As It Is Written

How The Bible Protects Us

2011-10-13T21:16:00.005-04:00

Apologetics is the ancient practice of defending the truth of the Bible against the many ways that people try to deny or twist it according to their own views. It comes from a Greek word that means "defense” or “answer" in 1 Peter 3:15. Peter said every believer should be ready to give a defense of our hope in Christ as Lord, yet to do it with gentleness and respect (I myself have failed many times to be gentle and respectful and have felt a lot of shame as a result).

The apostle Paul wrote one of his strongest defenses of the gospel against those who were teaching that they had to keep the Law and become Jewish to be saved. That's when he wrote the book of Galatians. He wrote in the introduction that he was astonished at the Christians in Galatia, because they were so soon being turned from God's message of grace to a different gospel. He said, "not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed." (Galatians 1:6-9)

This was perhaps the strongest condemnation Paul ever pronounced against anyone, and the reason he did so was because those false teachers had distorted the gospel so badly that they were teaching a different way of salvation than the way God had announced through Jesus to the apostles--which was complete salvation by grace alone apart from any good works that we could perform (Luke 18:9-17; Ephesians 2:1-10). So Paul was very upset because they were actually changing the message of salvation. And that is why we have the practice of apologetics today in the Church. As Jude 1:3 says, "Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." Jude also saw how it was necessary to contend for the faith and defend it against distortions, even though he would have rather written to them about something else.

Because of all this, we ought to watch out that people don’t influence us in the wrong ways. For example, the early Christians believed what Jesus taught about having the freedom to eat any kind of food as long as we give thanks to God for it. They also warned against the popular teaching of that time that said we must avoid eating certain things in order to be holy or pleasing to God. In 1 Timothy 4:1-5 Paul wrote: "Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer."

Notice how Paul wrote that "the Spirit expressly” said these things. This means God really wanted us to know that in the last days people would start leaving the truth for other beliefs. Paul even said that false beliefs are from "the teachings of demons." One of those teachings was that people would forbid marriage. Another teaching was that they would require people not to eat certain foods, and he adds, "that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth." Obviously God knew these things would become a problem and so He warned us ahead of time in the Bible to protect us from error.

Another area that the New Testament makes really clear is our need to discern the difference between true and false teachers. Jesus warned that many false teachers would come in His name, but that we should not follow them. While they usually look good on the outside as “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” nevertheless there is a way to recognize them. The way Jesus taught us to tell the difference was by their message and their lifestyle. Hesaid you can judge a tree by its fruits. A good tree makes good fruit but a bad tree produces bad fruit. (Matthew chapter 7)

We don't have to be extremely educated or know a whole lot about everything to tell the difference between good and bad fruit. We just have to know what it is. As Christians, it is important that we learn as much as we can about what God's Word teaches, so that we will become better able to rightly judge between the good and the bad (Hebrews 5:12-14). A simple way to do that is to just know the gospel really well and know who Jesus is according to the Bible. The Bible shows that most deception involves a distortion of who Jesus is and what the message of the true gospel is. Since the it teaches that Jesus is God in human flesh (John 1:14), then most cults and false religions in the world today usually deny some aspect of His God-Man nature. Oneness Pentacostals, such as T. D. Jakes and others, deny the doctrine of the Trinity, which can be seen on almost every page of Scripture. The reason it is so important is because the letter of 1 John makes our belief about who Jesus is one of the tests of true faith. ohn also wrote in John 1:1 that He was both “with God” and “was God” (in His nature) at the same time, but that He is not the same as the Father or Spirit (John 16:13; 17:5). Some people don’t like the doctrine of the Trinity because it is hard to understand, but that shouldn’t discourage us from believing what He revealed about Himself in the Bible.

The other problem that comes up is the message of the gospel. It is solely by God's grace and goodness, and because of His own free will and love, that we are saved by faith in Jesus. We are made new in Christ, so that we live for Him and His eternal Kingdom now. But this simple message is often distorted when people say that we must do good works in order to be saved, such as circumcision (in the early church), or baptism, or the Lord's Supper, or obedience to the Law. All of those things are good and necessary when properly used. The Old Testament sign of the covenant was circumcision, and Jesus commanded baptism and the Lord's Supper, and also taught us to obey God's law (Matt 5:17-19). But none of those can make it possible for us to go to heaven, because that is a free gift. Yet that is precisely what many false teachers denied back then and still deny today. I used to go to a church in Pittsburgh that denied salvation by grace through faith alone. I felt terrible that I fell for that, because that’s what Paul was warning about in Galatians, as well as his other letters.

James chapter 2 also warns us about those who say they have faith, but who do not have good works to back it up. He taught that our faith is rather proven to be genuine by our life of humble obedience, love for others, and good works, though they do not earn our salvation. There are other ways the truth is denied by false teachers, but these are some of the most important ways the Bible warns us about.

Peter and Jude, as well as John (known as “the apostle of love”), wrote specifically to help us tell good teachers from bad ones. Peter said that the "ignorant and unstable" distort the Scriptures (2 Peter 3:14-18). Jude said they pervert the grace of God into immorality and deny Jesus (Jude v.4). He later said, “Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones” (v.8). The glorious ones refers to angels, but is in the context of how such people aren’t afraid to speak blasphemously of authoritative powers. Jude may have had Exodus 22:8 in mind, which says, “"You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.” Jude then said that even the angel Gabriel would not say anything slanderous of an authority, not even to the devil himself, but instead appealed to God as the Judge. That was because all authority is given by God. Even though many authorities might not be just or act rightly, they are still to be spoken of respectfully in fear of God. But false teachers usually reject the authority of good Christian pastors and teachers, and they speak badly of them, and often set themselves up as their own authority. They don’t like to do what God's Word says about humble submission to other faithful believers in obedience to Christ. Jude warned us about people like that so that we wouldn’t follow their example.

Most of the New Testament was written in response to these very problems. And thank God He gave us all this information ahead of time, so that we know exactly how we can please Him and bring glory to His name by an assured faith! It is so wonderful that we know these things, because the more we stand firm in the truth delivered to us, the harder it will be to distract us from glorifying the Lord Jesus by our lives, and God will be praised!

Some people are easily led astray by conspiracies, and we can all be affected by them if we are not careful. A verse that has been a good encouragement to me in confusing situations is Isaiah 8:11-13, “For the LORD spoke thus to me... and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: ‘Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.’” This is also a reason why I think it is just good for Christians to learn more about the Bible at a good church. Of course, no church is perfect, but neither are we. We are just glad to be in God’s grace and to learn with others who are standing firm, too!

So I wrote all this because I hope it will encourage you not to let many of the confusing things out there get you down. I also know of many other ways our hope in God and His Word can be hindered by Satan through false teachings, but I wanted to write to warn you of those things which can quickly make us forget how the Bible says we already have everything we need in Jesus Christ our Lord! (Colossians 1-2)

We Must Be Born Again video

2011-01-11T22:46:00.005-05:00

Safe and Secure

2010-09-20T08:16:00.001-04:00

This was a short message I gave in church on Sunday before the sermon. It was from Matthew chapter 7, focusing on the parable Jesus told about building one's house on the rock.

Matthew 7:12-29 (ESV):

12 "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

13 "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

21 "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. 22 On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' 23 And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'

24 "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

Jesus was teaching people about who would enter the kingdom of heaven, and how they must live in this present world (Matthew chapters 5-7). At the last section of his speech (Matthew chapter 7), Jesus warned of the importance of entering by the “strait gate” (i.e., the narrow gate). He tells them that there are many people who go through the wide gate and the broad way, which ultimately ends in destruction. Many people in our world are happy with the easy way out of getting things done. How many of you here have tried to do something in a way that you thought was easier than the correct way, but later found out you did it wrong and actually made it worse than what you thought would be hard? Well, Jesus warned these people in the Sermon on the Mount about following the way that seems wide, seems broad, seems to be the easy way, because it is wrong, and it leads to ruin and destruction.

Instead, Jesus exhorted the people to enter the way that is strait (meaning “narrow” and “hard”, not “straight”). It is narrow, which means that it is a more difficult gate to enter and a harder path to follow. He told them this is the way that leads to life, meaning eternal life, but that only a few find it. Enter by this gate, Jesus says.

Next, Jesus warned the people of false prophets, those who would try to keep them from entering the narrow path by telling them things that are untrue and deceitful concerning the kingdom of heaven. He warned them that they could tell them by their fruits, that is, by the results of their teaching and lifestyle. Those who teach false doctrine and live contrary to the Word of God, are evidently false prophets. They are the people on the broad way, leading others to destruction, and ultimately being rejected from entering the kingdom of heaven themselves.

Jesus also revealed in verses 21-23 that many people who professed him as their Lord, will not be allowed to enter the kingdom of heaven, because Jesus did not know them and they were workers of iniquity (lawlessness).

After thoroughly warning his listeners of the judgment to come, and of the importance of having a genuine, good, and fruit-bearing life of doing the will of His Father in heaven, Jesus then told them one of the most memorable parables ever.

In verses 24-27, he made it clear that those who build their house on the rock will be the only ones left standing after the storm of judgment when it passes by. Those who build their house on the wrong foundation of sand will be destroyed when the storm of judgment comes. So let’s consider, what does Jesus want people (including us here today) to rest the foundation of their lives on? It is actually quite simple. He tells us. (But I must warn you, it is hard, it is narrow, it is difficult, and very few people actually do it.) What is it?

Well, look at verse 24... Jesus wants people to rest the foundation of their lives on... what?... on his words. He wants people, including us, to actually do what he said, to put his teachings into practice. This is the only sure and certain way to be unmoved, safe and secure from the storm of judgment.

Jesus said it was hard, and that few find it, but there it is, given to us in a parable that concludes all of what he had been teaching during the Sermon on the Mount. A parable that tells of a wise man and a foolish man. A man who built his house on the rock, practicing the words of Jesus, and a man who built his house on the sand, hearing but not doing what Jesus had said. One was swept away in the storm, the other was left standing sturdy and strong.

How many of us will take this teaching of Jesus seriously? How many of us will not just listen to what Jesus has to say, but will actually do what he said? How many of us will diligently read the Bible and seek to put it into practice with wisdom?

Let me add that Jesus never taught people that their good works would get them into heaven. He always taught this: ”The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; [therefore] repent and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:15). Jesus wanted people to follow him, to listen to him, to believe in him and to obey him. In one word, we call that “faith.” Jesus came to give his life as a ransom for all who trust in him. He went to the cross, carried our sins and our sorrows, suffered the extreme punishment for sin, and rose again from the grave on the third day. Because of this we are justified by faith alone in him. But if we have been justified by faith alone in Christ Jesus, and if he truly is our Lord, as we call him, then let us show our faith by our works, and prayerfully seek to do exactly what our Father wants us to do, putting into practice all that Jesus taught.

We need the Holy Spirit to do that, and we need God’s grace, but nevertheless, that is what Jesus said, and that is what we must strive to do. Let us not take confidence in our works, but in our Savior, and let us show our love toward our Savior by our works, by carefully listening, studying, and putting the words of Christ into practice. In this way, we show that we are resting on the right foundation, the foundation laid down for us by the one who has taken away our sins with his own blood, and provided eternal righteousness and life for us who believe by his resurrection from the dead.

How We Already Know

2010-08-18T22:01:00.006-04:00

Think about it... Why does anything exist rather than nothing? For some people, the only answer they can give to this question is simply, “I don’t know.” But for others, the obvious answer may simply be that “God created something rather than nothing.” Whatever your answer may be, that question is one philosophers and scientists have wrestled with for centuries trying to answer.

If you don’t know why something exists rather than nothing, then ask yourself (or allow me to ask you), why don’t you know? Why don’t we know the reason for why things like a universe, light, matter, water, plants, dogs and cats, bacteria and humans with brains that can build space craft, exist? Can we know?

I believe we can and here’s why...
We already know there is a Creator, that God exists. We know that, because if God did not exist, there would be no ultimate cause for why things (including us) exist, which would mean that there would be no ultimate reason for existence. Then our intelligence would be a product of a causeless, reasonless world. If we claimed to know anything apart from the existence of a Creator, we could know no more than if we knew nothing, because we could never know everything all at once. We would simply have no reason to trust our own reasoning. Why should we trust the unchanging laws of logic, if everything is subject to change, with no intelligent Creator upholding those laws? Yet if we do acknowledge the existence of a Creator, then we have a reason to trust our ability to know, and to reason, because what we do know is what our Creator has made us to know. In short, we know what we know, because God has given it to us to know.

(Please note: I am not saying that those who do not believe in God cannot, or do not know anything. Clearly they do. But that is not because our existence is purposeless or without an ultimate cause and ultimate reason. The reason believers and unbelievers know what we know, must be because we were designed to have the ability to know things. If we were not, we would have no reason to trust our own mental capabilities, or the truth or falsehood of any belief. The only reason we can have knowledge, is because God made us to have knowledge.)

Also notice that I did not say we know everything there is to know. Only that what we do know, we know it because God made it known to us. This is called “revelation”. Revelation is God communicating things to humans so that we may know things about Him. We can know that God is great and powerful, since He created the stars and galaxies and put our planet in perfect orbit around the sun. We can know that God cares about His creation, because we receive rain and sunshine to provide us with food. We can know that God is creative and that His glory is splendid, because we can see it in all of creation. We also know God is intelligent and that He communicates, because He designed humans to have certain intellectual abilities and the power to communicate. We also can know God, because we were created by Him. That may sound strange, but think about it first, if we were created by God, then it is possible He has made us to know that we are created, that we are His creatures. This is, in fact, what I believe to be the case.

The Bible is made up of a collection of the best attested historical writings in the world. It speaks of these very things that you have just spent a few moments reading and thinking about. The Bible says (in regard to the fact that we know God as a result of His revelation), “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them” (Romans 1:19 ESV). In other words, we can know God, because God has plainly shown things about Himself to us.

Consider what else the Bible says about this, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20 ESV). This verse of the Bible is saying that we have no excuse for not knowing God, because His invisible attributes of power and divinity are clear through nature.

Far from being an old irrelevant book of the past, the Bible deals with very crucial questions, providing very acute answers. It speaks of our world in very real terms. It speaks of evil and suffering, providing the very answer to those problems. It also tells of the miraculous and prophetic manifestation of Jesus Christ as “God with us”, God in human form. The Bible provides a way to know God more personally than knowing He exists, it speaks of reconciliation to peace with God through Jesus.

So think about it, if God is our Creator and we are His creatures, then we should know Him already, and if the Bible is His special revelation, then we should be able to know that as well. While the Bible has a remarkable history, and has a mountain of proof in its favor, it should be enough for us to be able to read it for ourselves, knowing we know God, and knowing that He is able to communicate His will to us through His own special revelation. If this is so, we could know it. I believe we do know it, and I hope you will move from reading this short tract to something far greater...

Consider what the apostle Peter wrote in 2 Peter 1:16-21 concerning the Bible:
“For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased," we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:16-21 ESV)

That is to say, that God has revealed His word to eye-witnesses through His Son, Jesus Christ. The Scriptures are His revelation to us, given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We will do well to pay attention to the Bible, as to a lamp that brings light to a dark room, like a great star that gives bright light to our hearts.

Sin - What is it? Part 3

2010-05-29T09:44:00.001-04:00

This is the third and final post on "Sin - What is it?" Here was part 1 and part 2.

The Result

The payment for sin is death (Romans 6:23). The Bible says that we are born spiritually dead by nature because of sin (Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:1). Jesus often warned that sin leads to the “lake of fire,” “the fire of hell,” “everlasting fire,” where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” “where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” Clearly God’s judgment for sin is eternal and full of wrath (Matthew 5:22; 10:28; 18:8,9; 23:51; 25:41; Mark 9:48; Luke 16:23; Revelation 20:13; etc.).

The Love of God for Sinners

But that is the very reason why God sent His Son into the world, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). God does not desire to punish sinners, but He sent Jesus to be born of a virgin without any sin in Himself, so that He would save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21; 2Corinthians 5:21).

A Change of Mind

The first thing Jesus preached was “repent, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Repentance is a broken-hearted sorrow and hatred for sin. It is to change your mind toward God and turn from your sins, humbly learning what is right from His will in the Bible. Scripture says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). Humble repentance is turning to Jesus empty of all self-righteousness and without faith in one’s self. It is calling out to God for mercy. It is an open-hearted confession before God that you are guilty and worthy of eternal judgment. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1John 1:9,10). Jesus warned very strongly that you must repent or perish (Luke 13:3,5).

Salvation is Free

The Bible says that God shows His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Jesus did not die on the cross for good people, but only for ungodly sinners (Romans 5:6; 1 Timothy 1:15). He died for those who would repent and believe that God raised Him from the dead, and who would trust in God through Him as Savior. This salvation is a free gift through faith, apart from any good works that we could perform (Romans 4:5,23-25; 5:9,10; Ephesians 2:8-10).

Faith in God

Faith is not blind, but trusts Him who alone is faithful and trust-worthy. The Bible claims that Jesus Christ is the faithful God revealed in human flesh (John 1:1,14; Revelation 19:11,13).

How to be Set Free

Christ came to set us free so that we would live to obey God from the heart: “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people [i.e. his own special people], zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14). Jesus invites you to come to Him for rest from the burden of your sins, “Come unto me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest... For I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28,29).

Conclusion

The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9). This means that God is calling you to repent today and believe His message of hope by submitting your life to Jesus as your God and Master, that you may find forgiveness of all your sins and a brand new life by the power of His Holy Spirit! Begin reading the Bible today to know all that God Himself has spoken. God gave us the Holy Bible so that we would know Him through His Son, Jesus Christ, and that by knowing Him we would have eternal life (John 17:3). Will you read the Bible to know the Lord Jesus Christ and His love for sinners who trust Him? You can begin by reading the Gospel of John and then Romans in the New Testament.

Sin - What is it? Part 2

2010-05-26T19:47:00.007-04:00

This is the second part of a short series on defining sin and learning about the answer to it. Here was Part 1.)

How You Have Sinned

This means that every time in your life when you told a lie or said something false about someone, you sinned. Every time you disrespected your parents or refused to obey them as a child, you sinned. Every time you gave your whole heart and soul to something while neglecting obedience to God’s Word, you sinned. Every time you spoke of God in vain or lived in a way that would dishonor His name, you sinned. (See Exodus 20:3-17).

Sinful Desires

Sin includes corrupt attitudes and desires of the heart (Genesis 6:5; Mark 7:21). To covet, desiring something that belongs to another person, is sin. To lust, desiring sexual pleasure with someone outside of marriage, is adultery in the heart. Hatred and unjust anger are considered murder (Matthew 5:22; 1John 3:15). Sin says, “My way is better than God’s way. I will do what I want... whatever pleases myself.” Rather than saying, “The things that I want must be governed by God’s Word, or they are not right at all.” As Jesus prayed to His Father, “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).

Sin is Against God

God considers sin to be enmity against Himself (Romans 8:7). Which means that if you sin, God is your enemy and you are His enemy (Isaiah 33:14; Romans 5:10). Sin is rebellion (1 Samuel 15:23). It is an unwillingness to submit to what the Creator has revealed in His Word. It is a form of self-righteousness, thinking it is justified in doing what God hates.
Lying to Yourself
Sin is deceptive, ensnaring and will lead you astray (Proverbs 5:22,23). It makes you lie to yourself, telling yourself that you are not really that bad. It is a deadly form of pride which stubbornly refuses to be corrected or rebuked. Sin will make you blame anyone except yourself, saying, “It was her fault... his mistake... their problem... not mine!” But it is your problem!

Causing Harm

Sin makes you love what you should hate and hate what you should love. It will rob you and others of everything truly good in life and will poison every relationship. Sin causes people to fight and quarrel and kill. It is a warfare of pleasures battling within you (James 4:1). It is deceptive, destructive and disastrous. In fact, all the suffering we experience in this world began with Adam and Eve’s original sin in the garden (Genesis chapter 3; Romans 5:12).

God is Holy and Just

Because God is perfectly holy and just, He cannot allow sin to go unpunished. Therefore God has promised one day to judge the world with righteousness (Psalm 98:9).

(To be continued...)

Sin - What is it? Part 1

2010-05-03T16:39:00.003-04:00

What is sin? We as Christians hear that Jesus died for it, but what does that mean? I'm publishing the first part of a series of simple posts that seek to briefly explain this important topic from Scripture.

The Bible says Jesus died for people’s sins. So what is sin?

Definition

The definition of sin is lawlessness: “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4).

The Law of God

God created the universe with natural law and order. The Bible teaches us that mankind was made with a moral law, which is contained in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20). All ten commandments are summed up in these two commands: 1) “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind,” and 2) “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:36-40).

Our Problem

Our problem is that we have each broken that standard. Jesus taught that the Holy Spirit would come to convict the world of sin (John 16:8,9), and the Spirit reveals to us in the Bible that “there is none righteous, no, not one... there is none that does good, no, not one” (Romans 3:10,12).

REASONS TO BELIEVE THE BIBLE #3

2010-03-18T22:16:00.008-04:00

Here's a few more reasons why I believe you and I should read the Bible. This is my third post on this subject.

3) Is faith blind?

No, faith in the Biblical sense means to believe with certainty and conviction (Hebrews 11:1), to trust someone who is faithful, to believe the words of God. Contrary to blind faith, the Bible teaches we are to examine everything we hear (1 Thessalonians 5:21), to carefully consider what and who we trust in (1 John 4:1), to believe the testimony God has provided to His Word (1 Thess. 2:13; 1 John 5:9,10).

Faith is justified by the works God has performed before eyewitnesses (Luke 1:2-4; John 10:25,38; 14:11; Acts 5:32; 13:31; 1 John 1:1-4), the character of those eyewitnesses to be faithful (1 Thess. 2:10), their willingness to suffer or die for the message they taught (Acts 5:41; 21:13; Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 1:12; 4:6), their strict morality which makes it impossible to knowingly deceive others and remain true to the message (2 Cor. 4:2; 1 Pet. 5:12; 2 Pet. 1:16), the power of the Holy Spirit (John 15:26; 16:13; Acts 2:38; 5:32; Rom. 1:4), and so on.

Biblical faith promotes careful examination of facts (Luke 1:3-4; 1 Thes. 5:21), but discourages blindly believing something without good reason (1 John 4:1). Faith does not stop with human reasoning alone (1 Cor. 2:5-6), it is a divine gift from God's Spirit (Eph. 2:8; 1 Cor. 12:9), imparted to the people of God so that they may believe with certainty the things written in His Word.

4) Is the message of the Bible all negative, fire and brimstone?

No, the Bible contains the most positive message I have ever heard in my life, calling it "Good News".

No merely human imagination could have ever made it up. The Bible was written by around 40 different authors who lived centuries apart from each other, who came from different countries and lifestyles, yet who wrote in perfect harmony with one another.

Like a masterpiece of art, the Bible paints the darkest picture of evil, sin and judgment, contrasting that with the most glorious display of light in God's love, mercy and grace. At the same time that it speaks of the justice and wrath of the Most Holy God, it also shows how everlasting and deep His love is for those sinners whom He rescues by taking their punishment away through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Only the words of Holy Scripture can accurately describe such loving grace: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. " (John 3:16). "For by grace you are saved through faith; and that is not from yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not by works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:8-10). "And this word is the good news that was preached to you" (1 Peter 1:25).

6) Would you consider studying the Bible yourself?

Maybe you grew up going to church, but were never taught to understand the Bible well? Maybe you were never taught the Bible at all? Or maybe you have been told it is wrong or a lie? Maybe you are of another religion, but you have not really considered what the Bible says? Or maybe you have never had an interest in learning the Bible?

