All This Evil

And Samuel said to the people, "Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart."
1 Samuel 12:20

The people of Israel had been a theocracy for many years at this point; God had been their leader, their ruler, and their king. He had performed miracles time and time again, from the plagues in Egypt, to the parting of the Red Sea, to suspending the sun in the sky so that Joshua could lead the army to victory. He showed up many times in mighty ways to save his people. But now, in the beginning of 1 Samuel, the people demand a king so that they can be "like all the nations." (8:5, 20)

This is a great tragedy. This is what would be considered high treason by any earthly king. An earthly king, of course, is flawed and sinful. Yet, even despite his shortcomings, to rebel against the king is a grievance that, in most cases, would be unforgivable and deserving of immediate death. So, how much more treasonous is it to rebel against a King that is infinitely good, infinitely lovely, infinitely loving to His people? It is infinitely more treasonous. To the degree that God is good, is the degree to which our sin is bad.

Anybody who rebelled against an earthly king had due reason to be afraid. Jesus tells us to "fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt. 10:28b) Our God, Yahweh, is a great and mighty God with power that we cannot comprehend. Therefore, Jesus tells us to be afraid of him before we are afraid of those who can "kill the body but not the soul." (Matt. 10:28a)

Even so, Samuel shows us the grace of our great King who says, "do not be afraid", even though he says directly afterwards that "you have done all this evil." We will slip, we will fall, we will sin. But "fear not", as Jesus continues in Matthew 10, "you are of more value than many sparrows."

Therefore, do not lose heart, and "do not turn aside from following the Lord," but, rather, purpose in your heart to "serve the Lord with all your heart." This is, no doubt, what James means when he says "but he gives more grace." (Jas. 4:6)

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The Face of Satisfaction

Psalm 17:15
"As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness."

The day will come when we, as believers, are truly satisfied, and it will com eby way of beholding the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet we so often become entangled in the snares of this life. We forget that our King is returning. We forget that He taught us to pray "your kingdom come." We become satisfied with the temporal pleasures of thsi world. We are not the sojourners, pilgrims, or exiles that Peter urges us to be. (1 Peter 2:11)

But praise be to God when He overcomes our wandering hearts, for they are so prone to leave the God we love! Yet Christ promises that "no one is able to snatch [us] from the Father's hand" for He is "greater than all." (John 10), including greater than our sin. And in his infinite, unmerited grace, He has "shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." And there it is again--the face of our Lord Jesus.This is where we see God's glory. And this is what will alone satisfy our hearts and our souls.

May we see our Christ in Scripture more clearly as the Lord graciously "shines in our hearts" to show us His Son.

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Grace to the Humble

"God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
James 4:6

It's very hard to put raw emotions into words. I've tried to do it for a while now, as I've tried to tell my girlfriend at the time (now fiance!) how I felt for her. My first song for her, actually, is called "Not Saying a Thing." It's all about how I can't possibly describe how I feel. You should check it out at myspace.com/johnblythemusic or purevolume.com/johnblythe. Ok, I'm rambling with a shameless plug. What I was getting at was that I've tried to put raw affections into words before, in the form of song, and it's really hard. But it's much easier than putting them into a non-prose type of writing style, I think. The reason is simply that the music, or the meter of the poem, the ambiguity of cliches and metaphors, and a whole slew of other tools are at the disposal of the poet/songwriter. So I pray that the following words still find a place in your heart and soul, despite my failure to truly place my heart into the form of mere words.

I am so prideful. Utterly arrogant. Unabashedly self-centered. And seemingly consumed with myself to an almost infinite degree. I'd say (and hope! =) ), that most people who know me well would quickly raise objections to that statement. I serve in ministry at a local church, run my best friend around town all the time (he can't drive for several months because of a seizure back in October), go downtown regularly to feed the homeless, blah blah blah. I'm a "good guy." I do some good stuff here and there. I do some things that seem to be selfless. We all know people who truly think that their stuff don't stink. They strut and flaunt and masquerade. It's nauseating to most people. I'm not that guy. Yet I make myself sound like it at the beginning of this paragraph. Why?

Because I'm tired of relating myself to those around me. I'm fed up with setting the bar so low. My doing that is, in itself, another act of pride. Deep down, my conscious knows that the standard is higher than John Doe and his actions. The standard in the universe is Christ, no one else. So, I have the proclivity to gauge myself by the actions and attitudes of others. It might make me look like a great guy. But I'm not. Cause the litmus test of the universe is Jesus. And I can't pass that test.

Unless....

Unless I'm humble. If I'm humble, I get grace. And what are we saved by? By grace. So, the only way to pass the test [be saved] is by grace, which is a result of humility. But we are so prone to pride. It is the root of all sins. Many great theologians have attested to it being at the root of every other sin.

I am proud of what I have. Yet everything belongs to the Lord: "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein..." Psalms 24:1. He owns the earth, he owns everything in it, including the people living on it---you and me. Even more massive, "Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it." Deuteronomy 10:14. Again, at the end, all of the earth and everything in/on it belongs to God, but so does the far reaches of the universe; every galaxy, every nebula, every star, every blackhole, every planet, and everything we've yet to even discover or imagine, plus the invisible, divine, spiritual "heaven of heavens." He owns everything.

I am proud of what I do. But that's only because I forget that my "righteousness is as filthy rags." (Isaiah 64:6), and that "whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it." (James 2:10) And since, if I break just one of the laws I'm breaking them all, I find out that I'm cursed: 'For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.'" (Galatians 3:10) I am cursed, and have no hope but eternal damnation.

I am proud of my knowledge and wisdom. But, I quickly find that my knowledge and my wisdom is exhausted quite quickly. But not the Lord's. "Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!" (Romans 11:33) And again, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9) I am lucky to keep my day straightened out and make good decisions in the midst of it all. Yet God knows every single thing going on in the entire universe. Think of the implications of that. Every macro level thing: the earth's rotational speed around the sun, the dying star light years away from us, the tornadoes that devastate an area, etc. And then there is the microscopic level of things: He knows every atom flying around in the steam created from an espresso machine, every electron and proton that make up your hair follicles, and the quarks that build all of those things. Furthermore, he knows when one of those things changes slightly, which causes a billion times a billion chain reactions, and each of those causes another trillion reactions in the universe. He keeps up with ALL of that! And even knows about it before hand!

