Two brothers approached and offered God yield of their life occupations. One offered a sheep, the other fruit. God respected one offering, the other, He rejected. The Genesis story describes two men and their God, two men shaped in iniquity, two men born outside the presence of the Almighty, two men excluded from the ongoing fellowship which their parents had enjoyed. A similar state belongs to every human born of Adam, it includes us also. Question? How do we approach Him? Do we need to appease God, or do we simply present the “already accepted” offering of a Savior? Do we need to do anything? What reconnects man and his God? First simple observation — production alone will not appease Him. Why? Because God cannot accept any works, fruit, or outcomes which have been born, developed or perfected by a sin-infected soul, including motivation or handiwork. Sorry but any product…
Category: <span>Personal God</span>
“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” 1Timothy 3:16 “Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.” 1 Timothy 3:9 “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” Colossians 1:26 – 27 Many are the mysteries. The gospel, the second coming of Christ, the rapture of the Church, partial blindness to Israel are some of these. Also there is the mystery of iniquity, which does already work in 2 Thessalonians 2:9. Though many mysteries abound, many also are revealed to…
Song of Solomon 1:12 While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof. Song of Solomon 1:13 A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts. Song of Solomon 1:14 My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi. “The spikenard is a lowly herb, the emblem of humility.” “…as Mary did when she anointed Jesus’ feet with the ointment of spikenard that was very costly, one pound of it worth three hundred pence, and so fragrant that the house was filled with the pleasing odor of it. (John_12:3) ‘Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.” Very precious and fragrant, an herb grown…
Not always, but occasionally, “over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house we go,” sadly detours us onto unfamiliar routes. Sometimes these alternate routes are well marked and eventuate easily to the more familiar paths — But then, maybe not. We wish for a safe and clearly defined trail, one with landmarks along the way. However, this day we go down a ‘never-before’ gone road, and to add to the suspense, it is turning twilight, soon to be fully dark. Apprehension bids us: should we stop, ask for directions, pray, or all of the above? We may find ourselves just short of panic. Let’s pause. As much as we disdain the thought of these real-life detours, they occur. Jesus teaches his disciples in Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many…
Martyn Lloyd-Jones tells us of a great problem, “It is nothing less than the problem of living the Christian life, the problem, if you like, of dealing with sin.” For this problem Lloyd Jones shares this verse from the epistle of Paul to the Romans: “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” Romans 8:15 God’s answer for the bondage that fear brings is simply adoption. Two spirits are revealed in the verse. one of bondage, one of adoption — these diametrically oppose one another, but, “The (Holy) Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:” ESV Adoption is the antidote and Paul again speaks of the Adoption in his epistle to the Ephesians : “According as he hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of…
When we get to our after-death resurrection, we will not have a sin nature. I see that quite easily. However, in my present before-death state, I see myself, “black but comely” as did the Shulamite woman in Song of Solomon 1:5-6. Baked by the scorching sun, dwelling among rival siblings, forced to oversee the family business, and all of it neglects personal development — her own vineyard. Song of Solomon is telling the story of a woman traveling from earth to heaven — but all of it transpires while still on earth. Her vehicle is not a horse, wagon or car. No, her road consists in the imagery of her mind, in which she paints a picture of the “New Creation” daily. The journey beholds the glory of the Lord, as in a glass, and then she is changed into that selfsame image. See 2 Corinthians 3:18. Much is expressed…
“So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they had…
2 Corinthians 4:1 “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;” Romans1:5 “By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:” Hebrews12:28 “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” “Let us keep on having grace.” Folks, to serve God acceptably, to have a ministry, to obey God — these are not human endeavors. In contrast Paul speaks often of “grace” and “mercy” received and held on to — without which he, or none of us, could love, show compassion, forgive or show mercy to those least deserving. And this comprises the calling. Miroslav Volf, a celebrated theologian, relates a story in his work, “Free of Charge,” a book on forgiveness. “I was one then and my five…
When the details of life toughen, when serving God waxes near impossible, when crushing blows penetrate the consciousness — we approach a strange phenomena — the, insuperable, unattainable, undoable, unrealizable, unsolvable, place of utter dependency on God — A time and judgement that authoritatively requests, even demands, a relinquishing of all self-help — self reliance, control and power of will and exercise. We die. For all practical purposes — yes we find ourselves impotent, paralyzed. O, happy day. Imagine having all senses inoperable. First we lose hearing, the world stops. Then the eyes go blind — we take a seat. A panic settles in. A sense of smell does not help us now, our discerning taste buds bland out. We reach our hands to touch or feel, we engage emptiness. We cannot speak. But, God’s presence, which had never left us, now gains pre-eminence on the throne of our world. He speaks, He listens,…
The song goes: When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be, When we all see Jesus, we will sing and shout the victory! However, the Supreme joy of that “eternal” future is treasured in a lingering and finite present day earthen vessel. In our current “body of death” we may become apprehensive, worrisome, even fearful of the future. Martyn Lloyd-Jones reminds us of a natural “temperament” which makes us all unique. He says: “The human person is very delicately and finely balanced. Fundamentally, we all have the same general characteristics, but the relative proportions vary tremendously from case to case.” “…we have our own particular characteristics: Our virtues, Our failures, Our weaknesses, Our blemishes. Lloyd-Jones goes on to say, “The fact that you have become a Christian, does not mean that you cease to have to live with yourself.” In keeping with these observations,…