The Christmas Cross Some aspects of Christmas disclose themselves covertly: The Christ-child, tiny babe, was also Mankind’s Savior and continues our Personal Defender. You see, justice precedes love in God’s saving scheme, and we must see this. Justice and judgment must factor in, or we lose realness. Without grounds for judicial release in the objects of love, love has not much meaning. But what gets judged? Moses, in Exodus 15, led Israel three days without water toward Mara. The waters there were bitter and the people shrieked. Who could blame them, but was there a meaning? Moses begged an answer from God, crying with body prostrated. God showed him a tree and Moses threw the tree into the water, and the waters were made sweet. First thought is: God, using God’s man, leads them, but they hate the bluntness of circumstance. Number two, God wants to demonstrate justice and truth,…
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“The world always has had a cross between two thieves for the one who comes to save it.” And yet: ” If God be for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31 “The graceful gait of virtue is always followed by and scoffed with grimace and travesty.” And yet, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” Romans 8:32 ” …as long as there are virtue and righteousness in the world, there will be something for iniquity to grin at.” And yet, “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifies.” Romans 8:33 “All along the line of the ages, and in all lands, the cry has been, ‘Not this man, but Barabbas.’” And yet, Who is he that condemns? It is Christ…
“I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength: Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou remembers no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.” Psalm 88:4-6 Are we free, among the dead, yet? Job wished for it. “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?” Job 3:11 “For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,” Job 3:13 Philosophers, get out the Bible and philosophize! Forget about the meaning of life. To die is the meaning of life. Duh! Jesus knew this, Luke 9:51 teaches, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, He set his…
“Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. ” Genesis 6:9 What does it mean? Noah had righteousness, the gift to him from God. Noah was a saved man. He kept the gift of his righteous status alive in his soul, in spite of the many unrighteous influences of his generation. This kept him “alive unto God.” And so he walked the earth with God. Profound as a testimony, it describes the same life potentially lived by today’s righteous. James 1:27 proclaims, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” Noah’s pre-flood days coincided with God’s 120 year pronouncement in Genesis 6:3. — A space for repentance in which the Spirit of God would still strive with men, howbeit, every imagination of the…
Fishermen wade smack-dab into the water where fish swim, as a blue heron readies for it’s own breakfast, lunch or dinner. Why do they go in the water as opposed to fishing from the shore? Here are some answers: “…wearing waders permits me to fish down stream and positioning my lures in the spot that is only possible while being in the water.” “…helps me to avoid the many snags such as branches and tree trunks that are commonly found on the banks of many water ways.” “…With waders on I am able to go upstream 100 meters or so from the group and get the big ones all by myself. ” outdoors.stackexchange As Jesus promises to make us “Fishers of men,” in Mark 1:18, maybe lessons from fish anglers apply. The Pulpit commentary remarks, “It is plain that, in the pursuit of his calling, the fisherman has no power to…
“The Invitation” requests your presence at a fellowship with Jesus Christ. It politely urges you to enter into love, for eternity. It welcomes your presence at a throne of pardon, one in which all of your faults will have disappeared. It reveals a gift of righteousness, a stamp of approval, forever. It removes every hindrance to a life of meaning and purpose. Only a devil would refuse this invitation, only a demon could beg to be excused. Only hell itself would accuse the Invitation Giver of lying To all people, whosoever will, this gospel-invitation explains God’s judicial enactments, which pave the way for the Invitation. God attributes to every person ownership of the name, “sinner” — alienated from God. God lays all of that “iniquity” on His Son, Jesus Christ, who carried it to a bloody death. God attributes ownership of the name “righteous” to all who receive Christ; and…
“The meaning of the word “grace” as used in the New Testament… it is nothing less than the unlimited love of God expressing itself in limitless grace.” Chafer “Grace is the free bestowal of kindness on one who has no claim to it.” Berkhof “Grace is but glory begun, and glory is but grace perfected.” Edwards “…grace is His voluntary, unrestrained, unmerited favor toward guilty sinners, granting them justification and life instead of the penalty of death, which they deserved. Herman Bavinck “Grace is the very opposite of merit… Grace is not only undeserved favor, but it is favor shown to the one who has deserved the very opposite.” Ironside “Grace is favor shown to people who do not deserve any favor at all… We deserve nothing but hell. If you think you deserve heaven, take it from me, you are not a Christian.” Martin Lloyd-Jones R.C.H. Lenski shows the…
A utilitarian view of the universe pits pain and pleasure at opposite poles — sovereignly governing the majority of all decisions and actions made by men and women. Seems that this philosophy has some truth in it. “Utilitarianism” was founded by Jeremy Bentham, an English moral philosopher and legal reformer, born 1748. Some Lost souls purchase such a philosophy, never realizing the far-reaching implications of establishing a moral code on the simple, “pain versus pleasure.” Their simplistic creed explodes when a situation pushes them to higher moral ground. Perhaps a happening, provoking extreme pleasure, simultaneously hurts others. Such common occurrences require moral elevation. Michael Sandel gives this example in his book “Justice.” “In ancient Rome, they threw Christians to the lions In the Coliseum for the amusement of the crowd. … the Christian suffers excruciating pain as the lion mauls and devours him. But think of the collective ecstacy of…
Has life become a mess? Are you hanging out your dirty laundry to dry? Has the world stopped cooperating? Step into God’s peace. Start living in His providence, enjoy His benevolent care, bask in His love, rely on His mercy. Surround yourself with loving family and friends; trust The Lord with all your heart, don’t lean on your own understanding. Climb into Jesus boat and let Him take you through the storm Abide in His love, rest in the shadow of His wings. Turn away your eyes from beholding vanity. Be quickened by His Spirit. Love ya
The love of many will wax cold — iniquity will abound. Men’s hearts will fail them for fear. Chilling love, hearts expire. Interesting it is, how heart and love go together. A heart holds the issue of life for a person and possibly that “go” is goodness and kindness. A man believes and embraces these noble attributes and holds them firm in his value system. But can that value system sustain him in the time of testing? Is that value system changeable? In a book by Carl H. Stevens, “cosmic loneliness,” our Pastor quotes Rollo May: he defines Anxiety as “the reaction to the threat to values one identifies with his existence as a self, ” “a person can meet anxiety to the extent that his Values are stronger than the threat.” Again from May, “man defines maturity as the holding of values, with no importance placed on the truth…