I am proud of how much I love my family, friends, fiance, and even those around me. But Jesus said that "greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends." (John 15:13). I've not done that.

This is getting pretty long. So I'll stop with my list of flaws. The point is that Christ did lay his life down for his friends, and I'm one of them. He is the richest Being in the universe. And not only because he owns everything, but even if nothing existed, he himself is the most precious and valuable thing in the universe; so he is infinitely rich in that regard too. But so am I since I have Christ and I am an heir to the promises of God (Galatians 4). And even though my righteousness will never add up, he bore my penalty on the cross for my sins and faults, but also gave me his very own righteousness, that I might be "the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus." (2 Corinthians 5:21) And now I have the Holy Spirit who will "teach [me] all things" (John 14:26) concerning Christ, who is the "wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:24).

All that to say, I have no reason to boast, "except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Galatians 6:14). And may that be all that I boast in. If so, then I'll continue receiving grace, which I need and I long for. So, I hope you'll join me in prayer for yourself, for me, for other believers, and for those who the Lord will call to himself soon, that we would learn to be humble like Jesus (see Philippians 2), that we may receive the grace of God from and in Jesus.

Amen.

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All Things

The weight of these verses is absolutely beyond words. The weight of this entire chapter of Scripture (Romans 8) is beyond the comprehension our finite, fallen minds. And, in the midst of such glorious heights--altitudes of truth that we cannot attain in this life--the Lord still makes sure that his Word is "profitable" for his children (2 Timothy 3:16). And I, especially right now, at this point in my life, cannot even begin to describe how much I have profited from the beautiful truths found in Romans chapter 8.

I am unsure as to whether there is any part of Scripture that shows the love, faithfulness, mercy, grace, and absolute steadfastness of the Lord in such a clear, concise, and compact way. The promises that Romans chapter 8 gives, and the assurance that it brings, are great gifts from our Father God.

Verse 31 starts a mounting series of arguments that are built off of rhetorical questions. It connects to the whole big train of thought that has been developed throughout the chapter, but is especially interconnected to verse 26, "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." We are weak. He is strong. And, in our weaknesses, he proves himself as being strong. Paul picks the argument back up and says that when he does that proving, there is absolutely no one who can be against us. How can there be? If the God of the universe is on your side, what is there to fear? Who could possibly stand against you?

The argument that is formed by that rhetorical question ("who can be against us?") is not left to be simply assumed. No, no, it is developed in the fullest sense possible by acknowledging a theological fact and then leading that into yet another rhetorical question. "He [God] who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" He already did the hard thing! Paul's thought here is that, in light of the beauty, magnificence, purity, loveliness, glory, and radiance of God the Son, Jesus Christ, the Father was still capable and willing to offer up his Son to death, and a death of the worst kind; now, if he was capable of giving us this great gift---the gift of redemption that was attained by the substitutionary death, burial, and resurrection of Christ--- and willing to do so, what good thing--since no thing is anywhere near being as good as that gift--would he refuse us? What would he possibly withhold from us after that gift? That's the question. So, what's the answer??.....NOTHING!!! Absolutely nothing!

The problem lies not within the gifts or the Giver of them, but within our own corruption. The problem is our human eyes, our human ears, our human minds, and our human hearts. Even as believers, even as people who are regenerate, we still see "in a mirror dimly." (1 Corinthians 13:12) and have the proclivity to assume evil of our Savior. When things don't go smoothly, when they seem to stray from the plans we have for our lives, when we don't get "what we deserve", we are...I am...so quick to point the finger out God for having messed up what we thought should be. I am often found guilty of such self-absorbed wickedness. But the Spirit "helps [me] in [my] weakness." He intercedes for me, since I know not what to pray. He groans things that I cannot utter. And He reminds me of the "profitable" Word which he inspired for my good and His glory. He reminds me of these passages. And he reminds me of the last verse of the beloved Psalm 23: "surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life..." He reminds me that Christ's payment on the cross was sufficient, that I cannot add to it or subtract from it, and that a just God's wrath was satisfied as Christ took my punishment on a cross. And, because of this, I never will taste of God's wrath, but can truly attest to Psalm 23, and profess that every single thing in my life is a gracious gift from my God.

May I begin to say more often: "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!"

Amen.

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Why We Must Read Scripture (pt. 3)

"Now the law came to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more..."
Romans 5:20

I was gonna go on for a while with this little series, but as my blogging isn't nearly up to speed with my Scripture reading, so I end up wanting to write lots more blogs (from what I read in a given day) than I'm able to post (due to time constraints from work, school, church, etc.) So, having said that, there are quite a few things I'd like to end up blogging soon, and, if I continue with this series, I won't ever get around to it. Therefore, this is the last iteration of the "mini-series"

On to the good part. We've been looking at some reasons why we, as Christians, are absolutely desperate, whether or not we realize it, for Scripture. The Bible tells us itself how utterly empty our lives as Christ followers would be if we don't immerse ourselves regularly in the Word. In fact, Peter says that we "have been born again...through the living and abiding word of God." (1 Peter 1:23). So, the Christian life is brought forth out of the word, and it is carried out in the word, to the end that we will ultimately worship the Word, Jesus Christ, for all of eternity.

The first week we looked at Paul's statement in Romans telling us that "through the law comes the knowledge of sin." Now, several chapters later, he takes it a step further and says that it continually increases our trespasses. He goes on to say that, through the increase of sin, grace was able to abound even more. We must handle a truth like this carefully, as if it were fragile. Paul says in the beginning of chapter 6, "Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!" (Romans 6:1-2) We absolutely cannot take this passage to mean that we should sin, as if the Lord's grace needed our help in being displayed. Our sin is never justified by our claim to God's grace that follows; we are justified by faith in Christ. But "faith in Christ" is a bit ambiguous. So what exactly do we mean by that? (This gets a bit tricky, and I am inadequate in explaining it, but I pray the Holy Spirit enlighten you despite my weakness in exposition) Romans 6 explains the process further:

"We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him."

