeless, and I went along without paying much attention to it. But once sin got its hands on the law code and decked itself out in all that finery, I was fooled, and fell for it. The very command that was supposed to guide me into life was cleverly used to trip me up, throwing me headlong. So sin was plenty alive, and I was stone dead. But the law code itself is God's good and common sense, each command sane and holy counsel.
13I can already hear your next question: "Does that mean I can't even trust what is good [that is, the law]? Is good just as dangerous as evil?" No again! Sin simply did what sin is so famous for doing: using the good as a cover to tempt me to do what would finally destroy me. By hiding within God's good commandment, sin did far more mischief than it could ever have accomplished on its own.
The Message

Covet - Genesis 3:6 - when studying a word most people say start with its first occurrence in the Bible
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
This is a difficult word, nechmad. From the verb, chamad, it means “delight, desire, craving.” This verb means “to covet, to lust after.” Not surprisingly, the tenth commandment deals directly with the mental sin of lustful desire. This is not about the action of picking and eating. This is about the inner wish to consume, even when I have not yet acted upon that wish. If the power to act is not harnessed at this point, the rest is inevitable.
You might think that as long as the door stays shut, you are safe. But this door has no handle. All that is required to open it is the desire to open it. Before Eve’s desire was kindled by the serpent, the Tree slept blissfully in the Garden. Now it is awake with anticipation. Now it is the object of coveting. And who made it so? Certainly not God. He made the Tree and planted it there, but the Tree He planted was just one among many; one whose purpose was to be a reminder. A casual glance in the direction of the Tree would have been sufficient to remember who God is. A mezuzah on the doorpost – that’s all the Tree was intended to be. A reminder that God determines what is good and what is evil. But no longer. Before she picked the fruit, before she felt its cool skin and smelled its aroma, before she took the first crisp bite, Eve had already thrown away its godly purpose. Now the Tree belonged to her.

In Twelve Step circles, this is called technical recovery. It means that I don’t act out my addiction, but my mind is still absorbed with addictive behavior. I am clean on the outside, but rotting on the inside. Eve hadn’t eaten anything yet, but she was already far from God. This aspect of the core of sin is the most difficult to confront because it has a hidden face. Only you and God know.

Sin is not really about grasping selfishness. It only deteriorates into that much later. It begins with discontent and the desire to be better than the way I was created.

"For this, "YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET," and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." (Romans 13:9).

The word for covet in Romans 13:9 is the same Greek word for lust or long for. There are many things a person might have a strong desire for but when it occupies one's mind so that one's pursuit to get something allows him to forget about the concerns and needs of others, then he is said to covet.

God does not allow any 'Christianizing' of lusts. We are not serving another when we give a lonely woman a little sexual attention. A person has committed abominable wickedness when he justifies his or her immorality by calling it serving or caring. Immorality always hurts and is always wrong. So is greed of any sort.
There are good desires and bad desires. What makes a desire a bad desire? If that desire arises because you are losing your contentment in God and all that He has for you in Jesus, it is a bad desire. Coveting; desire equals deserve. I want it, I deserve it, that is all there is to it.

Verse 7a Grace is the human impossibility, that is the divine possibility, it is contrasted with the highest human possibility, religion. There is no bridge between these two things. We do not get from law to grace by gradual, laborious human ascent. Religion compels us to the perception that God is not to be found in religion.
Verse 7b
Your gospel is making the law into sin. It makes sin worse, stirs sin up, creates covetousness.
the lie comes in two ways, when it looks at the law
1) hopeless self-indulgence the law is impossible, just live the way you want and forget about even trying
2) Hopeful self-righteousness yeh you can do this law, buck-up, try harder, figure out a formula that works and stick with it
Jesus Christ performed perfect obedience and we connect with this righteousness through faith alone.

Verse 8 The commandment is good. Sin in dwells us we are bad. The commandment draws out the sin in us.
The flesh cannot submit to God’s law. The Law is God’s law, an extension of God. As such, men can not live up to it. Only His life can “do” His laws. Our life is simply shown to be utterly sinful when confronted with the command of God.

Men are not God. It is not our perogative to say a thing is right or wrong. It belongs to God to do that. In direct relationship with God, I depend on Him to show me the way. When I choose to be my own guide, find my own way, I break off dependence on Him and become independent. It is an independence that separates me from LIFE. So sin brings death.
The commandments are good, and obeyed and followed bring life, but in us, dwells the thing that refuses the commandments, sin. Sin, which could hide and be in the background before being confronted by the law, is exposed and seen for all its ugliness and pride.
The deception of sin is the illusion that such direct knowledge is life, whereas in fact it is death. If I can know what is right and wrong, then I can do it.
The commandment presents piety as a possible human achievement , it says “Yeh, you failed, but get up and try again, try harder.” Think of a better formula, get a better plan.

So the good of the command and the law is that it reveals there is no good in me. So even in the pursuing of God through religion is seen to be sin.
God comes to us through mercy and grace.
This is the lead in section for the most famous part of Romans 7 and Barth really opened my eyes to the foundation, that Paul is laying here. Simply put, religion, our attempts to follow the commands will ultimately prove two things. The command is good and I am bad.
And that is where Romans 7 is headed.

the big picture

2011-03-24T06:52:00.002-04:00

At times i read the Bible and just turn one verse over and read it and study it from different angles, but at times i also read large sections. This morning was Matthew 21 through Matt. 26. It was amazing to see the beauty of how it all came together.
In Matthew 21 he arrives in Jerusalem and is given a popular welcome (i don't get why there are two animals a donkey and a colt and how he rode both, but anyway). It was neat that the Message and the NKJV both bring out, that the driving out of the money-grubbers from the temple, made room for the blind, the crippled and the children. He healed the blind and the crippled and the children ran through the temple "running and shouting, 'Hosanna to David's Son!'" The "done in order" crowd took Jesus to task about these noisy kids and how they were giving Him a messianic title. Jesus commended the kids as the ones who were raised up by God to give "true praise" in that situation.
(So the kids were being judged as being wrong in their theology)
Jesus goes away to Bethany to rest, (and to get away from those who thought they knew God and knew what the 'Son of David' would look like.)
He comes back to the temple the next morning. The High Priests and the leaders, who in a very short time would put Him on trial, ask to see His credentials, who gave Him this authority to be teaching. Jesus wants to get His question answered first, "Who gave John the Baptist, his authority to teach, men or God?" They obviously thought it was human authority, because they rejected John and his teaching, but they were too chicken to say that. Matthew 21:32 does not let their 'chicken hearts' off the hook. Jesus confronts them and says, "even when you saw the fruit of John's ministry in the conversion of sinners, you still rejected him." Then Jesus boldly tells them two stories that convict them of their pride and they respond not with repentance, but with a strong desire to 'take Him out.'

The "house" is waking up and i must go, but maybe i will post more on this later.

a moment in time

2011-03-17T07:32:00.001-04:00

me and God had a moment this morning
reading Matthew, got to the part in Chapter 20 when He said
"What do you want from Me?" and i felt like He was asking me that
question
i sputtered out a couple thoughts but then i was on my face on the floor
crying and weeping before Him and I said, "I want to love like You love."
He met me there.
He met me on the carpet in our dining room this morning.

