WEEKEND READING – 4-30-22

“As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.” Psalm 17:15 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

Do you already have a relationship with a powerful God who cares about your every need because He loves you? Did you know my God can communicate with you and protect you – He has a plan for you to prosper if you just submit to His will and let His plan play out in your life!!! God wants a relationship with you and has already made a plan for your life. He loves you so much He sent His son to this world, to die as a sacrifice for your sins and rise from death with victory over sin and the ability to have a personal relationship with you.

Do you want to know truth? Be able to discern lies? Know how to figure it all out in these confusing times and have peace? The Bible says Jesus is the truth. I have experienced it and it has changed my life. I was once a hot mess of sin, promiscuity, drug and alcohol use and so much more. But I was lost and when I could not find my way, or find a truth, I numbed it with bad choses. When I found Jesus, and truth – I found peace and deliverance from those things.

If you want a relationship with God without truth you will get the counterfeit, hypocritical Christianity that has kept some of you away for too long. You need truth and relationship. You need to be honest with yourself and God (including honest repentance) and God will reveal truth to you. It becomes the two way, interaction that your relationship with God is built on. This is why Jesus is called the truth, because he is our only way to the Father.

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10 NIV
Here is a prayer for you to pray:
Jesus, I believe you are the way, the truth, the life, and the only way to the Father. I believe you are the son of God, you came to Earth and lived. That you died on the cross as a sacrifice for my sins, and rose again so that I may be saved from my sins and be able to get to know you. I declare: Jesus, you are Lord!
Therefore, I confess that I am a sinner and I ask that you forgive me of my sins and come into my life. Help me to turn away from my sins and transform me into what you have lovingly created me to be. Help me through a real personal relationship grow and accept your will for my life – that I may live in your blessings. Please walk with me, and talk with me – I accept a relationship with you and with our Father God, through you. In the name of Jesus I pray ~ Amen

BIBLE READING:

Dear Heavenly Father – Please give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of who you are, who Jesus is, and who the Holy Spirit is. Open the eyes of our understanding, please, so we may know the hope of our calling and the vast sovereignty and power of the grace of the cross. Please do not let us miss out on what you want and need from us today. Lord, I pray that your word prepares us and not scares us! We forbid the works and influences of fear over your word and our sound mind. And please keep us and bless us and shine your face upon us and pour out grace over us and give us peace! Thank you! – In Jesus name we pray, Amen

Today’s reading is the Book of Psalms chapters 17-20 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Prayer with Confidence in Final Salvation

A Prayer of David.

17 Hear a just cause, O Lord,
Attend to my cry;
Give ear to my prayer which is not from deceitful lips.
²Let my vindication come from Your presence;
Let Your eyes look on the things that are upright.

³You have tested my heart;
You have visited me in the night;
You have ^[a]tried me and have found ^[b]nothing;
I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.
⁴Concerning the works of men,
By the word of Your lips,
I have kept away from the paths of the destroyer.
⁵Uphold my steps in Your paths,
That my footsteps may not slip.

⁶I have called upon You, for You will hear me, O God;
Incline Your ear to me, and hear my speech.
⁷Show Your marvelous lovingkindness by Your right hand,
O You who ^[c]save those who trust in You
From those who rise up against them.
⁸Keep me as the ^[d]apple of Your eye;
Hide me under the shadow of Your wings,
⁹From the wicked who oppress me,
From my deadly enemies who surround me.

¹⁰They have closed up their fat hearts;
With their mouths they speak proudly.
¹¹They have now surrounded us in our steps;
They have set their eyes, crouching down to the earth,
¹²As a lion is eager to tear his prey,
And like a young lion lurking in secret places.

¹³Arise, O Lord,
Confront him, cast him down;
Deliver my life from the wicked with Your sword,
¹⁴With Your hand from men, O Lord,
From men of the world who have their portion in this life,
And whose belly You fill with Your hidden treasure.
They are satisfied with children,
And leave the rest of their possession for their babes.

¹⁵As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness;
I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.

God the Sovereign Savior

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said:

18 I will love You, O Lord, my strength.
²The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my ^[e]strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the ^[f]horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
³I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.

⁴The pangs of death surrounded me,
And the floods of ^[g]ungodliness made me afraid.
⁵The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.
⁶In my distress I called upon the Lord,
And cried out to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.

⁷Then the earth shook and trembled;
The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken,
Because He was angry.
⁸Smoke went up from His nostrils,
And devouring fire from His mouth;
Coals were kindled by it.
⁹He bowed the heavens also, and came down
With darkness under His feet.
¹⁰And He rode upon a cherub, and flew;
He flew upon the wings of the wind.
¹¹He made darkness His secret place;
His canopy around Him was dark waters
And thick clouds of the skies.
¹²From the brightness before Him,
His thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire.

¹³The Lord thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered His voice,
^[h]Hailstones and coals of fire.
¹⁴He sent out His arrows and scattered ^[i]the foe,
Lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them.
¹⁵Then the channels of the sea were seen,
The foundations of the world were uncovered
At Your rebuke, O Lord,
At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.

¹⁶He sent from above, He took me;
He drew me out of many waters.
¹⁷He delivered me from my strong enemy,
From those who hated me,
For they were too strong for me.
¹⁸They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
But the Lord was my support.
¹⁹He also brought me out into a broad place;
He delivered me because He delighted in me.

²⁰The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands
He has recompensed me.
²¹For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
And have not wickedly departed from my God.
²²For all His judgments were before me,
And I did not put away His statutes from me.
²³I was also blameless ^[j]before Him,
And I kept myself from my iniquity.
²⁴Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
According to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.

²⁵With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful;
With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
²⁶With the pure You will show Yourself pure;
And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.
²⁷For You will save the humble people,
But will bring down haughty looks.

²⁸For You will light my lamp;
The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
²⁹For by You I can ^[k]run against a troop,
By my God I can leap over a wall.
³⁰As for God, His way is perfect;
The word of the Lord is ^[l]proven;
He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

³¹For who is God, except the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?
³²It is God who arms me with strength,
And makes my way perfect.
³³He makes my feet like the feet of deer,
And sets me on my high places.
³⁴He teaches my hands to make war,
So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

³⁵You have also given me the shield of Your salvation;
Your right hand has held me up,
Your gentleness has made me great.
³⁶You enlarged my path under me,
So my feet did not slip.

³⁷I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them;
Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed.
³⁸I have wounded them,
So that they could not rise;
They have fallen under my feet.
³⁹For You have armed me with strength for the battle;
You have ^[m]subdued under me those who rose up against me.
⁴⁰You have also given me the necks of my enemies,
So that I destroyed those who hated me.
⁴¹They cried out, but there was none to save;
Even to the Lord, but He did not answer them.
⁴²Then I beat them as fine as the dust before the wind;
I cast them out like dirt in the streets.

⁴³You have delivered me from the strivings of the people;
You have made me the head of the ^[n]nations;
A people I have not known shall serve me.
⁴⁴As soon as they hear of me they obey me;
The foreigners ^[o]submit to me.
⁴⁵The foreigners fade away,
And come frightened from their hideouts.

⁴⁶The Lord lives!
Blessed be my Rock!
Let the God of my salvation be exalted.
⁴⁷It is God who avenges me,
And subdues the peoples under me;
⁴⁸He delivers me from my enemies.
You also lift me up above those who rise against me;
You have delivered me from the violent man.
⁴⁹Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the ^[p]Gentiles,
And sing praises to Your name.

⁵⁰Great deliverance He gives to His king,
And shows mercy to His anointed,
To David and his ^[q]descendants forevermore.

The Perfect Revelation of the Lord

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

19 The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament^[r] shows ^[s]His handiwork.
²Day unto day utters speech,
And night unto night reveals knowledge.
³There is no speech nor language
Where their voice is not heard.
⁴Their ^[t]line has gone out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world.

In them He has set a ^[u]tabernacle for the sun,
⁵Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
And rejoices like a strong man to run its race.
⁶Its rising is from one end of heaven,
And its circuit to the other end;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

⁷The law of the Lord is perfect, ^[v]converting the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
⁸The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
⁹The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
¹⁰More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the ^[w]honeycomb.
¹¹Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward.

¹²Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults.
¹³Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
And I shall be innocent of ^[x]great transgression.

¹⁴Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my ^[y]strength and my Redeemer.

The Assurance of God’s Saving Work

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

20 May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble;
May the name of the God of Jacob ^[z]defend you;
²May He send you help from the sanctuary,
And strengthen you out of Zion;
³May He remember all your offerings,
And accept your burnt sacrifice. Selah

⁴May He grant you according to your heart’s desire,
And fulfill all your ^[aa]purpose.
⁵We will rejoice in your salvation,
And in the name of our God we will set up our banners!
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.

⁶Now I know that the Lord saves His ^[ab]anointed;
He will answer him from His holy heaven
With the saving strength of His right hand.

⁷Some trust in chariots, and some in horses;
But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.
⁸They have bowed down and fallen;
But we have risen and stand upright.

⁹Save, Lord!
May the King answer us when we call.

Footnotes

Psalm 17:3 examined
Psalm 17:3 Nothing evil
Psalm 17:7 deliver
Psalm 17:8 pupil
Psalm 18:2 Lit. rock
Psalm 18:2 Strength
Psalm 18:4 Lit. Belial
Psalm 18:13 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; a few Heb. mss., LXX omit Hailstones and coals of fire
Psalm 18:14 Lit. them
Psalm 18:23 with
Psalm 18:29 Or run through
Psalm 18:30 Lit. refined
Psalm 18:39 Lit. caused to bow
Psalm 18:43 Gentiles
Psalm 18:44 feign submission
Psalm 18:49 nations
Psalm 18:50 Lit. seed
Psalm 19:1 expanse of heaven
Psalm 19:1 the work of His hands
Psalm 19:4 LXX, Syr., Vg. sound; Tg. business
Psalm 19:4 tent
Psalm 19:7 restoring
Psalm 19:10 honey in the combs
Psalm 19:13 Or much
Psalm 19:14 Lit. rock
Psalm 20:1 Lit. set you on high
Psalm 20:4 counsel
Psalm 20:6 Commissioned one, Heb. messiah

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Isaiah 41:10- “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

29 Apr 202228 Apr 2022

The Work of the Cross is Grace – 4-29-22

“Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” Romans 5:9 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of Romans chapter 5 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Faith Triumphs in Trouble

5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, ^[a]we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces ^[b]perseverance; ⁴and perseverance, ^[c]character; and character, hope. ⁵Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Christ in Our Place

⁶For when we were still without strength, ^[d]in due time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. ¹⁰For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. ¹¹And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Death in Adam, Life in Christ

¹²Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— ¹³(For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. ¹⁴Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. ¹⁵But the free gift is not like the ^[e]offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. ¹⁶And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many ^[f]offenses resulted in justification. ¹⁷For if by the one man’s ^[g]offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)

¹⁸Therefore, as through ^[h]one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one^[i] Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. ¹⁹For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

²⁰Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, ²¹so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Footnotes

Romans 5:1 Some ancient mss. let us have
Romans 5:3 endurance
Romans 5:4 approved character
Romans 5:6 at the right time
Romans 5:15 trespass or false step
Romans 5:16 trespasses
Romans 5:17 trespass
Romans 5:18 Or one trespass
Romans 5:18 Or one righteous act

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Isaiah 41:10 – “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

On Monday, I challenged us all to take a few actions daily to help get us some healthy roots and to root out any sins within us. It is still copied here, for all of our ease of use. I hope you, like I am, are serious about making more changes in our lives and becoming more Christ-like.

PRAYER FOR FORGIVENESS:
Dear God, I am sorry for being filled with all/any unrighteousness, and/or sexual immorality, and/or wickedness, and/or covetousness, and/or maliciousness, and/or envy, murder, and strife, and/or deceit and evil-mindedness, and/or being a whisperers and backbiters, and/or haters of God, and/or violent, and/or proud and boasting, and/or inventors of evil things, and/or disobedient to parents, and/or undiscerning, and/or untrustworthy, and/or unloving, and/or unforgiving, and/or unmerciful, and/or for practicing such things are deserving of death. Please forgive me even though I knew better and I understand the righteous judgment of You, God. Please wash me with the Blood of Jesus. Cleanse me and help me turn from my evil ways – convict me strongly when I do wrong that I may notice and stop. And send a fresh filling of your anointing to break the yokes of bondage and help me destroy the roots with a mindful effort and focus on you. Please reignite the fire in my belly that I may burn for you in boldness. In the name of Jesus we pray ~amen

HEALTHY ROOTS CHALLENGE: this challenge is to heal and strengthen our roots
One – Give God ALL the Glory
Two – Dedicated time for thanksgiving, and be thankful for all things!
Three – Guard our hearts and mind, rebuking and stopping sinful or not godly thoughts, not letting our minds wander and be prayerful and intentional in thinking.
Four – And finally, let us be humble. Humble enough to say I do not know it all and God has something new to reveal to me in this book and in this day.
(Please review the blog post from 4/25/22 for an explanation as to why we are doing this daily and for the scriptural reference instructing us to make these things a practice in our lives. Until they flow from us naturally, we can intentionally and with all of our hearts, scheduled them into our lives and watch them heal and reroute our unhealthy roots that gave sinful/evil fruits.)