Whatever your case may be, would you consider the Biblical message honestly? Would you consider that you are a creation of an eternal, all-knowing God? That you will be held accountable to Him for all you have said, done and thought? That eternal justice will be performed on the day of Judgment, which God has appointed through His Son, whom He has raised from the dead? That without a righteousness no less than perfect, you will not be able to enjoy God's presence in eternity. That your sin will be held accountable and punished with an eternity of fire unless you humbly confess it, forsake it and turn to Jesus who shed His own perfect blood on a cross so that you could be forgiven. That you can be justified from your sin forever in His righteousness by faith alone, as a free gift.

Jesus Christ only saves sinners, and He only saves them by grace, which means that good deeds or being a good person will not earn you forgiveness. You must receive it as a gift of God through child-like trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, or you will not receive it at all. Those who do believe, do obey Jesus' commands, just as the Lord said. His commands are that you believe in the Son whom God has sent to the world, and that you love His true children. Obedience is the fruit and necessary result of true saving faith. Even this faith is a gift of God given by His Holy Spirit, whom you will receive if you truly believe. Please consider these things and turn to the Savior. You only have an eternity of peace with God to gain, and sin and hell to lose.

REASONS TO BELIEVE THE BIBLE #2

2010-02-23T13:23:00.003-05:00

2) Is there any proof that the Bible is the Word of God?

Yes, if the Bible truly is the Word of God, then it would have to prove itself true. The Bible does just that by claiming to be the very words of God Himself and backing up that claim with an enormous amount of evidence and witnesses.

HISTORICALL EVIDENCE
The Bible is a faithful historical collection of writings. One could go to Israel and visit all the archaeological discovery sites that are spoken of in the Bible, and the accuracy is astounding. Names of kings, nations, cities and wars spoken of in the Bible have been discovered through archaeology, and are continuing to be discovered. But archaeology does not prove the Bible is God's word, it simply proves the historical reliability of the Bible whenever it describes ancient people, places and events in history.

MANUSCRIPT EVIDENCE
Scholars have also learned over many years of study that the thousands of manuscript copies of Biblical texts are more numerous than any other historical documents in the world. The most well known and trusted historical documents known to man have been copied and recopied for centuries, yet today only a few of them remain, while Biblical texts number in the thousands. If anything was added or subtracted through error or with intention from the original copies, the multitude of other copies make it impossible to go unnoticed. The manuscripts themselves are remarkably well preserved in their accuracy, with the exceptions of various spelling mistakes, marginal notes or other copiest errors that could be made and corrected over time.

The many different versions of the Bible are simply translations. The Bible has been translated from ancient Hebrew and Greek into more languages around the world than any other book, including languages that never before had a system of writing until the Bible was translated for them. There are both good and bad translations depending on how well the versions are translated from the original languages.

UNITY AND BIBLICAL PROPHECY
The Bible is a collection of books which fit together and are intertwined as one whole. The Old Testament was written before the time of Jesus Christ and the New Testament was written after Jesus Christ. Jesus claimed that all of Biblical Scripture was written about him and pointed to him as the only Savior of the world (Luke 24:27,44; John 5:39). That is a shocking claim that only a crazy person would make! Unless it is really true. If we would take the time to examine the many prophecies in the Bible which have been fulfilled through Jesus Christ, or even the hundreds more that have been fulfilled in known history, it would either be unbelievable or very strongly convincing. For example, king David wrote the prophetic Psalm 22 nearly a thousand years before the time of Christ, which describes in vivid detail nearly the same crucifixion account found in the four gospels. The very words that Jesus used on the cross were prophesied, including what his enemies said about him, the way his enemies treated him, how they mocked him, how his hands and feet were pierced through, and also how the soldiers cast lots for his garments. There are hundreds of additional Biblical prophecies that can be mentioned, including the birth of Christ, his resurrection from the dead and the commissioning of his Church (his people) in the world.

SCIENTIFIC FACTS
Science has also made many discoveries over the years which were mentioned in the Bible long before they were known to be true. For example, the Bible mentions the circular or spherical nature of the earth (Job 26:10; Psalm 8:27; Isaiah 40:22), how the earth turns on an axis (Job 38:14, where the Hebrew word "haphak" means "to turn", indicating a turning motion to the earth), and how it is suspended on nothing (Job 26:7), how the stars are more numerous than the sands of the sea (Genesis 22:17; Hebrews 11:12), how each star differs from another (1 Corinthians 15:1). It gives prescriptions for how to protect people from diseases and contamination long before medical science understood those principles (Leviticus 13). The hygiene laws prescribed in Leviticus 13 were also used to help protect people from the spread of the black death epidemic in the 14th century A.D.. The Bible even mentions creatures that are remarkably similar in description to dinosaurs! (Check it out for yourself, Job 40:15-24.) When all these things were originally written people were not at all aware of the scientific facts that are now known in modern times about them. But God, to whom the Bible credits itself, knows all things!

INTERNAL EVIDENCE
The Bible proves itself even more powerfully by its ability to explain reality in a way that is coherent and logical. Many skeptics scoff at this idea, but denial doesn't change the fact that countless skeptics themselves have been converted after examining the Bible closely. It explains creation and nature as a purposeful work of God. It explains the reason for evil and suffering and death in the world. It explains the break between the human relationship with God and the downfall of mankind as a result. It explains how God operates in both judgment on evil and mercy toward mankind. It explains God's purpose and glory in sending His own Son, as a real human being and yet God, to redeem people from every nation and language and tribe through His suffering, death and resurrection. It explains how Jesus brings victory over sin and death, with eternal hope through resurrection of the body. It explains God's eternal perspective, from the creation to consummation of all things. Contrary to popular opinion, the Bible is not a book of fairy tails, but a dramatic history and source of knowledge concerning God and His relationship with mankind. It even explains why people refuse to believe the truth and why they turn to other things rather than the Creator for hope and guidance.

REASONS TO BELIEVE THE BIBLE #1

2010-02-23T12:52:00.012-05:00

1) Is there really any proof for God?

Yes, there are many ways to know that God is. First, consider the need for a cause to produce the kind of universe in which we exist. Our universe contains order, design, progress, function, intelligence, communication, and much more. There is no other option than that it is the work of an intelligent Creator. Otherwise, it would be the result of coincidence or chance, which is literally impossible. It makes sense to believe the universe was created by God.

We can even see the "fingerprints" of our Creator's hands in the design and complexity of the natural world. From brilliant galaxies to the microbiology of a single cell, there is clear and distinct design and order to everything. It is so astounding that many scientists have willingly acknowledged the divine origin of creation, something the Bible has been doing since the first verse, written over 3,500 years ago where it said, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

Our own consciences also testify that there is an eternal and divinely powerful God, to whom we are accountable for everything in our lives. We ought to acknowledge Him, honor Him and express our gratitude to Him for all that we have.

Consider what Romans says about how we all know God exists from nature:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
(Romans 1:18-25, NASB)

Biblical Prophecies of the Messiah Savior

2009-12-24T16:21:00.007-05:00

I recently compiled a few verses from the Bible showing Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament Messianic prophecies.

Messiah is Hebrew for Anointed One, and is translated Christ in the New Testament. It refers to the Priestly King that all the Old Testament prophets wrote about, and who all Israel had been expecting for thousands of years.

The first mention of a Savior was in Genesis 3:15, where God told the serpent that the seed of the woman would deal a crushing blow to his head. That promise was the foundation upon which the entire Old Testament was built, and of which the New Testament joyfully announces its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Here are just a few passages showing how these things are written:

Jesus told his disciples, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." (Luke 24:44). In fact, Jesus affirmed that the entire purpose of his life and ministry was to fulfill Biblical prophecy. "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (Matthew 5:17). And taking the twelve, he said to them, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished (Luke 18:31).

Consider a few of the prophecies claimed to have been fulfilled by Christ. (Note: these prophetic passages taken from the Old Testament were written about 400 years before the time of Jesus Christ. The New Testament passages look at Jesus from an eye-witness perspective and reveal how he actually did fulfill what had already been foretold concerning the Messiah):

1) That he would be a descendant of Abraham:
The LORD said to Abraham, And in your Seed [offspring] shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed My voice. (Genesis 22:18 LITV). The Book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the Son of David, the son of Abraham. (Matthew 1:1). But the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his Seed (it does not say, And to seeds, as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," which is Christ). (Galatians 3:16 LITV).

2) That he would be from the Israelite tribe of Judah:
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. (Genesis 49:10). Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli... the son of Judah (Luke 3:23,33). For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah (Hebrews 7:14).

3) That he would be the offspring of David:
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. (2 Samuel 7:12). The LORD swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: "One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne. (Psalms 132:11). The Book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the Son of David (Matthew 1:1). And all the people were amazed, and said, "Can this be the Son of David?" (Matthew 12:23)

4) That he would be born in the Judean town of Bethlehem:
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days (Micah 5:2). Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, (Matthew 2:1).

5) That he would be born to a virgin and would be called "God with us":
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14 ESV). Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18 ESV). All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:22-23 ESV).

6) That his forerunner would come from the desert to prepare the way of the Lord:
The voice of him who cries in the wilderness: Prepare the way of Jehovah; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. (Isaiah 40:3 LITV). "Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple (Malachi 3:1 ESV). In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.'" (Matthew 3:1-3 ESV).

7) That his ministry would be in Galilee where Gentiles lived, and there he would display his glory:
But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations [Gentiles]. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined. (Isaiah 9:1-2 ESV). This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. (John 2:11 ESV).

8) That he would shepherd and feed his people:
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. (Psalms 23:1-2 ESV). And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. (Ezekiel 34:23 ESV). When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things... Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. (Mark 6:34-42 ESV). Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number... Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, "This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!" (John 6:10-14 ESV).

9) That God would raise him up from the Jews as a prophet like Moses, and that he would speak God's words:
"The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers--it is to him you shall listen... I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. (Deuteronomy 18:15-19 ESV). For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" (John 5:46-47 ESV). The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment--what to say and what to speak. (John 12:48-49 ESV).

10) His rejection by the Jews was foretold in Scripture:
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. (Psalms 118:22 ESV). He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3 ESV). And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. (Mark 8:31 ESV). Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: "'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?... When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. (Matthew 21:42,45 ESV).

11) That he would suffer at the hands of Jews and Gentiles, be crucified along with wicked men, have his garments divided by lots and die for sinners:
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?... All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; "He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!"... they have pierced my hands and feet... they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. (Psalms 22:1,7-8,16,18 ESV). And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth... he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:9,12 ESV). And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots... So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying,... "He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:35,41,43-46 ESV). For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: 'And he was numbered with the transgressors.' For what is written about me has its fulfillment." (Luke 22:37 ESV).

12) That he would rise from the dead:
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol [the place of the dead], or let your holy one see corruption. (Psalms 16:10 ESV). But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. (Psalms 49:15 ESV). For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life. (Psalms 56:13 ESV). You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. (Psalms 71:20 ESV). Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you." (Matthew 28:7 ESV). This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. (Acts 2:23-24 ESV). He [David] foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. (Acts 2:31-33 ESV).

The Existence of God - Does God Exist?

2009-10-24T11:29:00.005-04:00

The Existence of God

- Creation --> Creator
- Order --> Orderer
- Law --> Law Giver/Definer
- Design --> Designer
- Art --> Artist

To every building there is a builder. To every work of art there is an artist. And every law is issued by a lawgiver, an authority.

The existence of a universe containing intelligence is proof of the existence of an intelligent Creator of that universe.

It is like the existence of a city. A city is material that has been intelligently built, arranged and ordered. The city is itself a testimony to an intelligent builder or builders.

The Bible presents God as the cause of material and non-material existence. His existence is not defined by the existence of any thing else, but rather all things have their existence and definition from Him.

God exists and therefore all things exist. They exist because He exists. God is the Divine Existence that brings into being all things, yet He does not come into being Himself, for He simply exists without beginning or end.

The Bible testifies to this basic characteristic of God in many intelligent and understandable ways.

Biblical References include:

Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." God created the existence of all that is in heaven and earth, for He already existed before all things.

Exodus 3:14 "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." I AM is translated from the Hebrew letters YHWH and originates from a verb meaning "to be."

John 1:3 "All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." There is not a single thing that exists apart from the existence of God. Note: this verse is in reference to Jesus Christ as God over creation.

Colossians 1:17 "And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." He is the only original Being and all other existing things are kept in existence in God. This is another reference to Jesus Christ as God in creation.

Romans 1:10 "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." Nobody can claim there is no evidence or proof for the existence of God.

Revelation 1:8 "'I am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God, 'Who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.'" God declares Himself to be ultimate.

What this means for us is that we are creations, designs, creatures that belong to the Creator. What this means for God is that He made you, owns you and has authority over you. Every moment of our existence completely depends on God. You and I are morally accountable to our Maker for everything we do, say and think, because ultimately we belong to Him and His purposes, not to ourselves.

Therefore it is wise to take the advice of Proverbs 3:6-7, "In all your ways acknowledge him... Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil." Jesus came to save us for Himself.

-Penn Tomassetti

The Great Debate: Does God Exist? Bahnsen v. Stein

2009-10-19T21:16:00.010-04:00

The Bible tells us, " the fool has said in his heart: there is no God." Don't misunderstand that. When the Bible uses the word fool it is not engaging in name calling. It's trying to describe somebody who is dense in the sense that they will not use their reason as God has given him. (someone who is rebellious and hard hearted) It's the fool who says in his heart there is no God.

Paul tells us in I Corinthians the first chapter, that God has made foolish the wisdom of this world. He calls rhetorically, " Where are the wise? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn't God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" In a sense I think what Paul is telling us, if I can amplify or read between the lines, is that the whole history of Philosophy is an argument for the existence of God. The whole history of Philosophy is an argument for the existence of God because of the impossibility of the contrary.

Someone who wants to say [something that is] contrary to what the Bible says about God, let him stand up and answer these questions. Let him show that in his heart he may say there is no God, but he can't live that way. He can't reason that way.

In Romans the first chapter Paul says God is making himself known continually and persuasively to all men, so that men do not have an excuse for their rejection of the existence of the Christian God. That isn't to say that all men confess this God. Not all will own up to Him as their heavenly Father. Not all will submit to Him. Some continue to rebel. Some continue to devise their fools' errands and rationalizations of why they don't have to believe in Him.

That's what the Bible teaches. I didn't just come here and make this up. I didn't come here to say, "If you don't agree you're just being rebellious." That is what the Bible says. What I want you to do tonight is to go home and consider whether there isn't something to that: Why is it that some people continue to use laws of logic, morality, science, and yet they have a world view that just clashes with that; and [yet] they just won't do anything to resolve that contradiction.

Dr. Stein tonight made reference to my doctoral dissertation on self deception. He wondered how relevant it might be. Well, it's very relevant, because what I do in that doctoral dissertation is to show that there are some people who know the truth and yet work very hard to convince themselves that it's not true.

Now, of course, atheists think that's what Christians are doing. I recognize that and that we'd have to argue about the evidence for and against the self-deception. All I want to leave with you tonight is the fact that self-deception is a real phenomenon. It does happen to people. People can know the truth and yet work very hard to rationalize the evidence, as Paul says, "suppress the truth in unrighteousness" in order to convince themselves that there is no God.

Well, you may want to cam[sic] choose tonight between the Christian world view and the atheist world view. We haven't touched all the issues that you may want to look into. However, in broad strokes we have touched on a very important issue. If you're going to be a rational man, a moral man, a man of science, can you do so in an atheist universe. I say you can't.

- The Great Debate: Does God Exist?
Bahnsen v. Stein, Page 37

Last Sunday's Bible Study: Romans 8:15-19

2009-07-11T10:25:00.006-04:00

Last Sunday was 4th of July weekend, so there was an unusual number of people at my Bible study due to a cookout. Well, I'm glad they got to enjoy eating together, and what a blessing it was for me to teach from this passage on being adopted by the Father with the Holy Spirit, and of suffering and glory with Christ. [Note: I retaught on these verses again, as you can see if you scroll down to the previous posts.]

Romans 8:15-19

Verse 15. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"

Speaking of the Holy Spirit, Paul says that believers have received Him as the Spirit of adoption. The reason there cannot be any condemnation for a true Christian, is because Christians have received the very Spirit of the Son of God. He is not a spirit of fear that brings us under slavery, but of adoption as the very children of God the Father. Christians do not need to fear judgment, since God has not only taken away their judgment through Jesus Christ, but has by His Spirit sealed us as His very own children, for whom He has provided an eternal inheritance. It is by His Spirit that we cry like little children, calling Him "Abba", "Father!" God is the Father of those who are saved, and therefore He will never abandon any of His children to condemnation. He loves Christians as His own.

[Lit. No therefore received spirit slavery again to fear, rather received spirit adoption by whom cry Abba the Father.]

Verse 16. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

1. What does the Spirit do if we are God's children?

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit by guiding how we think and live (v.5), and also by leading us to put to death the sins of our flesh, and by moving us to pray to God, calling Him "Abba! Father!" That is, my Father, the One who has made me His own by giving me new life by His Spirit and by the resurrection of His Son, and by the Word preached. (Eph. 1:3-5; Titus 3:5-6; 1 Peter 1:3).

Verse 17. and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

1. What are children of God?
2. What is an heir?
3. What is also necessary for this to be proven true, or for us to be glorified with Christ?

Children of God are heirs. An heir is somone (usually a child) who inherits or is entitled to inherit property, one who inherits or is entitled to succedd to a hereditary rank, title, or office , one who receives or is entitiled to receive some endowment or quality from a parent or predecessor" (Mirriam-Webster online dictionary).

This is true of us, the text says, provided we suffer with Christ so that we may also be glorified together with him. Jesus said that if the world hated him, it will hate us also. All the apostles took what Jesus taught seriously and taught carefully how Christians ought to suffer in the name of Jesus. All of 1 Peter is written to help suffering Christians. Romans chapter 8 is also an encouragment for Christians when they suffer.

Suffering is like the guarantee that proves us to be heirs with Christ, when we suffer together with Him, not apart from Him. We join Him in His sufferings. As Hebrews 12:3-5 says, we suffer with Him in our struggle against sin and are disciplined by our Heavenly Father. In Hebrews 13:3, we suffer with believers who are mistreated (like those in prison for their faith) by remembering their needs. But Hebrews 13:12-13 really explains well how Christians suffer with Jesus. "So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured." (Hebrews 13:12-13).

Verse 18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

1. What do we learn about suffering in this verse?
2. What do we learn about glory?

Paul reasons here, that you cannot even compare the present sufferings that Christians experience in this life with the glory that is to be revealed to us, or in us.

Remember that in verse 17, he just said that we are truly fellow heirs with Christ, as long as we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

So our suffering with Christ, you could say, guarantees that we will be glorified with him. This is why, though it is hard, Christians prize their sufferings, because we know that "this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison" (2 Cor. 4:17).

Verse 19. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.

Q: What is it that this verse says is waiting? How is it waiting? What is it waiting for?

This verse begins with the word "For" which leads us to consider what was stated just before verse 19. In verse 18, Paul says that he doesn't consider the sufferings of this present life worthy to be compared with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. With that said, he now states that the creation waits with eager longing for the sons of God to be revealed.

To understand this, we can look at some other passages that will help us.
1. Psalm 132:11-12
2. Isaiah 43:6-7
3. 1 John 3:1-2
4. Revelation 19:6-8
5. Revelation 21:7

We learn from these passages, that the sons and daughters of God are those who have a covenant (an agreement) with God. This is that if they keep the requirements of God's covenant with them and the testimonies that God would teach them, then they would sit forever on the throne with Christ. This means they will reign in the kingdom of God as God's sons and as co-rulers of the creation of God with Christ.
We also see that those whom God has chosen by grace to be His very own sons are called from all over the earth to be made for the glory of God.
We see that they are not known by the world, but are going to appear in the very same image of Christ when He appears.
We see glimpses of this being fulfilled in Revelation 19, and Rev. 21:7 gives this very promise of being God's son to all who conquer (who overcome the world and its evil by faith in Christ).

So Paul says in Romans 8:19 that the creation itself is waiting eargly and longing for the day when this will happen. In the verses that follow, Paul will explain how this is being worked out.

For now, consider some things:
1. What does it mean to be a son of God?
2. How is it important to me to know whether I am truly a son of God?
3. How can I become a son of God?
4. What hope do they have who are the sons of God, and what hope do they have who are not His children?
5. The only begotten Son of God came into the world to redeem God's chosen children, is this what I base my life on? Do I seek to know God's only begotten Son and to serve Him in humble fear and worship all the days of my life? Do I love Him so that I can say that my life belongs totally to Him and His service?

Remember who it was that God sent to die. Who it was who rose to conquer death and sin and hell.. and who it is who is coming again to bring God's children home.
See 1 Thessalonians 1:10

Present yourselves to God

2009-07-08T20:40:00.004-04:00

While I am battling a hard issue and struggling, I need to remember that there is one thing needed, that I present myself to God as one raised from death to life, and my members to Him as instruments for righteousness.

Why?

Because I'm free from the burden of the law and am now under grace. Oh thanks be to God through His precious Son and my Lord Jesus! Please help me Lord!

"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace." (Romans 6:12-14 ESV).

Considering Truth and the Bible

2009-06-05T22:13:00.011-04:00

“Intelligent people interpret data differently, largely based on presuppositions and training. Currently, those espousing the undirected natural processes scenarios are in control of the vast majority of scientific clout... Studies have repeatedly shown that the public holds views that are more compatible with ID [Intelligent Design], yet undirected naturalism is taught as ‘truth’ in public school systems, despite its lack of scientific evidence. Since Atheism and Secular Humanism have been confirmed as religions by US courts, and Evolution has been declared a religion by evolutionists, this teaching is actually against the First Amendment religious establishment clause and may be addressed in court.” —Dr. Don Johnson of ScientificIntegrity.net, in his new book Probability’s Nature and Nature’s Probability, p. 101.

It is true that much of what people believe today is based more on personal preferences, rather than on what they have discovered to be actually true by careful study.

Just ask anyone, if they base their beliefs on what they “feel to be right”, and the response you get generally will be the same (with a few exceptions of course). The general idea is that feelings are more accurate than facts when it comes to determining reality.

Are feelings an accurate way to test truth or reality?

Some tell us there is no such thing as truth, and that whatever is true for you may not be true for someone else. But that idea confuses the very definition of truth.

Truth is that which agrees with reality or facts. Often we contrast it with fiction. To say there are no absolutes, or no absolute truth, is to say that the postmodern idea of relativism is in fact the truth. It’s like saying, “It is true that there exists no objective truth.”

Such a statement contradicts itself and is absurd, yet many people in our day (perhaps even you dear friend) have blindly accepted such a belief without question.

Let’s consider: if our president affirms something to be true, does that therefore make it to be true? Of course not! We all know that is often not the case, yet when it comes to so many matters of opinion, we blindly let people tell us how and even what to think without any examination of the reliability of their claims, simply because we feel it must be right.

As much as we love to point fingers and shift the blame on others, yet we also need to admit our own laziness in learning how to think critically.

We clearly love to base our beliefs and values on what we want, rather than on what is right. Personal preference has become the rule. Tolerance is virtually intolerant when it comes to those who reject liberal views. Just witness the many episodes of outrage broadcast over the news recently, showing advocates of sexual tolerance who themselves behave with intolerance toward their opponents. Such a scene shows no desire to act reasonably, only to beat down the opponent with aggressive verbal abuse. The very attitude of those who advocate tolerance is glowing with hypocritical intolerance. This is the result of a cultural denial of absolute standards whenever it feels like the right thing. Hypocrisy becomes inevitable.