Martyrdom God’s Strange Victory Strategy

2011-03-17T06:08:00.000-04:00

The opportunity to teach on Wed. night came up again
and below is the result.

Martyrdom God’s Strange Victory Strategy
and the practical application “where I live"

What is the eternal purpose of the church?

Ephesians 3:8-10 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.

What kind of a church displays to “the powers” the wisdom of God?
What is the wisdom of God?
How is it displayed?

Romans 11:13But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them.

What kind of a church would move the Jew to jealousy and see some of them saved.?

At the cross God’s wisdom is revealed and the world’s wisdom is revealed.
The world’s wisdom = Threat, Power, Intimidation and Violence
God’s wisdom = Patience, Suffering, Forgiveness, Humility even unto death. Out of that came the triumph.
The fear of death could not intimidate Jesus. He suffered the worst they could inflict and
did not respond in kind.

“Crisis reveals and absolute crisis reveals absolutely.” Art Katz

It reveals what we really are, not when we are at our best in the best of circumstances but when we are stretched out to breaking and forsaken by all. Even ‘feeling’ forsaken, forgotten by God.
Example; Lazarus, a sickness unto death, a death with no explanation, no knowledge of his being resurrected.
Martyrdom’s ultimate exhibition when faced with physical death, flows out of a life that has been lived with a “my life is not my own” attitude. It has to flow out of love.
1Cor. 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

1 Cor. 13:3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

I have known a few, very young, very new believers in Jesus, who had to endure the death of a close friend or relative, and my thought is, “Why God? They are so young in You, shouldn’t they have a honeymoon period?” And some new believers do get that honeymoon period, but I have seen in these “chosen” ones a depth and a dedication to God, as they come through this ‘early fire.’ They go on to live a life serving God wherever He chooses. God is not wasteful, yet many saints have died young. Jerry’s truth, “You are eternal until you have fulfilled the purposes of God for your life.” John 19:10,11a So Pilate said to Him, "You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered, "You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above;”

Acts Chapter 7:60 “Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" Having said this, he fell asleep."
Stephen died more gloriously than Saul had been able live following all the laws. Something was exhibited in Stephen’s dying that planted a seed deep in Paul, that was harvested on the Damascus Road. People are watching how you go through your deaths. The gospel is being preached by you, the wisdom of God is being demonstrated by you, when you walk through dying with the grace given by the Eternal Spirit. The Centurion at the cross had seen many men crucified, but this man, this man, THIS man, THIS MAN dying with the grace given by the Eternal Spirit.
Hbr 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? This is not heroism, not gritting your teeth and determining to do it. Love comes from God and the eternal Spirit of God needs to be yielded to, in us. “NOT my will, but Yours be done.” This is the martyr’s theme. What is the nature of the Eternal Spirit of God? It is the character of God. It is what He is in Himself. The Spirit of self-sacrifice. To reveal that Spirit in the moment of extremity is to reveal God! What higher call is there? What greater purpose for your life?
How could you ever feel more fulfilled, than in the moment when you realize your life is revealing God’s life to another? These ultimate moments reveal God, not as men think Him to be, but as He in fact really is.
Mar 15:39 When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!"
So the Centurion, cries out from the depth of his being, “Truly this man was the son of God!”
Please don’t think for one second it was a calm, cool observation. Crashing head on against this man’s life, values, and foundations came the revelation of God, and out of that travail came the birth of this radical thought. This man, This Man THIS MAN, that I just killed was the son of God!!

Martyrdom is an attitude inside of our heart. A willingness to allow God to have His way with our life. It starts in a small way, “That can is full, can you take the garbage out, honey?” ...I was just walking into the kitchen to get a drink... the garbage was full before I walked in here, why didn’t you take it out?, legs broke, just like to give orders to the “help,”... Did I look too relaxed to you, like I was starting to have a good day?,
What is happening here? Self is rising up. The proper response when we see self is, “God forgive me.
The willingness to give up ones life for another is the wisdom of God. This is opposite, at cross purposes to the self-evident truths of the world’s wisdom. The “pursuit of happiness” and other stuff like that, that is supposed to be our goal.
Revelation 13:6,7 6And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.
Daniel 7:21 I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them

Daniel 7:25a He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One
We overcome by the willingness to suffer. Moment by moment we become willing to lay down our life and do the will of the Father.

Let God gather your 5 smooth stones. Smooth stones don’t have our expectations of the outcome, attached to them. Smooth stones don’t appeal to our flesh, they are not decorative, they are effective. Smooth stones bring down the giant of SELF.

Hbr 2:16 For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham.

Gal 6:8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Eph 4:1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, Eph 4:2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, Eph 4:3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Eph 4:32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

Hbr 2:14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, Hbr 2:15 and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

Hbr 2:17Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Hbr 2:18 For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.

Romans Study #22 7:1-6

2011-03-14T11:43:00.001-04:00

Romans Study #22
Chapter 7:1-6
The Frontier of Religion

Believers United to Christ

1Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives?
2For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband.
3So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.
4Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.
5For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.
6But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. NASB

Torn Between One Way and Another
1-3 You shouldn't have any trouble understanding this, friends, for you know all the ins and outs of the law—how it works and how its power touches only the living. For instance, a wife is legally tied to her husband while he lives, but if he dies, she's free. If she lives with another man while her husband is living, she's obviously an adulteress. But if he dies, she is quite free to marry another man in good conscience, with no one's disapproval.
4-6So, my friends, this is something like what has taken place with you. When Christ died he took that entire rule-dominated way of life down with him and left it in the tomb, leaving you free to "marry" a resurrection life and bear "offspring" of faith for God. For as long as we lived that old way of life, doing whatever we felt we could get away with, sin was calling most of the shots as the old law code hemmed us in. And this made us all the more rebellious. In the end, all we had to show for it was miscarriages and stillbirths. But now that we're no longer shackled to that domineering mate of sin, and out from under all those oppressive regulations and fine print, we're free to live a new life in the freedom of God. The Message

We need to “get” this analogy, because of what comes next. There is a reason, from the mind of God, why this particular section is right before the next section of scripture. We are blessed to be able to stop, pause and ponder this section, and see what we it means. If you had told me before starting this Romans study that I would be excited about this section of scripture and how deep it is, I could not have comprehended that. This little section has really turned on some lights for me. We will look at it from every angle possible to get the most out of it.

Religion is a human and limited possibility. The new man in Christ Jesus is no human possibility. Endowed with attributes which are not mine, have not been mine, and never will be mine; in God I am what I am, I am not working my way to something. I am changed, and the process flows from the foundation, a new man, with the grace to obey and live for God. Religion can be pictured as the human being longing for and knowing that he no longer has a direct connection to God. Giving up on that direct connection, he attempts many and varied indirect methods to get reconnected. “Daddy, daddy, look over here, look at me, look at what I can do, do you love me now?”
“I fast, I pray, I bow three times a day toward Mecca, I meditate, I, I, I”

We cannot look at Genesis with all its imperfect people or the human origins of Jesus Christ displayed in the Matthew lineage at the start of the New Testament and come to the conclusion that Christianity is a perfect people religion. It is a one-sided love relationship that calls us to look up when we fall, that works around our failures and sins and redeems and heals. We do not ‘get’ to God, He came down to us.