The key phrase for us is "our old self was crucified with him." Do you see the huge implications of this? The past tense of the verb is not referring to the time you prayed a prayer or walked an aisle, perhaps a month ago, or a year ago. How do we know it's not referring to that time in the past? Because the end of that phrase says "with him." The text goes on to read that Christ "will never die again" (v.9). So, he if you died "with him", and he couldn't have died again so to speak (like at the time of your conversion), then the text must not be read into but simply mean exactly what it says! Two thousand years ago a man, the God-man, Jesus Christ, was crucified. And one of the many amazing things that happened at Calvary that day was that you and I, if we are believers in Christ, were with him.

How can this be?? I didn't chose to accept Christ until over two thousand years later! So how could I have died with Christ? Surely not everyone in the world died with him, because not everyone ends up living to him and for him (which is the next part of Paul's argument; if we have died with him, we will live with him as he was raised from the dead). Paul explains it to the Ephesians like this:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him." Ephesians 1:3-4

Paul goes on to use this phrase many times over to describe the amazing blessings we as Christians have in Christ. But what I am getting at is this, because we were in Christ, and were so before the world was even spun into motion, we were crucified when he was. Therefore, our sin is dead. It is nailed to that cross. That is why we can't take the original passage and misconstrue it to give us a ticket for sinning.

I know I got off on a HUGE tangent there, but it's hard not to when the Gospel is so rich in those texts. =) I hope that made some sense and encouraged you in what Christ has done for us!

So, all that to say, the word teaches us of our sin, and it in fact increases our shortcomings since there are now, through the law, more rules to be broken. We will fail. But, if we stay in Scripture, we won't go on failing in order to "make grace abound" because we will have seen all that other stuff I went off on, namely, that we are dead to the control of sin as we are in Christ. And this is the Gospel. We have sinned. We have been saved. And through our constant failures, we can be thankful that our Savior is still more constant.

I hope this sparks an attitude of worship and thanksgiving in our hearts as we see Christ as beautifully gracious and sufficient. Amen.

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Why We Must Read Scripture (pt. 2)

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God."
John 1:1-2

Last time we looked at why Scripture is so vitally important (which was a little too long ago, sorry!) we read in Romans that it teaches us of our sin, which is an essential realization if we are ever to remedy the problem of our sin. That is a very key component to our existence, no doubt, but today's blog is about an even more basic feature of Scripture. Practically, it falls after the need for our knowledge of sin, yet, in somewhat more of an abstract way, it is the ultimate goal for Scripture; it is the need for knowing God. This is what I mean: knowing God is the highest, most fundamental use of Scripture, yet, experientially, it comes after our knowledge of sin; we will never use Scripture to know the Lord until Scripture has revealed to us our sin and the need of knowing this Savior it speaks of. So, Scripture is used to know our great God.

We, as Christians, absolutely must study Scripture each day and meditate upon our readings. If we don't, we will never know the God we claim to serve, worship, and love. Jesus says that he is "the way, the truth, and the life" and "that no one can come to Father except through [him]." (John 14:6) That being the case, we'd better make sure we know this Christ. John 1 is describing him. John's version of Genesis 1 focuses on Christ, the Word, being in the beginning with God. The passage goes on to explain that "all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made" and that "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father..." (v. 14)

If we go through our lives without diving deep into Scripture, searching through the Bible, and finding the truths contained therein, we will go through our whole lives without ever knowing Jesus Christ. But, make no mistake, you will know of Christ one day. Paul writes the Philippian church saying of Christ that "God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:9-11). John writes in the book of Revelations that people will one day cry out to rocks " 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?' " (Rev. 6:16-17). People (sinners) will literally cry out for boulders to fall and crush them so as to try and hide themselves from the wrath of Christ. Later, John writes of those who don't serve Christ as "[drinking] the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the Lamb." (Rev. 14:10)

But, "his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime." (Psalms 30:5) You can experience the favor of the Lord for a lifetime, and for eternity, if you pick up your cross and follow him now. It will be too late one day. So, use the great opportunity you have during this lifetime to know this Christ; don't wait to know him in his wrath as you are tormented for eternity. John 1 describes Jesus as "full of grace and truth" (v. 15). Experience and know this grace now, through searching the truths of Christ found in Scripture.

Grace and peace to all. Amen.

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Why We Must Read Scripture (pt. 1)

"Through the law comes the knowledge of sin"
Romans 3:20

I'm going to start a little series. Not really sure how long it will go, but there will definitely be a few iterations. It falls under the conviction that Scripture is the most important thing that we have as Christians here on Earth. Every other means that we have for sanctification (see more on that topic HERE) is determined, discovered, and developed by Scripture. We worship God, but we worship according to what we see in Scripture; we see who it is that we're worshiping, we see that he is worthy of worship, we see that he demands it, and, perhaps most importantly, it is seeing Christ in Scripture that evokes the emotional response of worship to begin with. We pray to God, but we learn how to pray by reading through prayers found in the Bible. We serve others, but we learn that this is "pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God" (James 1:27) in Scripture. Everything we do in our Christian life should be rooted in deep, Christ saturated, Biblical understandings. Singing a pretty song with hands raised does nothing if we don't see who it is we are worshiping, which is most readily visible in Scripture. Praying over food does us no good if we don't realize that we were told to do so in Paul's letter to Timothy. I think you get the point. So, this was just an intro paragraph to the series. Now for the actual content of this blog...