If we carefully examine ourselves, our actions, our thoughts, our attitudes, our speech and our conduct, we will certainly find many inconsistencies and areas of hypocrisy. Does this mean we should never make any judgments about anyone morally?

It is ironic that some say that all forms of judging are wrong, even while they act out the very process of judging the same people they accuse of being judgmental. Such conduct is laughably sad, yet far too common in everyday life.

Nevertheless, there are forms of judgment based on facts and reality. Such judgments are necessary, while judgments based on personal preferences and hypocrisy need to be avoided. Therefore, we can judge truth, reality, right vs. wrong, as long as it is based on factual evidence.

Therefore, when it comes to the Bible, we can judge it to be true on many matters of life, simply by reading and comparing what it teaches to the world around us.

Although critics of the Bible like to say it contradicts itself in many places, or that it speaks about killing and many other horrible things, they often avoid context and ignore the main message.

So when we examine the truth of the Bible, we do so by understanding rationally what is being said and by comparing that with reality. This is not hard to understand, yet very difficult to do for someone who has already rejected (with bias) their own idea of what the Bible teaches. Such a person is right in their own mind and cannot think critically or accurately. Yet these are they who seek to impose their own biased rejection of the Bible on others, sometimes forcefully, thus turning the table on themselves. Learning to recognize these kinds of inconsistencies will greatly help us when examining the truth claims of the Bible, or of any other book.

With that said, I will leave my reader to go do his own research with some things in mind:

First is that faith in God is not unreasonable, no matter what some big-shot atheist says about it. We know that we are creatures, which means we have been made by a Creator, One who is more skilled than we are, more wise than we are, more true than we are, greater and more powerful than we are. To ignore this great Being would be to ignore reality itself.

Second, we only know as much about this great Creator as it is given to us to know. Our intelligence has an intelligent Designer. One who has determined our capacities for us. The Bible is the only book that explains how this Creator has chosen to reveal Himself to His creatures by choosing a family and a nation of people (the Jews), making them distinct from every other nation, giving them His divine Law, revealing to them prophecies about the future which come to pass with alarming accuracy, choosing a virgin woman from among them by whom He sent His very Son into the world, showing Himself to a world filled with wicked and hateful people. It admits to the absurdity this message has to the faithless mind, yet reveals the greatest love and glory in the One who would identify with His own people by becoming one of them, living a perfect life for them, dying for their sins and rebellion, rising back to life and calling them to repentance and faith unto reconciliation, then sending them to spread His message in the world until He returns in final judgment.

Based on what I’ve discovered in my own research, I can say to you that no other religious book compares to the Bible and no other person compares to Jesus of Nazareth, and I dare you to test it for yourself with a clear mind.

God bless!

Romans 8, part 5

2009-05-25T16:24:00.002-04:00

Continuing the study in Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8, part 5: The Revelation of the Sons of God

Romans 8:19

Verse 19: For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.

Q: What is it that this verse says is waiting? How is it waiting? What is it waiting for?

This verse begins with the word "For" which leads us to consider what was just stated before verse 19. In verse 18, Paul says that he doesn't consider the sufferings of this present life worthy to be compared with the glory that is going to be revealed to us (meaning God's children).

Next, he now states that the creation waits with eager longing for the sons of God to be revealed.

Q: What do you think it means to wait with “eager longing”? What do you think it means by saying that God's sons are going to be revealed?

In Romans

To understand this, we can look at some other passages that will help us.
1. Psalm 132:11-12
2. Isaiah 43:6-7
3. 1 John 3:1-2 (see 2:29 as a preliminary verse to this).
4. Revelation 19:6-8
5. Revelation 21:7

We learn from these passages, that the sons and daughters of God are those who have a covenant (an agreement) with God. This covenant is that if they keep God's covenant with them and the testimonies that God would teach them, that they would sit forever on the throne with Christ. This means they will reign in the kingdom of God as God's sons and as co-rulers of the creation of God with Christ.

We also see that those whom God has chosen by grace to be His very own sons and daughters are called from all over the earth to be made for the glory of God.

We see that they are not known by the world, but are going to appear in the very same image of Christ when He appears. In an amazing way by the grace of God, they will be like Christ, the Son of God. In Luke 20:36, Jesus said they will be equal to the angels and are sons of God in the resurrection.

We see glimpses of this being fulfilled in Revelation 19, where the people of God are called the Bride of the Lamb and are clothed in beautiful garments of righteous deeds.

Revelation 21:7 gives the promise to all who conquer, that they will be God's very own Sons. This victory or conquest is also referred to as overcoming the world by faith that Jesus is indeed the very Son of God (1 John 5:4-5).

So Paul says in Romans 8:19 that the creation itself is waiting eagerly, longing for the day when this will happen.

In the verses that follow, Paul will explain how this hope of the revealing of God's true children is being worked out.

For now, consider some things:
1. What does it mean to be a son of God?

2. How is it important to me to know whether I am truly a son of God?

3. How can I become a son of God?

4. What hope do they have who are the sons of God, and what hope do they have who are not His children?

5. The only begotten Son of God came into the world to redeem God's chosen children, is this what I base my life on? Do I seek to know God's only begotten Son and to serve Him in humble fear and worship all the days of my life? Do I love Him so that I can say that my life belongs totally to Him and His service?

Remember who it was that God sent to die for us. Who it was who rose to conquer death and sin and hell.. and who it is who is coming again to bring God's children home.

See 1 Thessalonians 1:10
1Th 1:8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.
1Th 1:9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
1Th 1:10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

Romans 8, parts 4

2009-05-25T15:45:00.005-04:00

SO IT HAS BEEN so long since I published my Romans Bible studies. I have not stopped studying and teaching from Romans (we are in chapter 8 now), but I have taken a lot of time off from publishing them in an organized way here on my AS IT IS WRITTEN blog.

To anyone interested in looking closely at Romans, please read this study and the ones listed on my sidebar. Grace be with you.

Romans Chapter 8, part 4

Text: Romans 8:15-18

Study Notes:

Verse 15: For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"

Q & A: What spirit have Christians not received? What spirit have Christians received? What is your concept of the Christian? Do you view the Christian life as one of fear and slavery, or as one of adoption and being the very children of God?

Speaking of the Holy Spirit, Paul says that believers have received Him as the Spirit of adoption. The reason there cannot be any condemnation for a true Christian, is because Christians have received the very Spirit of the Son of God. He is not a spirit of fear that brings us under slavery, but of adoption as the very children of God the Father. Christians do not need to fear judgment, since God has not only taken away their judgment through Jesus Christ, but by His Spirit has sealed them as His very own children, for whom He has provided an eternal inheritance. It is by His Spirit that we cry out as children, calling Him "Abba", "Father!" God is the Father of those who are saved, and therefore He will never abandon any of His children to condemnation. He loves Christians as His own.

Verse 16-17: The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Q & A: What does the Spirit himself do with the spirit of those who are adopted? What does He witness to them about? What does it mean to be a child of God? What must happen in order for Christians to be glorified with Christ?

Verse 18: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Q & A: What does Paul consider is not worthy to be compared with the future glory? What sufferings do you think is he referring to? What do you think the glory he refers to is all about?

Concluding now that Christians are called to suffer with Christ, Paul considers with reason that these present sufferings can't be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us. That glory is the glory of God in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. My friends whom I love dearly, do you believe this? Do you really believe it??

Meditating on a Miracle

2009-02-07T10:14:00.003-05:00

I wrote down these thoughts a few days ago, after reading the amazing miracles of Christ in Mark chapter 7, when he healed a man who was deaf and dumb:

"And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it; and were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak." (Mark 7:36,37 KJV).

This is one of my favorite stories in the gospel of Mark. In the midst of a multitude, a man who could neither hear nor speak was brought to Jesus. Perhaps because of the noise of the people, Jesus removed this man away from the crowd. He then put his fingers in his ears, spit and touched his tongue, looked up to heaven with a sigh and said, "Eph'pha-tha," which meant, "Be opened!" Immediately the man's ears were opened and his tongue was freed so that he spoke plainly. All the people were extremely astonished when they were told what happened, despite the Lord's command not to tell anyone.

Whenever I read this story, I feel astounded and surprised with joy every time. Why do the miracles that Jesus performed never cease to amaze me? I believe it is because they are unlike anything ever done for people in history. Jesus did not perform miracles to show off his own greatness or to exalt himself or the miracles themselves. He did them because he loved people. He saw them as harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He also did them to glorify His Father, and to fulfill prophecy about himself. He did them to reveal the kingdom of God and to promote faith in the Word of God, because what was written about the Messiah had come to pass. God sent His Son to be the Savior of the world, and through these miracles we see little glimpses of His salvation. We see Jesus saving people from demonic power and control, from sickness and death, from blindness and leprosy, from hunger and from pain. In the miracle of our text, Jesus saved a man from his inability to hear and from his speechlessness.

Let's consider a few things about this man. First, he was hearless. You could speak in his ear, yet he would not listen to you, for he could not hear your words. This man was deaf. No amount of cleaning his ears could cause his hearing to return. Nothing could make his ears clean enough, clear enough, or open enough to hear a sound. Yet, Jesus put his fingers in the man's ears, and after he spoke, they were opened so that the man heard everything clearly. This is the power of God's Son! He makes one who cannot hear, cannot listen, cannot understand, to hear, listen and understand everything very well. That is a miracle that must be performed upon every closed hearted sinner, including you and I, before we will humbly listen to and understand Jesus. Do you see the glory in the ear-opening power of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Next, the man was speechless. No doubt if this man was born deaf, he would have also been dumb as well. The man could not talk, at least not like everyone else. Perhaps he had learned to move his mouth like others around him, yet he would have had trouble making the proper sounds, since his ears could not discern their distinctions. So we can see an area of helplessness as a result of his infirmity. However, the Scripture tells us that Jesus spit, then touched the man's tongue. I have often thought this was a strange act on the part of Jesus, but the more I think upon it, the more I am in awe of the Lord's grace. Jesus took saliva from his own mouth, touched this man's tongue, and miraculously made the man able to speak clearly on his own. A man who before had nothing to say, because he could say nothing, now was enabled by Jesus Christ to proclaim the glorious praises of God! What a miracle! My friends, if Jesus has healed the ears of our hearts, then he will also enable us to speak as well. If we think we have nothing to say to others concerning our Lord, then let us look to Jesus, and receive his help that our tongues may be set free.

This story has a spiritual reference to it, just as all the miracles of Christ do. Death is the result of sin, and all infirmities are a byproduct of the curse that God pronounced on mankind because of Adam's sin. So when Jesus healed this man, it has a connection to our need to be saved form our sins, and not only from our sicknesses.

I know that for myself, I was once unable to hear the truth of God's Word. I could not understand it, because my spiritual ears were closed to spiritual truth. "Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:13,14 KJV). But when the grace and mercy of God toward me appeared, I was able to both hear God's Word and understand it by the Spirit of God, so that by His grace I was saved. And even though I used to have nothing to say, suddenly I could not keep the words within me, but I had to open my mouth and talk about the gracious King of kings and Lord of lords.

Let us learn from this miracle, how Jesus has the power to make us hear His truth and speak of it to others by His grace. Give thanks to the Lord if he has done the same for you, and if not, then go to Jesus and receive a heart of understanding. Jesus died for sinners, so that by His crucifixion and resurrected life, we also might be free from our sins and have power to know and serve Him. Are you living in the freedom of hearing, knowing and serving Jesus Christ? He is still the Savior, yet how much time is left for you to seek Him before you stand before the throne of judgment?

Romans 6, part 1

2008-11-28T14:58:00.003-05:00

Romans 6:1-4

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Introduction:

We are now at a very important part of Romans, and it is a chapter that we really must understand carefully.

Do you remember how the book of Romans started out? What was it teaching us?
It started by introducing the reason for the book, which Paul began by telling us that he was “a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord...” (Paul's intro to Romans goes on even more in verses 1-17 of chapter 1, as he wrote to the saints in Rome). So we see that this book is really written about Christ. It is concerning the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul's mission and purpose was to serve Christ by preaching this gospel to everyone, including the people in Rome through his letter.

Do you remember what else we learned from chapters 1-5? What were some important things and words we read about?
We learned that God's wrath is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress His truth by their unrighteousness (Rom 1:18). We also learned that it is hypocrisy to think one is safe from God's wrath because he is religious or prays, or trusts the Bible when in fact he is disobeying it in his heart. Rather, God's kindness is meant to lead us to repentance, and we cannot harden our hearts to our sin and God's justice thinking we will be forgiven because of our good works. No, as we learned in chapter 3, “there is none good not even one.” We also learned that the law was given to show us our sin so we would seek to be justified by faith in Jesus Christ alone. And we learned that God showed His justice in giving His Son to be the propitiation for believers. Then we learned in chapter four how we are justified by faith alone, just like Abraham was, and we are counted righteous by faith because of what Jesus Christ did when He died and rose again. This has nothing to do with our works or deeds or obedience. Rather, it is all about one thing – faith.

Do you remember what faith is about?
Faith is trust in God that He will save you by the finished work of Christ. It is entrusting all to Him and turning away from every other trust. Faith is to trust in Jesus Christ alone and not in any works of our own.

Now, you tell me, what was chapter 5 about?

Study notes:

Verse 1
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

This is a question that people often bring up after hearing about all the grace spoken of in chapter 5. People still ask this question today when they are told about grace. There are two types of people who ask this: 1. the religious people, who think that grace makes it too easy to be saved. They respond in distrust, denying salvation by grace alone through faith, because they think people will sin even more. 2. The other group are what we call antinomians. That means they live without any law. They think grace is wonderful because it gives them an excuse to keep on sinning even more. The argument is that the more you sin, the more grace abounds, so why not?

So what do you think? What is the answer to this question?

Verse 2
By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

So what's the answer?
The answer to the question in verse 1 is a strong, resounding NO! No way! May it never be!!

Why does he give this answer? What does Paul ask in response to this question (what is the question in verse 2 that Paul gives)? Paul answers the question with another question: How can we be dead and still be alive at the same time? In other words, we died to sin, so how can we be alive to it anymore?

Is it possible for someone to be dead and be alive at the same time? What does it mean to be dead? Those who are dead are no longer living, and those who have died to sin can no longer live in it anymore. It is an impossibility, a contradiction for a Christian to continue to live a sinful life, because he has died to sin.

A Death Poem:
What happens when someone dies?
First, they lose their ability to do anything. No more breathing, heart-beating, feeling, tasting, hearing, smelling, seeing. No more thinking, speaking, reading, writing, praying, being. No more learning, loving, laughing, smiling, teaching, giving, getting, keeping, growing. No more moving. Death takes everything away. No more wearing, buying, selling, enjoying. No more money, friends, family, health, house, city, town, pets, spouse, children, country. All gain is lost. All hopes quenched. All plans ended. The past is gone, the future lost, the present restricted. Death ends it all.

Verse 3
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

Again, Paul asked another question. And this time it begins with, “Do you not know...?” Don't you know this?

What were the Christians supposed to know? What were they baptized into? In other words, these Christians had learned these things before, and they had also learned about baptism. What is baptism? Baptism is the Greek word for “immersion” - to be immersed into, to be submerged, to go under water. That is the meaning of the word “baptize.”

However, Paul didn't speak about water at all in this verse. What kind of baptism was he talking about? This question about baptism is to show why a Christian can no longer continue in sin. Paul says that all of us who were baptized (i.e. immersed, submerged) into Christ Jesus, were immersed into his death. The Christian has been put into Christ and has been immersed into the death of Christ when He died on the cross.

Paul explains this in more detail with the following verses.

Verse 4
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

What does it say happened to the believers when they were baptized into Christ? What happened to Christ after He died? How was He raised? How does this affect us who believe? The reason is explained that, we were therefore buried with Christ through immersion into death (that is the death of Christ on the cross, Rom. 6:3). We were buried with Christ by being immersed into His death. This was so that, as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so in this way, we walk in a completely new life. The old life is dead and buried with our Lord Jesus Christ (who is our representative Head, Rom. 5:14), now, through His resurrection we walk in a brand new life. Just as Christ died and lives completely new in His resurrected life, so also we live completely new in our new Christian life. All this was accomplished for us by Christ when He died, was buried and was raised on the third day. This displays the glory of the Father who gives life to the dead, making a completely new life through Christ's resurrection.

Conclusion:

All this has nothing to do with our works. We do nothing to be saved from God's wrath. Rather, it was Christ Jesus who the Father gave to die in our place. Jesus died, and so everyone who believes the gospel is counted to be dead through faith in Him. Faith unites us to Christ, and when we are united to Christ, we are united to His death (as we will see more next week in Romans 6:5). And just as Christ was raised from the dead, Christians are also given a completely new life through His resurrection. 1 Peter 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...” God causes believers to be born into a new life through the resurrection of Christ. This is why a Christian cannot live any longer in his old ways. If you are saved, you are a new person completely. If you think you are saved, but you still live as you did before, without any change in your heart's desires, and without any change in how you live your life, and what you do with your time, then you are deceived, because you are not a Christian. And many people today live this way, thinking they are saved when they have never been given a new life in Christ. I was the worst of them all, and it was after reading this chapter that my eyes were opened to see how I could not go back to my sin anymore, but Christ gave me a new life.

Romans 5, part 3

2008-11-05T20:02:00.003-05:00

Romans 5:11-21

Verse 11

More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

We didn't get to finish talking about reconciliation last time, so I want to go over this once more. First, what does the word 'Reconciliation' mean? To reconcile means to bring back together again after being separated. To make peace between two people who were formally enemies. Remember verse 10? It said that while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.

Lets look at a few more NT verses that help us understand this:

2 Corinthians 5:17-6:2 (We are implored to be reconciled to God and not take His grace in vain, because now is the time He will accept us through faith in Christ.)

Colossians 1:21-23 (Christ reconciled us through His death on the cross, so that we would be accepted as holy and blameless before God in Him, if we continue steadfastly in the faith.)

1 Peter 3:18 (Jesus suffered once, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God.)

This verse really describes it well:

Colossians 1:19-23 says about Jesus Christ,

“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.”

From those verses, we learn that Jesus made peace by the blood of His cross in order to reconcile all things back to God. And it tells us what we are like before we are reconciled and what we are like after. It says that we were once alienated (foreign to God, separated) and hostile in mind (enemies, unyielding, rebellious), that we were doing evil deeds (doing things we know are sinful and wrong, and continuing to practice them anyway). That is what every Christian is like before they are reconciled back to God. Now (for us who are born of the Spirit) it says, Christ has now reconciled us in his human body by dying in our place, in order to present us as holy and without any blame (with no fault) and above reproach before Him. This is all really, really good news, and there is one condition though. That is, that this is true for us only if we continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting not turning from the hope of the good news (the gospel, which I've been teaching you every Sunday) which you heard.

Verse 11
More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

What does this mean? More than what? More than being reconciled to God while we were His enemies?! Yes... more than that, we also rejoice! Rejoice in what? We rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Do you rejoice in God through Jesus Christ our Lord? Have you received the reconciliation through His death and life? Are you justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom. 3:24)?

In this verse, we are told that those who are justified, have peace with God and are reconciled to Him by the death of Christ, rejoice more in God than anything else. Rejoice means to boast, or glory in. We boast, we speak joyfully about God now, because He has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ. That is something to be happy about! Do you rejoice in God more than you do in anything else?

Psalm 63:3 says, “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.” Can you say in your heart, that God's continuous love is better to you than life? That is what we mean when we rejoice in God through Christ, we enjoy Him more than we enjoy anything else in this life.

Verses 12-14

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned – for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

This is where reading Genesis 1-3 really helps us understand the gospel. What came into the world? Who did it come through? What came through sin? What did death do after it came into the world? Now, we know from 1 John 3:4 that sin is breaking the law, because it says, “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.”

But here, Paul says, even before the law was given by God, sin was already in the world. So there was no law given show people what sin is. There were no commandments to say, “This is sin and that is sin.” But nevertheless, sin was there anyway, only the law was not. So Paul says, sin is not counted where there is no law. That leaves us with the question, then why were people dying if there was no law for sin? And that is the exact issue Paul mentioned next when he said, “Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam...”

Death was still reigning during the time when the law was not yet given. Do you know what that time period was from these verses? The sin that people committed during the time between Adam and Moses was not like Adam's transgression, yet they all died. So why then did they die? First, we can look back at verse 12, and see that death spread to everyone because everyone sinned, but their sin was counted to them when Adam sinned, because Adam was the only one who had a commandment (a law) given by God that he transgressed. The rest of the people were counted in Adam when he sinned, and so death came upon all people, and all people come into this world as sinners. To understand that better, we find that Paul gives us more answers to that question in the following verses.

Lastly in v14, we learn that Adam was a type of the one who was to come. Do you know who that is talking about? Who was Adam a type of? The Christ, the Anointed One. Do you know what a “type” is? It is like an example, or a figure of something else to come in the future that is the fulfillment of that “type.” We will learn more about how Jesus is like Adam, but first we are told how Jesus and Adam are different.

Verse 15

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.

Okay, do you remember what we learned about Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden? What was the trespass that Adam committed? Why was it so wrong? What happened to them after they sinned?

Here in v15, we learn that what is not like the trespass? The “free gift.” The free gift of God is not like the sin of Adam. This is the first way we learn that Jesus and Adam are different.

Why is the free gift different from the trespass? Because just as Adam's sin brought death to many people, God's free gift through Christ brings not sin and death, but grace to many, many people. So everyone who receives a nature like Adam's dies. That is how we are all born into this world, with Adam's human nature passed on to all of us who are actually his great great great great... grandchildren. Which is why we all have death passed unto us, and we are convicted by God's law as totally guilty of sin as soon as we come into existence. It is the sin of one man that has ruined us all forever.

But, on the other hand, it is the grace of one man that is much more freely given to many!

Let's continue to explore this deep truth:

Verse 16

And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.

Again, we learn that the free gift is not like the sin of one man. How is it this time that the free gift is not like the result of Adam's sin? What was the result of Adam's sin? Just one sin resulted in God's judgment and brought condemnation. But what does the free gift follow? Many, many, many, many trespasses. The free gift of God comes after people have been sinning and sinning, and breaking His laws everyday all the time. Then God's free gift comes following all that sin, and what does it bring? Does it bring judgment and condemnation? No, it brings justification!

Verse 17

If, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

What reigned through that one man's trespass? Death. What does it mean for death to reign? The word has to do with the reign that a king would have. Death rules over all people. Everybody is under death's reign, and so nobody ever escapes it. Hebrews 9:27 says that it is appointed for us all to die once, and then after that comes the judgment. So death kills everybody, then everybody is judged for their sins. And hell is the eternal place of judgment for everyone who transgresses the Holy Law of God.

But the free gift is different! How is it different than the reign of death? Those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness will much more reign, not in death, but in life through just one man – Jesus Christ our Lord. So death rules through Adam, but life has much more rule through Jesus Christ. In fact, everyone who receives grace and the free gift of righteousness through Christ cannot ever die. They can never be condemned. Death can never have any power over them, not ever. Not ever. Why not? The answer is because Jesus took our sin, died and rose again to take away our death forever. Through Him we are counted righteous, so we have no sin to be condemned for if we have received grace and righteousness through faith in Christ alone.