We are dead to the law to the possibility and necessity of religion, dead to every human possibility; we are removed, set free, unfettered.

All men were “joined” to the law. A woman is joined to her husband. Being joined to the law we were defined by it, we broke the law, we are ‘law-breakers.’ Being joined to her husband, if she marries another she is rightly labeled “faithless,” “an adulterer.”
If, however the husband should die, his wife has been set free. By virtue of his death she is no longer his wedded wife. If she then gives herself to another man, she is neither ‘faithless’ nor an ‘adulteress.’ Thus in marriage we are bound by the life of our partner and freed by the death of our partner. Well thanks be to God our miserable, worthless partner has died and we are free to hook up with a new, loving, filled with grace and forgiveness partner!!!
So long as we are under the religion of law-keeping we are limited, enclosed, and fettered by it. It has dominion over you. You are inevitably under it. But now your husband is dead, you are loosed, unlocked, freed unto the possibility of God, which lies beyond the entire ambiguity of religion. You are therefore not under law. Law is dead, you are not still married to the dead man, if you decide to go get married again, that is okay because you are freed from the dead man.

Get this --- “All human possibilities, including the possibility of religion, have been offered and surrendered to God on Golgotha.” Barth
Christ fulfilled the law but gave glory to God, He did not claim that he was starting a race of super-humans who would fulfill the law. All the glory for His life was given to God.
Colossians 2:14 “having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."
An amazing Old Testament picture is Nabal, Abigail and David.
Nabal was Abigail’s worthless husband. (His name actually means worthless.) The law was our worthless husband. We needed to be married to another, God’s beloved which is what David means. So Nabal dies rather quickly and Abigail and David get married.

John Piper added this.
It is not that we don’t do certain laws, it is that we hate the law. “Good people” are simply people who have not been confronted by law, by another’s will at cross purposes with their will.
A spouse, friend, child, God, any other being can be the trigger, (even the dog wanting out to pee) what they do is show that the law brings death. The fruit of the Spirit is love, the fruit of the law is death. So when we are not loving to another person, we do not need to go to law and see that it says “love one another” we need to fix our eyes on Jesus and His Spirit within us, both to be and to do the work. It is not law but relationship with God that we need. Galatians 5:1 “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”

1 Cor. 15:56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;
Romans 13:8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.The law is fulfilled not by law keeping but by Christ loving.

Keeping the law is not the goal, Christ is the goal, and in Christ,
who fulfilled the law, we can fulfill the law, but the law is not the goal
that Christ takes us to, Christ is the goal the center of everything.
This similar section in 2 Corinthians, makes it a little more clear.
2 Corin. 3:6-18 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was,
8how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?
9For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory.
10For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. 11For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory. 12Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, 13and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away. 14But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. 15But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart;
16but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
The key to the Christian life is not rule-keeping but Christ loving. It is so easy to get the cart before the horse.

Oswald Chambers to examine another angle. Being so grateful to, in love with, overwhelmed by the love of God, that we choose, not my will but Yours be done moment to moment.

March 13th.
THE ABANDONMENT OF GOD
"God so loved the world that He gave. . ." John 3:16
Salvation is not merely deliverance from sin, nor the experience of personal holiness; the salvation of God is deliverance out of self entirely into union with Himself. My experimental knowledge of salvation will be along the line of deliverance from sin and of personal holiness; but salvation means that the Spirit of God has brought me into touch with God's personality, and I am thrilled with something infinitely greater than myself, I am caught up into the abandonment of God.
To say that we are called to preach holiness or sanctification, is to get into a side eddy. We are called to proclaim Jesus Christ. The fact that He saves from sin and makes us holy is part of the effect of the wonderful abandonment of God.

Abandonment never produces the consciousness of its own effort, because the whole life is taken up with the One to Whom we abandon. Beware of talking about abandonment if you know nothing about it, and you will never know anything about it until you have realized that John 3:16 means that God gave Himself absolutely. In our abandonment we give ourselves over to God just as God gave Himself for us, without any calculation. The consequence of abandonment never enters into our outlook because our life is taken up with Him.

This study is about ultimate things, eternal things - because that is what the Bible is about, so the bottom line of tonight’s lesson is; God will look you in the face at the end of time (and today) and say, either, “lawbreaker” or “beloved!”

When life is hard

2011-03-10T07:23:00.003-05:00

that is the title of a 6 message teaching series by James McDonald
available at lifeway.com
It finished up last night at our church and i share two gems from it.

"It is doubtful that God can use a man greatly, until He has wounded
him deeply." AW Tozer

"If you believe God exists to make you comfortable,
to make your way smooth,
to make your life easy,
then you will find Him absent in a trial, BUT,
if you believe God exists to make you holy, so that you can bring glory to Him, then you will feel Him IN the trial like a rock feels a sculptor." James McDonald

Also I felt this truth the other night at work, "you have to meet people where they are at and then help them from that point, you have to accept them where they are and then help them or speak truth to them or care for them from that point." me

The Last 7 years

2011-03-03T19:05:00.001-05:00

I post this because i believe it is accurate. Reggie Kelly is a man i have met and I have seen his love for God and the brethren.