One of the most fundamental reasons of reading Scripture is laid out for us in Romans 3:20. Paul tells us that the law is where our knowledge of sin comes from. The law, in one sense, is not the entirety of Scripture, but just the portion that laid out the Mosaic law. Yet, in another sense, it is in fact all of Scripture. Jesus said to "not think that [he came] to abolish the Law or the Prophets; [he did] not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." So, the Law is fulfilled in Christ, which the whole New Testament is clearly about. The Old Testament is about him too. Sadly, we often times delineate the two parts of Scripture and focus on the New Testament. If we are Christ followers, and if Christ is the Word of God (that will be the crux of the next part of the series), then everything in Scripture is about him ultimately. All that to say, when Paul says that the Law shows us our sin, it's not just meaning the Old Testament portion that was called the law.

Therefore, every portion of Scripture shows us our sin. Every single word in the Bible is a means of displaying our depravity to us. And thank God it does! Sin isn't popular. People don't like being told they're sinners or that they've sinned. But, without this realization, there is no hope for us. "The wages of sin is death." People don't like death either. Good! You shouldn't! That's kinda the point here! I hope you hate death and embrace the Way, the Truth, and the LIFE. Otherwise all you can look forward to is death.

Scripture serves the very basic purpose of pointing out our sin. But this purpose is absolutely necessary if anyone is to be saved. Without it, we won't know our sins. Without knowing our spiritual condition of death, we will have no idea as to just how desperate we are for a Savior and a life Giver. Scripture is the Gospel. And the first step in the Gospel journey, the good news, is a realization of what the bad news is. The bad news is that we have abandoned a perfect, holy, mighty, sovereign loving, and just God. We have gone astray, going our own ways. We have continually seen him in creation and denied his existence. We have signed up for religion even, but have left out Christ, the very one who died to make a way for us back to God. And, without being born again by the Spirit of God, we are utterly hopeless and left to the demise of an eternity in hell, where there is no rest and the fires are never quenched.

But here's the cool thing. That bad news isn't really bad if it becomes news to you. It's only bad if you don't know that. Once it becomes news to you, and you hear it, you read it, you grasp it, it becomes the first step in good, great, triumphant, and beautiful news! So, please let this be good news to your hearts and souls! Let it be the first step towards Christ. Let it be a means of falling more deeply in awe of your Savior if you are already a believer. We have all sinned, we have all fallen short of the glory of God. And, through Scripture, we have access to this great news.

Come back for the rest of the series. Grace and peace. Amen.

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No One is a Jew...Outwardly

"For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly"
Romans 2:28

Ok, so maybe none of us reading this are truly Jews. Perhaps you are. Congratulations if so. But, regardless, if anyone is a Christian, or claims to be one, then this is talking about YOU. Israel was the physical entity that we see in the Old Testament go on this roller coaster of events by betraying and abandoning God and his law, being judged, coming back, falling away again, being judged again, etc. They are representative of the New Testament church. Peter alludes to this by saying to the church "you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession..." (1 Peter 2:9)

Paul makes the statement that Jews aren't really Jews necessarily. This thought process happens all the time in our everyday circumstances at school or work. We have stereotypes of people and races because of the culture we have grown up in. In the South, for instance, you may run across an African American guy who wears glasses, shops at American Eagle, can't dance, and listens to Mozart. His friends would pick on him by saying he's more "white" than "black." I think we've all had some sort of example like this portrayed in our high school careers, so I'll move on to the spiritual principle =).

Not everyone who claims Christ is truly His! The Jews had that problem. Modern day evangelicals have the same one. Just as things like clothes, music preferences, and rhythmic dancing abilities don't make a difference to a person's race, neither do the actions of a person in relation to their claimed spirituality. There are plenty of hell-bound people out there that are tens of thousands times sweeter than a Christian you know. And there are plenty of supposed Christians who can act the right way. Christ calls them white-washed tombs though (Matt. 23:27). Jesus tells the scribes and Pharisees that, although they may be pretty on the outside, they are dead on the inside.

So, no one is a Christian who is merely on outwardly. We are told that we will "know them by their fruit." (Matt. 7:16) And fruit is external. It's visible. It's readily seen. True. But we must not just see fruit hanging from a tree and be done with the examination. It may very well be a tree that is dressed with fruit much like a Christmas tree is decorated with lights and ornaments. True fruit grows. It takes processes for the fruit to bud and then to develop and then to ripen. And, when plucked from the tree, it will be sweet. A fruit bought at the store and hung on a tree will be dead and bitter, even rotten, when you take it to eat of it. Many in our churches see church as the farm market, a place to purchase their fruits to hang them up for another week. You will indeed know them by their fruit, but be careful to watch the fruit develop and grow, and take note of the fruits taste if you ever get a bite.

To wrap things up, Jesus said "everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes tot he light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God." (John 3:20-21). It is, ultimately, not a matter of what you do or don't do. It is a matter of the heart. Either you hate or love the darkness, and, in turn, hate or love the light. Those are the options Christ leaves us with. If we love the light (Christ; "I am the light of the world."), then we will do what is true, and the light will show that those deeds, those things that are outward, were carried out by the God who is inside us and has given us a new heart (Ezekiel 36) that we may hate the darkness and love the light.

I pray that we all focus less on externals as we seek for God to continue renewing the inner workings of our hearts to the end that he be glorified by both our hearts and the fruits that they produce. Amen.

Grace and peace-

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Who Sanctifies Them

"I am the Lord who sanctifies them."
Ezekiel 20:12

It seems a common theme, as we've seen throughout quite a few of the verses I've been reading through and blogging about lately, that God takes credit for and possession of glorious things such as sanctification, justification, salvation, and glorification. This verse obviously is focused on God being the one who sanctifies. That might make your head spin or your heart leap. Or it might make you scratch your head and disengage your heart. What determines your response to this verse is the realization of what a word that is antiquated and out-dated like "sanctification" means.