Now, staying humble and honest with ourselves – let us look at chapter five where Paul explains the importance of the work of the cross, not just to save us, but in a larger plan to fulfill scripture and overcome the curse of man.

“1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
I think we all understand the justified by faith part as we discussed it yesterday. And today we return full of a fresh faith and ready to go! OR – we grasped that lesson and spent the evening fighting to keep it. It seems like such an easy truth we should all be extremely inspired by, yet the enemy fights hard to keep us from it. And once we have grappled with keeping it, we should have peace. Peace is another thing we must fight diligently to keep.
Yesterday and last night, I had an allergy attack. It was bad. And it also caused pain, intense pain in my sinuses. I took the usual over the counter drugs for it, increased my fluids and prayed. I prayed fervently. I put oil on my head and cast it off me, kicked it out, quoted scriptures, prayed in the spirit, yelled, cried, and shuffled through sitting, laying and standing as each caused the pain to be in a slightly different spot. I did not get much sleep. And when I went to write this study this morning THAT was when I finally fell asleep. This tells me we are flying over a target. We are above something very crucial for our walks with God, our witness to the world, and something that can devastate the enemy.
Hold our peace, hold and increase our faith – so we can access grace. Grace that is sufficient, grace that help us stand. Grace to rejoice and glorify God and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Let’s talk about hope for a moment. I referred to the doubt filled hope as we define the word today. I can say we are going to our friend’s today, which means we are going. Or I can say I hope we are going to my friends, which means there is a chance we will not be. Hope is just a feeling of desire for something to happen, if it will happen or not. When Paul uses the word hope – he is using the archaic definition. Hope is a feeling of expectancy and trust. It is still used in legal documents to declare trustworthiness. So Paul is saying our expectancy and trust of the glory of God!

“³And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; ⁴and perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

So as I pray to God for healing in my sinuses and the lingering pain – he basically tells me to shut up and glorify him! God does have a strange sense of humor. But I am here for it – last night while praying I also played a worship song. It is a Spanish song and I do not speak Spanish, but I love it and I know it translates to “Glory! Glory” and it literally is glorifying God. I woke up still singing it in my head. I am giving God glory, even in my tribulations.

Paul slides right from our tribulation to Jesus’s. Paul always kept it in perspective. I suppose that was how Paul managed to keep his peace in God. And this is the point of today’s chapter = fully understanding the work of the cross, of Christ dying in our place, and defeating the curse of Adam.

“⁶For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Some of this doesn’t need much discussion to understand it deeply. We were dirty rotten sinners unworthy of what God did for us. But God loves us so much, so much, so much and NOT because of us or anything we did – that he sent Jesus to die for us, in our place.

“⁹Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”
And there is the summary of the first four and a half chapters.
A side note is, the wrath and hell and the price of rebellion and sin was put in place for satan and his followers. It was not made for or ever intended for man. satan tricked Adam and Eve into sinning and being subject to this same punishment. Besides the fact that God made us to commune with Him and we were now separated by sin – God also needed to rescue us from hell. But we do have free will.
God through His son in the water as a life preserver, that whoever grabs on, can be saved.

“¹⁰For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. ¹¹And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”
And then, when you think about it you realize you weren’t even on Team Jesus when he suffered for you. You were actually His enemy.
I do not feel like I have any enemies in my life. I used to have a witch who would curse me and harass me to no end. I did NOT pass the test of loving my enemies at that point. Jesus set the example and died for His enemies. And I think wow! Because all I wanted to do was take that witch down. Instead I prayed for her and prayed for her and struggled to forgive her. Aren’t we all works in progress?

“¹²Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— ¹³(For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. ¹⁴Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. ¹⁵But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. ¹⁶And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. ¹⁷For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)”

Did you follow that? Through one man sin entered the world, Adam. (Let’s not correct Paul and throw poor Eve under the bus.) Paul is making an archetypal symbol of Adam, on in which the Hebrew community has always associated with: one man brought in sin and one man would wash it away – the Messiah would be a type of Adam. Although we do not have a deep rooted expectation of an Adam like Messiah, we can still understand the thought process here and the need for Paul to explain it this way to show to the Roman Jews he was writing to how Jesus completed the prophecies. So he needed a quick explanation of the law imputing sin and how that did not stop people from sinning, it only made sin more obvious to point it out. And how Jesus is a free gift and in comparing it is the exact opposite of the curse. That is why it had to happen the way it did – to be the opposite and negate it. The free gift of Christ came through many sins, onto one death and resurrection for our justification through grace.

“¹⁸Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. ¹⁹For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”

By one man we all fell, and by one Man we all have the opportunity to be made righteous. It is a free gift for us to partake in and accept.

“²⁰Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, ²¹so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Grace is so much more than just “God’s favor” – it has the power to transform, to input righteousness, to reign through righteousness bringing us to eternal life in Jesus Christ. My son doesn’t see his need for God or salvation. In his mind, he isn’t a sinner and is doing his best and God is a mythological construct that doesn’t always work. Easy to buy that lie when he has never seen the lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear and all sorts of signs and wonders. We have failed him and his generation. But where sin abounds unchecked and there is no law – it is not imputed and grace multiplies. Grace is always sufficient and multiplies to be enough to draw my son to God. If my son accepts it or not, well, that is his stubborn free will. But there is an abundance of grace over his life so that he can see God in the midst and in the greater plans and feel the call drawing him.
Someday, my son will have a face to face encounter with grace and be completely transformed. Paul was highly qualified to speak on grace in this way as he experienced grace on the road to Damascus. Paul was killing Christian Jews – Jesus had every right to smite him dead. Paul knew it – but grace! Oh if not for grace!

Well, we are back to another weekend – time to read more of the Psalms and gain some wisdom. Feel free to continue to focus on healing your roots and practicing daily repentance through the weekend. And hopefully (yes, I am doubting) you will come back on Monday ready to face grace head on and be transformed by our discussions next week. Come back with the Paul kind of Hope!

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

28 Apr 202227 Apr 2022

The Kind of Faith – 4-28-22

“Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;” Romans 4:16-17 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of Romans chapter 4 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Abraham Justified by Faith

4 What then shall we say that Abraham our father^[a] has found according to the flesh? ²For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. ³For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was ^[b]accounted to him for righteousness.” ⁴Now to him who works, the wages are not counted ^[c]as grace but as debt.

David Celebrates the Same Truth

⁵But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, ⁶just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:

⁷“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
⁸Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”

Abraham Justified Before Circumcision

⁹Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. ¹⁰How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. ¹¹And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, ¹²and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.

The Promise Granted Through Faith

¹³For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, ¹⁵because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be ^[d]sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all ¹⁷(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; ¹⁸who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” ¹⁹And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, ²¹and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. ²²And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

²³Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, ²⁴but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

Footnotes

Romans 4:1 Or (fore)father according to the flesh has found?
Romans 4:3 imputed, credited, reckoned, counted
Romans 4:4 according to
Romans 4:16 certain

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Isaiah 41:10- “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

Thank you for returning again today. Not only is it a hard book – I am making claims that I do not hear from pulpits, of people who misplace grace, grieving it and forget that the Law of Faith is a thing AND that it’s not new or the continuation of the Law of Atonement! It actually predates Moses. But first, let’s not forget our commitment to work on healing our roots:

On Monday, I challenged us all to take a few actions daily to help get us some healthy roots and to root out any sins within us. Again, I copied it here for all of our ease of use. I hope you, like I am, are serious about making more changes in our lives and becoming more Christ-like.

HEALTHY ROOTS CHALLENGE: this challenge is to heal and strengthen our roots
One – Give God ALL the Glory
Two – Dedicated time for Thanksgiving, and be thankful for all things!
Three – Guard our hearts and mind, rebuking and stopping sinful or not godly thoughts, not letting our minds wander and be prayerful and intentional in thinking.
Four – And finally, let us be humble. Humble enough to say I do not know it all and God has something new to reveal to me in this book and in this day.
(Please review the blog post from 4/25/22 for an explanation as to why we are doing this daily and for the scriptural reference instructing us to make these things a practice in our lives. Until they flow from us naturally, we can intentionally and with all of our hearts, scheduled them into our lives and watch them heal and reroute our unhealthy roots that gave sinful/evil fruits.)

Now, staying humble and honest with ourselves – let us look at chapter four and Abrahamic faith which arguably could have been the birth of the Law of Faith. I could ask about Noah’s faith to build an ark, and a promise, and a rainbow, and a covenant we still see the symbol of even today. But Paul went back to the Covenant with Abraham, because it is under the fulfillment of the covenant to save all of the nations from Abraham’s loins that gentiles are included – and that was exactly what was happening in Rome. The Roman Jewish believers were struggling with legalism, acceptance of others, understanding repentance, forgiveness and sin, and understanding who they are now in Christ. Later letters Paul simplifies some of these concepts and says: “In Him…” But to the Roman church he explains why and how in detail.

So yesterday Paul introduces us to the Law of Faith and today he explains what kind of faith that is.
“1 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? ²For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. ³For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
First of all, faith is not a work. Faith often is tied hand in hand with an action that shows our commitment to our belief, but it is NOT a work. Faith is believing. It is not hoping. It is not saying you believe while you sit back and hope you are right. Do not confuse Hope and Faith. It is very clear here that faith is NOT something we can even do, without God. Otherwise we could boast that we had great faith. Abraham believed God, not believed in Him but believed Him. God counted that to him for righteousness.
I come to God saying I believe, help my unbelief like the father we read about in Mark. Because belief is simple but difficult. God said it and we believe it and that settles it. And the time in between when God said it and we receive it – everything gets soggy in the waiting and faith gives way to hope and none of us can make it all the way on our own, or we could boast! So, Lord replace hope with belief again. You said it and we believe it and that settles it.

“⁴Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.”
In my personal studies, I have been studying God and finances. We all know I need a break through in that area so I am studying it. The Bible surprisingly overflows with financial metaphors. We often miss them as we think of money, saving, equity, credit and such when the Bible uses terms like sowing and reaping and give and receive. The multiplication of God and money is really about prosperity in wealth: financial, physical & health, and spiritual / eternal. Without getting into a long explanation which could hijack this blog for a very long time – Here we see evidence of our checking accounts with God. When we do works, we withdrawal. When we believe, we deposit into this account to later be able to draw from when we need miracles, signs, wonders, bills paid, etc. We cannot just grab any “prosperity” scripture and cling to it for dear life, when our account in heaven in over drawn from works. We need to put some seed in that account and watch it grow into some grace (transformative power) to use later.
I can cry out to God: I have tithed and given offerings in obedience when I hear you and knew it was you. Forgive me if I disobeyed by missing your voice. But I have sown my seed, now where is my harvest? The bills are due in 2 days!! And that would be counted as a withdrawal because I sowed in hope of a harvest and not in belief. Instead, even when the bill is due in two days, say: God, you said it, and I believe it and that settles it! Glory to God and Thank you Jesus! ~amen and amen! (p.s. help my unbelief in the name of Jesus!) And then it keeps the wealth growing in the account for my actual time of need which is two days from now. And in two days, I will look to heaven and say: I receive all that you have for me. And I will praise and thank Him no matter what my eyes see.

“⁵But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,”

Paul goes on afraid we did not understand using Abraham as the example of the fact that none of this is new and faith was the point right from the beginning of time. So Paul pulls from David’s life.
“⁶just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: ⁷“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; ⁸Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”

You see when we understand our forgiveness – we are blessed. Maybe not financial but there is more in our heavenly accounts. David understood well, what Paul was saying.
But these Holier than Thou Jews he was writing to, may not because everyone was getting hung up on the gentiles NOT getting circumcised. This argument over circumcision or not stretched over time and space and was so far reaching, that “Christian nations” like the USA circumcise your child in the hospital as standard practice. What does it have to do with being a “Christian nation”? Well, even though Peter and Paul and the first century church says only the Jews get circumcised and the Christian do not – the inside division in the church over this eventually led to everyone getting circumcised, the Jews according to religious practice and the Christian in the hospital the morning after you are born.
Not knowing this was going to be the outcome Paul continues to explain that you do not need to be circumcised to have faith – that the kind of faith required here has nothing to do with works, including the work of circumcision. Let’s take a look:

“⁹Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. ¹⁰How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. ¹¹And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, ¹²and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.”

OK, people, stop getting hung up on the wrong thing here. I can feel Paul’s passionate frustration as he is trying so hard to fight every argument that they could possibly have to distort and corrupt what He is teaching.

“¹³For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, ¹⁵because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.”
He is saying a system where I do good to avoid wrath while my mind does bad and no one sees is corrupt and would not work. It has no truth in justice. No one can be counted as righteous, because the heart is not judged – only the actions.