Reggies basic outline of the last seven years

I am traditional futurist in the basic outline of events, but with important differences, which I will elaborate later. Believe it or not, I was fully intending to get back to the outline this very day, but will go ahead and give you an even shorter version, since you’re asking for something much briefer than I thought.
The seven years begins with the event described in Dn 9:27, i.e., the confirming of the covenant (should not be translated “make a firm covenant,” but “make firm THE covenant).
This is not the creation of some new peace league with the Antichrist. It is that (Dn 11:23), but it is also much more. It is the formal, and I think international, recognition of what is called in Dn 11:28, 30, the “holy covenant.”
This tells me that the Antichrist, in tandem with other nations confirms “the holy covenant” with many. “Many” here need not mean only Jews. It could just as well mean the heads of other nations.
The covenant is not “made”; it is “confirmed”. On one side, it is indeed an unholy and presumptuous “league” that Israel enters into with the Antichrist (Dn 11:23). On the other side, it is particularly “the holy covenant” (Dn 11:28, 30) that he (the Antichrist) confirms with many.
I believe we should not rule out the possibility (I think probability) that at this point, the Antichrist is only one among many other heads of nations that have convened to decide the question of Jerusalem.
I believe we will see a situation whereby many nations, the nation of the Antichrist among them (a king of the north), will recognize, not only Israel’s right to exist, but Jewish right of access to the temple mount (for Muslims, “the Noble Sanctuary”).
In the present religious and political context, there is a huge improbability that the current impasse could ever countenance Jewish access, let alone Jewish dominance of the temple area. The literal fulfillment of the prophecies that pertain to a literal Jewish “holy place” and “daily sacrifice” on the temple mount in Jerusalem, is admittedly, against all odds. Such an unlikely scenario will require the most radical kinds of changes. Either the literal interpretation is wrong, or the end of the age will be its most dramatic vindication, since the first coming of Christ.
I won’t take the time to make the case here, but I believe that from Dn 11:23 to Dn 11:30, we have a definite chronological order of events that covers the first 3 1/2 years. Dn 11:31 is the event that Jesus says begins the tribulation (Mt 24:15, 21). It starts the last 3 1/2 years that end at Christ’s return at Armageddon. We know that the abomination starts the last half of the seven years described in Dn 9:27, because Dn 12:11 shows that this event begins the last 3 1/2 years that take us up to the time of Daniel’s personal resurrection (Dn 12:2, 13).
Notice that the standing up of Michael in Dn 12:1 marks the start of the unequaled tribulation that ends in nothing short of the resurrection (Dn 12:2). Jesus directs His disciples to read and understand Daniel’s reference to the abomination of desolation. He quotes Daniel almost verbatim to show that this event begins the great tribulation (Mt 24:15, 21 with Dn 11:31; 12:1, 11).
Dn 12:11 is particularly decisive to show that the last 3 1/2 years begins when the sacrifice is stopped, and Dn 8:11 shows that is not Messiah, but the self exalting king of Dn 11:36-37; 2Thes 2:4) who takes away the sacrifice. Remember also, it is not because the Jewish people are faithful to the covenant; it is the “place” that is holy, because this is where God has put His name. However, there is also a sense in which the Jewish people, even in their unbelief, are called “the holy people,” not in the sense of personal righteousness, of course, else there would be no “Jacob’s trouble”, but in the sense of “set apart” by the unchanging covenant of God (Zech 2:8; Ro 11:16, 29).
While Daniel describes the earthly side of this event, John’s Revelation gives us the heavenly side. According to Rev 12:7-14, the great tribulation begins with standing up of Michael to cast down Satan. From this point forward, Satan knows “his time is short” (Rev 12:12). This “short time” and the final beast’s “short space” (Rev 17:10) is manifestly the unequaled tribulation, since it marks the time of woe upon the inhabitants of the earth, and the final assault against the elect people of the covenant (Israel and the church; Dn 7:21, 25; 12:7; Rev 6:11; 13:5).
This clearly future event (see Dn 12:1 with Rev 12:7) makes the way for the kingdom of God to the saints in full power (Rev 12:10). Manifestly, Michael’s expulsion of Satan corresponds to Paul’s care to show that the mystery of iniquity cannot be revealed in the final man of sin until someone who is now holding back is taken out of the way (2Thes 2:7).
As you know, I believe this has reference to Michael’s forcible eviction of Satan. We know that Satan dreads this, being cast down, because it will mean his time is short (Rev 12:12). From the heavenly perspective, the final tribulation starts when the evicted and dejected Satan is forced to take up a full and unhindered residence in the body the mortally wounded beast, who ascends out the abyss, as the beast that was, and is not, and yet is, who must continue a short space (Rev 17:8, 10; i.e., the 3 1/2 years). So the middle of the week accomplishes the two primary events that must be fulfilled before the Lord can return: namely, the revelation of the mystery of iniquity in the man of sin, and the final desolations of Jerusalem.
It is a revived Antichrist that goes to the temple of God at Jerusalem to commit sacrilege and set himself forth as God. This begins the last 42 months of the trampling down of the holy city (Rev 11:2). Towards the end of his tyrannical career, he is opposed by the nations of the world that descend upon him at Jerusalem (Dn 11:45), from every direction (Dn 11:40-44; Rev 16:12-16).
Therefore, Armageddon isn’t about nations mobilizing to attack the Jews in Israel. Israel has been prostrated and crushed beneath the heel of the Antichrist for 42 months, since the point of the abomination. It is probable that the greater number of Jews that survive the sudden and unexpected invasion of Antichrist (1Thes 5:3), will be those who manage to escape into the neighboring wilderness of Judea (Mt 24:15-16), and on down into the Petra area (Isa 16:1-5; 26:20; 42:11; Dn 11:41; Rev 12:6, 14).
Armageddon is initiated by a revolt against the Antichrist. The nations rushing towards Megiddo and Jerusalem are not expecting to be met by Jesus in His descent to the Mount of Olives (Zech 14:4). Rather, their initial interest is to try to cast off the yoke of the oppressive tyrant. Check the above texts; it is a very different picture from what is usually presented, with implications that creates problems for many popular interpretations.
Well, that’s a super short, in the rough, sketch of the time line of events, as I see them, pertaining to the last seven years. No defense, just a summary. Hope that is at least enough to get you started. Grace to you, Reggie
Lots more info at mysteryofisrael.org

Romans Study #21 6:12-23

2011-02-27T15:07:00.002-05:00

At times when i finish a study, i feel like i did not put enough into it. Not this time. Again the main reason i post these is so i will have an online record of them if/when my computer hard drive crashes.

Romans Bible Study # 21
Romans 6:12-23 The Power of Obedience

12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,
13and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
14For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!
16Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
17But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,
18and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
19I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.
20For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
21Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.
22But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.
23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.NASB

12-14That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don't give it the time of day. Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you've been raised from the dead!—into God's way of doing things. Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God.
15-18So, since we're out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we're free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it's your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you've let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you've started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!
19I'm using this freedom language because it's easy to picture. You can readily recall, can't you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about God—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how much different is it now as you live in God's freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness?

20-21As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn't have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you're proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end.

22-23But now that you've found you don't have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God's gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.
THE MESSAGE

February 26, in My Utmost for His Highest, has much to say to us about our study of Romans 6;

INFERIOR MISGIVINGS ABOUT JESUS
"Sir, Thou hast nothing to draw with." John 4:11

"I am impressed with the wonder of what God says, but He cannot expect me really to live it out in the details of my life!" When it comes to facing Jesus Christ on His own merits, our attitude is one of pious superiority - Your ideals are high and they impress us, but in touch with actual things, it cannot be done. Each of us thinks about Jesus in this way in some particular. These misgivings about Jesus start from the amused questions put to us when we talk of our transactions with God - Where are you going to get your money from? How are you going to be looked after? Or they start from ourselves when we tell Jesus that our case is a bit too hard for Him. It is all very well to say "Trust in the Lord," but a man must live, and Jesus has nothing to draw with - nothing whereby to give us these things. Beware of the pious fraud in you which says - I have no misgivings about Jesus, only about myself. None of us ever had misgivings about ourselves; we know exactly what we cannot do, but we do have misgivings about Jesus. We are rather hurt at the idea that He can do what we cannot.

My misgivings arise from the fact that I ransack my own person to find out how He will be able to do it. My questions spring from the depths of my own inferiority. If I detect these misgivings in myself, let me bring them to the light and confess them - "Lord, I have had misgivings about Thee, I have not believed in Thy wits apart from my own; I have not believed in Thine almighty power apart from my finite understanding of it."

So this devotional reading points out one of the main stumbling blocks to Romans 6, unbelief. The path and way to victory is shown. The inner workings of the process of sanctification are shown to be things that have already been accomplished by Jesus on the cross, “by grace through faith” we are connected to the power of the Spirit.

