Gift of God

Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” This. The beauty of the Gospel. As the beauty of the poem is brought out by the words and their scheme, so much more does the Grace of which was given show the beauty of our God.

How much more is beauty displayed when one reads of the Great Mystery? For Proverbs 17:15 says, “He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.” And yet, Romans 4:5 proclaims, “And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.”

How God can feel the weight of being an abomination to His own Being and still justify the wicked is the Great Mystery. I say this to make known that the ways of God are higher than the understanding of mere man. Hebrews 10:14 says, “For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” This contrasts the offerings that were being given up in the place of the sin of those in the Old Testament. For what is found but comfort and joy that Jesus’ mission was completed and He has sat down, in proclamation of His finished work, at the right hand of God (Hebrews 10:12)?

Far be it from us to think that we have a hand in this. Romans 5:9- says “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” In one accord, we can all proclaim that we are indeed saved by the blood of Christ.

It is not that we have been helped by the blood, but indeed saved. We shouldn’t be, in the plain sense, “Glad it happened.” But do we truly understand that because of the curse of Adam, we would have been condemned to Hell, without even taking our first breath? Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

However, listen to the beautiful love story…

“But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in Justification. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:15-17

How then shall we live? Ephesians 2:8-10 says this…

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as 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 so that we would walk in them.”

So you see, it’s not by works that we have been saved, but for the Glory of God, and the hope that we can praise Him with out works that He works in us – Forsake All

Love Leading to Repentance

1^st Peter 2:24 says, “And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”

Yesterday in our Easter service, the Pastor started off his message with a story. The year was 1863 on the very first day of that year. Abraham Lincoln was sitting in his office with his secretaries standing behind him. At that moment, he signed the emancipation proclamation, which freed fifty thousand slaves at first.

However, it was actually signed to set free 3.1 million free. It took until the 13^th Amendment, which was brought in by 1865, for the rest of the slaves to realize that they were indeed free. These men were proclaimed free, but lived as slaves for two or three years.

How similar is that to us? Have we not been set free from sin, where we now are no longer are controlled by this master? However, Paul says in Romans 6:19-20, “I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.”

So, we have been set free in regards to sin, but even more so, we have been recaptured. Be careful to think that you now have no Master and are but a freeman wandering. Your Master is God, Creator of the entire world. Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

Some think that Christianity is just a free religion, in so much that it’s just a relationship, and do not be misunderstood, it is a relationship with God that we now have upon accepting the grace given by His Son, but understand that we are to bind ourselves with Christ. We shall now become slaves to Christ, as the Apostle Paul addresses himself in his letters. Christianity should be one of the most demanding religions above all others in the entire world. Why?

Why do Mormons obey the laws they are given? Simply because they are told. Why do Muslims strap themselves to bombs and go into public places? Because they are told to in order to receive rewards in their idea of heaven. Why should Christians obey the law given to them? Because the person giving us these laws spent His life on earth to save us from everlasting damnation. Are we not the only religion powered to obey by the love that has been expressed to us? What other religion has said that their God has came to earth to live a perfect life, has died to save His people, and then rose again to say that all He has said was true? We are that people, and let us strive forward with confidence to obey what God has laid before us.

Romans 2:4 says, “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?”

It is because of the relationship with Christ that should drive us to obey Him in all situations. 

– Forsake All

All Things New

Romans 6:3-4 says, "Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life."

Let that be enough...

Seated

Hebrews 10:11-13 says, “Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, 13 waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET. 14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”

Our Pastor talked about this verse, in our Good Friday service… There are not words to completely express everything running through mine, for it has been, in the common language, “blown.”

The priest of the Old Testament would spend all day offering sacrifices for the people coming to the Temple, and they wouldn’t have time to sit down. The first part of this verse says that the priest spend all day doing their jobs, which in themselves, do not take away sin. This brings up the questions, “What does sacrifice accomplish?” It points to Christ, and what He was doing. When one offered sacrifice, they were having faith that the One would come and save them of their sin.

Jesus Sat down when He was done, to say that the work of the Preist was no longer needed. God has completely finished the job.

Jesus is this One that they have been waiting for, and with the sacrifice of Himself, the sins for all time of His people were washed away. Do you remember the veil? When Jesus died on the cross, at that instant, the Temple curtain was torn in two. Tonight, we learned that this curtain was about 60ft tall and also 30ft wide, and the width of the curtain was the same as the width of a hand.

This curtain, separating the Holies of Holies from the common man, was split. Our Pastor also gave us the picture of when a Dad had lost a son, he would rip his clothes in mourning…

Has not the curse been broken?

Has not the veil been torn?

Has not the Son of God been crushed?

Has not the relationship of God and man been restored?

Has not the Lord said “It is Finished”?

Has not man been drawn?

I submit to you, all of these. - Forsake All

God Talk

Isaiah 6:3 says, “And one called out to another and said, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.’” In the last post, we talked about who God is. Now, lets talk about how we should talk about God. In this section of Isaiah, he is brought into the throne room of God, and he hears the creatures calling to each other “Holy Holy Holy.”

I’m sure most of you know that this was a Hebrew was of forming a superlative. Instead of saying the Holiest, they repeat it three times, one for being Holy, the second for Holier, and the third for the Holiest. This means that He is completely set apart, but I ask you, who is He Holier than? Is there someone that is also set apart, but not as much as God?

The fact is that no one is even worthy of being compared to God, because He is so Holy, and so set apart. Think of how many times you’ve heard a comparison of God, and now understand that the illustration was insufficient. For God can’t be properly compared to anything without justice not being done.

This may not make a whole lot of sense, but think of it this way. Say you have a scale and at the bottom, or mid bottom, you have car. It’s completely trashed and not even currently working, but because of what it used to be, or could be, it is still considered a car. Then, above it on the scale as a brand new 2012 Camaro, the one that looks just like Bumblebee from Transformers. Everyone knows that this car is amazing and looks super awesome. However, the problem is that if one wanted to take the time and the money, one could fix up the old trashed car to be just as good as the Camaro. This is the problem with comparing things we know with God.

No matter how much we can fix something up, it will never be equal, close, or even comparable to God. It’s almost, but again not quite, like saying that little model car is as good as the Camaro. It’s not even in the same class, for one works and the other is a model. But again, even in this comparison, we can’t fully comprehend the distance between God and man.

The truth is that trying to explain or even comprehend God will never be adequately accomplished, for the only way we should rightfully talk about Him is what He has explained Himself to be. This meaning that when we think of God, we should describe Him as Holy Holy Holy. This is just one example but looking through the Bible, we can see who God says He is, “I Am who I Am.” What an amazing way to explain the incomparability of God. When Moses asks God how he explain whom this person speaking from the burning bush is, God replies with the only answer that is worthy.

This may all seem confusing, and if it does, then trust me, it confuses all of us. However, please don’t let this hinder you from finding out who God is. God has shown Himself in the Bible several times. Also, there are many people who I would recommend (A.W. Tozer; John Piper; Paul Washer; Jerry Bridges) who can help you understand further of who God is.

Chase after knowing God and pray He draws you closer – Forsake All