“¹⁶Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all ^17a(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”)”
I see how people who do not understand what grace truly is, and think it is only favor, get confused and say we are under grace and not the law as if they are opposite of that grace somehow threw away the law. Grace is a transformative power when God’s favor touches us. Grace is an action. Grace has been upon mankind since the conception of Adam. Therefore Grace is not the new covenant.
I always say there are 3 covenants: the first covenant was with Abraham, the second was the Mosaic Law, and the third is birthed in the blood of Jesus. Well, there are certain things that have been consistent in all three – Paul is saying those things are the foundational core of what we stand for. The Law of Faith – has always been.

So – do you believe? Do you have this kind of faith? Are you unshakable in faith?
“^17bin the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;”
In God’s presence – not on earth, in spirit – God gives life to the dead and God calls those things which do not exist as though they did. I am here in the flesh saying I believe but I do not see it and God says – draw closer to me, come into the spirit and look and see! It is finished, even though it has not yet broken through into the physical.

“¹⁸who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.”
Abraham, had the struggle, as you remember in the belief, deep in the waiting, He tried to do what He thought was right and took half the promise by having a child with another woman – but the promise was to Sarah as well. Regardless of their error – they repented and believed. And now they are set up high as a great example! Imperfect, but perfect for us who blunder and err along our way. We fall, but always get back up and try again and again – hungry for God. Hungry to get to the end of our race and give Jesus a physical hug! Paul is trying to remind us to build up our faith, as he is building our faith by reminding us.

“¹⁹And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God,”
Nothing encourages me more than knowing righteousness was imputed to Abraham despite his shortcomings. His sins were forgiven him and therefore the way the story was told has changed and they left out the fall, and the other child. We can be THAT kind of forgiven – they kind that leaves out the addiction(s), the child(ren) out of wedlock, and all the sins. Our story retold with righteousness imputed – justified. (Also note, I reinserted Abraham’s sin to teach us a lesson and people will always remind us of our sins sometimes to teach and sometimes to be cruel – BUT WHEN GOD TELLS THE STORY THEY ARE OMITTED! Amen!!)

“²¹and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.”

Did you read that?! Honey I am fully convinced that what He had promised, He is able to complete! Build up your faith, here! Are you convinced? You have seen what God has and can do in the Bible – is that enough? Are you in? do you really believe this? and we chase away ‘well, um, I hope so.’ And bring in the banners and parade and celebration – because he is NOT only able! He has done it and we are just waiting for the manifestation in the physical.

“²²And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
Accounted, like and accountant counts your money – your bank account in heaven grows wealth, enough to bless your finances and bless your spirit and bless your health! How to grow that? Well, that is in my personal study. Maybe I will publish it as a deliverance book and call it rags to riches – but right now, it is my lesson to go through and not to teach. I believe it, even though I have not yet seen the glory of the Lord in the physical yet. Yet.

“²³Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, ²⁴but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.”
Obviously it isn’t written for Abraham’s sake, he passed away many generations ago – But Paul also understood that Abraham is alive in the spirit because our God is a God of the living! Paul is also trying to emphasize that this should encourage our faith. Because we cannot even have faith enough on our own without God and therefore God sends us encouragement to help build us up so we can be great in faith, counted for righteousness and justified.
Now, let’s jump outside of linear time again. I know some of you expressed that you do not like that and it is uncomfortable – get used to it, because that is where we spend eternity! Take another look at that string of verses.
We believe in him who raised Jesus. Jesus was killed for our sins. Jesus was raised because of our justification.
I don’t know how old you are, but Jesus died and rose again almost 2000 years before I was born (or closer to 1940 something years – calculated by the year I was born, adjusted for the accuracy of year 1 being the year of Jesus’s birth and the approximate 33 years of Jesus’s life and, and and) The point is that I wasn’t here, let alone sinning and in need of justification when in linear time, Jesus was sacrificed for my sins. Only outside of linear time can we understand what Paul is saying – and it is a strong point. If we did not have faith and therefore righteousness imputed to us so we are justified – then Jesus could NOT raise from the dead, destroying death and sin’s grasp on us! Jesus was raised because of our justification. That my friends is the kind of faith we need! The kind that our very first act of saying I believe in God and, like Him, want a relationship with Him, and I believe – imputes righteousness to us and our first action is to raise the dead! Jesus comes out of that grave and into our hearts to be the way to the Father. Hallelujah! If you are not excited and filled with Joy by the fact that YOU and your tiny amount of faith participated in His resurrection then you need to check to see if you are alive. It is NOT by works – it is by believing. It is not by hoping this is true. It is by saying you believe and letting nothing, not even your own mind convince you otherwise. We need and have the kind of faith that raises the dead! (and you thought you’ve never had any signs or wonders follow you!)

Today – let us sure up our belief. Not in action. But with all our hearts. Ask for forgiveness of any unbelief and ask for help believing. That we my break through into the spirit and be counted righteousness, begin refilling or increase our filing in our holy bank accounts and bust Jesus out of death! Good stuff.

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

27 Apr 202226 Apr 2022

The Law of Faith – 4-27-22

“being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:24-26 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of Romans chapter 3 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

God’s Judgment Defended

3 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? ²Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the ^[a]oracles of God. ³For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? ⁴Certainly not! Indeed, let God be ^[b]true but every man a liar. As it is written:

“That You may be justified in Your words,
And may overcome when You are judged.”

⁵But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) ⁶Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?

⁷For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? ⁸And why not say, “Let us do evil that good may come”?—as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their ^[c]condemnation is just.

All Have Sinned

⁹What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.

¹⁰As it is written:

“There is none righteous, no, not one;
¹¹There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
¹²They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”
¹³“Their throat is an open ^[d]tomb;
With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;
“The poison of asps is under their lips”;
¹⁴“Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
¹⁵“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
¹⁶Destruction and misery are in their ways;
¹⁷And the way of peace they have not known.”
¹⁸“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become ^[e]guilty before God. ²⁰Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

God’s Righteousness Through Faith

²¹But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²²even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all ^[f]and on all who believe. For there is no difference; ²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴being justified ^[g]freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵whom God set forth as a ^[h]propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, ²⁶to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Boasting Excluded

²⁷Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. ²⁸Therefore we conclude that a man is ^[i]justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. ²⁹Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, ³⁰since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. ³¹Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.

Footnotes

Romans 3:2 sayings, Scriptures
Romans 3:4 Found true
Romans 3:8 Lit. judgment
Romans 3:13 grave
Romans 3:19 accountable
Romans 3:22 NU omits and on all
Romans 3:24 without any cost
Romans 3:25 mercy seat
Romans 3:28 declared righteous

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Isaiah 41:10- “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

Thank you for returning. I suspect our numbers will drop during the study of Romans because no one like the hard truths in this book. It starts off like a slap to the face (God’s wrath is coming on sinners and you are a sinner), followed by a couple chapters of slaps which may include fists (more on God’s wrath), followed by a punch to the gut, throw you into the fire of trials and somewhere around chapter 6 this book literally tries to kill you (and that isn’t even half way through the book). Every time I read this book, God reveals more about myself to me. This doesn’t seem to be a book with deep revelation about God, as much as it is a tool of God’s to refine us, cleanse us, keep us humble and make us more like Him.

On Monday, I challenged us all to take a few actions daily to help get us some healthy roots and to root out any sins within us. This morning I copied it here for all of our ease of use. I hope you, like I am, are serious about making more changes in our lives and becoming more Christ-like.

Now, staying humble and honest with ourselves – let us look at chapter three where Paul defends God’s judgment and wrath. This is why I was not born back then and was not called to write scriptures. I would have taken the first portion of this book and said: people are all bad, God is good, because He says so and that is that. But there is so much more to all of this and we are sinners deserving death, but we are exceedingly loveable and so God, painstakingly, is trying to explain himself to us so we understand His inability to change and that he is righteous, good and a perfect judge. His rules are universal. So He made the way through Jesus as the easiest access to Him ever!

“1 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision?”
Usually I do not take a question for the Jews and gentrify it, We all know how much I like to keep the Bible pure. However, He is talking (as we saw yesterday) to people who think they have it made because they were born into it, aka Jews. This was the first generation of Christian. Now we have families who are many generations serving as Christians and, like the audience Paul spoke to yesterday, there are those who think being born and raised in church is enough to secure their salvation. They learned on an unconscious level that they can earn heaven – this was an accidental consequence of not teaching true repentance from the pulpits around the world regularly enough. Because true repentance is a life style and not a one-time prayer with a street preacher or an altar call with a traveling evangelist.
SO, is there NO advantage to having been raised in church? We can apply this to all generations.
and this begins a pattern of rhetorical questions designed to make us think and consider ourselves and examine our hearts and minds. Some questions are sarcastic. Some of them Paul answers. Paul waxes very philosophical in this letter – and I am reminded that he is in Corinth, having come from Athens and having spent much time with their style of thinking and processing logic while understanding the bigger truths. I am sure that the cleverness of the writing and questioning made the difficult content easier to handle for those in Rome, and maybe for us as well as his questioning leads us to reason out the same things.

“²Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God. ³For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? ⁴Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: “That You may be justified in Your words, And may overcome when You are judged.”

Sometimes we cannot break this book down into a verse by verse study because of these questions. The overall meaning gets lost. I once watched a teacher stubble through verse 4 (and with good reason). God tells truth. Man is a liar. Then you are justified in your words.
Sounds like the liar is justified in his lies. So turn on an audio version of this chapter and listen and it is so much more clear. AND take a close look at the printing – the capital letter at the beginning of You and Your. Unlike me, the Bible never misses a capital when referring to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
So when is God justified in His words and when does God need to overcome when He is judged? Who can judge the Lord?!
“Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge.” Psalm 51:4
Paul Is writing to a church of both Jew and gentile – but the Jews are being addressed right now and they would have made this cross reference. A Psalm of David, and his beautiful big time repentance. He was a man after God’s own heart and knew how to Love God Big and Repent Big. If only we can learn that! Lord, help us fall in love with you!

“⁵But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) ⁶Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world? ⁷For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? ⁸And why not say, “Let us do evil that good may come”?—as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just.”
You may have thought this at one time or another. I have. I have also heard children in children’s church reason this out. Let me date the language and get rid of the questions: If I sin, and repent, I get forgiven. Then I go and try not to sin and it is hard. And I make a mistake and sin. So again I repent and I get forgiven. So I go again and try not to sin, but it is so fun and hard not to and I was forgiven the last time, so why not do it again? I can repent and ask for forgiveness after – and be forgiven. Always be forgiven. Why bother trying not to sin?! Let us do evil that good may come! I know many Catholics who have reasoned this out and sin Monday through Saturday then go to confession and start the week off clean. Or do they? Paul warns the Romans of this, yet centuries later it was the Holy Roman Church which put confession and penance, and therefore permissive sins, into practice. They must have missed the letter written to them! (Yes, I am saying this was somewhat prophetic on Paul’s part – but also that spirit of religion ran deep, and was seemingly planted in the church right at the beginning.)

“⁹What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.”
And there it is folks! False piety and religious spirit confronted and leveled because man is leveled. We are all created equal in God’s eyes. No one is better or worse. The saying that no sin is worse than another is not entirely accurate – but sin is sin and that spot on you will keep you separated from God. Be it separated by an inch or be it separated by a mile, is not the point. The point is we can be in an intimate position with God but instead are separated, because we were too pride, ignorant or stubborn to apologize and ask to be washed.

“¹⁰As it is written:…”
The following come from multiple scriptures. I will try to reference a few for you.

“…There is none righteous, no, not one; ¹¹There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. ¹²They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” (Psalm 14 or Psalm 53)

“¹³“Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; (Psalm 5:9)
“The poison of asps is under their lips”; (Psalm 140:3)

“¹⁴“Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” (Psalm 10:7)

“¹⁵“Their feet are swift to shed blood; ¹⁶Destruction and misery are in their ways; ¹⁷And the way of peace they have not known.” (Proverbs 1:16 and Isaiah 59:7)

“¹⁸“There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Psalm 36:1)

I know some of you know your scriptures well enough to know this, but for those who do not know: I sometimes speak and write and reference scriptures in my writing as I get going and the verses flow from me mixed with the point I am saying and they aren’t always full passages or verses, but sometimes partial and they aren’t always quoted word for word and since I have some memorized in multiple versions, sometimes I mix the versions together in my head on accident. And I may even say IT IS WRITTEN – even though it is not written in one place exactly as I had said it. And I sometimes do not stop and give you the chapter and verse for each one.
That is exactly what Paul did here. And yes, there was a Greek version of the Jewish scriptures which Paul studied and quoted from as well as the Hebrew. You will often see his quotes do not match up with our Old Testament because of this.

“¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. ²⁰Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

Here is the fault with The Law. (Yes there were a few faults obviously – which is why God had to take a greater measure and send His Son to die for our sins.) First of all, by “The Law” Paul is referring to the Atonement Law. The covenant for land and everything given to Jacob means the food laws and Sabbath are still in effect, as they state “forever”. But the Atonement part does not say forever. And Jesus came to fulfil it – not cancel it out and replace it. So you and I must understand it – because what Jesus did to fulfil it built upon it. Atonement Law was God’s rules on how to deal with sin. You take a blameless, spotless, perfect animal, and you lay your sins upon it. The price for sinning is death. Adam and Even knew NOT of death until they sinned – and the curse of death takes everything because of sin. So when you put your sins upon the lamb, you sacrifice it to God – and your sins are burnt up making a dark cloud of smoke and leaving behind soot and ash. It did not wash your sins away – it transferred them literally into dust of ash, and figuratively and spiritually off of you. Atonement doesn’t justify you before God it just acknowledges your sin.
If you aren’t a Jew and under The Law, you can’t understand your guilt and strive to be justified. So to fix this fault – Jesus came here, became the lamb (still need someone to pay death) But then, He overcame death and now we can be forgiven instead of atoned. We can be washed clean instead of being left with ashes to clean up. And we can be justified by God. Yes, it is through Jesus that we can have the revelation of our guilt before the righteousness of God – and be justified.

“²¹But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²²even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; ²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, ²⁶to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

A quick google search for the definition of propitiation says an appeasement or atonement to a god. I am unhappy with that satanically corrupted definition. Because if atonement was enough Jesus did not have to die. Propitiation is not a fancy way to say I atoned for my sins.
It is not an appeasement either. That gives me the imagined image in my head that God is a fire exploding volcano and if we throw Jesus in the volcano will stop rumbling. Or even worse, my dog is a little fat because when she acts up I feed her a treat to appease her and get her to do as I say – and I most certainly am not feeding Jesus to God every time He acts up – God does not act up.
Propitiation is a type of replacement. My sins means I was the one who deserved the beating and death. I committed the crime. But Jesus took my place in death, in the grave, and in resurrection – so I may life eternally, through faith in Jesus – and therefore our Just and Righteous God can justify us.

“²⁷Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.”
So The Atonement Law was fulfilled by Jesus and (just like everything Grace touches) it was transformed into the Law of Faith. We have spoken many times about how the Law and Grace are not opposites. We are not now “under grace” because atonement law no longer needs animal sacrifices. We are now under the Law of Faith (why don’t more people pick up that phrase?)! In the Law of Faith we no longer focus on our own sins, but we can give those sins away and focus on our redeemer.

“²⁸Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. ²⁹Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, ³⁰since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. ³¹Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.”
And for those who say we replace “The Law” and we get rid of “The Law” how about reading that Paul says “Certainly Not!” We now establish the law.

The point being made in these chapters is in the fine details of a core belief at the root of our ability to even be Christians, aka justified in the sight of God. It IS critical to read what is said and understand – it is Jesus, it is the very cornerstone we build our houses on. We cannot stand in the days to come if we are built on the lie of a corrupted grace that somehow replaced this orderly God (who doesn’t change). This universal law of death for sin has transformed, NOT changed, Not been replaced and is called The Law of Faith.
And as we continue our study, you will see that this establishment of law is still very much the same requiring we still make sacrifices, but not for atonement or justification. Which was the point of the old system at the temple, but man’s focus shifted over time and they missed the point. The raised their sheep, and thought they somehow took part in the atonement. They focused on the outside and forgot to examine themselves and look inward. Jesus now fills us on the inside and from the inside out, we are believers. The temple is now our bodies. The sacrifices happen within us. All of The Law, they used to play out physically was to teach them to do it internally, and when it did not happen, God sent Jesus to make it right and now we get it. Being clean or defiled comes from within, no matter how many times we wash our hands or shower. I suppose at this point we are starting to understand why we have spoken of justification for 3 days. Beside avoiding God’s wrath, which is frightening and preferable NOT to think of, we are studying justification to understand that it is in the Law of Faith – of believing He was and Is and IS TO COME!

So today, continue to examine yourself, do some housekeeping, and prepare the Temple (yourself) for a move of God within you as we clean up and practice these chapters along our way of studying Romans.

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

26 Apr 202225 Apr 2022

Accountability for Our Action – 4-26-22

“who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath” Romans 1:6-8 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of Romans chapter 2 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

God’s Righteous Judgment

2 Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. ²But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. ³And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? ⁵But in accordance with your hardness and your ^[a]impenitent heart you are ^[b]treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ⁶who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: ⁷eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; ⁸but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, ⁹tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the ^[c]Greek; ¹⁰but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹¹For there is no partiality with God.

¹²For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law ¹³(for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; ¹⁴for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, ¹⁵who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) ¹⁶in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.

The Jews Guilty as the Gentiles

¹⁷^[d]Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest^[e] on the law, and make your boast in God, ¹⁸and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, ¹⁹and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. ²¹You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? ²²You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? ²⁴For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” as it is written.

Circumcision of No Avail

²⁵For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. ²⁶Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? ²⁷And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your ^[f]written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? ²⁸For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; ²⁹but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose ^[g]praise is not from men but from God.

Footnotes

Romans 2:5 unrepentant
Romans 2:5 storing
Romans 2:9 Gentile
Romans 2:17 NU But if
Romans 2:17 rely
Romans 2:27 Lit. letter
Romans 2:29 A play on words—Jew is literally praise.

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Isaiah 41:10- “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

Thank you for returning. We started on this cray ride of Romans. I recall in my youth, people telling me it is the most difficult book to study because people refuse to be honest with themselves. They read it skim the parts that have potential to convict and repeat in their minds that they are fine, covered in grace. And then I come in and ask – what if that is a lie you bought and maybe you aren’t ok and do not know it. We saw Paul start his life in the Bible, killing Christians and believing he was going the work of the Lord. It is very possible to be convinced you are doing the Lords work and be wrong. That is how the enemies lies work. This is why we must stay humble and repentant. We must be honest with ourselves and with God.

Yesterday I challenged us all to take a few actions daily to help get us some healthy roots and to root out any wrong ways within us. This morning I opened up yesterdays to refresh my mind as to what it was and thought maybe I could copy it here today so we all do not have to refer back.
I am serious about making more changes in my life and becoming more Christ-like, to I err on the side of caution and I started with the prayer first then reviewed the list of things to do:

Dear God, I am sorry for being filled with all unrighteousness, and/or sexual immorality, and/or wickedness, and/or covetousness, and/or maliciousness, and/or envy, murder, and strife, and/or deceit and evil-mindedness, and/or being a whisperers and backbiters, and/or haters of God, and/or violent, and/or proud and boasting, and/or inventors of evil things, and/or disobedient to parents, and/or undiscerning, and/or untrustworthy, and/or unloving, and/or unforgiving, and/or unmerciful, and/or for practicing such things are deserving of death. Please forgive me even though I knew better and I understand the righteous judgment of You, God. Please wash me with the Blood of Jesus. Cleanse me and help me turn from my evil ways. And send a fresh filling of your anointing to break the yokes of bondage and help me destroy the roots with a mindful effort and focus on you. Please reignite the fire in my belly that I may burn for you in boldness. In the name of Jesus we pray ~amen

Now, staying humble and honest with ourselves – let us look at chapter two.
It starts with the word “Therefore”. We will see that word a lot during this book. Paul is making a long, logical argument in order to clarify the process of justification. This is the pivotal and critical corner stone of Christian belief – so we better understand what exactly this all is. So what is ‘therefore’, there for?

Because we are all a mess (we have either once sinned or we sin daily while struggling not to OR we are not even Christians yet and controlled completely in sin), we need a foundational understanding of who we are in that mess – lets separate the person and the sins and examine every aspect of it all.

“Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.” Verse 1

We started yesterday with discussing God’s wrath, which is due to sinner, and praying we get away with our sins and get the easy way out. But there are those ignoring the log of dirt in their own eye and pointing out the speck in someone else’s eye. I suppose, when confronted with our sin, it does feel good to say, “I am not that bad – look at that person who is much worse!” But while we are in the book of Romans, not much will feel good. Because if you do that, you are ‘judging’ as described in verse one and then subject to the curse – to be condemned by that very thing! God is not mocked – every word of these holy texts comes true. Luckily it is conditional on us NOT repenting and changing our ways.
Becoming Justified – starts with God’s judgments. They will happen in private in the quiet devotional time, in the prayer time – or if ignored and put off, it will happen publicly. Either we intentionally humble ourselves or God will humble us.

“²But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.”
“Such things” refers to the list of sins from yesterday, that was so all inclusive we each found ourselves guilty in full or in part somewhere on that list!

“³And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?”
Yes, we all hope to! Let us be honest! God’s wrath is the last thing we ever want to encounter. He is a loving and tender God and his corrections and discipline is hard enough – so yes, yes, yes we want to get away with our sins, be cleaned and pretend it never happened. We long for an easy justification. We even say that justification is like just-as-if-I-never-sinned. But there is no indication here in the book of Romans showing that to be truth. It is muddy water. The truth is, we sinned. It happened and we need a redeemer. He washes us and the mark of that cleansing in there and the consequences of some of those sins never go away. Getting humble, even when you humble yourself is never easy. Repenting and asking forgiveness is hard. Being cleansed is a free gift, yes, but there is nothing free on earth. It cost Jesus pain and His life – it costs us humility and repentance.

“⁴Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”
I get so mad at parents who pray for their prodigals and apply a corrupt version of tough love which is a disguise for control and comes from a heart of manipulation – worse yet is when it is taught and often taught with the idea that “Some people have to hit rock bottom” and so they pray that for them.
Remember Romans 2:4 when praying for souls – Dear Lord, Please provide to my son the riches of Your goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering. Draw him to You, in Your love. Bless my son and save his soul I pray, in the name of Jesus! ~amen
My son is already having a hard enough time in his sins doing it his way – He needs blessings and mercy. He needs love and acceptance. He needs all the things I needed when I called out to God. You do not NEED to hit rock bottom. You need to know you are in need of saving, and that Jesus can lovingly save you. No matter where you are at, even if it isn’t the bottom.

“⁵But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ⁶who “will render to each one according to his deeds”:”
This is why Paul is writing – there is literally an urgency! This judgmental spirit has crept into the church and we’ll have a bunch of Pharisees if left unchecked. In our modern church, when it is recognized we often call it the spirit of religion. It is the mother of hypocrisy – people begin to say ‘I was at church on Sunday and therefore I am ok – I can sin all week and repent Sunday morning.’ At the same time, they point at a neighbor in church and say, ‘stay away from them; they don’t live the Sunday message all week!’
Paul is trying to shake them awake and surely got an ‘amen’ out of one or two – but he is shaking awake for a good portion of this book. Paul literally writes in chapter 13 that it is high time y’all wake up! Why don’t you and I start reading with being awake and in honesty now, before we miss most of the book and wake up in chapter 13.

So – believers or nonbelievers, ALL of man (and woman) kind is earning an eternal treasure, a prize, or a reward of a sort. A paycheck in a sense. Eternal life in heaven is NOT the treasure, because you cannot earn it, or participate in it. It is a free gift.

So paid for your deed:
“⁷eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; ⁸but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, ⁹tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; ¹⁰but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹¹For there is no partiality with God.”
Again, this is NOT saying you can EARN HEAVEN. Jesus is the only one who can redeem us. We store up treasures in heaven or hell, maybe Paul should not have mentioned it here… because too many get hung up on the heaven or hell and miss that this whole thing (going back to the beginning, yesterday, is a discussion on our actions. Justification is separate from redemption or we wouldn’t need two words..

“¹²For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law ¹³(for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified;”
Jesus redeems us that is nothing we can do, except accept it. But our choices, actions and sins (if we think we can help it or not) will be judged by God and we will be either justified or Judged (aka experience the wrath of God). So let us stay focused on the topic of our behavior.

“¹⁴for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, ¹⁵who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them)”
If you do not know Jesus, if you do not know the law (aka the atonement law), if you do not know there is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun – the wages of sin is still death and you are still going to hell. Ouch. Where is mercy? Well, those of us who believe were told to tell everyone the gospel story. So everyone will have heard at least once, hopefully, and been able to make that choice. If we do not share, well, we are accountable for that, and those lives. Do you see? We are part of the plan of grace and mercy.
If you do not know the laws of God and still do them because they are good things to do and naturally you do good – you create a law for yourself. So either Jew (who knows better) or Gentile (who by nature knows and creates laws to be better) – we all know we aren’t supposed to sin!

“¹⁶in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.”
We know right from wrong, so much so we try to hide our wrongs. Like Adam hid from God after the first sin. Like we all try to avoid God when we do something we knew was wrong. Sometimes we rationalize it and press it down so much we start to believe it is forgiven and washed away, even though we never asked forgiveness or repented. Sometimes we hid it from ourselves thinking we hid it from God.