We don't use theological terms anymore in the church. Many people would say "Thank goodness" for that fact. But, I think, it's quite sad. It is one of the ways we can explain the stupidity in the church today and the lack of Scriptural depth. Nobody walks into a doctor's office expecting the physician to be ignorant of the subject matter at hand. Yet, so many walk into church doors wanting the preacher to speak about anything and everything but the Bible, and, heaven forbid, use theological words. You may never use a word like "insulin", but when the doctor tells you that you have diabetes, you'll want to know what that little word means. The same is true with sanctification. You may not use the word much in your daily existence, but it is absolutely necessary for you to grasp the concept if you are to be a Christian.

Two Latin words are the basis of our word sanctification: sanctus which means holy, and ficare which means "to make." So, the idea of sanctification is "to make holy." Now, "holy" is yet another theological term that has been dragged through the mud as we put it before words such as "crap." Nonetheless, I will hope and assume that you have an idea of what it means.

"Be holy as I am holy." (1 Peter 1:16) It is a command from God on high to be holy, just as He is. This, I hope, strikes you as nothing short of ridiculously impossible because it is. Yet, God, through the continuous, day to day working of the indwelling Holy Spirit, makes us holier and holier. (Romans 15:15) This is sanctification. And, really, holiness, in the most simplest of terms, is obeying Christ. Romans 15:18 speaks of "[winning] obedience from the Gentiles" right after Paul says they are "sanctified by the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:15). Jesus said in what we refer to as the Great Commission, "Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." Conversion is the start, but obedience is the goal of our lives hear on earth and is the heart of what sanctification truly means.

All that is merely foundation for the simple truth of the verse in Ezekiel. God is the one who sanctifies us. It is not our preacher, our favorite Christian speaker, or ourselves. It is God alone who has the power to win our obedience for himself. We cannot accomplish this on our own or by our own powers. We must rely on the Gospel, the words found in Scripture, in order to have a renewed mind, one that is sanctified by the working power of the Holy Spirit through the Gospel message. So, go be holy as our Father God is holy, and do so by relying on God the Holy Spirit to reveal to you, through Scripture, who God the Son, Jesus Christ, is and how it is that you can obey Him.

Grace and peace to you all-

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All Souls

"Behold, all souls are mine."
Ezekiel 18:4

What reason do we have to rejoice? We may rejoice for our souls belong to the Lord God. ALL souls are mine. There is not a single one that Yahweh doesn't claim as being in his possession. This is a statement that should evoke great joy in the hearts and souls of believers, for they are in the grip of their Maker. If we had ultimate control and possession of our own souls we would be without any hope, without any joy, without any assurance, and without any salvation. Our souls were dead. But God made us alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:5; Colossians 2:13). Our souls were lost. But the Great Shepherd left the flock to find us. (Luke 15:4-5). Our souls were left for dead, wallowing in our own blood. But the Lord passed by and said to us "Live!" (Ezekiel 16:6). Our souls would sink back into death the second after our conversion. But the Comforter is our seal of promise and guarantee (2 Corinthians 1:22) and the Lord is strong enough to "keep us from stumbling and present us blameless before his presence with great joy." (Jude 24).

For all these reasons we may rejoice. Our God is great and greatly to be praised. "Salvation belongs to the Lord!" (Jonah 2:9) He is the Author and Finisher of our soul's faith. (Hebrews 12:2) We have every reason in the world to celebrate the fact that our souls are not our own! And we, as Christians, have reason to rejoice that the person across the coffee shop from us don't have ultimate control of their own soul either. For the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and loving. He has "no pleasure in the death of anyone." He is mighty to save. He is all-powerful. He is capable of raising their dead souls to life. He alone has the breathe of life they so desperately need. And he is constantly breathing this breath into the souls of lost sheep and prodigal sons. Therefore, there is no reason to fear the results of our testimony. There is no reason to be ashamed of the gospel of Christ, "for it is the power of God unto salvation." (Romans 1:16) Speak it boldly, with no reserve, knowing that the Lord is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance" (2 Peter 3:9) and that it is his place, his joy, and for his name that he may choose to work in the hearts of the unbeliever who hears the Gospel message by your words.

May we continually learn that our souls are not our own, ultimately, and that, in turn, we should make sure to commit them to Christ, the one who ransomed us and bought us with a price, making it even more clear that "[we] are not [our] own." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

Amen.

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Live!

"And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!'"
Ezekiel 16:6

God's prophet to Israel, Ezekiel, is painting a picture for Israel of Israel. The picture is very detailed, very graphic, and very long. You can read it in its entirety by reading the whole of chapter 16, or the whole book really. But, this first imagery is portraying what is now equivalent to a person coming to salvation. The picture is that of a child that was born and then abandoned by its parents. Left helpless. Left to die. But then God passed by. And thank God he did! Had he not, we would have had no hope whatsoever.

This is the simplest form of the Gospel. Scripture uses similar images throughout to portray the salvation process. Paul says in Ephesians 2 that we were once "dead in our trespasses." Salvation is not the process of a a person being sick spiritually, getting a little spiritual meds from Dr. Jesus, and then being good to go until their next (ir)regular check up, whether that be each Sunday morning, or only on the holidays. That is NOT salvation. That is a poor, cheap copy of grace. It is the American consumerism model of salvation and faith. It is not the real thing, however. The real Gospel, that produces and represents real salvation, teaches us that we have no hope. That we were a child left by our parents, "wallowing in [our] blood." That we were "dead in trespasses." We are helpless, hopeless, in utter despair, weak, powerless, incapable, incompetent, and ultimately dead. To the degree that you see this, you will be capable of seeing the Savior as who he really is and see what he has really done.

Those who think that they are ok people, that they are pretty good, that they are alright, will only have an ok, pretty good, alright Savior. But those who realize they are filthy, that they are totally in need of help, totally consumed with their own sin in every single thing they do, whether it be rape and murder or building a children's hospital, and utterly lifeless, they will see a Savior who is pure and clean, capable of washing those who are filthy; they will see a Savior who is totally able to help those in need; they will see a Savior who was totally consumed by their sin at the cross, but, through his resurrection power, totally consumed sin and will one day totally deliver us from its consummation; a Savior who enables every thing they do to be an act of worship; they will see a Savior that is life and gives life, that died to conquer death on our behalf.