Verse 18

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

This is one way that Adam and Jesus are very much alike. What did one sin lead to for everybody? What did one act of righteousness lead to for everybody who receives the gift? In Adam, everyone gets condemned because of just one trespass (one step over the line – sin). In Christ, everyone who receives His grace gets justified (counted perfectly righteous, and without sin) and receives life instead of death – and that is the result of just one act of obedience. Do you know what that one obedient act was? This is why we are saved by grace and not by our works. It is because God's grace is given freely to believers because Jesus obeyed God for us. Jesus fulfilled the law for everyone who believes. He has become our righteousness by obeying God, and then we are counted righteous by standing in His abundant grace.

Some people read this verse, and because it says, “one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men” they believe that means everyone in the world is going to be saved because of what Jesus did on the cross, and that no one will be condemned. But that is not what it means, it is talking about people who are in Adam, and people who are in Christ. Nobody who receives the grace of God in Christ will ever be condemned. But everyone who does not believe will be condemned (Mark 16:16).

Verse 19

For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

What happened by the disobedience of just one man, Adam? “The many were made sinners.” What happened by the obedience of just one perfect man, Christ? “The many will be made righteous.” Again, this is why we are saved not by works we perform of any kind, not by our obedience, not by anything we do. It is not our obedience that makes us righteous, but who's obedience is it? Christ Jesus is God. He is the Creator of the world. He has always existed from all eternity. But He (God the Son) became a man, with flesh and blood, in order to obey God the Father through the Holy Spirit who Anointed Him. He did it for, and in place of all God's elect, His chosen people. He kept every commandment, loved the Father with all His heart and soul and mind and strength. He never disobeyed even once. He was tempted with sin in every way that we are tempted, but He never once gave in to the temptation. He never sinned. And He did it all, not for Himself, but for the Father, so that through Him, we can be counted righteous by the obedience of the one man, Jesus Christ our Lord. This is only for believers, we are justified by faith in Christ alone (Romans 5:1).

We will have to finish this chapter later, it has a great ending, and it leads to more great news. This is not bad news at all, but good news, and it is my hearts desire that you all begin to see it as good news. Please consider these things often on your own, because nothing brings more joy to my heart, than knowing what Jesus did for me.

Let's ask these questions of ourselves:

Have we been reconciled to God so that we are no longer living opposed to His will?
Have we received the free gift of grace and righteousness that comes through faith alone in Christ?
Have we found our righteousness in Christ's obedience? That would mean that we are no longer looking to our works, or to our own righteousness for life, since we have none of our own. Christ has to be it for us. Is this true for us? Do we consider Christ to be all our goodness?
Are we rejoicing in what Christ Jesus has come to do for us? If so, then this will cause us to want to know Him and His Word in the Bible much better. Is this true of you?

Grace be with you all who are resting in the obedience of Jesus Christ alone as your righteousness!

Romans Chapter 5, part 2

2008-10-26T20:37:00.007-04:00

We have been spending a lot of time talking about this chapter, because it is such a powerful lesson on grace. I memorized the entire chapter of Romans 5 in the ESV in 2006 for several reasons, one is because it contains such powerful truths which I cannot let go of. Please take the time to look over Romans 5 on your own, and if our Bible study helps you out, so be it. God bless and grace and peace be multiplied to the saints of God.

Reconciled to God

Romans 5:6-11 ESV:

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die - 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, 9 since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Verse 6
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

(Literally: "For while we were without strength, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.") 1 Timothy 1:15 says, "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am foremost." Romans 3:10 says, "as it is written: 'None is righteous, no, not one;" and Romans 3:23 says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,".
Do you know what it means to be without strength? It means to be weak, unable to do anything.
Who was weak according to verse 6? "While we were still weak..." While we were still unable to do anything to be righteous, because we were without strength. We are by nature sinners, so there is no way we are strong enough to obey God's holy law in our flesh. We were powerless to do what is right.
At what time did Christ die? "At the right time..." That means at the appointed time, the time God had set, the time for the prophecies in the Scriptures to be fulfilled.
Who did Christ die for? For the ungodly.
What does it mean to be ungodly? It means to be irreverent toward God, to be disrespectful to God. As we see in verse 8, it means to be a sinner; verse 9 shows us it means to be under the wrath of God; and verse 10 says it means to be an enemy of God. So the ungodly are disrespectful, unholy, unrighteous, irreverent, sinful, under God's wrath and condemnation and are His enemies. That is what characterizes the kind of people the Christ (the Messiah or Anointed One) died for. For evil, no good, people that God's justice must punish in order to uphold His righteousness and satisfy His righteous indignation. But as we learned in Romans 3:25-26, that God gave His Son to be a propitiation in order to demonstrate His justice or righteousness when He forgives a sinner who in repentance trusts in His blood to be cleansed.

Verse 7
For one will scarcely die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die -

People may die for other people, right? But as we will see, who would die for a worthless criminal? Why would a righteous man, who had no guilt, voluntarily stand in place of a cold-blooded murderer? But that is exactly what Jesus did for everyone who believes!

Verse 8
But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

How do you know God loves you? Look at what Jesus Christ, His Son did - Christ (the Anointed One, the promised Ruler of Israel and Redeemer of God's people) died for us.
When did Christ die for us? While we were still sinners.
What does that mean? A sinner is someone who breaks God's laws and disregards His commands. In effect, a sinner is saying, "God, I know you are righteous and Holy and that your commands are good, but I don't care about you." That is a sinner. And Christ died for us while WE were like that!
Let us each examine ourselves with this question: Am I a sinner? Do I deserve hell? If so, then look again at the verse, "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." That is how God shows His great love (See John 3:16).

Verse 9
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

What does it mean to be justified? It means to be considered just or righteous. It means God looks at us as being perfect people, never having done wrong. Have you ever done wrong? I have all my life. But the person who is justified before God does not have any of that counted against him, he/she is considered perfect if justified.
Why? How is that made possible? It says, "by His blood."
Do you know what it means to be justified by Christ's blood? It means God killed His Son and Christ shed His innocent pure blood on the cross, so that you could be counted worthy of eternal life. That is what it means to be justified by His blood. Christ became a substitute, He died instead of those who have faith in Him.
Notice two very important words in verse 9... they both start with an "m"? Do you know what they are? "Much more!" What does that mean? Much more than what? Much more than having been justified or counted righteous by Christ's blood, we shall be what? "Saved!"
Saved from what? Saved from the wrath of God. And notice, it says, much more shall we be saved BY HIM from the wrath of God. God did not send Jesus to condemn the world, but to save it from His wrath and condemnation by taking away our sins at the cross (See John 3:17-18).

Verse 10
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

We already learned from this passage that God sent Jesus to die for the ungodly, that His love is shown in that Christ died for us while we were still sinners, that He gave His life in order that now much more we shall be saved by Him from the wrath of God. Now we just learned something else, that while we were God's faithful followers and friends we were reconciled? No! What does it say? "While we were enemies..."

Let's take a look at some other verses speaking about God's enemies:

Psalm 37:20
But the wicked will perish; the enemies of the LORD are like the glory of the pastures; they vanish - like smoke they vanish away.

Psalm 66:3
Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.

>>Psalm 68:1-2
God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him! As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away; as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God!

>>Psalm 68:21-23
But God will strike the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways. The Lord said, "I will bring them back from Bashan, I will bring them back from the depths of the sea, that you may strike your feet in their blood, that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe."

>>Psalm 83:2 says,
"For behold, your enemies make an uproar; those who hate you have raised their heads."
Then verses 9-10 says,
"Do to them as you did to Midian, as to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon, who were destroyed at En-dor, who became dung for the ground.
verse 16-18
"Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name, O LORD. Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace, that they may know that you alone, whose name is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth."

>>Psalm 139:19-21 says,
"Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain! Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?

Now, just one more from Isaiah 66:14-16,
"You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your bones shall flourish like the grass; and the hand of the LORD shall be known to his servants, and he shall show his indignation against his enemies. "For behold, the LORD will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire will the LORD enter into judgment, and by his sword, with all flesh; and those slain by the LORD shall be many."

Now, with verses like that in mind... we read that while WE were enemies, God did what? It says, we were reconciled while we were His enemies.

But not all are reconciled, because that last verse in Isaiah is talking about the future day of judgment. So those who are enemies are still going to be destroyed forever in hell by fire.

But it is those of us who are reconciled to God by faith in Christ (Rom. 5:1), who have been brought near to God, had our sins washed clean by His blood, have been born of the Holy Spirit, have been given a new life in Christ. We now have peace with God, have been saved from His wrath through Christ... and now look at the end of Romans 5:10 with me:
“Much more, now that we are reconciled [we who were His enemies], shall we be saved by his life”! That is pure grace! Those who are reconciled have been brought back from being God's enemies to being His friends. They are justified by the death of Jesus Christ our Lord, and are saved forever by His life! That is good news - to know that you are saved forever and ever, because Jesus Christ lives! He rose from the dead to give eternal life to all who are found safely hidden in Him. God's wrath will never touch us if we are saved, because it was all poured out on Christ at the cross.
Those who are justified, saved from God's wrath, and reconciled back to God the Father through the death of His Son, are saved forever and ever, and can never be lost or condemned. Not ever! That is something to rejoice about if it is for you! And that is what Paul says in the next verse:

Verse 11
More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Let's just think one more time about this word: Reconciliation. What does it mean?

Here is one verse that really describes this well:

Colossians 1:19-23 says about Jesus Christ,

“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Let's ask ourselves these questions:

1. Do we recognize that we are totally helpless to be good people – that there is nothing in us that can make us good or right before God?

Do we recognize that Christ died for the ungodly, sinners?
Do we realize that is who we are, and that is who God has chosen to display His great love to?
Do we rejoice in being reconciled back to God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ more than anything? In other words, do we rejoice in God because of who He is more than we rejoice in getting the things we want, more than in being saved from hell, or more than in being forgiven, or more than anything we enjoy in this world? Do we rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation?

Romans 5... we made it past verse 5!!!

2008-10-21T06:13:00.002-04:00

We have been spending a lot of time on Romans 5 the past couple of weeks, so I haven't added anything to the Bible studies since. But I plan on doing some exposition of verses 6-11 next. By God's grace that will be possible. It is like walking into a cave filled with gold and silver treasures beyond number. I've got to go in there and pull out what I can to give you glimpses of the riches of God's grace, which I've only seen dimly in Christ Jesus through His precious Word the Bible. :)

The Gospel in Romans, part 12

2008-09-15T05:55:00.010-04:00

Just by faith - peace - hope - joy. Sufferings - endurance - character - hope - never disappointed! We have finally begun reading Romans again, and we are now in chapter five, which I like to call the "grace chapter" of Romans. We had taken a break from Romans for some weeks, and looked at Genesis 1-3, especially so that as we read Romans chapter 5, we will see the connection between Jesus and Adam in Genesis 3 as they are discussed from verses 12-21 of this chapter. I did not teach this whole lesson last night, but I hope to continue it next week. There is so much joy and hope to be found in understanding this chapter, so go ahead and dig in...

Romans Chapter 5, part 1

Romans 5:1-6 (ESV):
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

Verse 1
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember what we must do whenever we start reading the Bible at a certain verse or passage and see a "therefore"? We are supposed to go back and find out what that "therefore" is there for. The last chapter ended by teaching us that the Scripture was not written for Abraham's sake alone that his faith was "counted to him as righteousness" (Romans 4:22; Genesis 15:6), but it was also written for us who will be "counted righteous" by faith, if we trust in God who delivered Jesus up to be crucified for our trespasses and raised for our justification (Romans 4:23-25).
Now we have come to chapter 5 verse 1; and what does it say we are therefore justified by? "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith..." So the word "therefore" is intended to show us that because, or since we are justified by faith, as it was stated back in 4:25, we now have these blessings that follow.

What is the first result of being justified by faith? "We have peace with God." And through whom does this peace come? "Through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Remember when we studied Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter three, and how Adam and Eve needed to be reconciled to God. They had been separated from God's presence by their sin and by God's judgment with the angel and the flaming sword keeping them out of Paradise. Their own efforts to cover their shame could not have restored them to peace with God. They needed God to make a provision, and He did that through the sacrifice of the "lamb" in order to clothe them, representing Christ's sacrifice of atonement. Thus God was showing Adam and Eve how He would make a way for them to be brought back to Himself and have peace with Him through Christ. Now Paul is declaring that we have that peace through Jesus Christ if we are justified by faith, just as Abraham and all the saints were justified!

Notice also the title Jesus Christ has - "our Lord Jesus Christ." Do you remember what the words, "Lord" and "Christ" mean? First, Jesus is our Lord, which means He rules; He is our Judge, our Master, our God and the one we bow to in humble submission and obedience. Whatever He says, that is what we must believe and do. Next, Jesus is the Christ, which means "Anointed." That means He is the the one God the Father has anointed with the Holy Spirit to be our Prophet (speaking the truth of God), our Priest (making the sacrifice for our sins and interceding before God on our behalf), and our King (providing a kingdom and a land of peace and safety by ruling and reigning supreme over all). This is who Jesus is to those of us who are justified by faith. He is our Lord, and the one by whom we now have peace with God, because of the sacrifice of Himself.

Verse 2
Through him we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

How do we get access into "this grace" mentioned here? Notice the words, "through him." It is only through Jesus Christ that there is salvation, and that is received by faith. Jesus is the source of God's grace. John chapter one says that Jesus is "full of grace and truth," and that "from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace," and that "the law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." (John 1:14,16,17). So all God's grace is only given and accessed through Jesus Christ our Lord.

What is grace? Salvation is by grace, so do you know what the word "grace" means? (I asked a young Hispanic man this, and since the Spanish word for grace is "gracia", he thought I was talking about giving thanks). I heard of one old black minister, who died not long ago (Elder D.J. Ward), who was quoted as saying, "I'm a grace case... I'm a grace case!" Grace is really profound and beautiful. I have a blog on the internet devoted to grace, called "All of Grace." A lot of ministries and churches like to attach the word "grace" to their names; "grace church," "Greater Grace World Outreach," etc. Countless books are written about grace all the time. In fact, this very chapter of Romans 5 is written to teach us about grace. So what is it? Well, grace in the Bible usually means Divine favor. It is God's favor and goodness toward those who deserve His judgment and wrath. It is revealed to us through Jesus Christ who took the judgment and wrath on behalf of those who are under God's divine favor. I like this definition: Grace is the free gift of undeserved favor toward hell-deserving sinners.

Grace is something we stand in. We have these blessings which result from being justified by trust (faith) in Jesus: 1) we are justified (counted righteous before God); 2) we have peace with God (we are His friends and no longer enemies); 3) we have access into this grace in which we stand (i.e. we stand in God's favor as His chosen and beloved); 3) this causes us to rejoice (lit. "to speak loud") in hope of the glory of God. All these spiritual blessings come to us only through Jesus Christ our Lord by faith.

Verses 3-4
More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

Verse 3 begins with the words, "More than that." What do we do "more than that" if we are justified by faith? We rejoice in our sufferings. Sufferings are a part of the blessings that come with being justified by faith. Philippians 1:29 says, "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake." Just as faith is granted (given) to us in order to believe in Jesus for His sake, even so, suffering is given to us for His sake also. The Greek word used for "sufferings" means to be under pressure, afflictions, tribulations, persecution, anguish, burdened. Such are the things Christians rejoice (lit. "speak loud") in. The reason we rejoice in our sufferings if we are justified by faith is, because sufferings produce all kinds of valuable spiritual blessings in us.

Why do you think suffering would be the cause of great spiritual blessings to a Christian? We see from verse 3, that it produces endurance. What does it mean to endure? The Greek word used here for endurance means to patiently and cheerfully endure, to have power to remain, to endure with hopefulness. It gives the idea of patient continuance in the faith. To endure means to hold out against adversity, not to fold under pressure but to remain steadfast, continue in hopefulness. Jesus said, "By your endurance you will gain your lives." (Luke 21:19). Hebrews 10:36 says to suffering Christians, "For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised." Jesus said to the Church of Philadelphia in the book of Revelation, "Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown." [The crown was used as a symbol of victory after enduring the test of sufferings]. Revelation 14:12 calls Christians to endure after telling them about how those who follow the beast and receive the 666 mark will be tormented in fire forever without rest, it then says, "Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." And the following verse pronounces a blessing on all who die in the Lord from now on, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!" (See Revelation 14:9-13). Endurance is essential to being saved, and Paul says that we rejoice in our sufferings, since as justified believers, they are producing this blessing of endurance in our lives.

What is the second thing sufferings produce? Sufferings produce endurance, which in turn produces character. The Greek word translated "character" means "test," or "proof." It is a word people used when testing gold or money to see if it was genuine. Sufferings or difficulties produce endurance in the justified believer, and that hopeful endurance produces genuine tested character (proving our faithfulness to God). When you want to know somebody, you always want to test their character to see if it is real. That is exactly what difficulties and trials do for our faith - it is tested and proven to be the real thing.

What is the third thing sufferings produce? Or, what does tested character produce? Character produces hope. Hope is a really good thing. It means to be waiting with expectation. When I was studying this word in the Bible, I thought of this example for hope: The Bible's definition of hope is similar to the feeling you get when you know it is sure your team is going to win. You are watching a football game, or playing soccer or something else, and everything is intense. Then the time starts running out, and your team does something, like scores or whatever, and you realize it's all over. The game is over - your team is going to win and now it is just a matter of time until it ends. And you begin to rejoice, even jump for joy, because you know it's finished. You know what the outcome is going to be, and so you are filled with hopeful expectation. That is the idea we get here. Suffering produces endurance in the justified believer's life, which produces tested proven character, which produces joyful hope.

Verse 5
and hope does not put us to shame because the love of God has been
poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given
to us.

What does hope not do for us? Hope does not put us to shame. The NASB says, "and hope does not disappoint." Verse 5 is the climax of all the spiritual blessings listed here. Hope, which means "waiting in expectation" does not leave the justified ashamed or disappointed. Why not? How could someone have hope, and then end up disappointed or put to shame? Proverbs 13:12 says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life."

I read an article about an African American man from a small town who was accused of several rapes and a murder back in the 1980's. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison. The man, who's name was Tim, always held that he did not commit the rapes and the murder. After he was in prison for a number of years, another man stepped forward and admitted he was the one who committed those crimes that Tim was in prison for. The judges would not listen to the man's confession and they would not reconsider that Tim was innocent. After more years passed, Tim died in prison of health complications. It was only after he died that the courts reconsidered his case, and found out he was innocent, while the other man was the one who had indeed committed those rapes. I watched a video where Tim's brothers and mother were crying and talking about their brother. One of the brother's held a little brown New Testament, and he read from it these words, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life." (Proverbs 13:12). Tim's hope and his family's hope had been deferred. Tim died before justice could be dealt out rightly for him. However, someone in the article said that there is only one Judge and one system of justice that is perfect, and it isn't on this earth yet. Nevertheless, for Tim's family, their hope for his release was gone. Tim's hope was ended. However, knowing that he was innocent did fulfill their desire for their brother in some ways. That is what it means to have hope and not see it fulfilled. It is a sad story. But the story will not end there. Whether or not Tim was a believer, God will raise him from the dead and all this will be worked out on judgment day. God was Sovereign over Tim's situation, and we do not know what God's purposes were for him to be in such a situation. That is why we look forward to that day, because it is a day when God will judge the world in righteousness (Psalm 96:13).

Now, we are reading here that while Christians may suffer extremely in this life, and we are promised that it will be so, nevertheless, this hope will not be deferred, it will be fulfilled. Christians may die, yet Christ, who is our hope, will return and will raise the dead. And this is how we know our hope will be fulfilled, because it says, "the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." I have often thought, how could I ever doubt God's love? How can I doubt His love when He has given me everything? He gave His Son, as we will see in verse 6, and He gave me His Holy Spirit to be in me and with me. Through the Holy Spirit, God has poured out His love into the hearts of those of us who are justified. The Holy Spirit is given as a down payment, or as an engagement ring. He is the seal of God's promise that He will save those who are justified by faith. This love of God is poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. So if you have the Holy Spirit, then God's love has been poured into your hearts through Him and you have this hope that will never put you to shame, because it will be fulfilled!

Verse 6
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

This is where we see the love of God - that Christ would die at the right time for the ungodly. While we were still weak, helpless, ungodly, unable to do good, Christ died for us who are justified by faith in Him!

I will end with some soul-searching questions:
Are you justified by faith in Christ? Are you trusting Him alone as your hope and your righteousness? Are you enjoying peace and friendship with God through Him? Are you standing in His grace that comes only through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord? Are you suffering through difficulties as a result of your faith in Jesus? Are you enduring, proving your character and waiting in hope for Christ to return and for you to be delivered into Heaven? Have you experienced this overflowing love of God poured out into your hearts through the Holy Spirit? Has He changed your heart, and has He melted it with His love, so that you are looking to Christ for all grace? And last of all, do you view yourself as weak, and ungodly? Do you see that Jesus Christ died at the right time for the ungodly, and that includes you if you have trusted in Him?

Don't turn away from Him, but instead, trust Him who delivered Jesus up for our trangressions and was raised for our justification. Trust Him and Him alone.
Amen.

Genesis Chapter 3: The Curse of Unbelief and the Promised Seed

2008-09-08T18:49:00.009-04:00

The time I spent studying and learning and meditating on the words of Scripture in preparation for this study was an [I looked on a thesaurus site and could not find a word to express the delight I had in learning these lessons]. Genesis three contains the entire gospel in one chapter. I literally could go and sit down, look up verses all day that relate to this chapter, and end up writing a book about it. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to do that this weekend, so I included what I could. Just in case you don't see it in the study, you can search for clues to the gospel of God through Jesus Christ preached in this chapter. You will find everything from the knowledge of all temptation and evil in the serpent, all sinful desire in Eve, and behavior in the woman and the man, the secret of all false religion, the reason people generally view God so negatively, the righteous standard of God's law, the insufficiency and failure of all human efforts in covering guilt, God's glorious plan for reconciliation, the death and resurrection, as well as the second coming, final salvation and judgment of Jesus Christ, Satan's demise, the solution to man and woman's greatest problem, God's love, mercy and grace, Paradise lost and restored, God with man together again - to name a few! Enough said, now dig in:

Genesis Chapter 3: The Curse of Unbelief and the Promised Seed

Intro:
Now, we remember that in chapter one, God had made the heavens and the earth and called them "very good." We learned that creation is about God, and it puts His glory on display. In chapter two, we took a closer look at God's wonderful design for man and woman, and the beautiful home they were given in the garden. We also briefly understood that God placed Adam in a position of authority over all the earth - over the plants for growing food, and over the animals as he imitated God by naming them. Man's authority over God's creation was a result of Adam and Eve bearing the image of God. They were given so much in the Paradise of God, and they had a wonderful union and relationship with each other in marriage. Do you remember what words chapter two ended with? "And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed." There was nothing for them to be ashamed of, since they were God's creatures, and everything God had created was very good.

In the next chapter, we are going to learn about how Adam and Eve sinned and fell in the garden. But this story is really not only about man's fall into sin and rebellion against God, it isn't even about Satan, as we will see, it is really about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This chapter of the Bible shows us the first time God promised redemption through the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus.

Chapter 3:

Verse 1
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.

What was the serpent more than other beasts of the field? What does it mean to be crafty? Who made the serpent? God made the serpent, even giving him qualities that the other animals did not have. It tells us this "serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made." Crafty means to be skilled in a subtle way; prudent; slick, sly; able to craft schemes; wise in dealing with others. The short answer would be that this serpent was smart. He knew how to get what he was out to accomplish. We get an idea from this verse that this is no ordinary animal, but a creature of God who can rationally act to accomplish its task. Since we know from other parts of the Bible that this is Satan acting here ( Rom. 16:20; 2 Cor. 11:3), then we know that Satan had already fallen by way of sinning against God. We can see from these verses that Satan was using the serpent in order to deceive Adam and Eve, because somehow this serpent began to talk in verse 2!...