Let’s make sure we understand the modern application. ALL over this globe we live on, Christians have been praying for their evil leaders to turn to God and lead us righteously. We recognize that bad leaders is a judgement of God and we have repented, fasted and prayed. We called out to God to turn our leaders heart OR Judge this as evil and deliver us from it. Here is the small catch with that – when God Judges, it is universal. Some get judged (wrath) and some get vindicated (declared righteous and restored). God says His judgements will start in His house. Internationally we are seeing exposure in the churches all over the world. Doesn’t take a prophet to see this coming! All we need is to understand the Bible. You and I are next.
Paul’s wake up cry is this: He knows what it is like to be lied to by the devil and fall for it and still think he was still fervently serving God! He sees the signs of it stirring in the Roman believers. Either they didn’t really know, or were lied to – either way, the wrath of God is coming for them; and Paul is desperately crying out in love to them to expose it and show it.
You and I have the added grace to be able to be alone in a space reading this blog, or get alone, and sort this out with God in private. Thank you Jesus that we are not being exposed publicly!
And you may be thinking, this is way to firm and direct and aggressive and I am fine. It is you who should be the most afraid. We all found ourselves on that initial list. None of us are perfect and never commit a sin. And we do reach new plateaus – but if that is where you are, then new things are now prohibited to you and you have new sin struggles as you shed off more of your fleshly desires and become more Christ-like. At each peak, we meet the next mountain to climb.

Back when this was written, there was an argument: ‘but I am a Jew and I am fine”. So Paul addresses it in verses 17 through 24.
“¹⁷Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God, ¹⁸and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, ¹⁹and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. ²¹You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? ²²You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? ²⁴For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” as it is written.”
It reminds me of a dear brother who learned a lesson the hard way. He was a leader of the boy’s ministry and taught and was good and upright. But he had a problem with speeding. He loved fast cars and going fast. Out of his position with the boys, he often had to correct them or discuss sin problems. He was often pretty direct and hard, but because he loved the boys and wanted them to succeed. On day, he was called out on his sin of speeding in a small group of those same boys. He joked and blew it off. Later, to his embarrassment parents and other leaders came to him to address it. He said the right things and apologized – all was well. Two weeks later he got a speeding ticket and it was published in the police docket in the newspaper! (Yes, years ago – they do not publish speeding tickets anymore.) Immediately he was asked to resign from leading the boys.
You see this passage (of 17 to 24) can be for anyone or group who think that they are exempt from what Paul is teaching here. We are all in this same boat – no one is in a better boat.

During the beginning of the pandemic, people were saying we are all in the same boat. Then people started pointing out how some had cruise ships while other had old row boats with holes. BUT with God, we are all the same. We are all equally treated based on our actions. We all start in sin and once we believe we act like people who have been justified, and we stand firm in a position of justified. Or do we? The sad, honest truth is we do not, therefore Paul wrote this book.

And the final paragraph of this chapter addresses the fact that we are talking about actions and inward thoughts (secrets) and not outward things. To the Jews who thought just by being Jews they were somehow holier than the Gentiles he wrote:

“²⁵For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. ²⁶Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? ²⁷And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? ²⁸For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; ²⁹but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.”

But this very much has to do with anyone who outwardly dresses a certain way in order to show they are holier than thou. Or in any way sets themselves apart as holier than thou. It is the spirit of religion, the same description Jesus used to describe Pharisees: with loud prayers that are fancy, and a certain dress and a certain seat or assigned spot on stage or at the best tables at the feast, the served and not the servers. Do you remember that from back in Matthew, a few months ago?

So today, after we recall yesterday’s lesson and continue to make sure our roots are healthy, we learn about a critical judgmental attitude and / or a spirit of religion. If it is a demon whispering in your ear telling you to criticize or your insecurity compelling you or if it is your need to be seen and justified by man and not wait on the Lord for His vindication… we need to make sure we do not carry this attitude and action.

Lord, please help us humbly evaluate ourselves and no matter the reason it is here, please clear it out of our life. Let us remember, to glorify you and not our self by thinking we are exempt. Lord, you are enough, and we will repent, ask forgiveness and wait on your justification. Lord, please justify us, redeem us, save us from our self-destruction, and restore us. We have acted out of flesh, sin and lies we bought and are truly sorry. We do not deserve to be justified, so we rely on grace to get us to where we need to be today; be it back where we started or starting at a new plateau closer to you. Help us as we go through this book to see our sins, compromises, and actions outside of your will for our lies, expose us gently in love and draw us to you. Thank you for holding us accountable for our actions and correcting us to draw us closer and make us more like you. In the name of Jesus we pray ~amen.

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

25 Apr 202225 Apr 2022

Welcome to the Book of Romans, Sinners – 4-25-22

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:16-17 NKJV

Fasten your seatbelts we are in for a ride. Commit to reading this book and beware of offense. If something I say can be taken offensively or in a blessed way – know I mean no offense. I find often, offense and self-condemnation stand in the way of studying this book. I also find people getting lost in grace or lost in legalism completely sidetrack to the point of this book where in the law and grace live side by side since the beginning of time even until now. But I will explain that later. (Many of you know I often explain how the law and grace are not opposites – we get that from this book, as well as others.) But we are all sinners so you will be called out by this book. If you are not called out, then be scared that you are deceived and do not see you are a sinner. We all are. It is one of this book’s main points. We need God and the forgiving, sin washing power of the Blood of Christ to save us! That is the point! It is acknowledgeablely a very difficult book to get through.
But we will take it verse by verse and fight off demonic attack and distraction every step of the way. Ready warriors? Let’s do this!

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of Romans chapter 1 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Greeting

1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God ²which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, ³concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who ^[a]was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, ⁴and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. ⁵Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, ⁶among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;

⁷To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Desire to Visit Rome

⁸First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. ⁹For God is my witness, whom I serve ^[b]with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, ¹⁰making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. ¹¹For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established— ¹²that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

¹³Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. ¹⁴I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. ¹⁵So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.

The Just Live by Faith

¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the gospel ^[c]of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. ¹⁷For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness

¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who ^[d]suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹because what may be known of God is ^[e]manifest ^[f]in them, for God has shown it to them. ²⁰For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and ^[g]Godhead, so that they are without excuse, ²¹because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²²Professing to be wise, they became fools, ²³and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like ^[h]corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

²⁴Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, ²⁵who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

²⁶For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their ^[i]women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. ²⁷Likewise also the ^[j]men, leaving the natural use of the ^[k]woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

²⁸And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; ²⁹being filled with all unrighteousness, ^[l]sexual immorality, wickedness, ^[m]covetousness, ^[n]maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, ³⁰backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, ³¹^[o]undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, ^[p]unforgiving, unmerciful; ³²who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

Footnotes

Romans 1:3 came
Romans 1:9 Or in
Romans 1:16 NU omits of Christ
Romans 1:18 hold down
Romans 1:19 evident
Romans 1:19 among
Romans 1:20 divine nature, deity
Romans 1:23 perishable
Romans 1:26 Lit. females
Romans 1:27 Lit. males
Romans 1:27 Lit. female
Romans 1:29 NU omits sexual immorality
Romans 1:29 greed
Romans 1:29 malice
Romans 1:31 without understanding
Romans 1:31 NU omits unforgiving

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Isaiah 41:10- “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

Welcome to the Book of Romans. I have NEVER studied this book and not learned something new or been touched and transformed more! Written by Paul to the believers in Rome, in approximately 57 ce, Romans is the longest letter and thought to have been written while Paul was in Corinth. We just read Mark which was also written to Roman believers about 10 years later.
Each letter Paul wrote, was to address an issue in the church he was writing to and then was copied and spread around so everyone could learn from Paul’s teachings. This letter encompasses the application of the gospel to our lives and how to spiritually be a Christian. It explains the Jewish roots and how Christianity is not a replacement but the next step God has for us and continues His promises in freedom. Mark goes on to explain the Gospel again and more clearly, by explaining the actions of Jesus. Since we just studied to actions of Jesus (who we should be like), it is extremely logical to dig into how this applies to our spirit and soul. Now that you have confessed your belief, become ‘saved’, and entered into a relationship – what next? Romans.
Roman’s also addresses a few issues with clarity of how belief in Christ continues to the Work God, through us. It is a firm book, written in love, in hopes that the hearers will receive and commit completely surrendered to Jesus. And understand why they have a personal responsibility to receive freely yet participate through complete surrender. Please let this book challenge you to surrender more. Let all un-surrendered areas of your life be released to Jesus for God’s perfect will and glorification, while we work through the exercises Paul sets before us.

Roman’s 1 begins with a greeting in which Paul says He is the Author. Back then, letters were signed at the beginning. Around this same time, there was a growing trend to seal and sign a scroll on the outside at the end. Because of this some of the books of the Bible’s true authorship is unknown but speculated. And as they quickly learned the damage can happen during the delivery, by the end of the 1^st century and into the 2^nd, letters were then signed on the inside at the end, more similar to modern custom. I personally do not sign “my” work, so that God is glorified and not me. But many do know I am the person sitting here typing. I pray to God that He is ALWAYS glorified and seen as the inspiration and the one who brings revelation, explanation and understanding to draw you closer to Him and make you more like Him.

Paul prays to grace and peace to the hearers of his letters (remember back them few could read or had the privilege of reading these letters. They had to gather where they were being read and hear it). In our modern world we lack this blessing to our brothers and sisters. At the bottom of every post is my prayer over you all that God’s peace keeps you and grace covers you. We must do a better job of speaking like, peace and grace over each other and into each other’s lives in prayer as well as in person.

Paul also includes in his greeting, by whose authority he speaks. In our modern world we make that assumption, for example: I do not start each blog post telling you how I felt called by the Lord to share my Bible studies via a blog, and I think that those of you who follow and indicate with a like that you are a daily follower, already assume that I operate under a calling and therefore under the authority of the one who called me and told me to do so (being Christ the King). I also would never be as bold as Paul to say my words are scripture or that I am the voice of God. But I do my very best to be an empty vessel that God can flow through to bring a little bit of new to these verses so many of you have heard many times and to plant seed into hearts who have never heard these things.

Because it was so recent that we studied Acts, I am not going to get into the details of why, Paul writes that he wants to get to Rome, but it isn’t possible that the time in which he writes it.

So let’s run down the basics. Jesus is the Christ. The Christ is the prophesied Messiah, King of the Jews, The Creator, and Our Savior. In a relationship with Him, Paul has the Authority to write. It is assumed, since he is writing to believers that they understand that Jesus died for our sins, meaning – to forgive us. And that Jesus rose again and is a LIVING Lord. What is NOT assumed and apparently needs chapters of explanation on, is how the death and resurrection justifies us, how it forgives sin – and what that means for our actions and behaviors after we come to the understanding of what if fully means.

So Paul begins with:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” Verses 16-17

He jumps right in to the deep end.

I am not sure how to get through this book with SO MUCH in every sentence.
Not ashamed. Even seasoned soul winners and people who witness to others in the grocery store and gas station have moments where an unexplained fear in the since of shame or something of the like, overshadows them to prevent them from fulfilling a mission. I confessed to you the time I saw a homeless man and walked away instead of going to him and sharing the gospel. I asked God for a redo and I have not seen the man again, despite going to look for him. I was surprised by my own reaction when I did not go preach when I had opportunity. It is so not like me. This ashamed, this fear, or this inhibition needed to break again from me – I pray for HOLY GHOST BOLDNESS OVER ME AND YOU! That you will not see an opportunity and screw it up as I did. And that I will not miss another opportunity.

The power of salvation to others is the same power that saved me and the same power over death that raised Jesus from the grave. It is more powerful than fear, shame, embarrassment or demon who tries to come against the will of the Lord!

Our righteousness is revealed faith to faith – as we live by faith we produce fruit of faith (like in verse 13) and we know, that we know that we are saved, we are transformed, and we are servants of God.
Therefore, speaking to new believers Paul takes much of this book to not only explain justification, but also that it is not by works we are saved, but once we are saved we will produce works out of the abundance of love growing in us. Otherwise in my personal famine I could say that my faith that God is turning this around and blessing me abundantly is my justification – when I am justified by my faith in the work of the cross and therefore God is turning this around and blessing me. I seek God and not blessings. Blessings seek me as I seek God – because it is written and therefore it is.

Now – you and I say we are believers or want to be (I hardly doubt you have read this far without any invested interest in the subject but if you did, please keep reading). The hard thing about being a new believer is not knowing any better, so Paul will explain. But you and I aren’t really new here, and the problem with that is we think we know.
Like, I grew up in a Christian home. I do not recall if and when I ever said the salvation prayer and meant it. Every Sunday Pastor said repeat after me and many time I repeated it, and meant it. At some point I was saved – I professed Jesus as my Lord. During the covid shut down, my son’s girlfriend sat and watch church every Sunday and Wednesday with me and we recited out loud after the pastor, the salvation prayer every service, we had it practically memorized. And one day she looked at me and said I am saved. I looked at her and said you are? And she said that she has repeated it so many times that now she means it and she is. Unfortunately the world opened back up and she learned about drinking and partying and left my son and is very lost and unrecognizable. How quickly the devil chokes out the good seeds with weeds.
My point is sometimes we think we are saved, by growing up in a Christian home and trying to be good, by being Catholic and baptized and paying our penance, or like some of the Jews Paul is writing to here we think we earned it by participating in raising the animal we would give as our sacrifice, or like some of the Greeks here we think just saying Jesus is Lord is enough and that is it – we can coast and it’s a free ride.