Vs. 12-14 Grace is the power of obedience, the power of resurrection. It gives us the will to will the will of God. Sin dwells in this mortal body and will continue to, until death is swallowed up in victory. The now victory, that is waiting for the ultimate victory is that, by the crucifixion of the old man I no longer have to serve sin. Under grace I am a warrior who can overcome the sinful desires. But since my body is still very much alive, its lusts are longing to be expressed and so the battle rages on.
Law kept me under sin, because law told me I had to stop sinning, but gave me no power to stop sinning.. Grace is the power to stop sinning. By grace, through faith, we have what we need to win the battle.
Verse 15 echos verse 2, why so repetitive? I think this is the main argument against grace. If you tell people they are not under the law anymore, they will go “buck wild.” The thing that keeps this from happening is that a true, deep conversion involves a realization of our own sinfulness and a ever-growing gratitude for the grace that we are shown. True conversions have as their foundation an overwhelming sense of sinfulness. Romans 7 times may still come, but they are then drawn back to their first love. Not out of compulsion, but volunteering by grace through faith. Psalm 110:3a “Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power;"
Verse 16,17 A reminder that you are a slave, either to sin, before conversion, or to God after conversion. God’s way with us is not one of overpowering intimidation and manipulation. He is looking for willing obedience. Isaiah 30:15 For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said,"In repentance and rest you will be saved,In quietness and trust is your strength. But you were not willing," “He who is under grace can no more adjust himself comfortably to sin, than the sinner can toy with grace as with an alternative human possibility." Barth
Verse 18 Good news. This is a new slavery. We are not half in and half out of the kingdom of darkness. We are out of the old and in the new.
Verse 19 Again the progressive nature of sanctification is emphasized. Obedience leads to more obedience. Grace leads to more grace. I can definitely recall this principle in my “lawless” days. One act led to another and I could feel myself being drawn in deeper and deeper to darkness. Yesterday’s sins weren’t enough, I had to do more, worse, to get the same “high.”
Verse 20,21 The stark reality of sin, that the devil tries to veil our eyes/minds to. This road is leading to death. Often praying for the unsaved, we are lead to pray, remove the veil God and show them where this path that they are on is leading them too, ultimately.
Verse 22 The lead in to a great verse, simply contrasting the former life with the new life. It is positively amazing, how simple and pure and easy to get the gospel is. How blind we are to its truth and thinking that we are “free” and if we were to surrender our lives then we would be doing things that would take away our fun. The reality is turning to Jesus takes away DEATH, not fun.

Piper on verse 22
Becoming a Christian is not like standing neutral between two possible slave masters and having the power of ultimate self-determination, and then deciding, from outside any slavery, which we will serve. There are no neutral people. There are only slaves of sin and slaves of God. Becoming a Christian is to have the sovereign captain of the battleship of righteousness commandeer the slave ship of unrighteousness; put the ship-captain, sin, in irons; break the chains of the slaves; and give them such a spiritual sight of grace and glory that they freely serve the new sovereign forever as the irresistible joy and treasure of their lives. That's how we got saved. God freed us from one master and enslaved us to himself by the compelling power of a superior promise. So embrace this work of God. Receive Christ and his promise as the treasure of your life.

Verse 23 The black and white, no shades of grey, truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We earn only death, but God gives only life. The amazing exchange!
1 Corin. 1:22-25
22For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom;
23but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,
24but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

This is a analogy or illustration that John Piper used to put verses 12-14 in picture form.

First, then, I see verses 12-14 as the description of a great conflict or battleground in the life of a typical believer. This is you and me here. Not an unbeliever. So who and what make up this conflict? Let's describe the situation here. I see eight things in the warfare of these verses. I'll mention them, and then come back and make some brief comments about them in relation to our lives.

1. There is a kingly throne or reign. Verse 12: "Do not let sin reign." There is a reign that is being contested in this passage. A throne. The word "reign" is simply the verb form of the word for king.

2. There is a challenger to this throne, a revolutionary, a rebel who wants to take over the kingdom, namely, sin. "Do not let sin reign." He is in revolt and mutiny and means to lead a coup and gain the throne. And you are called to resist.

3. There are a town and castle that are under attack by the challenger to the throne, namely, your body. "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body."

4. There are servants in the castle who may become deceptive secret agents of the rebel leader and use their inside servant role to seduce and capture parts of the castle. These servants are called "desires." "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires." The word is neutral. They may become "evil desires" or "lusts," but not if the rebel sin does not capture them.

5. Incremental surrender is possible. That's what the word "obey" signals in verse 12. "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires." If sin, the leader of the revolt, takes some desire captive and sends it in behind the castle walls with a deceptive promise of immunity and reward for capitulation, the obedience to that desire would be the surrender of part of the castle.

6. There are weapons in the castle that may be captured and turned around and used by the enemy for his unrighteous purposes. These weapons are the parts of your body – your eyes and ears and tongue and hands and feet and sexual organs. Verse 13: "Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as weapons of unrighteousness." The word, o[pla (hopla), in all its four other uses in the New Testament (three in Paul and one in John 18:3) means "weapons," not just instruments. In other words, I am not just making up this battle imagery. Paul is pointing to it. Don't let the rebel, sin, capture the members of your body and turn them into weapons against the true King.

7. There is a true king over the realm, namely, God. Verse 13b: "Do not surrender the members of your body to sin – the rebel contender for the throne – so he can make them weapons of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as weapons of righteousness to God." So the true King is God. Sin is the rebel and the insurrectionist. Stay loyal to the true King with all your weapons and all your servants – all your desires and all your members.

8. Finally, there is the constitutional authority of the kingdom, namely, grace, not law. Verse 14: "For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace."

King, Power, and Desire

That's the situation Paul describes, the conflict. Now let me make three comments of application to us.

First, God is our King. To him belong the castle of the body and the service of our desires and the weapons of our members and the throne of the kingdom. The call here is for us to be loyal to the King. He made us alive and made us his dwelling place through Jesus Christ. Keep trusting him and depending on him and submitting to him. Resist all contenders for the throne of your life. It belongs to God.

Second, sin is a power, not just an act. Verse 12: "Let not sin reign in your mortal body." Sin threatens to reign. It is not just the acts we do but the power that takes us captive through desires and brings actions about.

Third, the desires of the body are not sin in and of themselves, but are servants of the body and can be captured by the rebel leader, sin, and made into internal enemy agents that seduce us into handing over members of our body that become weapons of unrighteousness. In verse 12 ("Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires."), "its" refers to the body, not sin." (auvtou [autou] is neuter, not feminine and so agrees with sw,mati [somati], not a`marti,a [amartia]). In other words, the desires of the body can be captured by the power of sin and made to serve anti-God aims. Parts of your body can be captured by Judas-like servant-desires and handed over to the enemy for unrighteous acts.