Verse 2
He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?

In what form did the serpent speak? It was a question. Who was he questioning? The woman. What was the question about? He questioned the woman about what God 'actually' said concerning eating from the trees of the garden? Look how subtly the question was asked; was it an accurate question? No, what did God actually say? Back in Genesis 2:16-17 it says, "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." And what was the serpent's question again? The serpent said, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" What did the serpent change about what God said? This shows how crafty and deceitful the serpent is, he was subtly changing God's words so that Eve would question the truth about what God had really said. He was casting confusion in Eve's mind about God's Word, and tempting her to doubt God's Word.

Verse 3
And the woman said to the serpent, "we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"

(Eve had already begun to step away from God when she said this). Doesn't it seem odd that Eve saw a serpent walk up to her and start talking? Now, it is even more odd that she didn't run to her husband and tell him that the serpent was speaking to her! Instead, what did she do? She started talking back to the serpent. She already began acting independently of her husband, whom God had wedded together as one flesh; they were no longer two, but one (Gen. 2:24). The serpent was getting in between the two of them and was beginning to separate them from one another on the most important matter, which is God's truth.

Who did God originally give the command to about the trees in the garden? It was to Adam (Gen. 2:16-17), so he must have told his wife what God had told him. Since Satan was talking to her about God's Word, then it would have been the right thing for her to go to her husband and refer to him to check what God had said. But what did she say to the serpent? She corrected the serpent by saying, "we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden..." But did she get it all correct? No. She began to listen to the serpent, and so she started doing what he was leading her to, which was to change what God had said. Did God say the tree in the midst of the garden was not to be touched? No. He simply commanded them not to eat from it. And notice also how Eve quoted it by saying, "lest you die." It's almost as if she was softening the command from "you shall surely die," to "lest you die."

What do you think God's original command was intended to do – to kill or to keep alive? If they kept God's command to not eat that fruit, they would not die. So we see it was intended to keep them living if they obeyed. But Satan wanted to take life away from Adam and Eve by twisting the Words of God, casting doubt in Eve's mind about God's goodness, and causing Eve herself to begin to distort the truth. It began by listening to the wrong person. Instead of listening to God's Word by listening to what Adam was really told, Eve fell right into Satan's trap by listening to a distortion of the truth right from the mouth of the devil, who was disguised as a serpent.

Verses 4-5
But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

How did Satan tempt Eve with these words? What words did he use to help Eve reject God's Word altogether? First, he said, "You will not surely die." What had God said? God had said to Adam that if they ate of that tree, they would "surely die." Satan turns it around and flat out lied to Eve by saying the very opposite, "You will not surely die." Right here, Satan is calling God a liar. It was as if God did not tell them the whole truth, and that it would not go as God had said if they ate, so here is this serpent to tell them the real truth about what would “actually happen”.

The serpent told Eve that death was not the result of eating the forbidden fruit. He also tempted Eve by saying that they would be enlightened and would be like God if they ate it, knowing good and evil. He was telling Eve that God did not have her best interests in mind and that God was trying to hide something really good from her. That being made in the image and likeness of God was somehow not good enough, so she had to eat from this fruit to really become like God. This is idolatry in its worst form. Satan tempted Eve with the very same sin that made him fall. In Isaiah 14:12-15, God told Isaiah what they would say concerning the King of Babylon (who in this context seems to be referring also to Satan). He goes on to quote him as saying, "I will make myself like the Most High.'" (Isaiah 14:14). Here, the devil was tempting Eve by telling her she could make herself like the Most High, and in that way it is as if she could become a god.

Now Eve was faced with the choice of who to listen to and who to believe. Either believe God - whom she knew to be good, faithful and true, as her Creator and Provider - or she could believe a talking serpent who was twisting Scripture and telling her lies. Jesus spoke to the Jewish leaders about Satan in John 8:44, "You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

Verse 6
So 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 to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

What did Eve see about the tree? What was appealing about it to her? What did she do after she saw those things? Where was her husband when she gave some to him? Eve saw three things that were appealing to her about the tree God commanded them not to eat from: 1) it was good for food, 2) it was beautiful and looked good to her eyes, 3) it was desired for gaining knowledge and wisdom. These three things are at the heart of all temptations to sin. 1 John 2:15-17 says, "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. 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. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." All temptations is rooted in the desire to please the flesh, the desire for what looks good, and the desire to take pride in what one has in this life. That is what Eve was tempted with. She wanted to do what her body felt like doing, thinking it would taste or feel good. She wanted to have what looked so outwardly appealing to her eyes. She wanted what would make her wise so she could have put confidence in what she could know and have for herself. So these sins can be categorized as 1) sinful pleasures (not the good pleasures, but those that are forbidden), 2) lust after beauty, 3) pride in self.

After Eve was tempted, and her heart began to lust for what was forbidden, she took the fruit and ate it. James 1:1-16 says about this, "Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived my beloved brothers." Her desire for what Satan tempted her with grew so strong that she had to have it. She grabbed for it, wanting to "get her own." She got it and devoured it, thinking it was going to be so satisfying, forgetting that in the end it leads to DEATH! Proverbs 16:25 says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death." That was the way Eve took.

It then says, "She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate." Adam was right there with her when all this was going on! He said nothing to protect her from the serpent's deception! He did not even try to stop her from eating what he knew God had forbidden. They had all kinds of beautiful, amazing, pleasing things in the garden to enjoy, but they went for the one thing they were not aloud to have. Adam, instead of being the head over his wife and leading her in the ways of God, he became the weak one and he followed his wife into sin. This act marked their utter rejection of God and their fall into irreversible guilt. It was Adam's sin to let Eve speak with a lying serpent and not even do anything to try to lead her in the truth. That is why (as we'll see in the following verses) God spoke first to Adam and held him accountable.

Verse 7
"Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths."

What happened immediately after they ate from the tree God commanded them not to eat from? The eyes of them both were opened. And what did that cause them to know? They knew they were naked. And what did they do to themselves after that? They made themselves loincloths out of fig leaves.

Here are the immediate results of their sin: 1) they did receive knowledge of good and evil, because their eyes were opened; 2) they knew something about themselves that they did not realize before - that they were naked - and this knowledge brought shame; 3) they tried to do something to cover up their nakedness and shame. Okay, now you know where everything from the fashion industry to every philosophy and religion originated. It all started with Adam and Eve trying to cover themselves in the garden. Remember how chapter 2 ended by saying, "And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed." In this scene, they were both naked and they WERE ashamed.

All false religion is an attempt to cover man's shameful nakedness. False religions and philosophies do not want to admit that people are as bad as we are. So they make up a way to cover our true condition by saying we are good, or that we do wrong things but are still able to make up for our faults by following certain rules or ceremonies or ordinances or philosophical ideas. Right here in the garden, false religion started with Adam and Eve, and it was a human works/efforts based religion. It was man-centered, trying to cover up their shame.

Proverbs 28:13 puts it in a clear light, "Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy." And 1 John 1:8-9 also says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Sin is a serious matter that we have to admit, because to hide it (as Adam and Eve attempted to do) is the same as saying we don't have it. But as we'll see, there is another way to get free from the guilt. The verses we just looked at both mentioned confession of sin as a very important part of being relieved from the guilt of it. However, confessing our sin to God is only one part of being forgiven, it does not earn us forgiveness. Going around admitting our guilt all the time will not help us find forgiveness, it only helps us realize we have a NEED to be forgiven. If Adam and Eve had not tried to cover their guilt and shame, but would have openly confessed their sin, they still would have died. God's law would continue to be just, holy and true. It said, "in the day you eat of it you will surely die." No confession could take away that penalty - neither could covering themselves with leaves. Nothing could hide it, yet nothing they did could bring them forgiveness either. So by realizing that, we are directed now to look to God for an answer.

Verses 8-11

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

God was walking in the garden – this would have been Jesus Christ appearing to them even before He was incarnated through the virgin Mary, because John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God.” So it must have been what we call a “pre-incarnate” appearance of God. This happens often throughout the book of Genesis, where God appears to people, but he looks like a man, and it is actually God the Son, Jesus appearing to them. This happened a number of times with Abraham.

What did Adam and Eve do when they heard God walking? They hid themselves. What did God say to Adam? “Where are you?” Did God not know where Adam was? Of course He knew, God knows everything, but perhaps He was helping Adam see something about himself. It's like when a little kid hides, and we say, “Where's little Jenny? I don't know where she went?” And then little Jenny pops out and says, “Here I am!” However, in this case, Adam was hiding because of real shame. So what caused Adam to be afraid? “I heard the sound of you...” he was afraid of God seeing him naked. God answered by saying, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

Verses 12-13

The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

How did Adam answer God? He shifted the blame away from himself unto the woman whom God had put there with him. It's like he was saying, “Uh, this woman that you put here to be with me, she made me do it.”

When God asked the woman about it, how did she answer? She shifted the blame to the serpent. “It was the serpents fault for deceiving me.” This was the first instance of “the blame game.” Neither of them confessed themselves to be guilty, but instead kept hiding their shame by emphasizing the faults of others. We still do this today, we don't want to feel bad about ourselves so we blame the government, or the doctors or the teachers, or the parents, or our brother or sister. I am guilty of doing this... we all are.

Verses 14-15

The LORD God said to the serpent, “

Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.”

This is where we first see a ray of hope for Adam and Eve. God spoke to the serpent, and didn't even question him, but just declared, “Because you did this, cursed are you...” What was the curse about that God pronounced on the serpent? It was cursed above all livestock and beasts of the field; it was to crawl on its belly and eat dust. What else would happen? God said He would put enmity between the serpent and the woman, and between their offspring. What would the woman's offspring do to the serpent? He would bruise the serpent's head. And what would the serpent do to him? The serpent would bruise his heel.

This curse on the serpent contained the first promise of a redeemer who would come to destroy the devil. That redeemer is Jesus. The rest of the Old Testament is focused on showing us how that redeemer was going to come, and what ways He would come, and who He would be. The New Testament is then the declaration of good news, that this man (the promised “seed”) has come and has fulfilled all the prophecies of His coming, and His name is Jesus, and He came to save everyone who repents and believes in Him, and He will come again a second time to judge the world and to restore all things back to Paradise with God.

If this chapter of the Bible wasn't here, then we would not have a Bible at all, because this is the very foundation that all of the Bible is built on.

Verse 16

To the woman he said,

“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”

What did God say to curse the woman? She was cursed in her relationships. She was cursed in relation to her children, because she would have pain in bringing them forth; and she was cursed in relation to her husband, because her desire would be for him [or against him], but he would rule over her (She would desire a loving husband, but he would rule over her, and she would also desire to be against her husband as the feminist movement so proudly endorses – she would desire to rule over him instead).

Verse 17-19

And to Adam he said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you , 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

What did God say to curse Adam? Because he listened to Eve, his wife, and transgressed God's command by eating, God cursed his labor. The ground was cursed so that it would be painful to work to produce food; it would also have thorns and thistles to make it hard, so that by “the sweat of your face” man would eat bread until he died.

What a curse!... A serious consequence for not listening to God. And that is exactly what the serpent wanted to happen to Adam and Eve, which is why Jesus called him a “murderer” in John 8:44.

But it doesn't end there either...

Verses 20-21

The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

This story isn't ending, it is just beginning. What did Adam name his wife and why? Adam had faith, that is why he called his wife's name Eve, because she was to be the mother of all the living (I have been using her name Eve all along, but the Bible doesn't give her that name until now in verse 20). God just cursed man and woman and told them they would die, yet they must have believed they would have descendants who would be “living.” The only reason I can think of for this is that they must have believed the promise God said to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” They believed that promise, and that promise was about Jesus, so they believed in Jesus Christ as God's chosen Redeemer.

What else did God do for them in verse 21? He made clothing for them from animal skins. Many people, including myself, believe that God killed the first lamb and used its skin to make coverings for Adam and Eve. This was to symbolize that Jesus would be the “Lamb who was slain,” and the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Revelation 5:12; John 1:29).

Verses 22-24

Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever--” therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

What did God do with the man in this passage? He sent him out of the garden, so that he wouldn't eat from the tree of life and live forever, and so that he would have to work in the ground from which he came. What was put in place to guard the garden of Eden? Cherubim and a flaming sword – cherubim are like the most amazing heavenly creatures the Bible speaks about, they are often seen standing around God's throne.

So we see that sin has banished man from the Paradise garden God had originally place him in. Mankind has no right anymore to eternal life, because God cursed him. Every single one of us is related to each other through these two people. We all come from Adam and Eve, who because they listened to the serpent and sinned, were cursed and banished from the presence of God. We are born into this curse, until God changes that. And that is what our study is meant to turn us to, the amazing good news of how God, in His great love, sent His own Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him (John 3:16-17).

(Genesis is known for looking like all is going to end badly, but then God does something and turns it all around so that everything bad works out for good to fulfill God's ultimate purpose and plan).

Genesis Chapter two: Man and Woman

2008-08-28T08:03:00.009-04:00

Man and Woman Married in the Garden

This Bible study may be lengthy, but as I read through it over and over again, I didn't feel like I could eliminate any more information. There is plenty more I could add, but that would not be convenient to the Bible study group we have Sunday evenings. I usually teach, asking questions and looking closely at the Scripture verses for about 50 minutes. The text itself only takes about 5 to 10 minutes of reading. For anyone who would take the time to read this lengthy post, just know that the study of man and woman in the Garden from Genesis chapter two, really is enormously beneficial to our faith. Especially for helping us understand better what a fall they took when they chose to listen to the serpent and eat from the forbidden fruit in Genesis chapter three.

And now, enjoy God's amazing Design for man and woman at your own delight:

Verses 1-3

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

What is so significant about the seventh day? What did God do on the seventh day? It says, "all the host" of the heavens and earth were finished, and that "God rested from all his work that he had done in creation" on the seventh day. Was God tired, so that he needed to rest and take a break? No way! God never sleeps. He doesn't ever get weary (Psalm 121:3-4). So how did He rest? It says twice that God "finished" all the work of creation, and twice that He "rested" from his work that He had done in creation. So the rest God spoke of was not to recover energy, but He was resting from His work and no longer creating anything. It was all finished in six days, and now the seventh day marks it as being complete. This is why we have seven day weeks. And when God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, He set apart Saturday as the Sabbath, because He said, "For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (Exodus 20:11). The Christian finds true rest in Christ alone - in Him we find the fulfillment of man's Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:1-13). Those who enter God's rest, rest from their own works, yet whoever does not believe is cursed and will never find rest (Hebrews 3:11-12).

Verse 4

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.

This is sort of a summary verse. It leads into the next verses that describe some of the things God did when He prepared the garden and put man in it. So we are backing up in time here, back to the six days of creation, here described as "in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens." This was before the day God rested from His work...

Verses 5-6

When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up - for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist [a spring] was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground -

What was not yet in the land or field? What was missing from the garden? Here it is telling us that this was before there were any field shrubs and small plants for man to cultivate and grow in the ground (such as wheat, barley, oats, and other types of food that we grow on farms in fields). And the reason it gives for this, is that "God had not caused it to rain on the land." There was also a key figure missing from the scene. Man had not been created yet, but we see God setting the stage for man's appearance. There was also a "mist" (and here the translators put the word "spring" in the footnote, because the original word means "flow"). So what could have been a spring instead of a mist, or more literally "flow," was going up from the land... and what was it doing? [It was "watering the whole face of the ground"]. It seems to me that this gives us the idea that there was a flow of water running up from the earth, and as it flowed out across the land, it caused everything to be watered all over the ground. Water was just flowing over all of the land and watering it abundantly. Psalm 104 confirms this when it says about creation, "You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills;..." (Psalm 104:10). So this water would have caused the garden to be beautiful and lush. It was literally Paradise.

Verse 7

then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

What did God form? From what did He form the man? How did the man become a living creature? This verse makes it very clear that God is the source of life. It is the "breath of the Almighty" that gives life (Job 33:4). Otherwise, how do you explain life? Scientists are still trying to figure out how amino acids formed billions of years ago to become living cells. I read a news article [http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/070822_gm_life_origins.html] that asked the question to a bunch of the world's leading scientists about where life originated. All of them gave fancy answers in scientific language for "We don't know." Some suggested that maybe life originated on another planet and came here by an asteroid. But that leaves another question of "How did life originate on that other planet?" None of the scientists knew the answer. Some basically said that it would take a miracle for life to begin, yet they didn't know if they would ever learn what that miracle was. You know what... they aren't ever going to figure it out, not unless they can acknowledge that God is the one who makes things live.

Notice again how God made the man come to life - He "breathed into his nostrils the breath of [air?]... no, the breath of life." What is this "breath of life"? It seems to me that this is the spirit in man that makes him a living being. Without the breath of life, man would be a lump of flesh formed out of dirt. But God took a lump of dirt, formed it into human flesh, and then breathed life into the man. This is more than making the man of living cells. There are living cells in every living creature, in our brains, in our skin, making up every part of our bodies. This is probably more than that, and may also refer to what makes the man conscious, not just a well built functional body. Job 33:4 says, "The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life."

And the man became a living what? [A creature]. Man is a creature, which means that he is a creation of God. Since God is the Creator of man, then man belongs to God. God is the one who determines what is right and wrong for man, man does not determine for himself. This is very important for us to realize about ourselves.

Verses 8-9

And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

What did the LORD God plant? Where did He plant this garden? [God planted the garden in Eden, in the east - this would have been somewhere in the Middle East.] What was the purpose of this garden that God planted? ["...and there he put the man whom he had formed." The Paradise garden was man's original home.] What was in the garden? [Remember that God made a spring to flow with water everywhere, so this garden was well-watered, lush, very beautiful. There were trees there. Trees that were "pleasant to the sight and good for food." Also there were two trees in the midst of the garden - "the tree of life" and "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."]

These next verses tell us a little about what the garden in Eden was like...

Verses 10-14

A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

What flowed out of Eden, and what was it doing? Here we learn of this flowing river that watered the garden in Eden. It divided into these four rivers: 1) the Pishon, where the best gold in the world was found, as well as other precious stones and gems; 2) the Gihon, which flowed all around the land of Cush; 3) the Tigris, which was east of Assyria; and 4) the Euphrates (the Tigris and Euphrates in our time runs through Iraq and empties into the Persian Gulf in Kuwait). These four rivers all started from the river in Eden where the garden was. Together they cover a lot of land, probably all of what we now call the Middle East.

Verse 15

Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

What did the LORD do with the man in verse 15? What job did He give the man to do? So we see that God originally designed man to be a gardener, to do work, to care for the garden that He made for the man to enjoy. God first prepared the garden, then He made the man and put him in the garden to do what God had designed him to do.

Verses 16-17

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

What was the command that God gave to the man? God has always given commands from the beginning. He does not give suggestions, or advice. No, God is not like us, all authority belongs to Him as the Almighty Creator. So He gave the command that the man "may surely eat of every tree in the garden." He commanded the man to freely eat (in Hebrew it says, "eat eat," with the repetition emphasizing that he may freely and surely eat of all the trees to his enjoyment).

But that was not where the command ended. What was he not allowed to eat? What would happen in the day he ate? God said that of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil "you shall not eat." That is a direct, clear and negative command. So here is this tree, the one tree God forbids man to eat from. No big deal... right? The man had all kinds of other gorgeous looking trees to eat from. And so God told him why he must not eat from this tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the reason was "for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." And what is death? It is to be separated from the source of life. Death is the opposite of living. If the man ate from this tree, he would be cut off from the life that God had breathed into his nostrils, and so he would perish. So death is the fate of all who disobey God's commands, "For the wages of sin is death..." (Romans 6:23a). Death was absolutely sure for disobedience to God's commandment. So the command implies that he would keep living if he did not eat of that one tree.

Verses 18-20

Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him. Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.

What did God say "is not good"? What was God going to make for him? God said he would make a suitable helper for Adam, so God brought all the animals and birds to Adam and had him name them. But God also showed him something: Among all the animals, was there a single one like him? Adam was created in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:27). None of the animals were made like him. None of them could correspond to Adam, since he was a human and they were not. There was no suitable helper found for the man. Adam was missing his mate, his "helper fit for him."

Verses 21-22

So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he he slept he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

The LORD God had just shown man all the animals and the man gave them names, however, none of the animals were fit to be his helper in the garden. So what did God do with the man? God operated on Adam! He anesthetized him, so the man was knocked out - in a deep sleep. Adam didn't feel a thing while God cut him open. And what did God take out of him? He took one of his ribs (or in Hebrew it could mean "side"), so God took flesh and bone from Adam and fashioned a woman from it. God also healed Adam like a skillful surgeon, closing up his wound with flesh. So here we see God operating on the man, he takes some flesh and bone from his side, heals the wound, and then fashions from it a woman for the man. (This was not only the first operation, but the first miraculous healing we read about in Scripture - and what God made from Adam's side was certainly a real miracle!) It then says He "brought her to the man." Can you imagine Adam's reaction when he saw this woman?

I can... look what he said next:

Verse 23

Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."

This was the first love poem in the world... and it was about a woman! I think Adam was a bit excited to name this new creature of God. He called her Woman, which in Hebrew is similar to the word for Man (Hebrew: 'Ish and 'Ishah, sometimes literally 'husband' and 'wife'). Why did he call her Woman? It says, "because she was taken out of Man." She was literally close to his heart. God made woman in a very special way. Instead of forming her from the dust of the ground as He did with all the animals as well as the man, God fashioned her from the very flesh and bone that came from Adam's side. He made her for the man. She came from him, and only together with her was he complete. They were literally of the same flesh and bone. It's as if Adam was saying, "This is the part of me that was missing... here she is at last!" ["At last..." after he had waited a whole day without her :)]

In the sense of being of the same 'flesh and bone', man and woman are both created equal as counterparts. Do you understand what that means? Does saying they are 'created equal' mean that they both can bear children? If not, then what does it mean? Does it mean they are both the same physically? Does it mean they were both created to fulfill the same roles? No, no, no. The answer is, they are created equal in their humanity and value before God, but not in their purpose and function. Do you know what the words "counterpart" or "complimentary" mean? It means they are two different parts that fit together to make a whole. That is how God created man and woman, to both fit together as one, to both compliment each other in perfect union. That is also the meaning of marriage as we'll find out...

Verse 24

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

This verse is about marriage. Marriage is given by God as a picture of His love for His elect Church. Paul said in Ephesians 5:32 that marriage is a profound mystery which refers to Christ and the church, so this is very important in God's design.

What does it say a man shall leave? To leave father and mother is to be separated from them. From childhood on up, a son is united to his parents and family. What does he do when he leaves them? He leaves them to "hold fast to his wife." To hold fast, means he clings to her. They stick together like glue. What do they become? That glue forms a bond between them and they become "one flesh." This means they are no longer two, but one in body. They are united, completed, and fulfilled with each other. This is the way God designed marriage. They cling to each other for life, holding fast.

When Jesus was asked whether it is okay to divorce after being married, this was his answer: "Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate." (Matthew 19:4-6). So Jesus claimed that Genesis 2:24 are God's words, God said "the two shall become one flesh." That is the way God made man and woman for each other in marriage. Any other way is to sin against God. We break God's will for man and woman when we try to "hook up" apart from "holding fast" to one wife or husband. This is also why homosexuality, and all other sexual sin is clearly an act of rebellion against God's good design for man and woman in marriage.