It is this type of Savior that can pass by and say to us "Live!" His utterances created the entire universe. His words made life where there was not even death, but, rather, absolutely no existence whatsoever. Are we so arrogant to think that he cannot overcome our death, our wallowing, our spiritual state with a single word? He can, and he will. And when he does, we are like Lazarus when Jesus called to him, "Lazarus, come forth!" Dead men don't argue. They obey. They obey the One who holds the keys to life and death, the one who is the firstborn from the dead, the one that creates life with his words.

If he has called you out, let this be a reminder of where you have come from. The verses go on to explain that God then cleansed Israel, after speaking life to them; he washed them and clothed them and made a covenant with them likened unto marriage. Then Israel is said to "play the whore." Read Ezekiel 16 and run from the mistakes that Israel made. When Christ has called you to life and cleansed you, stay clean. If you are dead, then my prayer is that you hear "Live!" from the Master's mouth soon.

Grace and peace-

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The Power of God

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes"
Romans 1:16

Out of all of the mighty things that God could do; out of all his powerful works (such as creating the entire universe with his very word); out of all of the things he, being God, could do that we cannot even begin to imagine being done or fathom happening to show his power, he shows it by killing his own Son. This is a very striking thing. The book of Romans lays out the Gospel better than any other book in the Bible by telling us how we are all sinners in every regard ("all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23), but then going on to explain that Christ has taken our place ("God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" Romans 5:8), that he was our substitute, that his death guarantees us new life if we trust in his finished work of removing God's wrath from us ("Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood" Romans 3:25), and that, as Christ rose to new life, we also may live a new life in this risen Christ ("just as Christ was raised from the dead...we too might walk in newness of life" Romans 6:4), free from the bondage and power of sin ("and having been set free from sin, have become slaves to righteousness" Romans 6:18).

God shows his power through the Gospel. But, more specifically, he shows his power to save. This carries extra weight. It's not just a general power that he shows through the Gospel. It takes a fool to not see the power of God when they see a sunset, or feel the ocean breeze, or see a starry night, or watch a butterfly hatch from a cocoon, or experience any other miracle of nature. It is a very specific power. It is the "power of God for salvation." If you are a believer in Christ and have been born again, it was by God's power, not your own. If you are not yet a believer, you have no hope apart from the power of God; there is no "getting right" and then coming to Christ. Everything we do, before Christ gives us new life through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, is sin. Whether it's robbing a bank, or it is building a hospital for children, or laying your life down for the oppressed in Uganda---it is all sin. Why? Because it simply is an action that is not united to God.

It alone is in God's power to turn every action of ours into a Christ-exalting thing. It is only within the grasp of God Almighty to raise a sinner who is "dead in trespasses" (Ephesians 2:1) and make them "alive together with Christ" (Ephesians 2:5a). It is solely "by grace" that "you have been saved" (Ephesians 2:5b), This is why we should have no shame of the Gospel. It is a marvelous work that God has wrought in us who believe, and it is a Christ glorifying thing that God is capable of doing in those around us who have yet been raised from their spiritual death. May God spark within us a new joy, a new excitement, a new desire, a new passion, and a new boldness to speak the words of truth, to speak the words of life, to speak the Gospel, and to speak "Christ and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 1:23). To this end I pray for you and all the saints, and I ask you do the same. Amen.

Grace and peace to you.

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Contend

"contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints."
Jude 3

There is an ever increasing surge of pluralism, relativism, and post-modernism in our Western, American culture today. People argue that there is no such thing as truth. Or that, if it does exist, it's not absolute. The idea of truth is relativistic. What is true for me might not be true for you and vice versa. There is no meta-truth. The Bible is not viewed as a meta-narrative. Jesus is not "the Way, the Truth, or the Life." He is seen as being merely a way, a truth, and a life.

Jude, however, seemed to think differently. Jude identifies himself as the brother of James and a "servant of Jesus Christ." This is a humble statement. Why? Because he is also the half-brother of Jesus. Jude was Christ's half-brother who didn't believe in him until after the resurrection. Jude, after his post-resurrection epiphany, realized that there was only one faith, that there was none other than Christ, and that that very faith, the one that his half-brother taught, died for, and rose for, had been "delivered to the saints." And it indeed has.

The Bible is our source of truth. Christ is "the Word" (John 1). If we don't contend for biblical truth, biblical doctrine, and biblical theology, we don't contend for Christ. If we lose the Bible, we lose Christ. Jesus said that the prophets and law (the Old Testament) spoke of him and that he had come to "fulfill" the law and prophets. The Gospels are about Christ's life, Acts is about people coming to know Christ in the early church, the epistles are about how churches should properly worship Christ, and Revelations is about Christ's triumphant return and reign. The whole Bible is about JESUS. So, we must know the Bible, we must know the faith, and we must know Christ in it all. After having come to know these things, we must do all we can to contend and fight the good fight of faith.

Nothing less than eternity is at stake.

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Christ Died For No Purpose

"I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose."
Galatians 2:21

SMACK! I hope that last phrase (which is where the title of this blog came from) just hit you in the face like a ton of bricks! If...then Christ died for no purpose. What a horrible thought! If Christ died for no purpose, then we lose EVERYTHING. We would have no hope! If Christ's death was in vain, then it would mean that God was not infinitely wise or omnipotent (all-powerful); quite the opposite! It would mean that God was foolish, stupid, unwise, weak, powerless. Worse yet, it would mean that he was either not at all infinite, which is one of his most Godly qualities, and therefore would be stripped of one of the essential things that makes him God, or we would be forced to accept the aforementioned qualities as being infinite, meaning that he would be infinitely foolish, infinitelystupid, infinitely unwise, infinitely weak, and infinitely powerless.And why would anyone want to serve a "God" like that; there'd be no reason to have a capital "G", and he'd hardly be worthy of a lowercase one ("god").