Our Desires – Servants or Secret Agents?
Pleasing Delilah was a legitimate thing for Samson to do while she was a faithful wife. But when she was a secret agent of the enemy, Samson's surrender to her meant destruction. So it is with our desires and sin. If they are faithful desires, loyal desires, reflecting the truth and value of God, then we may please them. But if sin captures them and makes them his deceptive agents, then our pleasing them would be joining the conspiracy and may become treason.

Specifically, there is, for example . . .
The desire for food (hunger) which serves us well, but when sin captures it, the desire becomes gluttony or bulimia or anorexia and it rules us for the sake of the enemy, and our tongue and mouth and stomach become weapons of unrighteousness.
The desire for drink (thirst) which serves us well, but when sin captures it, the desire may become alcoholism or caffeine addiction, and the tongue becomes a weapon of unrighteousness.
The desire for sexual satisfaction which is a good servant of procreation and marriage joy, but if sin captures it, the desire becomes lust for pornography or masturbation or fornication or adultery or homosexual relations, and our sexual organs become the weapons of unrighteousness.
The desire for rest and sleep which serves us well, but if sin captures it, the desire becomes sloth and laziness.

you are a child of God

2011-02-22T20:44:00.002-05:00

It is an important step in the Christian life, when you come to the deep
realization that you are a child of God.
It is a much deeper and more costly step when you realize and begin
treating others like they too are a child of God. Valued by Him,
Precious to Him.
Book recommendation, "Adam, God's Beloved" by Henri Nouwen

For my pastor, Jerry (and Joel and Larry and Mike and Joe)

2011-02-15T16:38:00.003-05:00

It has been a great blessing in my life to know and be under the authority of
Pastors, who understood and lived out their call. This little gem was at the end of a "servanthood class" lesson on blbi.org

"In 1877 in his Yale lectures, Phillips Brooks said,
'Courage is an indispensable requisite of any true ministry. If you
are afraid of men and a slave to their opinion, go and do
something else. Go make shoes to fit them. Go even and paint
pictures you know are bad but will suit their bad taste. But do not
keep on, all of your life, preaching sermons which shall not say
what God sent you to declare, but what they hire you to say. Be
courageous. Be independent.'"

Just want to thank God that the Pastors that I know are, called of God, and
are faithful to their call. They speak the word of God and are not being
led about by the fear of man.
This call to be faithful to our Lord and friend,
Jesus, to be courageous in our witness is for all of us, but I am blessed
to have been taught and shown "how to do it" by loving, courageous pastors.

You keep loving us and You restore us

2011-02-13T08:55:00.003-05:00

From a teaching on love in a class called servanthood on blbi.org

So often God shows me a wrong attitude by taking me through a hard time, where i get to learn that someone i had judged, was doing the best they could with the grace of God they were given, and that God had a bigger purpose in what they were walking through, than i could have known. So there is wisdom in "withholding judgment" and praying for "the other" as if you truly knew that we are all desperately in need of a Savior. I put in Bold letters the lesson.

"A couple years ago, I had an experience where someone close to me in the ministry betrayed me
and sinned against me. Afterwards, this person was very sorry and appeared to be repentant. But I
was so hurt, I did not trust him anymore. I did not want to forgive him. I just wanted to cut him
off because I had been grieved. I was angry. One day I was telling this person, “Just leave me
alone.” And he said he would, but on one condition—“If you will call Pastor Chuck Smith and
ask him what you should do. I have called him and talked to him and he told me he wants you to
call him.” I was betrayed again! I thought, “No, I am sure he will agree with me.”
So I called Chuck and told him my side of the story. He was sympathetic to a degree, but he
began to ask questions about this person’s repentance. I had to admit the person appeared
repentant. He seemed sorry. But I said, “Chuck I do not believe him. He is a deceiver.” Chuck
said, “He seems very sincere to me.” “Yeah, Chuck, but you do not know him like I do. You see,
I love him, Chuck, but I do not trust him anymore.” And he said, “Wayne, I think you are bitter.”
I said, “No, I am not bitter. I am just hurt.” He said, “You are hurt and you are bitter about it.” It
was not funny at the time, though. He said, “I think you need to forgive.” And I said, “Chuck, I
think I need to cut him off.” He said, “Well, Wayne, it sounds like your mind is made up. So I
have to go now.” It seemed kind of abrupt to me. I said, “Well, will you at least pray for me
before you hang up?” “Sure.” And so we prayed. Chuck prayed, “Lord, thank You for loving us
so much. And thank You that You do not love us like Wayne says that he loves this guy.” He
actually said that. I thought, “Are you praying to Him or me?” But he prayed and said, “Thank
You that You are so merciful. And yet, when we ask forgiveness, You do not cut us off. You
keep loving us and You restore us. Amen.” You know it really struck a note. Not a good one, but
it struck a note. I told him thank you for praying for me. And I think I mentioned something about
faithful are the wounds of a friend.
Through that God began to show me that there was bitterness that was choking me. It was
choking my life and it had to go. The Lord asked me to fully forgive this person, to restore him,
and cover that sin. Love covers. It forgives and cleanses and forgets. He said, “My love suffers
long and is kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4). I am just really being honest here. I began to think about
this. And honestly I told Him at one point, “Lord, I do not think I want to love like You do if this
is what it is about. I mean, You died for us. I do not want to suffer long. I will suffer short maybe,
but not long. This is just too much.” But He said, “Don’t you want to be like Me?” “Yes, I
absolutely do.

Romans Study #20 6:1-11

2011-02-10T05:13:00.001-05:00

Romans Bible Study #20
Romans Chapter 6:1-11
Phrase: “In Christ”

1What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
2May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
3Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7for he who has died is freed from sin.
8Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
9knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
11Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (NASB)
1-3So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we've left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn't you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land!
3-5That's what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we're going in our new grace-sovereign country.
6-11Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin's every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did. (The Message)

Verse 1,2 If we are really paying attention to and believing what Paul has been saying in the preceding chapters, (it sounds something like this, “By Grace through faith you have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. His righteousness saved you and the same power and love by grace through faith will keep you, the power of sin is overcome by the power of grace.) we are led to this question. “So do we just sin and sin and sin, and let God’s grace be all the more amazing.” Paul now sounds like every exasperated teacher who has ever stood in front of a class and had a student ask a question, that demonstrates, beyond a shadow of a doubt that they have become terribly lost at some point. He launches into these verses to show exactly what he meant and begins the 3 chapter teaching on how to “walk out”/live the Christian life, which is, the process of sanctification.
An important point is that we are not moving from death to life, death is defeated and life is given. At its root Christianity is not a reforming, educating or improving of the old man, it is the death of the old man and the ever-growing reception of the life of the new man.
Verse 3,4Baptism was key in the early church, it seems you got saved and you got baptized, there was not a lot of time in between. I agree with those who say it is symbolic, but Paul goes beyond that and says there is a very real, powerful change taking place ‘in the Spirit.’ Sin does not reign in you anymore, it doesn’t cast the the deciding vote in your decisions. So baptism is not itself grace, but it is a means of receiving grace. The new life of Jesus living in you is more real than the sin, the life He gives is more powerful than death. His life is like that amazingly powerful “energy thing” in Ironman’s chest that allows him to power all those amazing devices. One with the life of Jesus, we venture out into the world with a sure and true compass, a mighty unsinkable ship, and a power supply fit for every need. These truths from Romans 6 launch us out into the Christian life, of course, we will run into the wall of Romans 7 next, but Romans 8 will show us the way to surmount that wall. This book, this study, is all about the “great things” of this life, sports, entertainment, whatever else pale in comparison to spending time seeking God, seeking understanding, seeking truth through this letter. We, by taking time to do this are giving ourselves to something CRITICAL to our lives, our families and the church, most other things absolutely pale in comparison.