You might not want to be saved once you read Romans. It points out that Christianity is difficult and anything BUT a free ride. But we will get to that. But we will start with the Wrath of God on unrighteousness. And we are not speaking of the unrighteousness of the ignorant world – no. we are talking about the wrath of God on those who profess Jesus is Lord, those who God made himself known and manifest (verse 19). Yes. Justification starts with Judgement – God Judges us so we can repent and the devil cannot accuse or condemn us.

We are talking about those who (and read carefully to make sure you are not in this list) have no excuse for not being on fire (verse 20); those who did not give God the glory and/or glorify Him as God, those who are not thankful, those whose thoughts are not subject to Philippians 4:8, aka think on the wrong things, those who are foolish in sin letting their hearts darken (verse 21); those who profess to be wise (verse 22), …

(this is an area I pay close attention to, I study diligently and ask God for wisdom daily, therefore I can be prone to being proud in my our thinking and not humbles under the scriptures. I have seen many great Bible scholars learn so much that they can no longer be taught and their hearts harden. I have seen them raise their knowledge above the scriptures instead of being humbly beneath them. Yes – stay eager to study and learn and assume you do not know it all.)

…those who corrupt God and the scriptures (the false prophets who change the scriptures to mean what they want to be justified by flesh in their sins instead of being justified by God from their sins), including deifying the created over The Creator (verse 23).

That is the list we do not want to be on. That is where Judgment fall first. When we think of judgment, we think of bolts of lightning, the ground splitting open and swallowing or dropping dead like Ananias and Sapphire did in Acts chapter 5. But no. This is actually so much worse. You ask God to take his hand off you by doing these actions, then His wrath comes in the form of taking His hand off of you, removing His grace, withdrawing His tender mercies, and letting you self-destruct in your sins.

“Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” Verses 24-25.

What follows sounds like Disney’s indoctrination plan, they publicized quietly but has recently come to light and been revealed. It sounds like the demonic “woke” agenda of the far left:
“For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.” Verses 26-27
Yes, this is saying God has removed His hand from Disney. They are NO LONGER (and possibly never truly were) a family focused company. Watch as this kingdom crumbles beneath their sins. Just as I did when I pursued self over God. Just as the prodigal son did when he pursued self over God. Just as everyone in the Bible who pursues self over God also crumbled under their sins unless, repentance came swiftly and had mercy on them. (Or maybe repentance came when they were on the ground with the ruins of their life crumpled on top of them crushing them, as I was – then, mercy can come in with a supernatural experience with grace – Like Jesus finding that one lost lamb tangled and near death in the briars.) I do not have any faith that Disney will repent and as Christians leave more and more of God’s grace parts from them.

The above list (that we do not want to find ourselves in) are the roots. In case you did not recognize the root cause maybe you can recognize the fruits those roots produce? That list is found in here:
“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers,backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.” Verses 28-32.

Well, that list hurts a little. Let’s not play ‘Never Have I Ever” with that list, because we are all sinners and have done at least one thing on that list at some point in our lives. We may still struggle with something(s) on that list – we are in fact human. DO NOT CONDEMN YOURSELF TO HELL! Do not accuse yourself into depression or oppression. Listen, God LOVES you so be gentle on yourself as He is. If you find yourself on this is, as I often find myself somewhere on there, below we will begin a plan of counter attack against the enemy and to kill the roots. HOWEVER, ALSO DO NOT EXCUSE OR MAKE LIGHT OF IT, IF YOU DO FIND YOURSELF ON THE LIST. IT IS STILL A SINFUL ABONINATION TO GOD AND REASON FOR HIS WRATH. Please take this serious and join us with killing it at the root.

So we also have a root that leads to that evil fruit that must be dealt with from the above list: not being on fire for God; those who did not give God the glory and/or glorify Him, those who are not thankful, those whose thoughts are not subject to God; those who profess to be wiser that God, those who corrupt God and the scriptures (the false prophets who change the scriptures to mean what they want to be justified by flesh in their sins instead of being justified by God from their sins), including deifying the created over The Creator. So I guess we need to start there.

Let’s try an exercise, maybe? A counter attack against these evil roots. You see, way too many self-help guru’s and pastors have taught on that list of sins – and all it seems to do is give more power to the sin over us (which is not Biblical). Through the Holy Spirit and the Power of Jesus we have authority over sin. But NOT if we are focused on the sin instead of focused on God. And NOT if we are working on a sin that has us all bound up (or thinking we are bound up). And not if we are intentionally sinning. So let us repent of that list.
Dear God, I am sorry for being filled with all unrighteousness, and/or sexual immorality, and/or wickedness, and/or covetousness, and/or maliciousness, and/or envy, murder, and strife, and/or deceit and evil-mindedness, and/or being a whisperers and backbiters, and/or haters of God, and/or violent, and/or proud and boasting, and/or inventors of evil things, and/or disobedient to parents, and/or undiscerning, and/or untrustworthy, and/or unloving, and/or unforgiving, and/or unmerciful, and/or for practicing such things are deserving of death. Please forgive me even though I knew better and I understand the righteous judgment of You, God. Please wash me with the Blood of Jesus. Cleanse me and help me turn from my evil ways. And send a fresh filling of your anointing to break the yoks and help me destroy the roots with a mindful effort and focus on you. In the name of Jesus we pray ~amen

So, while we are reading through this book, let’s ask God to reignite the fire in our bellies for Him, filling us to overflowing with His Spirit! Let us also be thoughtful and NOT take credit for anything – giving all credit to God. Let’s all also commit to adding a task to our morning routines, like let our coffee trigger it, or something else in your morning routine trigger it – and let’s commit to spending a few minutes every morning just thanking God for everything and anything and giving Him glory. Set an alarm on your phone if you need to. And commit to it daily while we read this book. Let us also guard our thoughts and not let our minds wander. When we catch our minds wandering, let us repent and release those thoughts and be prayerful and intentional in thinking. And finally – let us be humble. Humble enough to say I do not know it all and God has something new to reveal to me in this book. Be humble enough to receive something new daily from God. Humble enough to begin to make connection between many things where God is saying and confirming His will to you for your life.
Let’s work on making sure we have healthy roots so that we do not bear the wrong fruit and therefore the wrath of God. Even if we normally do these things instinctually in love for God – make more of an effort while reading this book because these are the areas you and I will struggle with while reading it if we are not prepared for the fight.
God will never stop loving us, and His love is always there so we can repent – but He is separated from us by our sins and He removes His hand in His wrath when the wrong fruits produce.

To young believers, we can see why Paul might need to lay this out for them. But Paul is laying a foundation and this is not the point of the message. Let us all quickly come into agreement with the word of God and grab ahold of this foundation in practice. Hopefully we have already chosen between life and death, and choose to follow God – we cannot stop at the choice, after we choose we must act on it and grow our relationship with God.

I am setting an alarm on my phone to remind me to be thoughtful and intentional in my gratitude and thoughts humbling submitting to God daily. It is the easiest way to keep it at the forefront of my mind. It will be interesting to see where we are May 16^th when we finish this book.

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

24 Apr 202222 Apr 2022

WEEKEND READING – 4-24-22

“The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.” Psalm 14:1-2 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of Psalms chapters 11-16 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Faith in the Lord’s Righteousness

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

11 In the Lord I put my trust;
How can you say to my soul,
“Flee as a bird to your mountain”?
²For look! The wicked bend their bow,
They make ready their arrow on the string,
That they may shoot ^[a]secretly at the upright in heart.
³If the foundations are destroyed,
What can the righteous do?

⁴The Lord is in His holy temple,
The Lord’s throne is in heaven;
His eyes behold,
His eyelids test the sons of men.
⁵The Lord tests the righteous,
But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.
⁶Upon the wicked He will rain coals;
Fire and brimstone and a burning wind
Shall be ^[b]the portion of their cup.

⁷For the Lord is righteous,
He loves righteousness;
^[c]His countenance beholds the upright.

Man’s Treachery and God’s Constancy

To the Chief Musician. On ^[d]an eight-stringed harp. A Psalm of David.

12 Help,^[e] Lord, for the godly man ceases!
For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
²They speak idly everyone with his neighbor;
With flattering lips and ^[f]a double heart they speak.

³May the Lord ^[g]cut off all flattering lips,
And the tongue that speaks ^[h]proud things,
⁴Who have said,
“With our tongue we will prevail;
Our lips are our own;
Who is lord over us?”

⁵“For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy,
Now I will arise,” says the Lord;
“I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.”

⁶The words of the Lord are pure words,
Like silver tried in a furnace of earth,
Purified seven times.
⁷You shall keep them, O Lord,
You shall preserve them from this generation forever.

⁸The wicked prowl on every side,
When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.

Trust in the Salvation of the Lord

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

13 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
²How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart daily?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

³Consider and hear me, O Lord my God;
Enlighten my eyes,
Lest I sleep the sleep of death;
⁴Lest my enemy say,
“I have prevailed against him”;
Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.

⁵But I have trusted in Your mercy;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
⁶I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

Folly of the Godless, and God’s Final Triumph

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

14 The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt,
They have done abominable works,
There is none who does good.

²The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men,
To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
³They have all turned aside,
They have together become corrupt;
There is none who does good,
No, not one.

⁴Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge,
Who eat up my people as they eat bread,
And do not call on the Lord?
⁵There they are in great fear,
For God is with the generation of the righteous.
⁶You shame the counsel of the poor,
But the Lord is his refuge.

⁷Oh,^[i] that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!
When the Lord brings back ^[j]the captivity of His people,
Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.

The Character of Those Who May Dwell with the Lord

A Psalm of David.

15 Lord, who may ^[k]abide in Your tabernacle?
Who may dwell in Your holy hill?

²He who walks uprightly,
And works righteousness,
And speaks the truth in his heart;
³He who does not backbite with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor,
Nor does he ^[l]take up a reproach against his friend;
⁴In whose eyes a vile person is despised,
But he honors those who fear the Lord;
He who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
⁵He who does not put out his money at usury,
Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things shall never be moved.

The Hope of the Faithful, and the Messiah’s Victory

A Michtam of David.

16 Preserve^[m] me, O God, for in You I put my trust.

²O my soul, you have said to the Lord,
“You are my Lord,
My goodness is nothing apart from You.”
³As for the saints who are on the earth,
“They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.”

⁴Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god;
Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer,
Nor take up their names on my lips.

⁵O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You ^[n]maintain my lot.
⁶The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Yes, I have a good inheritance.

⁷I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel;
My ^[o]heart also instructs me in the night seasons.
⁸I have set the Lord always before me;
Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.

⁹Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will ^[p]rest in hope.
¹⁰For You will not leave my soul in ^[q]Sheol,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to ^[r]see corruption.
¹¹You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Footnotes

Psalm 11:2 Lit. in darkness
Psalm 11:6 Their allotted portion or serving
Psalm 11:7 Or The upright beholds His countenance
Psalm 12:1 Heb. sheminith
Psalm 12:1 Save
Psalm 12:2 An inconsistent mind
Psalm 12:3 destroy
Psalm 12:3 great
Psalm 14:7 Lit. Who will give out of Zion the salvation of Israel?
Psalm 14:7 Or His captive people
Psalm 15:1 sojourn
Psalm 15:3 receive
Psalm 16:1 Watch over
Psalm 16:5 Lit. uphold
Psalm 16:7 Mind, lit. kidneys
Psalm 16:9 Or dwell securely
Psalm 16:10 The abode of the dead
Psalm 16:10 undergo

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Isaiah 41:10- “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

23 Apr 202222 Apr 2022

WEEKEND READING – 4-23-22

“The Lord is King forever and ever; The nations have perished out of His land. Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear, To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may oppress no more.” Psalm 10:16-18 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of Psalms chapters 6-10 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

A Prayer of Faith in Time of Distress

To the Chief Musician. With stringed instruments. On ^[a]an eight-stringed harp. A Psalm of David.

6 O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger,
Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.
²Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak;
O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled.
³My soul also is greatly troubled;
But You, O Lord—how long?

⁴Return, O Lord, deliver me!
Oh, save me for Your mercies’ sake!
⁵For in death there is no remembrance of You;
In the grave who will give You thanks?

⁶I am weary with my groaning;
^[b]All night I make my bed swim;
I drench my couch with my tears.
⁷My eye wastes away because of grief;
It grows old because of all my enemies.

⁸Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity;
For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.
⁹The Lord has heard my supplication;
The Lord will receive my prayer.
¹⁰Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled;
Let them turn back and be ashamed suddenly.

Prayer and Praise for Deliverance from Enemies

A Meditation^[c] of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite.

7 O Lord my God, in You I put my trust;
Save me from all those who persecute me;
And deliver me,
²Lest they tear me like a lion,
Rending me in pieces, while there is none to deliver.

³O Lord my God, if I have done this:
If there is iniquity in my hands,
⁴If I have repaid evil to him who was at peace with me,
Or have plundered my enemy without cause,
⁵Let the enemy pursue me and overtake me;
Yes, let him trample my life to the earth,
And lay my honor in the dust. Selah

⁶Arise, O Lord, in Your anger;
Lift Yourself up because of the rage of my enemies;
Rise up ^[d]for me to the judgment You have commanded!
⁷So the congregation of the peoples shall surround You;
For their sakes, therefore, return on high.
⁸The Lord shall judge the peoples;
Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness,
And according to my integrity within me.