Furthermore, if Christ died for no purpose, then we wouldn't even be able to serve this poor excuse for a god, for he couldn't truly save us from our depravity (predisposition and proclivity to sin). We would be in an utterly hopeless situation. Christ's death would not have purchased for us righteousness, sanctification, wisdom, peace, love, joy, faith; it would not have deterred the wrath of God from his children; and the substitution that Jesus was (meaning that he died in yourmy place, for us, not because he deserved it) trying to provide would have not even done right probably.

But praise be to God!!! For our God is infinitely WISE, infinitely BEYOND REASON, infinitely POWERFUL, infinitely STRONG, infinitely MIGHTY, infinitely OMNIPOTENT, infinitely ALL-KNOWING, infinitely CONFIDENT IN HIS PLAN AND PURPOSE. Our God is Sovereign above all. And our Christ is Supreme above all. There is not so much as an inch of this universe over which the risen Christ does not say "MINE!" There is no other. He is the only God worthy of a capital "G." And, thanks be to God, Christ died with infinite PURPOSE.

And, therefore, we should, with all of our might, all of our resources, all of our puny, human efforts, run from anything that could be considered "justification...through the law." Run from any man-made, church-decreed law! If it is not in the Bible, if it tries to be supplemental to Christ's God-pleasing sacrifice, then don't give it a second thought, throw it out, and run back to the cross at which, as we looked at yesterday (here), God "has granted to us all things pertaining life and godliness." Don't nullify God's grace. Embrace it. Cherish it. Love Him. And love Him for it.

May this grace, and the peace of Christ be with all of us. Amen.

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Granted All Things

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness"
2 Peter 1:3

There's a promise you can stand on. All things that pertain to life and godliness. What else is there? Nothing. At least not for God's chosen people. That's all there is for us. Everybody alive has a life---it's the things that make up who we are; what we do day in, day out, where we go, how we do those things, who we do them with, etc. etc. And then those of us who Peter referred to as "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for [God's] own possession" in his first letter (1 Peter 2:9) have something on top of that life to think about: godliness. Those are the two components of a Christian's existence---life and godliness---and God has given as all things that deal with them.

It's great that we can even hope to have "all things that pertain" to our existence, but how much more blessed a reality is it that God has given all those things to us! We don't have to go searching for them, we don't have to go about laboring to obtain them, we don't have to wait til we are "good enough"; He simply grants them to us. The "all things" that Peter is talking about is part of the salvation package. When a person is born again of the Holy Spirit (see John 3), they aren't merely saved from hell. That is only the beginning of the deal, not even the best part! These "all things" are included in Christ's purchase. Christ's death on the Cross did soooooooo many things for us. It purchased for us grace and faith and righteousness and sanctification and lots of other things that a small blog post doesn't have the time to go through. But, all of those things he purchased for us are then granted to us in "His divine power" and they all pertain to our lives here on earth and our pursuit of godliness in this life. We need nothing else. Christ's sacrifice was, is, and will always be SUFFICIENT. Amen.

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That You May Believe

"but these [signs] are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."
John 20:31

So here's the challenge: read the book of John. It is only 21 chapters long. I've gone through it in about a week, moving through it at a moderate pace as I read through other books during my devotion/study time also. Devote a week or two to reading a chapter or two a day of the Gospel of John. Why? Because John states his purpose for writing the gospel in the verse above.

The whole reason, the mission statement for his writing the gospel that we now call the book of John was so that people would believe in Jesus, believe that he is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, who is the Son of God, and, that in so believing, we would have life that comes only through his name. Jesus said so much concerning these things that John recorded: "For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son" (3:16); "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God" (3:18); "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life" (3:36); "I say these things that you may be saved" (5:34); "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live" (5:25); "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent" (6:29); "whoever believes has eternal life" (6:47); The disciples speaking to Jesus, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (6:68).

That list above is small, far from being exhaustive. I dare you to read the book of John. Believer or unbeliever. I don't care. Read it. And believe more than you currently do. That's why it was written. If you don't believe in God, then what will it hurt to read some good, ancient literature? It won't, so try it out, see what happens. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, make sure to strengthen your faith by reading the book of John.

May the Lord reveal Himself to us all through the person and work of His Son, Jesus Christ, through the reading, preaching, and study of His Holy Scriptures. Amen.

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Clean of the Disease

"Then the priest shall look, and if the leprous disease has covered all his body, he shall pronounce him clean of the disease"
Leviticus 13:13

The Old Testament Law had strict guidelines on how to handle those with leprosy, a disease that ravaged peoples bodies to the point of extreme deformity before ultimately taking their lives. The one with leprosy was told to be declared as "unclean." They were told to wear tattered clothes and cry in the streets "Unclean! Unclean!" It was no small thing to have leprosy back in these times; there was very little, if any, hope for the one who did. If you're ever bored, go read Leviticus 13 and 14 to get a good grasp on what was going on with the lepers---how the priests were to handle them, how they were to try to cleanse them, etc. Those chapters make for great Saturday readings =).

Diseases, especially in the context of Old Testament Scriptures, represent the ugliness of sin. John Piper makes the connection to disease, terrorism, and other tragic life things, saying that they are portraits of what sin looks like to God. So these disease-ridden people, these lepers, are types and pictures of what all of us are spiritually. We are all born spiritual lepers (original sin is discussed in this blog) and only have the disease spread more and more as we continue in life; we only grow more spiritually ill until we one day die.

But what hope is created by this verse! It is when we have a full realization of our sin that we are declared CLEAN!!! As long as we think that it's not consuming us, that it's "not that bad", that it is something we can live with, and that our lives are not in danger, we are subject to inevitable, certain death. But, when God opens our eyes to seeing that we are already as good as "dead in our trespasses" (Ephesians 2:5), it is that instant that we recognize our plight and therefore our need for the Great Physician and are "pronounced...clean of the disease"! The great pastor of old, Charles Spurgeon, comments on this verse saying, "Though dishonest as the thief, though unchaste as the woman who was a sinner, though fierce as Saul of Tarsus, though cruel as Manasseh, though rebellious as the prodigal, the great heart of love will look upon the man who feels himself to have no soundness in him, and will pronounce him clean, when he trusts in Jesus crucified."