One of my sons struggles with self-esteem issues, and we have in verses 3-8, the Biblical answer to self-esteem issues. God ‘reckoned’ you to be ‘in Adam’ from your birth, after your ‘new birth’ God reckons you to be “in Christ.” YOU did not do anything to be “in Adam” and you cannot do anything to be “in Christ” it is a work of God. Your vileness and total separation from God was real and complete, but once born again, your beauty and union with God is given as a gift, the beginning of a love relationship process. Your self-esteem needs to be found in what God has done for you, the sin that He has and is covering and the love that He has and is showing. Grades, appearance, people’s opinions, athletic ability, intelligence are all sinking sand, “Jesus loves me this I know” is a solid rock on which to build biblical self-esteem.

“In Christ” becomes the theme and Paul uses it over and over to describe the ultimate blessing of the Christian life, being “in Christ.” Many blessings flow from that blessing.
Rom 3:24being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
Rom 6:11Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Rom 6:23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Rom 8:1Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Rom 8:2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
Rom 8:39nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1Cr 1:2To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:
1Cr 1:4I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus,
1Cr 1:30But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,
1Cr 15:22For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
2Cr 2:14But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.
2Cr 5:17Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Gal 3:14in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Gal 3:26For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Eph 2:10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Phl 4:19And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Verse 5 Tribulation comes into our life from God. We apprehend His increase in our decrease.
Death gives way to resurrection, blindness gives way to sight. His strength becomes more real in our weakness. “Our negative, known, human existence, so little conformed to Jesus, is filled with hope by the positive and secret power of resurrection.” Barth
Gal. 6:17 From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus.
2 Cor. 4:10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
Phil. 3:10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;
Col. 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions.

Verse 6,7 We are still in our body and that body is still a body of sin. But now it is like a fish out of water. It does not have the ultimate power in our lives. Our ultimate power is invisible, and by that invisible power we 'starve out’ the visible.

Verse 8-11 Again we died - past tense and we shall also live - future tense. This is no supposition, it is reality. Faith is knowing what God knows. His death and so our 'death’ is a once and done event, but His life is a life that liveth, that goes on and on. It is His Life that is our “jumping off” point for sanctification. But it is also that Life that is the power that allows us to continue in the process of sanctification. He is our sanctification.
1 Cor. 1:29 so that no man may boast before God.
30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,
31 so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."

2 Cor. 12:15

2011-02-09T08:11:00.002-05:00

And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved.
2nd Corin. 12:15

Wow... In real life, the impossibility of actually living the Christian life is hammered home again and again. If our source of love is not the supernatural life of Jesus being manifested through us, all the scriptures will do is mock our
sorry attempts at 'religion.'

Oh God, when i get the feeling that i am justified in cutting someone off, have mercy on me and draw me back to Your heart, In Jesus' Name. Amen

falling up

2011-02-04T16:33:00.002-05:00

When things are going "wrong" I go back to wells that have provided fresh water before.
Art Katz on sermonindex.net, Oswald Chambers-My Utmost for His Highest.

This was from Art Katz on the way home yesterday.

"What is the one thing that keeps us from totality towards God?
You will know that you have come to that totality
when you have come to a place where you develop an affinity, an appreciation, a respect, and even a love for a people/person for whom you would otherwise be hostile, or indifferent. It is wholly unnatural, and indicates that we are in touch with God's deepest heart. This is not a "sentimental" thing, it is a willingness to give all, to let go of all "treasure." It requires an "utter-ness" toward God. Consecration is deeper than 'zeal.'"

From Oswald Jan. 30th
God never speaks to us in startling ways, but in ways that are easy to misunderstand, and we say, "I wonder if that is God's voice?" Isaiah said that the Lord spake to him "with a strong hand," that is, by the pressure of circumstances. Nothing touches our lives but it is God Himself speaking. Do we discern His hand or only mere occurrence?

Get into the habit of saying, "Speak, Lord," and life will become a romance. Every time circumstances press, say, "Speak, Lord"; make time to listen. Chastening is more than a means of discipline, it is meant to get me to the place of saying, "Speak, Lord." Recall the time when God did speak to you.

Recently when disaster struck, i was lost in the moment, but when the moment passed i remembered to do this,and said, "Speak Lord." but then i did not "listen." It will have to be a habit developed by the grace of God over time, much time, the process of sanctification.

The difficulties at home have drawn me closer to my wife and to my God, so i can not call this a time of falling down, but falling up, into His Arms
once again...
a victim of relentless affection,
or as Eugene Peterson says,
"aggressive forgiveness."

I appreciate the prayers of those who "love His appearing" whatever form that appearing comes in!

Romans Bible Study 19 Chapter 5:12-21

2011-01-27T12:28:00.000-05:00

Romans Bible Study #19
Romans 5:12-21
Phrase: Original Sin

12Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned--
13for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
15But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.
16The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.
17For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
18So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.
19For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.
20The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
21so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. NASB

12-14You know the story of how Adam landed us in the dilemma we're in— first sin, then death, and no one exempt from either sin or death. That sin disturbed relations with God in everything and everyone, but the extent of the disturbance was not clear until God spelled it out in detail to Moses. So death, this huge abyss separating us from God, dominated the landscape from Adam to Moses. Even those who didn't sin precisely as Adam did by disobeying a specific command of God still had to experience this termination of life, this separation from God. But Adam, who got us into this, also points ahead to the One who will get us out of it.
15-17Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man's sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God's gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do There's no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence. If death got the upper hand through one man's wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?
18-19Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right.
. 20-21All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers But sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that's the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end. The Message