⁹Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end,
But establish the just;
For the righteous God tests the hearts and ^[e]minds.
¹⁰^[f]My defense is of God,
Who saves the upright in heart.

¹¹God is a just judge,
And God is angry with the wicked every day.
¹²If he does not turn back,
He will sharpen His sword;
He bends His bow and makes it ready.
¹³He also prepares for Himself instruments of death;
He makes His arrows into fiery shafts.

¹⁴Behold, the wicked brings forth iniquity;
Yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood.
¹⁵He made a pit and dug it out,
And has fallen into the ditch which he made.
¹⁶His trouble shall return upon his own head,
And his violent dealing shall come down on ^[g]his own crown.

¹⁷I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness,
And will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.

The Glory of the Lord in Creation

To the Chief Musician. ^[h]On the instrument of Gath. A Psalm of David.

8 O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory above the heavens!

²Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have ^[i]ordained strength,
Because of Your enemies,
That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

³When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
⁴What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit^[j] him?
⁵For You have made him a little lower than ^[k]the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

⁶You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
⁷All sheep and oxen—
Even the beasts of the field,
⁸The birds of the air,
And the fish of the sea
That pass through the paths of the seas.

⁹O Lord, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

Prayer and Thanksgiving for the Lord’s Righteous Judgments

To the Chief Musician. To the tune of ^[l]“Death of the Son.” A Psalm of David.

9 I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart;
I will tell of all Your marvelous works.
²I will be glad and rejoice in You;
I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.

³When my enemies turn back,
They shall fall and perish at Your presence.
⁴For You have maintained my right and my cause;
You sat on the throne judging in righteousness.
⁵You have rebuked the ^[m]nations,
You have destroyed the wicked;
You have blotted out their name forever and ever.

⁶O enemy, destructions are finished forever!
And you have destroyed cities;
Even their memory has perished.
⁷But the Lord shall endure forever;
He has prepared His throne for judgment.
⁸He shall judge the world in righteousness,
And He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness.

⁹The Lord also will be a refuge^[n] for the oppressed,
A refuge in times of trouble.
¹⁰And those who know Your name will put their trust in You;
For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.

¹¹Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion!
Declare His deeds among the people.
¹²When He avenges blood, He remembers them;
He does not forget the cry of the ^[o]humble.

¹³Have mercy on me, O Lord!
Consider my trouble from those who hate me,
You who lift me up from the gates of death,
¹⁴That I may tell of all Your praise
In the gates of ^[p]the daughter of Zion.
I will rejoice in Your salvation.

¹⁵The ^[q]nations have sunk down in the pit which they made;
In the net which they hid, their own foot is caught.
¹⁶The Lord is known by the judgment He executes;
The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.
Meditation.^[r] Selah

¹⁷The wicked shall be turned into hell,
And all the ^[s]nations that forget God.
¹⁸For the needy shall not always be forgotten;
The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever.

¹⁹Arise, O Lord,
Do not let man prevail;
Let the ^[t]nations be judged in Your sight.
²⁰Put them in fear, O Lord,
That the ^[u]nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah

A Song of Confidence in God’s Triumph over Evil

10 Why do You stand afar off, O Lord?
Why do You hide in times of trouble?
²The wicked in his pride ^[v]persecutes the poor;
Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.

³For the wicked boasts of his heart’s desire;
^[w]He blesses the greedy and renounces the Lord.
⁴The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God;
^[x]God is in none of his thoughts.

⁵His ways ^[y]are always prospering;
Your judgments are far above, out of his sight;
As for all his enemies, he sneers at them.
⁶He has said in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
I shall never be in adversity.”
⁷His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression;
Under his tongue is trouble and iniquity.

⁸He sits in the lurking places of the villages;
In the secret places he murders the innocent;
His eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless.
⁹He lies in wait secretly, as a lion in his den;
He lies in wait to catch the poor;
He catches the poor when he draws him into his net.
¹⁰So ^[z]he crouches, he lies low,
That the helpless may fall by his ^[aa]strength.
¹¹He has said in his heart,
“God has forgotten;
He hides His face;
He will never see.”

¹²Arise, O Lord!
O God, lift up Your hand!
Do not forget the humble.
¹³Why do the wicked renounce God?
He has said in his heart,
“You will not require an account.”

¹⁴But You have seen, for You observe trouble and grief,
To repay it by Your hand.
The helpless commits^[ab] himself to You;
You are the helper of the fatherless.
¹⁵Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man;
Seek out his wickedness until You find none.

¹⁶The Lord is King forever and ever;
The nations have perished out of His land.
¹⁷Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble;
You will prepare their heart;
You will cause Your ear to hear,
¹⁸To ^[ac]do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
That the man of the earth may ^[ad]oppress no more.

Footnotes

Psalm 6:1 Heb. sheminith
Psalm 6:6 Or Every night
Psalm 7:1 Heb. Shiggaion
Psalm 7:6 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; LXX O Lord my God
Psalm 7:9 Lit. kidneys, the most secret part of man
Psalm 7:10 Lit. My shield is upon God
Psalm 7:16 The crown of his own head
Psalm 8:1 Heb. Al Gittith
Psalm 8:2 established
Psalm 8:4 give attention to or care for
Psalm 8:5 Heb. Elohim, God; LXX, Syr., Tg., Jewish tradition angels
Psalm 9:1 Heb. Muth Labben
Psalm 9:5 Gentiles
Psalm 9:9 Lit. secure height
Psalm 9:12 afflicted
Psalm 9:14 Jerusalem
Psalm 9:15 Gentiles
Psalm 9:16 Heb. Higgaion
Psalm 9:17 Gentiles
Psalm 9:19 Gentiles
Psalm 9:20 Gentiles
Psalm 10:2 hotly pursues
Psalm 10:3 Or The greedy man curses and spurns the Lord
Psalm 10:4 Or All his thoughts are, “There is no God”
Psalm 10:5 Lit. are strong
Psalm 10:10 Or he is crushed, is bowed
Psalm 10:10 Or mighty ones
Psalm 10:14 Lit. leaves, entrusts
Psalm 10:18 vindicate
Psalm 10:18 terrify

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Isaiah 41:10– “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

22 Apr 202222 Apr 2022

Go Into All the World – 4-22-22

“And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;theywill take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Mark 16:15-18 NKJV

I quote or partially quote “Go, ye, therefore..” (Matt 28:19) so often you probably think it is my favorite version of the Great Commission. But I think this one is my favorite! It is so black or white. Matthew’s version says to teach and make disciples – which is the basis of this blog. But Mark cleans it up a bit. When we are looking for opportunities to share Jesus we get hung up on the outcome – making believers and disciples. And it is good to have a place to direct them once they have heard and accepted the good news. But only God can MAKE them believers and MAKE them want to follow Him. Mark clears it up in relation to that. We are just to preach the gospel message to ALL creatures.
When I was a child I would preach to my dog, or out in the fields to the sheep, the birds, the snakes, and bugs. They all know their creator. But they are not made with the cognitive ability to choose heaven or hell or to have a real relationship with God. I love my puppy, but she only comes to me because I am nice and the only human she knows. God wants more from us that just that, because we are capable of more. It is every individual’s responsibility for what they do with the message once they hear it. It is just our job to share it. Signs and wonders and great exploits will follow.

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of Mark chapter 16 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

He Is Risen

16 Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. ²Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. ³And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” ⁴But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. ⁵And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.

⁶But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. ⁷But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going ^[a]before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.”

⁸So they went out ^[b]quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Mary Magdalene Sees the Risen Lord

⁹^[c]Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. ¹⁰She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. ¹¹And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.

Jesus Appears to Two Disciples

¹²After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. ¹³And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.

The Great Commission

¹⁴Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. ¹⁵And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. ¹⁶He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷And these signs will follow those who ^[d]believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; ¹⁸they^[e] will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Christ Ascends to God’s Right Hand

¹⁹So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. ²⁰And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.

Footnotes

Mark 16:7 ahead of
Mark 16:8 NU, M omit quickly
Mark 16:9 Vv. 9–20 are bracketed in NU as not in the original text. They are lacking in Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, although nearly all other mss. of Mark contain them.
Mark 16:17 have believed
Mark 16:18 NU and in their hands they will

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Isaiah 41:10- “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

The last chapter of Mark only has 8 verses in the oldest known manuscript. If you are reading it from your Bible, you will see verses 9-20, bracketed. Even in the online version which I copy and paste in every day – the footnotes (which never format correctly) say they are “not in the original text”. Which is speculation to assume the oldest text we have found is the original.
So where did those verses come from? Old scrolls found in Ethiopia and a few Greek manuscripts. Mark went on mission trips to Egypt and Ethiopia (and later to Greece and Rome) – so it is possible verses 9-20 were written by Mark. But the oldest scroll ends with room on the paper, so he could have kept going. Maybe this one was a copy and the writer never finished? If that is the case I pray we find an older copy or the original.
But wait – there is more! There is another ending found with one verse instead of 9-20. It was found in manuscripts from the 3^rd century. That verse is included between verse 8 and 9 in the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. That verse usually reads:

“But they reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after this, Jesus himself (appeared to them and) sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation”

I was raised on the King James Version, and therefore most of my memorization is in King James. For ease of use, I use New King James here – although I often pull from other version to mix it up, or give insight. But the King James and New King James are among a select few versions that do not omit any verses while many other versions do.

I agree that the “long version” mathematically has a higher probability of being Mark’s intended message.

Now with the confusion and questioning, I asked my pastor (years ago) what do we do with verse 9-20. There are powerful verses in there – some of my favorite. And he said, if they have power – then they are the word of God and not to be questioned. This is profound. Because we can know that 9-20 has a mysterious past – and still accept it as the inspired work of God, His revelation to man, and His plan of Salvation. And so I do. Without question.

When I came back to God I was attending a church that did an online lunch bible study – at noon daily, on a social media platform. They were doing the book of Mark and so, when I did not have a meeting, I would join. We were to read the section ahead of time (so I did it the night before) and joint the live discussion. The last chapter came and I read the whole thing. And I turned on the discussion and the pastor spoke about it being a short 8 verses and only discussed the 8 verses and alluded to the short alternate ending. And that pastor refused to acknowledge verses 9-20.

I accept 9-20 and will not deny them as holy. God’s word never returns void and always accomplishes what it set out to accomplish – and in these verses much has been accomplished.

Mark’s version of Christ having risen at the tomb’s side and the women’s shock and mourning is the shortest and least descriptive of all the version of what took place there. Mark, jumped in at the beginning of the book with fast paced, Attention Deficit Disorder style jumping around and excited “let me tell you this and this and this…” And then lots of focus and detail on Passion Week, which were events that he probably experienced first-hand as well as receiving Peters account in order to complete the book. But if Mark was a child, and ran home naked and Jesus was killed. His mother probably did not let him go back immediately to be with the men who followed Jesus. And then the men who followed went to Galilee and I will guess (yes, this is a guess) that Mark’s older cousin Barnabas (who traveled with Paul) went to Galilee but young Mark stayed home. When the men all went to Jerusalem for Pentecost, I believe Mark rejoined them.
So – Mark would have missed the details of the day or the resurrection. And never got many details from Peter. So how would you end the Gospel? No one had written it down before Mark. How should it end? Jesus is alive – that is what matters. Mark was living out the works of the Book of Acts while writing the gospel, so his readers would that part. And what happened between Jesus be alive and Mark telling you He is alive and you can still be saved, healed, and delivered – that in between wasn’t the point to Mark. Mark was a soul winner – he was about conversions. He was about bring this message to as many people as possible.
He gets a bad reputation because he seemingly never finished his book here and he bailed out of Paul’s mission trip. But his trips south to Egypt and Ethiopia reached many large groups and many were saved.
Mark had a short life – he died before the temple fell, in approximately 68 AD. He was witnessing in Alexandria when they tied him up, rope around the neck and dragged him through the streets until he was dead.

Verse 8:
“So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”
If Mark ended the book here – well, this literally is the end of the gospel. Other gospels slowly transition and overlap the book of Acts. But I am not bothered by this ending.
And the “added” verses are great!

First we see Jesus providing the some personal attention to Mary. He appears first to the women, then He goes to the two men on the road.

Then appears to the disciples – with the great commission (as I spoke of in the beginning). But let me repeat this:
“And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;theywill take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Verses 17-18
I prayed this verse during a prayer meeting at a church once. And after a deacon came to me and told me to settle down – that sort of thing isn’t going to happen there. I looked him straight in his dead eyes and said: ‘You are right.’ Because they only follow those who believe – not those who reject it, not those who are afraid of it, and not those who want to control the church and just have a nicey nice church. I still pray for him and his family. That church has very little in way of signs and wonders. People are healed and recovered, but it takes months (which is not any less God’s healing work). Remember in Daniel there was prayer and fasting needed to help the spiritual battle. Well, there isn’t enough spiritual fighting going on to break through the nonsense this one leader oppresses the church with.