Marriage was created to communicate God's love for His church (see Ephesians 5:22-33). Christ loves His bride, His people, the Church. He came to her from Heaven, leaving His Father in Heaven to get a hold on her. He took her pain on Himself, her sorrows, her evil sin was placed on His shoulders to carry. He suffered and died for her upon the cross. He loved her to the death. (He loved his Church more than Romeo loved Juliet). He died and rose again, so that as Ephesians 5 says, "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to Himself in splendor [that means magnificent, glorious beauty], without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." (Ephesians 5:25-27). He gave her His engagement ring of the gift of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13-14). This is to guarantee that Jesus will come back to her at the appointed time, and will rescue her from this evil world, and will take her to be with Himself forever in a perfect bond of Heavenly delight and love that far surpasses what earthly marriage can only dimly represent. Paul said, "This mystery is profound, and I am saying it refers to Christ and the church."

We don't have time to talk more about Biblical manhood and womanhood and the different roles they have together, but let's end by looking closer at the last verse:

Verse 25

And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

What were the man and his wife dressed like? Were they ashamed? What did they have to be ashamed of?

What was there to be ashamed of? They were stripped down to the skin, and they were not ashamed. They had nothing to be ashamed of. What is shame? Shame is what we feel when we have done something seriously wrong and feel guilty. Shame is a testimony against us that we have guilt, sin, that we are unclean, defiled and unholy. Adam and Eve were together in the garden, God had united them together in marriage, and they were not ashamed. There was no sin, and so there was no reason to be ashamed. God created marriage, and everything God created was good.

(In our day, sin has corrupted the world and everything in it since Adam and Eve fell, but sin has especially corrupted sexuality and marriage). Hebrews 13:4 says, "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous." And you know that we are all guilty, since Jesus said that to look with lustful intent is adulterous and immoral (Matthew 5:28). But you know what, the Bible promises that for those who are saved and rescued by the blood of Jesus, all their shame is removed and God is pleased to give them far more than what Adam and Eve experienced in the garden. I'm not kidding; some of us here may not live long enough to get married. We often imagine it, thinking it is going to be so good, but like I've shared before, I know someone who died at age 23. Others die at 18, 20, 21, some die at 15 or 16. None of us is guaranteed a fulfilled life here on earth, since we are all sinners and deserve to die (Rom. 6:23). The only reason we enjoy any life on earth at all is because of God's abundant mercies. But know this, Psalm 34:5 says, "Those who look to him [to Christ] are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed." That is our hope, that in looking to Jesus, our shame is removed at the cross, death is defeated at the empty tomb, and Christ is going to return to give those who are saved an eternal inheritance with Him, experiencing the love of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. And although marriage is a picture of that, it cannot ultimately satisfy, since it is a relationship tainted by sin. But those who are saved, are satisfied forever. We all want to be married, but do we all want to live eternally in joyful communion with the living God? Ask yourself that.

The Miracle of Creation, part 2

2008-07-29T20:21:00.005-04:00

Here is a fascinating fact about our incredible world, which I read from John MacArthur's sermon on this chapter:

The earth is 25 thousand miles in circumference. It weighs six septillion, five-hundred and eighty-six, six trillion tons. Hangs in empty space. Spins at a thousand miles an hour with perfect balance and that's important so that you're not just jumping every time the earth moves. At the same time that it's spinning at a thousand miles an hour, it is moving through space around the sun at a thousand miles a minute in an orbit of 580 million miles and does so at a perfect angle set to create the seasons which provide all the crops, which feed its inhabitants."
- John MacArthur, Sermon Transcript: Creation Day 5.

That is what we learned God was doing when we read the first half of this chapter last week. This time, we are going to look at the second half of Genesis chapter 1, and how God created all the living things on earth, including man and woman.

Genesis 1:20-2:3 ESV

Study Notes:
Verse 20
And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens."

What is the first thing God did here in this verse? ["And God said..." He spoke.] What did God say? What were the waters to be filled with? [Living creatures that swarm in the waters.] And what did He say should be in the expanse of the heavens? [Birds that fly above the earth across the sky.]

Here we read of the first mention of life on earth. This really amazes me, because only God can make things live. These creatures were to be living creatures. They were not like the lifeless globe that God formed to be the world, or like the galaxies of stars and other planets; or like the water, the land, or even like the plants He made to grow on the earth. None of the things God made on earth before verse 20 were living. [It is possible that He had already created living angels and heavenly creatures, but Genesis 1 does not give us an account of that]. So here is the first sign of life on earth. God gave the command and the waters swarmed with swarms of living creatures.

Do you know what lives in the oceans? All kinds of living creatures: from fish to whales, crabs to sea horses. There are coral reefs, turtles, shrimp, krill, giant squid, eels, sea serpents, sponges, and countless schools of fish (some even with glowing lanterns deep in the dark of the oceans). I once saw a school of small fish swimming around the city of Pittsburgh. I was standing on the point where the three rivers meet, and I looked down into the water, and all the way around the point there were thousands of small fish swimming right up next to the wall. They were swarming, just as God commanded, and the waters of the earth are full of creatures that swarm and swim. Literally full of them! Does any one know how many different kinds of aquatic creatures there are in the earth? Does any one know how many different kinds of birds and flying creatures there are on the earth? [Nobody knows, the earth is simply full of them.]

Verses 21-23
So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves , with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

Do you remember what this means when it says, "according to their kinds..."? Well, we already learned that God created plants bearing seed each according to their kinds, back in verse 11. Do you remember what is in the seed? What is needed in order to reproduce? Well, I asked if you understood what DNA was last week. All of you either have learned about it in biology or will if you go to college. DNA contains the genetic information stored within the cells of all living organisms. It is the information that gives exact instructions for every detail that makes up a living thing. So when God created each creature in the sea and in the air according to their kinds, He coded each different kind with specific information that can only reproduce more creatures of exactly the same kind. Hummingbirds produce more hummingbirds, because they have the same DNA and genetic information that gives instructions to build every part of their little bodies - from the color of their feathers to the structure of their wings, every part is built exactly as the DNA is coded for. You know what is really interesting about birds and fish? Something they both have in common? They both have an incomprehensible built-in navigation system that allows them to find their way to certain parts of the world no matter what. You know how Salmon can swim from the ocean all the way to your back yard out in the middle of nowhere, in order to get to the right breeding ground where they were born. There is a certain bird that is hatched in Alaska. As soon as it breeds and lays eggs, it begins eating like a pig. It eats and eats and eats, until it gains all this weight (about 7.5 grams... nothing to worry about, its a small bird). Once a certain time of the year comes around, it has to have all its weight gained at the right time, then it takes off along with all the other little guys. They have to weigh just the right amount of grams, or they can't make the non-stop straight flight from Alaska to Hawaii. That's right, they fly across the Atlantic Ocean all the way to Hawaii without stopping. They all have to fly together or they won't make it, because when they fly in groups one gets behind the other and that saves on gas, you know :). They'll die if they don't eat enough food, or if they don't stick with the crowd. When they get to Hawaii, they all know exactly where to go and they land on the exact shore all the other birds have landed before them, even though they've never been to this place and they don't know what a map is! Their offspring do the same thing, same travel route, same time, same place. No scientist knows how they have this knowledge. Well, its easy to explain, God put it in them when He created them for His own good pleasure.

And how did God see all that He had made in the sea and in the air (end of verse 23) ? ["And God saw that it was good."] Notice again that these creatures were living. This amazes me. God created the stars and galaxies in the billions and billions. He even made other planets in the universe. Some with a blend of cosmic gases and heat, some ice cold, some desert rock and wastes, others contain cosmic storms that never seem to end, but the earth was created for life to dwell on it. It is the only one of its kind. That is very profound when you think about it. Notice how God blessed the living creatures? God's blessing was that they would multiply and fill the earth. Did they do what God said? The earth as we know it, is literally filled with creatures in the sea, in lakes, rivers and water everywhere. There are all types of birds that fly in all kinds of amazing ways, and you see them all over. They're all real, live, breathing, eating, swimming and flying creatures. Like I said, amazing! What day was all of this on? [Thursday is the fifth day.]

Verses 24-25
And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds - livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

This is another day. The day before this, God had already made living creatures in the waters and the birds of the air. What types of living creatures are mentioned here, and where do they live? ["Let the earth bring forth... livestock... and creeping things... and beasts of the earth according to their kinds."]. God made living creatures to occupy every sphere of the planet earth - fish and creatures in the sea, flying birds and creatures in the air, and finally, living creatures on the earth (on land). Again, "each according to their kinds." This would include every type of giant dinosaur to all the tiny insects. They all reproduce after their kinds (according to the precoded DNA information structure within each kind of animal... no evolution supported here). Evolution says they change from one kind (i.e. a fish) into a completely different kind (i.e. an amphibian, then a lizard, then a mammal and so on). That is not at all what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that God created them according to each kind from the beginning. Did you know that science can prove this is true? No one has ever been able to find an animal that changed kinds, they only change traits within their kinds when genes get mixed around after breeding. No lizard has the ability to grow feathers and become a bird. That does not happen, and it is not possible, since there is no built-in genetic info (DNA) to make it happen. However, you can get a variety of dogs from Great Danes to Chihuahuas, from wolves to poodles, but they are all within the dog family.

Again, God said it. It came to be, and now the whole earth is populated with every kind of land animal, beast and creeping thing (which includes insects, lizards and even animals that crawl low to the ground.

How did God see what He had made this time? [v25, "And God saw that it was good."] As we read these miracles of creation, do you get the idea that everything God does is good? :)

Verses 26-27
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Who is being created in verse 26? What did God say He created man like? Notice how God referred to Himself when He said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." This is a clear reference to the plural (or triune) nature of God - that He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit - One God, yet three. The Trinity is a mystery. We have a hard time grasping the idea that God is one, not many, and that God is clearly Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is a very deep mystery to us in many ways. (God is hard for us to explain outside of what the Bible says about Him).

There are a number of ways in which God created man after His own image and in His own likeness. (First of all, we should note who created man. Since God created man, then man is a creature, a creation of God. We are creatures, which means we are created beings, we are not self-existent. Only God is because He is. We are because God made us who we are. We did not exist from all eternity, but came into being by the power of God when He made living land creatures on day six. You may say, "We already know God made us." That's good, but we need to remind ourselves often, so that we give glory to God and not to ourselves for who we are).

What are some ways God made us in His image and different from everything else He created? [We have the abilities to speak, communicate, skills in building, constructing, making complex tools and instruments, the ability to think rationally, logically, and meaningfully, and so on.] What did God give man dominion over? [God gave man dominion over every living thing on earth, and even over all the earth.] This is one way that God made man in His own image and likeness. He gave man the authority and responsibility to rule over God's creation on earth. He gave no other creature this responsibility and authority, and the reason He gave it to man to have dominion, is because man is made in God's image - that is, to reflect God's governing and ruling glory. We were originally created for the glory of God - to reflect His glory in caring for all that is in the earth.

In verse 27, how did God make mankind? What two people does it say He created? [Male and female.] So we see from the very beginning that God created man to be male and female. This is the relationship that we were created to have. This is where we get the definition for marriage. It is a man and a woman, not a man and many women, not a man and a man or a woman with a woman, not a woman with many men (those are all unnatural relationships) - no, it is one man with one woman. God designed marriage. The government did not invent marriage, God did. The government does not have the right to redefine what God has created to be good. Sexual sin violates the way God created us. You were made to be with one mate of the opposite sex for life, and if you try to go against that, you mess with the way God designed you to be. Again, we've all sinned horribly in this area, and we really need to turn from the way we think about it back to God's original design.

Verse 28
And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

What did God do for them? What did He say to them? [God blessed them. God blessed them as His creatures, which He had made for His own glory, and He blessed them in their relationship to each other as husband and wife. He also blessed them by telling them to multiply and fill the earth and to have complete rule and dominion over all of it.]

Verses 29-30
And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so.

What did God give as food? And who did He say could have this food? [Every green plant was given for food to every living thing with the breath of life in them.] Notice, that God created us to be dependent. Do you know what the word dependent means? Dependent means to rely on something or someone else for aid, support or to have needs met. God created all living things to be dependent on food for life, and He provided that food in every green plant. Now, there are a huge variety of plants in the world, so right here God has provided a vast source of nutrition as well as a variety of taste. But not only that, why were they able to have plants and fruit as food? [The answer is because God gave it to them.]

Verse 31
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Now how did God describe all that He had made? ["It was very good."] What day did all the creation of every land creature, as well as man and woman take place? [Day six, which is Friday.]

Okay, let's end by looking at the first 3 verses of Genesis chapter 2:
Genesis 2:1-3
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

That ends the brief story of when God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning, as verse 1 had said. Next time, we want to look closer at the creation of man and woman in chapter 2. This will all set us up for a big fall in chapter 3 when Adam and Eve listened to the serpent and sinned against God. Then, going back to Romans chapter 5, we will see clearly that this is the reason death is in the world, it is the result of one man's sin. And that leads us to the fascinating miracle of the birth of Christ who came to be the Savior of mankind. Jesus truly is the Lord of all the earth. He became a man, in order to save mankind from our own sin. He died on the cross, taking our fallen-ness on Himself, and He freely gives His perfection to all who come to Him as their resurrected and living High Priest, Prophet and King.

The Bible teaches us that Jesus made all things. John 1:1-3 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made." And Colossians 1:15-16 says about Jesus, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things were created through him and for him."

Little Bird... Amazing Traveller!

2008-07-26T00:33:00.004-04:00

This short video provides a neat little hint toward our next Bible study. Check it out ;)

The Miracle of Creation, part 1

2008-07-22T12:19:00.019-04:00

Genesis 1:1-19

The Miracle of Creation, part 1

The definition of the term "miracle"
What is a miracle? A miracle has been defined as a work wrought by a divine power for a divine purpose by means beyond the reach of man. The general idea is that it is something wonderful or unusual - an event, experience, or discovery, so singular and strange as to awaken in one the feeling of awe. Phenomena in nature and events in history are labeled "miracle."
- Herbert Lockyer, All the Miracles of The Bible.

Verse 1
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Here we can find a lot of information about everything. First it says, "In the beginning." So there was a beginning, which means that things did not always exist the way they do now. There was a time when it all began. Second, "God created." What does that tell us about God? God existed. God caused new things to come into existence. What did God create? This phrase includes everything there is. God created all of it. Some dumb person will always say, "But who created God?" Here's my answer: if God had to be created, then would he be God? Now, this verse is ascribing glory to God. It is telling us that there is a God, that He created everything in the beginning, and so everything must point back to God and say, "It is because of Him that I am." Only God can say what He said to Moses, "I AM THAT I AM." (Exodus 3:14). God is because He is. There is no cause for Him, He simply is. "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, says the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." (Revelation 1:8).

Verse 2
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Here we have a picture described of formlessness, emptiness, and darkness. But the Spirit of God was there, hovering over the face of the waters. That is, the Spirit of God was moving over the water to begin to make something that was unformed, empty and dark, begin to take shape. It is by God's Spirit that things come into being and are formed (like a pot is formed from a lump of clay).

Verse 3
And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

What did God do? He spoke. (Now we have the Word of God introduced. This is Jesus Christ speaking here - John 1:1-3). What did He say? And what happened? This shows us that the power of God is in His Word. When He wants to make something happen. To make something begin to exist when it doesn't exist, He speaks. When God saves a person, it is a miracle just like when He spoke light into being (2 Corinthians 4:6).

Verse 4
And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.

What did God do in this verse? He stepped back and looked at what He had made. He saw that the light was good. What did God do with the light? He separated it from the darkness. Now this is getting deep. Light and darkness do not mix. They are opposites. 1 John 1:5 says, "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." God cannot dwell with evil. God will not allow darkness to dwell with light. He will not allow sin and evil to dwell with righteousness and holiness.

Verse 5
God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

What did God do in this verse? He named the light and the darkness. What did He call them? Light He called Day, and darkness He called Night. Notice something, who called them by these names? This is the beginning of language. Language did not start with apes who developed speech in their brains when they became human (that is not even naturally possible). It didn't begin with humans. Language began with God. It is His original way of communicating, and we should be careful never to defile His design. In other words, don't mess with what God originated. Don't misuse what He designed to be used rightly. We are all guilty of this, and oh, how we need grace for how we have stolen God's good way of communicating and tried to do with it what we pleased! Jesus said, "By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." Therefore, speech is very important to God. It is He who named light and dark, day and night.

Notice also what happened next - "And there was evening and there was morning, the first day." What is the first day of the week? Sunday is the first day. It is the day God created light, and separated it from dark, and named it.

[Some people have a problem with the length of the days in this chapter. However, if God was weak, and He could become tired, then He might not have had the strength and energy to finish all that He set out to do in one day? In that case, we might have to say, "Well, God needed a little more time to do some of these things in one day. So let's say it took Him a lot longer to do it." The Bible says, "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" (Genesis 18:14). and "With God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26). Do you think God could ever run out of power? We cannot see God because of our sin, but does that mean that we cannot see from nature and the universe that He is very powerful? So if God wanted to create in a day, He could have. Isaiah 40:28 says, "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength." We must understand this by faith, since we were not there to see it all happen. Hebrews 11:3 says this, "By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible." God has told us what happened here in the book of Genesis. It is by faith that we believe God's word].

Verses 6-7
And God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so.

What did God do again at the beginning of verse 6? He "said," God spoke. What did He say? Now, verse 7 says, "And God made." So, when God says something, and it happens, it is because He made it happen. So what did He do? God made an expanse (firmament, foundation - in this case I believe it refers to the separation of water on earth and water in clouds above the sky). Now, when we look at a river, a lake, or an ocean, we can see clearly that there is a lot of water there. When we look into the sky on a cloudy day, how much water can we see? Well, to put it simply, you might see something around 100,000 gallons of water floating above you in a cumulus cloud. That would be weighing about 400 metric tons. So on day two, God did something really cool, He separated water on earth from water that can fly around over the earth at up to 50,000 feet above us!

I love the ending phrase in verse 7, "And it was so." God said it, it happened, and there it is. We now have weather, evaporation, condensation, clouds, mist, rain (which began after the flood), and all the amazing stuff that goes along with that. Job 26:7-8 says, "He stretches out the north over the void [emptiness] and hangs the earth on nothing. He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not split open under them." And verse 14 says, "Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him!"

Verse 8
And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

Again, what did God do here? He called the expanse Heaven, or Sky; He named it. We see God creating things by the power of His Word, and then He is naming what He has done. God creates and God gives names to what He creates.

And what day was that on? Notice the "evening" and "morning." The world is turning, God has already established time. There is light and dark, day and night. This was done on Monday.

Verses 9-10
And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

What did God say this time? Did the waters listen? Yes! When God speaks, they obey! Luke 8:25 says, "He [Jesus] said to them [to His disciples after He had just calmed the storm], "Where is your faith?" And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, "Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?"

Again God names what He just made. What did He call what He made? Earth [or Land] and Seas. Before this, the world was covered with water. 2 Peter 3:5 says about unbelievers, "For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God." [The emphasis here is that everything exists and was made by the Word of God].

What else did God do? "And God saw that it was good." He stepped back and looked at what He just made. He was satisfied with it, and saw it to be good.

Verses 11-13
And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth." And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

Verses 9-13 described a number of things God did in one day. What day was it? The third day, that would make it Tuesday. What are some of the things that He did on this day? Back in v9-10, He made dry land appear, and divided it with the sea. What else did He do after that? God commanded plants with seed, fruit trees, and all kinds of vegetation to sprout up from the ground. Notice that He made them "each according to its kind" (v12). This means God originated plants from different kinds, i.e. fruit and nut trees, vines and bushes, etc.. We know we can produce hybrid plants, but only plants that are from the same kind originally mix together. For example, it is not possible to get a conifer to mix with a daisy. They are both plants, they are just completely different kinds. The seed God made plants produce contains DNA, which is the most complex information system we know of in the universe. DNA contains all the information necessary for plants to reproduce more plants exactly after their kind.

We also see in these verses that God began with water, moved the water to form land, miraculously spoke seed into being planted in the ground, made them grow, and they produce fruits and oxygen. That prepares the world for the next thing God would make on earth - living creatures. But before He did that, He made some things higher up to prepare the earth for life.

Verses 14-19
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and for years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. And God made the two great lights - the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night - and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

First, we notice this is the fourth day, which is Wednesday. On this day, God made "lights in the expanse of the heavens," and He tells us specific reasons why. What are some of those reasons? God made the heavenly lights to separate day from night, to be for signs and seasons, and mark days and years, and to give light upon the earth. The light shining on the earth is necessary for plants to grow and produce oxygen. God made two very specific and close lights to the earth. What were they? They were the sun and the moon. Only the sun contains its own light source, the moon reflects light on the earth at night. It also pulls on the earth's gravity to make waves and tides in the ocean, and performs some other amazing tasks for the earth. What is the third light source mentioned? The stars. Stars truly are wonderful. Have you ever gone to a place where there is very little light from streets or houses, and you can see multitudes of stars! Well, the universe contains billions of galaxies with billions of stars in each galaxy. And God says they are to give light to the earth. Amazing! Psalm 147:4 tells us how carefully God created the stars, "He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure."

Conclusion:
This is a brief look at the wonders of God's creation of all that exists. God was in the beginning. God is because He is God. God chose to make things exist out of nothing. Creation displays His glorious power. God created the heavens and the earth by His Word. Everything was made by God in the beginning. God the Father was working, God the Son was working, and God the Holy Spirit was working when He made everything, so we see that God is triune. This is why we say God is a Trinity - He is three in ONE. This is our Maker, our Creator and our God. The one we must worship and listen to and love. I want to encourage every one of you to make it an interest of yours to study the works of God's creation, and to think about these things whenever you see the beauties and wonders of nature. Next week, we will finish reading chapter one of Genesis, and learn about when God created life on earth, as well as man and woman. Please make it your ambition to come learn these lessons, and read your Bibles, because I can only point you to the well, where there is an abundance of living waters for your everlasting enjoyment if you believe in the Son, through whom all things were made (John 1:1-3).

[See Psalm 86:8, "There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours."; Psalm 92:5, "How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep!"; Psalm 104:24, "O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures."; Psalm 111:2, "Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them."].

You Are A Creature!

2008-07-19T13:14:00.009-04:00

I'm currently studying Genesis chapter 1 for our teen Bible study. All I can say is that, I am absolutely blown away by God's great and wonderful power to create. God is God. There is none like Him. He is AWESOME! Here is a cool picture of some of His really beautiful creations. Fall down and worship your Maker!

Also, you can click here for some very interesting articles and resources about creation & science: http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/qa.asp

The Gospel in Romans, part 11

2008-07-13T21:49:00.001-04:00

Romans 4:16-25

Text:
Romans 4:16-25 ESV:
That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring - not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations" - in the presence of of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, "So shall your offspring be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was "counted to him as righteousness." But the words "it was counted to him" were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Intro:

Paul showed us in Romans 1-3 why the gospel is good news. He began by showing how the Law condemns us, since we all fall short of the righteous standard of it. He also proved that Jews, as well as Gentiles, will be condemned for their own disobedience. He went on to show how no one does right at all, but everyone is so depraved that we cannot make ourselves righteous before God by any works we perform. The last half of chapter three demonstrated how God gives people the gift of righteousness by faith apart from works of the law. God is able to be both a Just God who shows no mercy toward sin, and yet justify all who have faith in Christ Jesus, His Son. He did this by propitiation. What does propitiation mean? Propitiation is a wrath-appeasing sacrifice. It is a sacrifice offered for sin that satisfies God's holy anger and justice, and also pleases Him so that He accepts those for whom the propitiation was made for. Jesus is that propitiation. Romans 3:23-26 says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." So God is righteous, and upholds His righteousness by condemning His Son instead of those who believe in Jesus. Paul also said this eliminates all boasting in what we do to try to be justified, since righteousness comes only as a gift through faith apart from our works.