We don’t do 10 verses very often, but this section is one continual thought, so here we go.
Verses 12, 13 “Therefore” We were just told in the previous verses that we have a “new life” through our Lord Jesus Christ. This “therefore” seems to be a ‘lead in’ to the comparison of the “death-giver” and the “life-giver.” The previous verses did a “much more” comparison to show how much God wants to enable us with sanctification, since He did so much for us with the removal of our sin while we were His enemies. The beauty of this passage is that it once again confronts us with the amazing love, power and grace of God.
Sometimes you can tell a lot more about an object when you compare another object to it, “side-by-side.” So the point of putting Adam next to Jesus is to show the amazing, “much more” of Jesus. In the “critical moment” of conversion there are two windows opened up to our minds by God. One looks back and truly sees the sin of the old man, the nature that is under the wrath of God. One looks forward and sees the new creature in Christ, redeemed, reconciled, NEW ‘In Adam’ ceases to be and ‘In Christ’ comes into existence. There is no ‘side by side existence, one dies, one lives. Judgment comes bringing death to the old and life to the new. Ponder this, Christ is not merely the ‘second-Adam’ but He is the ‘last Adam.’ This victory of His in our life is the death of death, there is no going back. The flesh of course, remains with us and wars with the Spirit, but this is actually proof that we are a new creation, because formerly there was no war, but our sin nature cooperated with our flesh and sin reigned uncontested.
Verse 14 Death is the proof of God’s sovereign judgment. It is universal, for all mankind. As the penalty for sin, it is unswerving. As penalty it points to an ultimate Lawgiver, who as such, is above His law. The fact that we are hemmed in on all sides by this insurmountable mountain, also has hope because there is a “place” above the mountain. The fact that we inherit a “death nature” from Adam is a “type” of the fact that by faith we can inherit a “life nature” from Jesus.
Original sin, has to be seen not so much as a historical event that now affects us all, but as a timeless disposition of man in relation to God. Sin only has meaning as the negation of righteousness. Christ is spoken of as having been “slain from the creation of the world” Rev 13:8 Most take this to mean that God foreknew the fall of man, so what played out in Adam, was to be the lot of all men. Sin will take a concrete form in what we do, but its power is real before it ever shows its face. The visible sovereignty of death points back to the invisible sovereignty of sin. Sin isn’t about us and what we do, it is about who we are. Our nature is sinful. There is so much proof of this it is overwhelming. One time while talking with a non-Christian they mentioned about people living together in a community in peace. I said, “Has that EVER happened, ever in the history of man.” “Well, no.” It has never happened because, our nature is to sin. Jails, prisons, policeman all shout out, we are fallen creatures, with a fallen nature.
Verses 15-17 “much more” is the theme of these verses showing the much more of Christ as compared to Adam. Death follows sin, is the penalty for sin. Nothing amazing or surprising about that, but that inspite of many transgressions an abundance of grace comes to us in the form of Jesus Christ that is amazing. That Righteousness could be given as a gift to those who deserve condemnation, that is a ‘much more’ truth.
Driven from Paradise and robbed of life the trespass results in judgment. But God is not done. He does not accept the robbery of what is His. Jesus Christ is His visible response. The final Adam.
Verse 18-19 Take note of “will be.” What we were in Adam is what we “were.” What we shall be “in Christ” is what is yet to come. So we are in the tension of what we were and what we shall be. We are on a journey, but it is mercy and His righteousness that is carrying us there.
We are in ‘Adam’ because we are under the sentence of death. We are in Christ, as we allow, Him to live His life through us. We are at a ‘threshold’ appointed for life in Christ. It is a sure hope.
Verse 20-21 The law has no power, to make me right with God. It in fact shows forth the concrete proof of my sinful nature. “Religion” at its best displays what man can not hope to accomplish; connection with the divine. Quote from Martin Luther, “God’s law does nothing for me, but to awaken my bad conscience.”
Barth has a good section here.
“When the last human endeavor is found to be useless and ineffective; when every short cut has failed; when no human movement or re-volution or e-volution is adequate to provide a positive, or even a negative, method of proceeding from Adam to Christ/ when the abandoned Servant of God abandons–Himself. Then it is that the claim of religion is justified. The law brings human inadequacy out into the clear light of day” “Life is not life, if it be not life from death.”

Sins ‘victory’ in death is now overruled by grace, which brings righteousness and leads to eternal life, all in and through Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul is leading into 3 chapters on the on-going process of sanctification, but first he rises to the height of this amazing truth. He acknowledges that death reigns, but it is superseded by a greater power. Our hearts have to rise up to meet this amazing truth with praise and thankfulness. This is not some “dry fact”, it is a living, merciful word to us, God has a plan to put your jailer in jail, to come to your rescue, break you out turn the tables and keep on giving you love for all eternity... Amazing Grace

From That Place

2011-01-17T07:20:00.001-05:00

Had a God inspired prayer , that I wanted to share on this blog.

We must war against the forces that want to separate parts of the Body
and break the bonds of love. My observation is those 'forces' attack the
relationships between women in the Body, much more than men. God give us
the maturity to remain in Your Embrace and FROM THAT PLACE of true, deep, security
to overlook and cover and give gentle answers to the other Body parts, 70 x's 7 In Jesus' Name
Amen.

and they died

2010-12-26T06:51:00.002-05:00

Genesis 5 is the sad record of the
wages of sin...death.
But Enoch is dropped down in it, he didn't die,
didn't pay the wages.
All have sinned, so doesn't he have to be
one of the two witnesses at the end of time?
God's grace shown in Enoch and Noah cuts through
the sin and death of Chapter 5 and says,
NO MATTER WHAT I AM IN CONTROL, AND I WILL DO
AS I PLEASE.
Praise God, He is sooo merciful, He has many Enoch
and Noah moments in my life. Where His judgment is
shown in grace and mercy, no matter how well disguised.

This year has not gone as i would have liked, but God is
sovereign and I trust Him. Like a dumb sheep i have often
strayed into sin and apathy, i have neglected to lead and guide
and pray for those in my care, BUT GOD continues to make
me a "victim of relentless affection."

And his love is steady and strong.

And so symbolic of His unchanging faithfulness, i will
post this 54th blog, the exact same number that i have
posted every year.

Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and
is to come.

Lying prophets tell you everything will be OK. True
prophets tell you the judgment of a righteous God must
come, prepare the way. God have mercy on us.

Him through us not us for Him

2010-12-18T06:50:00.002-05:00

The idea is not that we do work for God, but that we are so loyal to Him that He can do His work through us - "I reckon on you for extreme service, with no complaining on your part and no explanation on Mine." God wants to use us as He used His own Son.

oswald Dec 18th

the difference is subtle but oh oh oh so telling, most of my anger and frustration can be easily traced back to a mindset that is "working for Him" instead of letting "Him work through me."

idk

2010-12-16T19:07:00.003-05:00

that is one abbreviation in the modern culture that i can relate to

i don't know ... is the one and only response that i am using lately
not by choice, but by truth and necessity
what should we do about child a, b, c, d, or e
idk
what do you think about bills, the house, remodeling, another person's
behavior,
idk
what would we do if this or that happens
idk

you get the picture
it is humbling and yet a little freeing at the same time
idk
i wonder if this passage in Isaiah means that it is ok to
be in this position.
"Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him" Isaiah 64:4b

a song to emphasize this truth
Gideon by Jason Upton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5ZGb9M_mCI

the thing in you...

2010-12-11T09:05:00.000-05:00

The thing in you that will not be reconciled to your brother is your individuality. God wants to bring you into union with Himself, but unless you are willing to give up your right to yourself He cannot. "Let him deny himself" - deny his independent right to himself, then the real life has a chance to grow.

Oswald Chambers Dec 11th

Oswald wisdom 12/2

2010-12-02T06:29:00.000-05:00

If it was God's will to bruise His own Son, why should He not bruise you? The thing that tells for God is not your relevant consistency to an idea of what a saint should be, but your real vital relation to Jesus Christ, and your abandonment to Him whether you are well or ill. Oswald Chambers