If we believe, we should expect the signs and wonders to follow us. If they aren’t take a long hard look at yourself and if you are actionably believing. Are you a tithe giver? Do you sow into the kingdom? Are you helping the widows, orphans, the single parents, the homeless, etc.? Are you a soul winner? Does your faith produce works? Because it is in those works that signs and wonders happen.

Come back Monday and invite your friends as we start the Book of Romans! It is a power house book filled with instruction and explanation. I once had the whole book memorized – not so much anymore. It will be a great time of learning!
And do not miss our wisdom reading (without discussion) over the weekend as we continue in Psalms.

CORRECTION FROM YESTERDAY’S POST
I have been informed that the Veil of the Temple was not a foot thick as I thought I remembered correctly. Some say it was 4 inches thick – others say it was 18 to 24 inches thick. I slipped down a rabbit hole of many articles on the subject and I have come to the conclusion that a foot is a reasonable compromise! Giggles. I am not going to share all that I just learned – I definitely need to learn more on the topic and the specs of the temple. But, no one says it was a foot thick, so I do need to make that notation.

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

21 Apr 202220 Apr 2022

The Event at the Center of All Time – 4-21-22

“Then Pilate asked Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
He answered and said to him, “It is as you say.” Mark 15:2 NKJV

Jesus was, still is, and forever will be, the King of the Jews. He is also my Lord and savior.
Today let us read with all due respect – humbling our hearts, slowing down, and with an attitude of worship. Because today we read about the sacrifice to end sacrificial law. For Passover, all in the house covered by the blood, survived – except the lamb, who was slayed and died. Jesus is the lamb so I can live, you can live, and all who call upon his name to be saved from hell and gain a relationship with God can live.

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of Mark chapter 15 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Jesus Faces Pilate

15 Immediately, in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council; and they bound Jesus, led Him away, and delivered Him to Pilate. ²Then Pilate asked Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”

He answered and said to him, “It is as you say.”

³And the chief priests accused Him of many things, but He answered nothing. ⁴Then Pilate asked Him again, saying, “Do You answer nothing? See how many things ^[a]they testify against You!” ⁵But Jesus still answered nothing, so that Pilate marveled.

Taking the Place of Barabbas

⁶Now at the feast he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, whomever they requested. ⁷And there was one named Barabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion. ⁸Then the multitude, ^[b]crying aloud, began to ask him to do just as he had always done for them. ⁹But Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” ¹⁰For he knew that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy.

¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd, so that he should rather release Barabbas to them. ¹²Pilate answered and said to them again, “What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?”

¹³So they cried out again, “Crucify Him!”

¹⁴Then Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?”

But they cried out all the more, “Crucify Him!”

¹⁵So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified.

The Soldiers Mock Jesus

¹⁶Then the soldiers led Him away into the hall called ^[c]Praetorium, and they called together the whole garrison. ¹⁷And they clothed Him with purple; and they twisted a crown of thorns, put it on His head, ¹⁸and began to salute Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ¹⁹Then they struck Him on the head with a reed and spat on Him; and bowing the knee, they worshiped Him. ²⁰And when they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him.

The King on a Cross

²¹Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by, to bear His cross. ²²And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. ²³Then they gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but He did not take it. ²⁴And when they crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take.

²⁵Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him. ²⁶And the inscription of His ^[d]accusation was written above:

THE KING OF THE JEWS.

²⁷With Him they also crucified two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left. ²⁸^[e]So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with the transgressors.”

²⁹And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, ³⁰save Yourself, and come down from the cross!”

³¹Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. ³²Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and ^[f]believe.”

Even those who were crucified with Him reviled Him.

Jesus Dies on the Cross

³³Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. ³⁴And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

³⁵Some of those who stood by, when they heard that, said, “Look, He is calling for Elijah!” ³⁶Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink, saying, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to take Him down.”

³⁷And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and breathed His last.

³⁸Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. ³⁹So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that ^[g]He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, “Truly this Man was the Son of God!”

⁴⁰There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome, ⁴¹who also followed Him and ministered to Him when He was in Galilee, and many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.

Jesus Buried in Joseph’s Tomb

⁴²Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, ⁴³Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁴⁴Pilate marveled that He was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time. ⁴⁵So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. ⁴⁶Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. ⁴⁷And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses observed where He was laid.

Footnotes

Mark 15:4 NU of which they accuse You
Mark 15:8 NU going up
Mark 15:16 The governor’s headquarters
Mark 15:26 crime
Mark 15:28 NU omits v. 28.
Mark 15:32 M believe Him
Mark 15:39 NU He thus breathed His last

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Isaiah 41:10- “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

I say it every time we come to this part of the story – I hate it. It is too much for me! Yet it is not a story, but an historical event being recorded for all of time to remember. It had such an impact – we feel it today (many years in the future). It had such an impact that shock waves ratted the past with prophetic visions and news that the Christ would be slain on a tree pierced for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, but it would be by those stripes we would be healed.
We always say the spirit world is without time – meaning there is no linear line from here to there. Linear time is a human construct. But since event are ordered and the Bible refers to God in relation to time (like God is not slow) there is time – it is just not linear. Without any proof to back this claim, I have always thought of time looking more like the solar system. The cross at the center. If that is the case, then the temple would be like earth. And if you drew a straight line from the son to the temple you would encounter every version and reference to a temple along the way. Which is why when prophets speak of one, they speak of them all. I am NOT saying that is how it is, I am saying it is how I look at it. All prophecy and all of God’s action point to and encompass the cross. It is the center of all. In the sense of TIME. God of course is the center of it all in relation to importance (he is the end of time and the beginning of time which would make a circle, which is my only evidence that I am not wrong relating to it like this).
And by the cross – I mean the work of the cross – the death AND resurrection.

So why did I take the time to share this point of view? Because we are reading about an event that began with the first sin in the Garden of Eden and continues to impact our lives today and will continue for all of what is known. Through Jesus’s sacrifice all can be saved, all the way back in our linear time and all the way forward in our linear time. It is a timeless event. So I want you to join me with stepping out of time and seeing all the plans and paths and prophecies converge on this event. Earlier this year I pointed out the verse that shows this marks the beginning of the day of our Lord. That great and terrible day. The end of the world, dawned as Jesus stepped out of that tomb, but that is not on our linear time line – that is in the space of the spirit.

I know this is very abstract – do your best to follow. If not, I know you can at least grasp that we are speaking of events that are in the spirit and not in our time.

Yesterday, Jesus did not answer his accusers except to admit that he was the Christ. It was the only thing he could admit to. Everything else was chaos.
Today He is already exhausted from being up all night being beat – and He must answer to Pilate. Defenses in the Roman time were admissions of what you did. We saw with Paul, when we read Acts, he admitted to what he did do and did not answer the lies. To this day it is still the strongest defense strategy – yet seldom used. But how can you answer for someone else’s lie?

Jesus admits He is the king of the Jews.

Chaos brings confusion to the enemy – Pilate was not confused. Jesus was not confused. The Priests meant to accuse Jesus of blasphemy. But they did not. They ended up accusing Him of being the King of the Jews – a title Jesus happily laid down His life for. It is true. He has always been their King and will always be their King. Pilate was not confused and saw Jesus as innocent and the Priest as jealous.

And interesting point, not often made is that the Priests WERE jealous. I mean, Here they are running the temple and praying for the Christ to come. The Pharisees knew the prophecies – when the Christ came in power they would be out of a job. Jesus was a threat to their jobs, their way of life and all they worked to pass down to their children as an inheritance. Ironically, 50 years later they were all out of a job and unable to perform sacrifices anyway – because Rome destroyed Jerusalem, the Temple specifically.

Next, prophesy after prophecy is fulfilled. First the crowd ask to free the murderer with the criminal history. Based on current statistic almost half the people with Barabbas’s background offend again; here is a quote from Wiki on the matter: “According to an April 2011 report by the Pew Center on the States, the average national recidivism rate for released prisoners is 43%.”
And that is in the USA where there are program and prison ministries that go in and try to teach these people how to stop being criminals.
They set Barabbas free instead of the Christ who healed 100% of those who came to him with the kind faith, belief and expectance, that put a demand on the blessing. Crowd mentality is a frightening thing – I never want to answer to a crowd.

So Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, but he wanted to gratify the crowd – other versions of the Gospel explain the situation Pilot was in much better. Pilot was not guilty of Jesus’s murder – he washed his hands of it and gave the blame (physically and spiritually) back to the Jews. Which was good for him, because Pilate did not have authority under the Roman rule of the day to take a King’s life without a lot of rigmarole. But the Jews could kill their own leaders.

What happens next was so terrible and wrong – but prophecy must be fulfilled. The soldiers mocked Jesus. And beat him within a breath of his life, but remember he was awake all night the night before being beat – so they may not have gotten carried away like some movies depict. The regular scourging may have just been too much when the victim is going on more than 24 hours without sleep and was already beat all night the night before.

They mocked him and gave him a crown of thorns. How quickly they made it! And threw a purple robe on him – how did a bunch of soldier have the money, time and means to acquire a purple robe? I am NOT questioning the scriptures – I am saying that in the depth of it all God had a plan and prophecy was being fulfilled and all these things came together. Even when it is BAD – God is good and sovereign.

God’s sovereignty reigns even in the worst of the worst of all. God is Love and Love is therefore sovereign in this situation and I cannot even begin to imagine that day and that it was God’s plan. God said it was his plan – to send His son to die for our sins. How often we forget that His justice is in perfect Love and fall into condemnation and punishment.
Jesus Truly is the King to suffer so great for me. They did not just kill Him, but He suffered.

God bless you, Simon, who carried Jesus’s cross to the place of the skull. And more prophecy fulfilled with casting lots for His clothes.

“And the inscription of His accusation was written above: THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Verse 26.

And in the spirit – there stood Isaiah, seeing the prophecies and writing them down, many linear years earlier. As well as King David. As well as many others. And today YOU and I are also standing right there with the Prophets, looking at our King hanging on the tree. See what I mean, by looking at his outside of time?

There were two robbers (not as bad as that Barabbas – why didn’t they set one of them free?) in another gospel we learn on of them looks upon our Lord and recognizes Him as Lord and is saved.

“save Yourself, and come down from the cross!” Verse 30.
Oh those impatient for God’s work! Give Him 3 days like he said and he will come back as a rebuilt temple! He isn’t trying to save himself – He is trying to save me! He is trying to save YOU! He is even trying to save those very people who are mocking!! He was trying to save us all.
But not all of us would accept it and be saved.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 KJV
Amazing love.

Jesus was hung on the 6^th hour – darkness fell and stayed covering the earth until Jesus died. On the 9^th hour Jesus cried out “…why have you forsaken me?” this was a reference to a psalm – a shout out to David for writing down the prophecy and being receptive to being their outside of time with us. God did not forsake Jesus. But it must have felt like it.
“Some of those who stood by, when they heard that, said, “Look, He is calling for Elijah!” Verse 35.
Um, wrong prophet it was David who wrote that Psalm. But why not, maybe Elijah was there.

As Jesus died, the physical and spiritual world shook! In this Gospel we see the veil was torn in the temple. Today we think of sheer white wedding veils, see through and embellished. The temple veil was an inch thick, woven tightly together. This would be impossible to cut let alone rip. It would have taken so long to repair it was probably not finished by the time the temple was destroyed by Rome!
Other gospels point out that the earth shook and that graves opened and dead rose up and walked about.

”So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, “Truly this Man was the Son of God!” Verse 39.

And the women? Well, there was nothing going to stop Mary, Jesus’s mother, from being there. Each gospel speaks of where they were a little differently – but she was there and therefore so were all the ladies who followed Jesus and supported His ministry. Other accounts have John there too.

Where are the rest of the men? I once heard a sermon on how brave the women were to be there and men feared for their lives. I do not think that is true. Women could go places men couldn’t back them. As a second rate being, no one paid them much mind. The women would not be arrested, beat and killed for following Jesus – they would have been pitied and left to mourn. The men however would have to be stopped unless they continue the work. Why did John get to be there undetected? He snuck in with the women.

Joseph of Arimathea was saved from hell. He was watching and praying for the Kingdom of God and he recognized it. He wasn’t looking for a savior, a warrior king, and a leader of a fierce army. His eyes were on the Kingdom of God… and so he recognized the kingdom of God in Jesus. Ever wonder why we are told to seek ye first the kingdom? Not to seek God first, although it can mean to seek God. Because almost ALL of us come seeking God for selfish things we need – even love. And God changes us slowly to seek kingdom. Seek sharing and saving souls. Seek spreading the good news. We are told to tell people, not convert them. So tell them. Let God convert them.
Anyway – Joseph throws together a quick makeshift funeral. No time to wash the body now – it will have to wait until the 3^rd day after the Sabbath. Two of the Marys followed to see where he was laid, so they could come back and complete the ritual.

Tomorrow, we will finish the book of Mark. It was fast paced and full of impact – just wait till you see the crazy way the book ends and the controversy. Not to mention Jesus comes back from the dead!

Be blessed. Accept God’s love.

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Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!