Christ has made a way to be cleansed. He is our "great High Priest" (Hebrews 4:14), the priest that looks at our horrible condition, our leprous heart and soul, and declares us to be clean, washed by His own blood. May we be humbled by the realization of our depraved condition and the totality of it, and may we look to Jesus as the "founder and perfecter of our faith." (Hebrews 12:2), the one who cleanses us of all disease. Amen.

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To Keep You from Falling

"I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away."
John 16:1

We have been looking recently at the scope of freedom we have, and, in regards to that, how Christ's words are what frees us ("the truth will set you free"). Frees us from what? From being slaves to sin ("everyone commits a sin is a slave to sin"). If you're not tracking with me here, then go check out the previous 3 blog posts and catch up real quick. So, if we're slaves to sin, we cannot be Christ's; Jesus said that "no one can serve two masters" (Matt. 6:24); so either we're slaves to sin, and thus serving sin, or we're "slaves to righteousness" (Romans 6:18), serving the Righteous One, Jesus Christ. So Christ's word is the truth that sets us free to serve him.

Jesus later tells the disciples that it is his word that keeps them serving him. He just finished speaking to the disciples about being branches connected to himself, the Vine. Then he feeds into teaching them that the world would hate them because they are his and the world hated him. "If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you" (John 15:20). He's letting them know that, if they are truly his followers, they will have some bumps in the road, some walls to run into, and some opposition to overcome.

These are things that would make one think that it could possibly knock them off of their course towards Christ. But that's not the case. Jesus says that the things he had told them, his words, the same words that set us free from bondage to sin, are said in order to "keep you from falling." Christ didn't die with his fingers crossed. He didn't give his life up just so he could be a little more hopeful that you would come into redemption. Neither did he go to the cross with doubts as to whether to whether or not you would stay the course and continue in the way of righteousness. He spoke his words to ensure that you would not fall away.

If you are saved, you are saved. There are sheep, goats, and wolves in the Bible; they represent different people groups spiritually. The sheep are those who are Christ's. You may wander off from the flock and the Shepherd, but you can never turn yourself into a goat or a wolf; it is simply impossible. And, rest assured, Jesus promised that he, being the Good Shepherd, would leave the 99 sheep to find the one who strayed. He will come and rescue you from your foolish wandering.

One last thing: don't dare turn this promise from Christ about security in our salvation into a cheap grace that allows you to do whatever you want. If you are not living in a way like the Bible says a redeemed child of God should live, then you might not be a sheep that's wandering, you might just be a goat that happens to mingle in with the sheep at church services. Read the previous chapter in John (15), Galatians 5, Colossians 3, 1 John 1; see if you line up with what those texts say about a Christians way of living. This is not to say you are to be, or could ever be perfect, in this lifetime. But you are to strive. Let us not forget God's command to "be holy, as I am holy."

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Slaves of Sin, Freed by Truth (pt. 3)

"We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, 'You will become free'?"
John 8:33

If you haven't read the past posts, then go and read them: Part 1 and Part 2

This is the passage that connects the passages used in the previous two posts. Jesus tells a group of people who believed in him (v. 31) that they should stay in his word and, if they did this, they would be set free. So they respond by saying that they had never been enslaved, so why, Jesus, would you tell us that we need to be free? You can only be freed if you are in bondage, right?

There are several interpretations to their response. The Israelites had obviously been enslaved since Abraham's time because Moses, the leader of old that they idolized, had led them from the bondage of Egypt to the Promised Land. I hope you are all familiar with that story; if not, then go read the book of Exodus. Furthermore, they had been in bondage at various points in the Old Testament to groups of people such as the Philistines, the Assyrians, and others. They were currently under Roman oppression. One interpretation of the text claims that they were probably saying that they had been a nation under God ever since Abraham, even in the midst of being enslaved to various people groups. That's very possible, even probable. But, even if that is the case, then my angle on it still stands true. Here's what I see when they question Christ's statement: denial. They are denying the obvious fact that they have been enslaved time and time again. Even if they mean that they had been a "nation under God", or "God's chosen people", or anything like that, they would still be skirting the fact that they had been and were currently under another nation's rule.

This is not unlike our modern day American Christianity. I was a product of it. Most Christians that I know either were a product of it, or still are. We grow up in church. We know Scripture. We can win sword drills. We go to a private school. We are in FCA. We rally around our flagpole to pray one day out of the school year. We mutter a half-silent prayer over our food every few days. We go to church when it's not nasty outside with rain or when it's not too pretty to go out. We raise our hands when the music is pretty, we bow our heads after we remove our hats during prayer, we even come up to the front during the altar call every once in a while. We have the system down. But this is not freedom. It is only another form of bondage if it is not done through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and as a result of an overflowing heart responding to grace. We need no Savior when we have a system. And therein lies the problem.

We don't realize that we are in bondage; that we are enslaved; that we are captives to sin. Even in the midst of doing all those "good" things. We sin in our pursuit of God without even realizing it because we are not truly seeking him for who he is; maybe only for what he can give (like I talked about in this blog); or because it is expected of us; or any other impure motive. But, Jesus had in his mind that even those "who had believed in him" (v. 31) needed to be set free. You may believe, but you need not only believe. James says "faith without works is dead." True faith expresses itself through action. If your saying something with your mouth, claiming to believe it, but your actions aren't lining up, then double check your heart because you probably don't truly believe.

We are slaves. Either to sin or righteousness (Romans 6). But, the truth of Christ "will set [us] free." (v. 32) And, "if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." (v. 36) Christ's word, his truth, is presented in this blog, and you therefore have the means to freedom, for "the truth will set you free"; may the Holy Spirit soften your heart to hear and feel the Truth, Christ himself, and be freed.

Amen.

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