Now, in chapter four, we learned that Abraham was also justified by faith, since God justifies those who are ungodly when they repent and believe. Do you remember what David said about this blessing? "Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin." (Rom. 4:8). That is complete and total forgiveness! The Jews understood that Abraham had been given the covenant of circumcision, so Paul discussed how it was not his obedience in circumcision that justified him, but it was by faith before he was circumcised, so that Abraham would be the father of all who believe whether or not they have the outward sign of the covenant.

Now in verses 13-15 (which we looked at last week), we learned that God promised Abraham a seed [an offspring]. We also looked at Genesis 3:15, and saw that He spoke of the "seed of the woman," which is Christ. Abraham and his spiritual offspring (all who believe like he did), are heirs of the world through Christ, who is the promised Seed. What world are they heirs of? This one, or another world promised to come? Since this world will be destroyed (2 Peter 3:10), then they are heirs of a new heavens and a new earth (2 Peter 3:13). Paul's case is that salvation comes by a promise and not by Law, "For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression." Now we move on to verse 16, which shows that this is why it depends on faith through grace...

Study Notes:

Verse 16
That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring - not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
What depends on faith? The answer is in verse 13-14, the promise of receiving an eternal inheritance depends on faith not law. Those who are just [righteous] are the heirs, and they get that way by faith [trusting] in God through Jesus. What does the promise rest on? The promise rests on grace - grace is the free, undeserved favor and gift of God. Why does it rest on grace? So that it would be "guaranteed to all his offspring," and not only to believing Jews, but to Gentiles also who share Abraham's faith. So if eternal life depended on law, it would not be guaranteed, but since it rests on grace (the free, unmerited favor of God), then it is guaranteed to all who have faith like Abraham. What a promise!
Paul said Abraham is "the father of us all," because God chose him to be the one through whom the promise of Christ would come. Remember, "Christ" means "Messiah," which means "Anointed." Christ is the one whom God has anointed with His Holy Spirit to be the crusher of Satan's head, and the Ruler of the world to come forever and ever. He is the Prophet, the Priest, and the King. He is God come down to humans, to be their Savior.

Verse 17
as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations" - in the presence of of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
Where is it written? It is written in the book of the LORD... the holy Scriptures... the Bible... in the Old Testament... back in Genesis 17:5. What did God say he made Abraham the father of? Do you know what the name Abraham means? Abraham actually means "father of a multitude." Many of the Middle East people groups can trace their roots back to Abraham. But he is more than a father of racial peoples, he is also the father, in a spiritual sense, of a multitude of those who are saved from "every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages" (Revelation 7:9). This was written in the presence of the God in whom he believed. What kinds of things does it say God does? He gives life to the dead, and He calls things into existence that do not exist. In other words, God does the impossible! Abraham believed God would do as He had promised, even that He would raise the dead and bring about what did not yet exist. If God can make a universe out of nothing, and set it in order so that not one star is out of place, and not one planet is off course, and everything is held together by the command of His word, then is it hard for Him to make the dead come back to life?

Verse 18
In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, "So shall your offspring be."
Abraham was a "hopeless case," nevertheless, in hope he believed against all hope. What was it that he believed? That he would be the father of many nations, just as he had been told, "So shall your offspring be." In other words, Abraham believed the word of God, against all apparent hopelessness. God said it, just as it is written in the Bible, and Abraham believed exactly what God said. Many people think faith is believing that God is going to get them out of a bad situation, or that He will give them what they ask for if they believe hard enough, or that faith is believing a dream or a vision, seeing miracles happen, or getting some outward sign from God and believing on that. But you know what Abraham's faith was like? Abraham believed the Word of God. And that is why he was justified. He trusted God's faithfulness to do exactly as He had promised.

Verse 19
He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb.
Abraham considered his own body to be as good as dead, but he believed in God who gives life to the dead (both spiritual life and physical life). How old was Abraham? Sarah was only about ten years younger than he was. Neither of them could produce children. Abraham's body could not produce seed and Sarah's womb was dead and barren. But did he weaken in faith because of that? Did he doubt God's promise because of those circumstances? No, he did not weaken in faith or waver...

Verses 20-21
No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
Did Abraham doubt God? How did he "grow strong" in his faith? It says his faith was strengthened "as he gave glory to God." And how did he give glory to God? He gave glory to God by being "fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised." Abraham did mess up a lot. He wasn't a perfect man, and he didn't have perfect faith, but he did trust God to be faithful to His promises. That is what we are called to do, to trust the faithfulness of God who promised eternal life to all who come to Jesus for it. God is faithful. He will surely do just as He says, and when we believe that, He is glorified through our trust in Him (as John Piper says, "The giver gets the glory").

Verse 22
That is why his faith was "counted to him as righteousness."
Abraham was not righteous. There were times where he acted like a coward, he lied, he even tried to make God's purposes happen in the flesh by sleeping with his wife's slave girl (it was actually Sarah's idea). I do not doubt at all that Abraham felt horrible remorse for his sins, that he was turned from them by the grace of God, and that he hated them. However, God did not count his sin against him (Rom. 4:8). What was counted to Abraham as righteousness? Why was his faith counted as righteousness? Verse 21 tells us it was because he was "fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised." Are you fully convinced of God's faithfulness to do exactly what the Bible says He will do? Abraham was.

Verses 23-25
But the words "it was counted to him" were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
Was it written for Abraham's sake alone that his faith was counted to him as righteousness? Who else was it written for? How do we know if righteousness will be counted to us also? "It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord..." (we must believe God who raised Christ from the dead, and us with Christ when He raised us from spiritual death, and in the future from physical death and eternal death). What makes it possible for God to count us righteous by faith? It is because Jesus "was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification."

Conclusion:

Since God delivered Jesus over to death on the cross and raised Him from the dead with great power and glory on the third day, then all who trust in Him are forgiven of all sin, and through Him are counted to be righteous forever. Does this free gift come by the works you perform (good deeds, obedience to the law, religious efforts)? Or does it come by faith (trusting in Christ) apart from any works you do? Why? Because Christ performed all the work by living in absolute obedience to the will of His Father on our behalf, and died on our behalf, and was raised back to life on our behalf, so that in Him, we have eternal life. John 5:21-24 says, "For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death unto life." Amazing! Do you hear and understand God's Word? Are you believing Him who sent Jesus into the word? Then this promise is for you... you have eternal life, you will not come into judgment, but you have already passed from death unto life! You have life by the Spirit of God in you, you have the right to eternal life, and you will be raised to new physical life when Christ returns. This is all God's word and God's promise. Do you believe it?

Examine yourselves, whether you are truly believing. If you are, then knowing these things should be causing you to be filled with joy and peace. Chapter five will teach us more about why and how we are saved by Christ, then in chapter 6, we will learn how this grace works in our lives to change us so that we live for God and not for our old life of sin.

The Gospel in Romans, part 10

2008-07-06T15:44:00.021-04:00

Romans 4:9-15

Romans 4:9-15 ESV:

Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

Intro:

First, in order to prove that God only saves people by faith and not by their works, Paul brought up Abraham as an example. What did Abraham find? If he was justified by works, he could have something to glory in or boast about, "but not before God." (v2). The Scripture says he was counted righteous when he believed God (Genesis 15:6). Those who rely on works for justification are under debt, not grace. But those who are counted righteous before God are justified by faith while they are still ungodly. This is grace... it is a free gift. The person who is justified by faith is the most blessed of all! Why? Because their iniquities (their disobedience to the Law) are forgiven, and their sins are covered over. Romans 4:8 says [paraphrased], "Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord won't count." That is the blessing of all blessings! Those who are justified by faith will never be charged guilty with sin!

Study Notes:

(Paul continues using Q & A as a format in this chapter).

Verse 9
Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.
Who gets the blessing, Jews only, or Gentiles also?
It is faith that was counted to Abraham as righteousness. So then, could a person who is not circumcised have faith also?
(There are many people, ministers, churches, so-called Christians, Bible study leaders, who will tell you that being right with God [or justified] is dependent upon YOU and the works YOU do).
Paul says, "When was Abraham justified?"

Verse 10
How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.
Not after, but before he was circumcised, i.e. before he performed the sign of the covenant or did any works.

Verse 11-12
He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
Circumcision was God's command to Abraham and all his people for a sign and a seal that he was already righteous by faith in the one true GOD, YHWH.
So salvation is by faith alone, both for the man who is circumcised and for the man who is not.
Abraham was made the father of all who believe, both Jew [circumcised] and Gentile [uncircumcised], (and for everyone else believing in Christ).

Verse 13
For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
The Bible is clear that God will destroy the earth and everyone in it who has not obeyed Him out of faith and love, when His righteous judgment is revealed. So when the Bible says, "Abraham and his offspring... would be heir of the world..." we should think, "What does that mean? What offspring? Heirs of what world?"

Do you know what God told the serpent after Adam and Eve were decieved by him into disobeying God? Genesis 3:14-15 says, "The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” God said the serpent would have "offspring" or "seed," and the woman would have an "offspring" or "seed." These are two heads, or fathers of peoples. There are two offspring, one of the serpent, and one of the woman. The two offspring, or seeds, are the rulers of two different groups of people (only on of them inherits the world, according to Romans 4:13). What does the word "enmity" mean? They would be enemies [enmity=enemy] of each other. What does the woman's offspring do? And what does the serpent do? Which is worse, a bruised head, or a bruised heel? (Now for the tricky part) has any woman on earth ever produced a seed? Seed in Greek is "sperma." Did Mary commit adultery before she was married? Absolutely not, she was a virgin. Then how was she pregnant? The Holy Spirit caused her to conceive before being married to a man. So Jesus is the "seed" of the woman, and He is the Head of all those who will inherit the earth.

Back in Romans 4:13, when God promised Abraham and his seed [offspring] that he was to be heir of the world, we see a connection with what God had said about the woman and her offspring who would destroy the serpent. Jesus, the seed of the woman, would come through Abraham as his offspring. There is also a connection here with believers, who are Abraham's offspring through faith. Every person who is born of the Spirit (which is a miraculous birth, like the birth of Christ) will be an heir of the world just as God promised Abraham.

Now we can ask, how does that promise come? Does it come to you through your obedience to the law? Not through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. (There is no mistake, you must be righteous to be saved. How did Abraham become righteous? It says, he believed God, and righteousness was counted to him).

Verse 14
For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.
Faith is useless and the promise is empty if one becomes an heir of the world-to-come by law. Why? Well... verse 15 says,

Verse 15
For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
What does the law bring? Wrath! "But where there is no law, there is no transgression."
Faith justifies apart from works of the law. Romans 3:28 says, "For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law."

If you trust God as Abraham did, then God counts you to be righteous and not guilty of breaking any law. Why not? Because Jesus died for those who believe and trust the Word of God. So it is His blood and death on the cross that atones for all your sin if you come to Him. And He rose again to be the Ruler, the King, the Head of all the people of God. You can be an heir of the world, if you believe the Word of God. It comes only through Jesus and no other.

Conclusion:

So, are you believing God's Word? Do you trust God to be faithful, just as Abraham did? Do you believe all the Bible says concerning the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord?
What does the Bible say? The Bible tells us of the wrath of God, which is "revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." (Romans 1:18). The wrath (indignant anger) of God is against all who commit sin. He feels righteous anger everyday, and is ready to kill those who will not repent (Psalm 7:11-13). Here is a short list of some sins that bring God's wrath: cowardliness, pride, self-will, faithlessness, hatred, coveteousness (wanting what doesn't belong to you), disobedience to parents, jealousy, uncontrolled anger, slander, sexual immorality, idolatry, adultery, homosexuality, theft, greed, drunkenness, abusive language, swindling, lying, evil thoughts, gossip, boastfulness, selfishness. This righteous judgment of God against those who do these things is a reality. Do you believe it?
The Bible says "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23). Do you believe that you have sinned? Do you believe that you deserve the righteous anger and judgment of God? (I sure deserve it).

Now, with that said, do you believe God's gracious promises? First, do you know any of His promises? Dear friends, if you don't know the promises of God, then you don't have any hope. God promises to justify the ungodly through faith in Jesus Christ, His Son (Romans 4:5). He promises to pardon every sin you have ever committed through faith in Jesus (1 John 1:7-9). God promised that all who put their hope in Him who raised Jesus from the dead will be counted righteous before Him. That means to have no sin, to be perfect, to be upright and blameless. It is a free gift (Romans 3:24)! He promises to give His Holy Spirit to every believer who comes to Jesus (Ephesians 1:13). God promises believers will never die (John 11:25-27). Though our bodies wear out like old rags, or decompose in the dust, or get eaten by worms, God will raise them again, forever new to be with Him and to see His face (1 Corinthians 15:35-38,56-57; Revelation 22:1-4).

All these promises and more, are to those who come to Jesus Christ alone for satisfaction and life and rest (Matthew 11:28; John 6:35,37). They are not made to anyone else, because it is only through Jesus that they come to us. Do you believe Him? Have you repented and thrown yourself down at the feet of Almighty Jesus? If you do, He will most certainly save you. It is a promise (John 6:37).

Don't put off believing for another time. If you continue in unbelief, you may never have another chance to be turned and saved. Today is the day... Now is the time... Call on Jesus! Ask Him to make it possible. God bless.

The Gospel in Romans, part 9

2008-06-22T16:34:00.010-04:00

I was extremely excited to share this wonderful passage of Scripture to study with my small group in West Philly. May God use this study to reach whomever He wills, however He wills, for His glory and praise. There really is no better news in the world than the news that Jesus Christ came to give! May God bless those of you who read this study.

Romans 4:1-8

Romans 4:1-8 ESV:

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." [Gen. 15:6]. 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

7 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,

and whose sins are covered;

8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin."

Study Notes:

Intorduction:

We are still talking about justification by faith. In Romans 1:17, Paul said that the gospel reveals the righteousness of God from faith to faith, "as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith [Habakkuk 2:4]." Before we could get on this topic about justification, we had to learn what Paul taught in the first three chapters about righteousness and judgment. Remember Romans 1:18, "For the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unright eousness suppress the truth." So God's righteous wrath is revealed from heaven against people who are unrighteous and suppress the truth about Him. That is what unrighteousness is, it is suppressing the truth about God, and turning instead to lies for satisfaction and worship. We are created to worship God, and if we do not worship Him, we worship other things besides Him. Therefore, God's wrath (His righteous anger and judgment) is revealed from heaven against people who turn away from Him as the source of their life and joy and satisfaction to lesser and more unworthy things which will not satisfy us, but cause death in the end.

We also learned that religion does not help anyone avoid this wrath and judgment, but actually makes it worse, because Romans 2:4-5 says to the self-righteous hypocrites, "Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent [unchanging] heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed." And in chapter three, we read about how we are all guilty, the whole world is condemned before God, because every one of us has turned aside and become worthless as far as making ourselves right. God's law shows us what sin is and reveals that we are sinners, and we all are under the righteous judgment and wrath of God. Being guilty before God of sin ultimately leads to an eternity of suffering and torment in hell, unless we are forgiven and made righteous before Him. Now, the way for anyone to be forgiven and stand righteous before God is not by our works (obedience to the law, religious ceremonies, prayers, confession, baptism, making ourselves feel bad, trying to do better, or anything else we do), but rather we are given a righteousness from God through faith in the Person and life, death and resurrection of God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This righteousness is God's righteousness for us, and it is a free gift. Since He died as a propitiation for those who believe, God can forgive those who trust in Him and still be righteous in condemning their sin on the cross.

At the end of chapter three, Paul said this eliminates all boasting in what we have done. Nobody can say, "I did what I was supposed to do, now God is going to accept me and save me." No one can say that, because no one has the right to be forgiven or justified. However, through faith in Christ, we can now be completely (and I mean completely, totally) forgiven and justified because of who He is and what He has done for us if we believe (trust) in Him as our only hope.

Verse 1
What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?

To understand why Paul is writing this verse, we need to remember what he wrote in the previous verses about boasting, and what kind of people he had in mind when he wrote it. Paul wrote to Jews about how they cannot be justified by the law (3:1,9,20). He said that righteousness is actually a free gift of God given to those who trust in Christ (3:24). this eliminates all forms of boasting in what they do (3:27). Now, he mentions Abraham as an example from the Old Testament to back up the things he just taught them. Who was Abraham? Abraham was the first father of the nation of Israel. He was the one God called out of his homeland, and promised that he would be a father of many nations, "And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 12:2-3).

Verse 2

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

Why could Abraham have something to boast about if he was justified by works? Why not before God?

Abraham could boast if he was justified by works, because he would have something good that he had done, so all he would have to do is point to those good things he did, and boast. But not before God, because no one stands justified before God who has not kept every part of the law (Galatians 3:10).

Verse 3

But what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness."

Paul again goes back to the Bible, "What does the Bible say about this?" We would label someone like that "a Bible thumper" or something else, but there is an important reason for that. The Bible contains exactly what God has spoken to all people for all time in every place. When we want to know what God says or thinks, we can go to the Bible and find out exactly. So, what does it say? What does it say Abraham did? What was counted to Abraham as righteousness [being right before God]? By saying this, Paul showed the Jews that God has always justified His people by faith, rather than by works they performed.

Verses 4-5

Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,

If you went to work someplace for $8 an hour, and at the end of the week you get paid for all that you had done, could the person paying you say, "I'm giving this to you as a gift"? No way! Why not? Because you worked for it, you earned it! Nobody earns a gift. Nobody deserves a gift. A gift is something a person gives out of love for the person they give to, not because of anything the person has done to get it, but to show them how much the giver loves. In the case with God, God is not glorified if you deserve forgiveness and justification, and heaven and eternal life. No, rather, God is glorified when He gives those things freely to people who don't deserve them. (That is the whole reason why chapter three made it so clear we are all no good sinners, who are worthless and unrighteous and deserving of damnation from God. It is to show how great His grace and love is to freely give us forgiveness and righteousness through Jesus Christ).

In what way does verse 5 describe God? How does it describe the person who believes in Him?

Verse 6

just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

Here again is another example of an Old Testament person trusting in God to be justified. Who was David? What part of the Bible did David write? Who does Paul say David was writing about in these next veses?

Verses 7-8

"Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,

and whose sins are covered;

blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin."

Have you heard of people talking a lot about blessings? What kinds of blessings do they refer to most? Well, this blessing is the greatest blessing in the world! How are the people in these verses blessed? What are "lawless deeds"? What does it mean to have your "sins covered"? What does it mean for the Lord to count your sin? Notice about that those who are trusting, resting, relying on, satisfied with, Jesus Christ as their only hope and treasure and Lord and Savior, that the Lord will not count their sin against them.

Conclusion:

If you have understood what I've been teaching you, you should then be able to see how this is "good news only for bad people." Have you realized that you are totally guilty of breaking God's righteous and holy Laws, rejecting His rules and following after your own will, and that this makes you totally worthy of eternal damnation in hell from God? If you can humbly, and honestly acknowledge such things about yourself, then Jesus Christ is the best news in the world to you! Why? Because for those who do not work, but rely on Him, Jesus Christ becomes our righteuosness before God, and He will never, ever count your sin against you. Why not? Because He already counted it against His perfectly righteous and holy Son, when He was crucified for hell-deserving sinners. God raised Him from the dead, so there is hope for the unrighteous. There is hope, because there is a real, living Savior who really saves all who come to God through Him. Praise God!

The Gospel in Romans, part 8

2008-06-08T15:31:00.007-04:00

This is the long anticipated study on the rest of the third chapter of Romans. Enjoy the Good News!

Romans 3:19-31

Text
Romans 3:19-31 ESV:

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart form the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it - the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart form works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one - who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

Study Notes:

Verses 19-20
Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since thorugh the law comes knowledge of sin.
These verses conclude everything that has been said from Romans 1:18-3:18. Which is that since the law proves everyone to be under sin, the law can never, ever, make anyone righteous or good before God. It says, "For by the works of the law no human being will be justified in [God's] sight." Do you remember what it means to be justified? From verses 19-20, what did we learn about the purpose of the law?
In those two verses, Paul effectively set aside the law as our hope for righteousness and shows us in the next verses where true salvation, justification and righteousness really can be found for guilty sinners. Hebrews 10:9 says that the law must be done away with in order to establish the second (or new covenant). That is what is going on here. The law cannot save anyone, therefore the new covenant is the only way to be justified before God (Hebrews 9:13-15; 2 Corinthians 3:4-11).

Verses 21-22
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it - the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:...
What does it mean when we say something has been manifested? In verse 20, what has been manifested? What does it mean to bear witness to something? Who bears witness? What has the righteousness of God been manifested through, and for whom is it manifested? Why?
Well, the verses tell us that God's righteousness has been manifested apart from the law. It is the Scriptures (the Law and the Prophets) that bear witness to it. God's righteousness does not come through the law, by works or by doing good. (But the law points to it and talks about it). Rather, God's righteousness is through faith in Jesus Christ, and it is for all who believe, because their is no distinction [no difference, everyone is the same in this regard]. So nobody can be saved by the law, or by being a good person (because there is none good - Rom. 3:12), but there is another way. That way is by the righteousness of God apart from works through faith in Jesus. It is the only way (John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.").

Verse 23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,...
Here is the proof that nobody stands right with God by the law, since all have sinned and do not glorify God. How do we fall short of the glory of God? Do you remember what Romans 1:18-32 was teaching us about that? Let's look at Romans 1:21-25 again:

"For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in thier thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God [YHWH - I AM] for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts ot impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen."

From those verses, what did we learn about how people fall short of the glory of God? How did they sin?

Verse 24
and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,...
Who are justified by God's grace as a gift? Verse 23 said "all have sinned," so those who are justified are sinners, but that's not all, they are also believers (v22). How are they justified? It says, "through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." What does the word redemption mean? Those who are justified by God's grace as a gift, are justified by the salvation and deliverance that is in Christ Jesus. They have been bought back, recovered and freed from their previous condition.

Verses 25-26
whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Here's how the redemption in Christ was provided. God put forward the Lord Jesus as a propitiation by his blood. Do you remember what the word propitiation means? Propitiation comes from the idea of the Mercy Seat in the Old Testament. The blood was to be sprinkled on the Mercy Seat where God would meet with the Priest when he made atonement for the sins of the people. Propitiation is a wrath appeasing sacrifice. It is a sacrifice that satisfies God's righteous wrath and also pleases Him on behalf of those for whom the sacrifice is made. It pleases God. How is this sacrifice to be received? It is not received by works, or by praying certain types of prayers, or by participating in certain ceremonies (like baptism or the mass). It is not received by all the religious inventions of man. How then is it received? The answer is, "by faith." By simple, childlike trust in God, that Jesus is the propitiation for my sins. Jesus is my Lamb, that makes atonement for my wicked, evil, vile, rebellious and hateful sinfuness. Jesus satisfied the wrath of God for me by taking it upon Himself. Believing, trusting, being satisfied with Jesus as your redeemer, is how it is received.
What does this show about God? It shows God's righteousness. Why does God's righteousness have to be shown? Because He passed over former sins and did not punish them justly. How can God be just and also justify someone who is trusting in Jesus? The only way for God to be just and also the justifier of the one who is trusting in Jesus, is by putting Jesus forward as a propitiation by his blood (so that God's justice is satisfied by the bloodshed and death of Jesus).

Verses 27-31
Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one - who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
Here Paul does the question and answer thing again. What are the questions? What are the answers? 1. What of boasting? Ans: Excluded. 2. By what law? Works? Ans: Not by works, but by faith. 3. Is God the Jew's God only? Is He also God of Gentiles? Ans: He is God of both Jews and Gentiles. Yes, even Gentiles! God is one and He justifies Jews and Gentiles one way only - through faith. 3. Do we get rid of the law then by this faith? Ans: No way! Rather, we uphold (establish, set up) the law (put the law in its rightful place. Not as something that justifies, but as something that locks us under the condemnation of sin, so that we may be justified by faith in Jesus Christ instead of by law - Gal. 3:21-26). This is not a license to keep living a sinful lifestyle, but freedom from both the curse of the law and bondage to sin, so that we may live to please God.

Conclusion:
Romans chapter three contains such a powerful and clear message on the good news of the gospel. It really is "the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes." (Rom. 1:16). What about justification by faith have you had a hard time grasping? Does the word propitiation have an especially dear and precious ring to you now when you hear it? If not, check your heart to see if you understand how far you have gone away from God into sin, and then look more closely on what Jesus did to save you by His death if you are resting in Him as your righteousness from God. What does it mean to have faith in the blood of Jesus? Do the words resting, trusting, relying, being satisfied with, treasuring, looking to Jesus help you define what it means to believe in Christ as your propitiation?

Do you pray for the saints?

2008-05-31T08:06:00.009-04:00

In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak. (Ephesians 6:16-20 ESV).

I was praying for my dearly beloved Singapore brother, who by the grace of God leads an evangelistic team somewhere in Singapore. And I was thinking of how I do not pray often enough for them and also for all the saints. There are believers I know personally, who I pray for. But I also sometimes pray in general for all the saints around the world who are undergoing trials, temptations, difficulties, persecutions, and the list could go on. If you have come to the end of yourself, and have cast yourself completely on the Rock of Christ Jesus, and feel the need of the hour, then would you join me in praying for all the saints, especially those who like Paul, need words and boldness to proclaim the eternal gospel of God's grace?

Grace be with you.

Have you believed?

2008-05-30T22:18:00.018-04:00

FIRST we looked at how Jesus said we must repent. Second, Jesus said you must believe. "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:14-15 ESV). Actually, repentance and faith go together. You cannot believe unto salvation if you have not repented, and you cannot repent without faith. Both of these acts are a result of the work of God's gracious Holy Spirit in the heart. After Jesus performed many miracles, preached sermon after sermon, warned, rebuked, invited people to believe, the Scripture then said, "Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him... Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them." (See John 12:36-43). Why did they not believe? It says, because "they could not believe."

Photo: courtesy of Maria Tomassetti

John the Baptist said, "A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven." (John 3:27). Jesus said, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him." (John 6:44). Paul said, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God..." (Ephesians 2:8). James said, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights..." (James 1:17). Peter said, "To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ..." and "...you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God." (1 Peter 1:1; 1 Peter 1:21). John said, "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God..." (1 John 5:1). Jude said, "...contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." (Jude 3).

It is clear from the Bible that faith is a gift from God. But the question is, have you received faith? Have you believed?

You may ask, "Believed what?" Have you believed in the good news of the gospel? Have you believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who came into the world? (John 11:27). That He is God manifested in the flesh? (John 1:1,14). That He is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world? (John 1:29). That He is the light of the world, so that whoever follows Him will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life? (John 8:12). That Jesus is the only way to God the Father? (John 14:6). That He came from the Father and has gone back to Him? (John 16:28,30,31; 17:8). Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal I AM, the Living One, Jehovah, YHWH, Adonai, the Lord GOD, the First and the Last? (John 8:58; Revelation 1:17-18; 21:6; 22:13). Do you believe that He is the propitiation for your all your sins? (1 John 1:7; 2:2). Do you believe He rose from the dead? (Romans 4:25; 1 Corinthians 15:4).

How do you know that you truly believe? Jesus said to those who believed in Him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32). He also said, "Abide in me, and I in you." (John 15:4). Paul said that in Christ Jesus, faith works through love. (Galatians 5:6). Hebrews chapter eleven says faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen. (Hebrews 11:1). Chapter twelve says that faith is looking to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2). James said that faith without works is dead, useless and cannot save you. (James 2:14,17,26). Peter said that you are being guarded by faith for salvation and rejoice in it. (1 Peter 1:5-6). Peter also said that genuine faith is tested by various trials. (1 Peter 1:6-7). Peter again describes faith as waiting according to God's promise for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:13). John describes the results of faith as walking in the light; having fellowship with God and Christians; confessing sins; keeping His commandments; walking as Jesus walked; loving other believers; doing the will of God and not loving the world; abiding in Christ and His teaching; doing righteousness; quitting sinful practices; giving to needy Christians; listening to His apostles; not fearing judgment; believing God's testimony about His Son; receiving answered prayers; keeping away from idols. (1 John).

My dearly loved friends, are these marks of faith showing in you? Have you truly believed in Jesus? Have you repented from trusting your own works, your own goodness, your own righteousness, your own faith, your own efforts, your own prayers, decisions, knowledge, self? Have you been "looking to Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith"? (Hebrews 12:2). Do you trust Him who never sinned, who obeyed every commandment, resisted every temptation, believed every word of God, carried every sorrow, was stricken for every transgression, crucified for all your sin, died for your pardon, was buried for you, rose from the dead for your justification, lives so you can have life, removed the wrath of God, went back to the Father, will come again to save, to judge and to rule as King of kings and Lord of lords? Do you believe Him, trust Him, rely on Him, rest in Him? Is He your righteousness? Is He your God, your all in all?

Looking to Jesus,
Penn

Have you repented?

2008-05-26T14:33:00.010-04:00

First of all, Jesus taught that repentance and faith are both necessary to be saved. "Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:14-15 ESV). "No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." (See Luke 13:1-5). He also commanded that this should be preached to all nations (not only Jews), "Thus it is written, that Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations,..." (Luke 24:46-47).

If you believe you are a Christian, but have not truly repented, then Scripture testifies that you are still lost (not saved, unforgiven). "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart [repent] from iniquity." (2 Timothy 2:19). "And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." (Galatians 5:24).

The Bible is clear that repentance is more than important, it is necessary. The question I am asking every reader of this post is, "Have you repented?" How do you know if you have?

Here are some test questions:
1) Do you have a deep desire to be finished with sin, because it is the plague and sorrow of your heart?
2) Do you have a passion to abstain from sinful lusts and desires, which war against the soul?
3) Do you have a desire to fight the good fight of faith, even to the death?
4) Do you have a deep desire to never turn back to self-will and self-pleasing ways, but to declare the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light?
5) Do you have a sincere passion to follow the Lord in a path of holiness all the days of your life?
6) Do you have a deep desire to please Him in all of your ways?
7) Do you desire to judge yourself before God every day and live at His feet with a broken heart and a contrite spirit?*

These questions represent only a few of the fruits of Biblical repentance. The important thing is to examine yourself in light of the Scriptures (2 Cor. 13:5), ask God to show you if you have come to Him on His terms, and seek to be found in Christ alone as your righteousness and all in all (Phil. 3:9). If you fail at this point (repentance), then you fail at every other point of salvation and it is good for you to be warned.

*(Questions adapted from Biblical Repentance by L. R. Shelton Jr., pg. 31, printed by Chapel Library)

The Gospel in Romans part 7

2008-05-26T14:16:00.004-04:00

Romans 3:9-20

Scripture Text:

Romans 3:9-20 ESV:
What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written:

"None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they
have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one."
"Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive."
"The venom of asps is under their lips."
"Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."
"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known."
"There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Study Notes:

Verses 9
What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,
Well, what do you think Paul has been saying all along? Are Jews any better off than Gentiles? If not, then why not? The reason given for why Jews are not better off than Gentiles, was that both are under sin (v9). The Jews thought that because they had the outward sign of circumcision and the covenant, the Law (the O.T. Bible), that they were better than all the other people of the nations. They thought the Gentiles were the trash of the world fit only for hell, but they themselves were the elect and destined for heaven because they were Jews and had the Law. Paul tells them, "No way; think again. Both Jews and Gentiles are under sin (both are sinners)." That would cause a gasp of terror for any self-righteous Jew to be called a "sinner." Yet that is what Paul said. They are sinners just like the Gentiles. "Under sin," that is, under the power and control of its evil influence; under the guilt of sin; and worst of all, under the condemnation and wrath of God against sin.

Verse 10
"None is righteous, no, not one;
How many are righteous? What does it mean to be righteous? To be righteous is to be morally good; doing right; you cannot be accused of sin or guilt, because you do whatever the Law commands. It says no one is like that. Ecclesiastes 7:20 says, "Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins."

Verse 11-12
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they
have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one."
(This is why no one is righteous).
What do you think they don't understand? What are they supposed to understand?
What about seeking God, why does it say no one seeks for Him? How should someone seek for God?
What does it mean to "turn aside"?
How have they become "worthless"?
What does it mean to "do good"? Why do you think it says no one does good, when we could look around and say, "I think people do good all the time, just look at the hospitals and charities and releif workers... Of course people do good!"?

No one understands. Romans chapter 1 said that there are certain things people are supposed to understand about God (1:19 ). They should understand, but they don't. The reason is because sin corrupts the mind (Titus 1:15). Their understanding has been darkened because of sin (Eph. 4:17-19).
No one seeks for God. It also says that "no one seeks for God." To seek God has to do with humbling yourself to His authority and seeking Him on His own terms (2 Chron. 7:14). No one does that. We all would rather seek God on our own terms (if we seek Him at all). Our hearts have become so self-serving, that we even approach God in whatever way we feel is best, rather than in humble repentance, forsaking our sin and hypocrisy, hating ourselves and turning to God in whole-hearted obedience to whatever He commands. Our proud and self-sufficient natural hearts cannot submit to such humbling terms. That is why it says, "no one seeks for God." Jesus said He came to "seek and save the lost." God seeks sinners.

All have turned aside. Instead of staying on the right path and going toward God, everyone has turned aside and gone their own way. No one walks the right way. (See Isaiah 53:6).
Together they have become worthless. Isaiah 64:6 says, "We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment." A polluted garment is good for nothing, "worthless." Together everyone has become worthless as far as doing anything good or upright or righteous before God. Even the "good" things we do are sin - they are not good at all, because Romans 14:23 says, "whatever does not come from faith is sin." And Hebrews 11:6 says, "without faith it is impossible to please [God],..."

No one does good, not even one. Plain and simple. Man testifies about himself/herself that they are good and do as much good as they can. God testifies about man saying, "Not even one of them does good."

Verses 13-18
"Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive."
"The venom of asps is under their lips."
"Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."
"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known."
"There is no fear of God before their eyes."
These verses describe 1) their speech, 2) their deeds, and 3) what they lack. 1) They speak deceitful, deadly, poisonous words with curses and bitterness. 2) They are quick to kill, and to cause harm and misery. 3) They don't know how to have peace, and they don't fear [honor, respect, tremble before] God. They may "outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness" (Matthew 23:27). Jesus said that about the scribes and Pharisees who were very outwardly religious; he said, "So you outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." (v28). So we see that even the people who appear to be good are not.

This leads us to the conclusion of why no one can be saved by keeping the law, or by being a good person (which is the point of all that has been said so far).

Verses 19-20
Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
1. Why was the law given?
2. What does the law do (what is the purpose of the law)?
First, the law was given "so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God." Since God's standard of righteousness is perfect, and His justice is right and fair, then do you think anyone standing before Him according to the law could object to His judgment? Or could anyone say they didn't know, when God has made it known to them (Romans 1:19,21)?
Second, the reason for the law is not to justify anyone, but to give the knowledge of sin. Anyone who hopes to be justified because of the good things they have done, or because they have obeyed part of the law will be condemned, since the law can only expose how far short they have fallen. And when they stand before God, it will be clear as day that they have never once obeyed the law from the heart out of sincerity, since the law demands absolute and perfect obedience with love and joy (Deuteronomy 5:29,32-33; 6:5; 28:45,47,58; Galatians 3:10).

Conclusion:
Knowing the Law makes it easy to look at other people as void of all righteousness, but it is much more difficult to receive the "knowledge of sin" and view ourselves as totally depraved of all goodness. How hard is it to honestly acknowledge that the best deeds you have ever done are sin, and that they only amount to "a polluted garment," nothing more than filthy rags (see Isaiah 64:6)? What do you think it takes to bring us to the point where we can acknowledge and agree with God that we are not good people? The gospel is only good news to those who have no righteousness of their own and no goodness in themselves. The reason is that Jesus came into the world not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32). Are you a guilty, hell-deserving, unrighteous, no-good, worthless, straying, lost and condemned sinner? If you consider yourself to be such, then the rest of Romans three contains GOOD NEWS for you! There is pardon, there is forgiveness, there is righteousness for those who believe in God's Son, Jesus Christ. Will you repent (turn) from trusting in yourself and all that you do, and trust in the only Savior of sinners? Jesus says to those who are weary of their own ragged righteousness, "Come unto me..." (Matt. 11:28; 1 Tim. 1:15).

Genesis is not boring... not even the geneologies!

2008-05-20T20:40:00.006-04:00

Last night, I read Genesis 1-12 straight through. I was exhausted from lack of sleep, my eyes were red and sore from the attacking plant material (allergies), and my mind was captivated with the amazing drama of creation, Adam and Eve, the fall, God's curse on the serpent and His promise about the Seed of the woman, their exodus from the paradise garden, the children born to them, Abel's righteous sacrifices and Cain's envy and murder, Seth's name and Eve's hope, the corruption of the world, the polygamy-adultery of the mighty men of renown, God's grace toward Noah, the judgment of the flood, the rescue of the animals on the ark, the hope for the promised Seed (Noah was thought to be the One, but turned out only to be a shadow), the covenant of the rainbow, the hope of a new creation without sin, the disappointment of Noah's youngest son, the dispersion of the nations, the meanings of their names, the tower of babel, still looking for the promised Seed (not Seth, not Enoch, not Methuselah, not Noah, not Shem, not Peleg, not Reu, not Serug or Nahor nor Terah), God called Abram and promised to bless the world through him (could Abram be the One?)... to find out what happens next, you'll have to read it for yourself. It's worth it!

"Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 12:1-3 ESV).

"Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad... Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." (John 8:56,58 ESV).

Faith

2008-05-13T21:00:00.013-04:00

"By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward." (Hebrews 11:24-26 ESV).

Faith is a strange and alien thing to a blind and fallen world. Faith sees Christ as worth the cost of separation, mistreatment, reproach, and loss of worldly wealth here and now, for something far more rewarding in the future. To the eye of faith, Christ is worth it. No faith is like no sight - it sees no worth in Christ as the only true and lasting treasure.

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith..." (Philippians 3:7-9 ESV).

Oh Lord, grant me such faith, and let all those who hope in you rejoice! Amen.

The Gospel in Romans part 6

2008-05-10T11:11:00.009-04:00

Photo: by Maria Tomassetti

Scripture Text:
Romans 2:28-29; 3:1-20

For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written,

"That you may be justified in your words,
and prevail when you are judged." [Psalm 51:4]

But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) By no means! For then how could God judge the world? But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come? - as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.

What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written:

"None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they
have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one."

Study Notes:
Vv. 2:28-29
For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God. This teaches us that a true Jew is someone who has had an inward change, not just an outward one. Our problem is that we have a bad heart. What does a person who has a bad heart need? You could say they need a heart transplant (they need a new heart). This new heart comes by the work of God's Spirit. This passage is speaking directly about Jewish people, who believed they were God's people, and saved simply because they had the outward sign of religion. We saw last week that they were inwardly hypocrites and were causing God's holy name to be profaned and blasphemed because of their hypocrisy. We also saw how Jesus spoke harshly against that in Matthew 23. Now, Paul tells them that a true Jew is one inwardly, with a circumcised heart (a clean heart), by the work of God's Spirit, so that their approval comes from God and not from other people.
Read: Ezekiel 36:16-32
For who's sake did God say He would help the Jews? What were the things God said he would do for them? What do you think it means to have "a new heart"? Ezekiel 36:27 says, "And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules [just decrees]." Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:3, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again [or born from above] he cannot see the kingdom of God." Then he spoke to Nicodemus about being born of the Spirit. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 it says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." To be born of the Spirit and to have a new heart, means to become a new creation in Christ. It is a nature issue. Our nature is so depraved, sinful and corrupt, that we need to be made completely new in order to be saved and become children of God.

Vv. 3:1-8
Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written,

"That you may be justified in your words,
and prevail when you are judged." [Psalm 51:4]

But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) By no means! For then how could God judge the world? But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come? - as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.
Here, Paul began using questions and answers to get us to understand the justice of God. Do you remember back when we were talking about God's righteous and just judgments on those who are unrighteous and ungodly? Then chapter two concluded that those who are Jews and know the Law, are guilty of hypocrisy and will also be judged. So now, someone might ask, "Well Paul, what good is it to be a Jew then? What good is there in circumcision and keeping the Law? What was Paul's answer? There is much good in being a Jew in every way. Especially because they are the ones who God entrusted His words to. Acts 7:38 says they were "living oracles." Hebrews 4:12 says that "the word of God is living and active." The Jews were the people God chose to give these living words to, so they were extremely blessed that way. No other nation was given that privilege Psalm 147:19-20.
What is the next question asked? Does the faithlessness of some people nullify the faithfulness of God? Paul's answer is, "No way! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written..." (Now you know where I get the title of my blog from) Now it gets interesting. V5 says that our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God. (That is the reason there is evil in the world. Evil displays God's righteousness in judging and condemning it by His power and wrath, as well as the riches of His mercy to those He redeems - Romans 9:19-24).
So Paul asks, "Is God unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.)"? What is the answer? "No way! Because how could God judge the world [in righteousness - Psalm 98:9 ] if He is unrighteous?" But there are people who might ask this question, and they speak in a human way, because they do not understand God's righteousness. The next two questions Paul said some people were slanderously charging him with saying. What are the questions about? What does Paul say about those who accuse him with saying such things, or for those who would affirm what they say?

How Grace Operates in Salvation - MacArthur

2008-05-09T21:36:00.008-04:00

God's grace is a spiritual dynamic that works in the lives of the redeemed, "instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age" (Titus 2:12). True grace is more than just a giant freebie, opening the door to heaven in the sweet by and by, but leaving us to wallow in sin in the bitter here and now. Grace is God presently at work in our lives. By grace "we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10). By grace He "gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds" (Titus 2:14).

That ongoing work of grace in the Christian's life is as much a certainty as justification, glorification, or any other aspect of God's redeeming work. "I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:6). Salvation is wholly God's work, and He finishes what He starts. His grace is sufficient. And potent. It cannot be defective in any regard. "Grace" that does not affect one's behavior is not the grace of God.

- John MacArthur, The Gospel According to the Apostles: The Role of Works in the Life of Faith, 1993 and 2000, pg. 17

What does "Lordship" have to do with the Bible?

2008-05-07T19:23:00.009-04:00

"Jesus is far more than just an authority figure; He's also our highest treasure and most precious companion. We obey Him out of sheer delight."

Lately, I have been reading about what it means to repent and submit to Jesus Christ as Lord. There are people who may not understand this, or who may disagree for various reasons, so I found John MacArthur's books and articles helpful. If you would like to see a good, clarifying article that comes from a Bible blooded man, then John MacArthur has a "clarifying" one here:
Clarifying the Lordship debate (part 1) by John MacArthur

The Gospel in Romans part 5

2008-04-20T14:18:00.005-04:00

Have you ever been judged by somebody before? Do you judge people yourself? Is all judging wrong? Did you grow up in a religious culture? Do you consider yourself to be a worshiper of the true God? Do you know His Law and His righteous decrees? If so, then examine yourself with the most heart-revealing chapter dealing with religious folk on the issue of hypocrisy. Romans chapter 2 begins with the words, "Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things."

Click here for last weeks study in Romans:
Romans 2:1-11

'Natural High' by Herman Lee, Sr.

2008-04-19T09:28:00.004-04:00

I don't need drugs, I'm on a natural high.
When you believe in God, He'll have you touching the sky.
The devil himself can't stand in your way.
Stay close to God and he'll have no room to play.
I believe that God watches over me.
A wise man knows what the blind can't see.
I read God's Word to ease my mind.
And when trouble comes my way, He's always on time.
God's Word the Bible is in plain view.
God wrote it down, and it's all coming true.

Visualize this, the countdown is here.
If your living without Jesus, it's time to show fear.
The fire that's coming is an everlasting one.
And on the same day, you'll be judged by God's Son.
Listen, don't panic, there's still hope for you.
When you repent of your sins, all things become new.
The world believes only in what they see.
I never saw Jesus, and yet He set me free.

© Poem by Herman Lee, Sr. Feb. 9, 1992

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain." (2 Corinthians 5:17-6:1 ESV).

Some notes on Luke 1:1-4 and Eyewitnesses

2008-04-17T21:59:00.003-04:00

Here are some notes I wrote out while meditating on the first four verses in the gospel of Luke. Luke carefully investigated the events concerning all that happened to Christ by examining eyewitnesses and documenting an orderly account for his friend, "most excellent Theophilus." Theophilus means "Friend of God", so if God is your friend, then Luke's document is also for you, "so that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught."
This is also the study notes for our Friday night Bible study (The Well, see sidebar).

Click here for the notes.
Some notes on Luke 1:1-4

Judgment Day by Herman Lee, Sr.

2008-04-12T12:09:00.005-04:00

The day of God's judgment will soon come.
Who can stand against it? No, not one.
On that day you'll face God's only Son.
With nothing to say, and no place to run.
And yet he gave you plenty of time.
You used it up with lustful living and crime.
So listen all sinners, look around.
And know in your heart it's the final countdown.
Think of what happened in Noah's day.
They believed when the flood came and took them away.
Christ can save you, you don't have to be a slave.
Satan will lead you to an early grave.
I thank God every day for turning me around.
Now I'm pointing the way so that He may be found.
God's wisdom tells you what a loser you are.
Stop, or end up in hell with a fallen star.
Satan is open for business, what a busy beast.
Give your heart to Jesus and know true relief.
In a sinner's heart there's an empty space.
That's why Jesus took the sinner's place.
People are calling on Jesus like never before.
The warning is clear, He will soon close the door.

© Poem by Herman Lee, Sr., Feb. 25, 2008

"The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." (Acts 17:30-31 ESV).

John A. Tomassetti

2008-04-07T06:08:00.010-04:00

Here is a drawing of my late grandfather, John A. Tomassetti.

His funeral was Friday April 4, 2008 in Wooster, Ohio.
This drawing was done in Tokyo, Nov. 3, 1946.
That was over a year after my dad, Dominic John Anthony (little Junie), was born to John and Elizabeth Tomassetti on April 11, 1945.
My grandfather (pictured here) was born April 6, 1924, in Wooster, Ohio. His parents were Dominic and Elvira (Iannarelli) Tomassetti.

I say all this simply as a memorial to my late grandfather. I want to honor him here today.

My brother, Lee, read Ephesians 2:4-10 at the funeral, please read it again and trust in Jesus Christ alone as your ticket to heaven:
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

The incredible creatures designed by God

2008-04-05T12:54:00.006-04:00

Watch this video about how incredibly designed these animals are... creatures designed and created by God.
Incredible Creatures that Defy Evolution II

Growing in Grace

2008-03-24T22:02:00.004-04:00

2 Peter 3:18 ESV:
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.