Settle It Here, Once And For All

Why wonder if there really is a God? Why not find out once and for all? Let's settle it here and now. Call on God to make himself real to you. He will do it.

I highly suggest that you read the Bible, especially the gospels in the first part of the New Testament. They tell the things that Jesus said and what he had the power to do. I believe that God will become real to you on a very personal level when you meet the Jesus of the Bible. He made you and he knows how to communicate with you and become the very real answer to your life's needs.

He touched lepers. He spoke to women with bad reputations. He spent almost all of his time around fishermen and tax collectors and political zealots. He worked as a carpenter. He knew people like nobody has ever known people. He knows you.

Take the challenge. You won't regret it.

Who Is This Man?

Not the one you expected?

The religious accused him of being a drunkard, a glutton and having tacky taste in friends. It is a profound irony that the Son of God visited this planet and one of the chief complaints against him was that he wasn't religious enough. Do you realize, just for that quality alone, the appeal Jesus will have to skeptics? He is irresistible. - Rebecca Manley Pippert (p.37)

Genuine is the correct word here. He is the real thing - more than Coca-Cola is the real thing. Religious people always have expectations and they are often wrong. The truth will set you free and it is wonderful.

I have been studying the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus' parables and he was as sharp as any man. You must come to him with your thinking cap on. He outwits his opponents at every turn and they are unable to arrest him until he is ready to be arrested. He makes them look like the fools they are and they resent him - say he does miracles by the devil's power.

His mission was to take care of the heart of he matter: men are at the root sinners in need of saving. Once that is taken care of, the rest can be dealt with easily. That is why he has two comings. He comes the first time to take care of sin and a second time to make the rest right. We didn't need a political solution, but a heart solution.

I don't believe that all religions lead to the same place, but I do believe that all the lines of truth lead to the same place and that place is Jesus Christ.

There are only two possible religions when you boil it all down:
1) Works - trying to be good enough to enter heaven on your own merit.
2) Grace - having a Savior, specifically Jesus Christ, who loved you and died for you on the cross, rising from the dead to prove our sins are gone.

Read the next post about being a "sinner." That is a prerequisite for needing a savior. This is a place we must all visit in our lives.

Can you believe that the longing you've felt inside,
Could find it's rest in a man who was crucified?
- Leslie Phillips

Not The Righteous, But Sinners

Jesus says that he did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. The so called "righteous" people of Jesus' day looked down on him for eating with Matthew, a tax collector and "sinner." Matthew would be keenly aware of this. He writes about this in his gospel where the main theme has to do with the reader understanding that he is a sinner and is not worthy of salvation or heaven. We must have a righteousness that exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees because their righteousness is not enough, either. What kind of righteousness can we have? The answer is imputed righteousness. It does not come from us, but from our Savior. The point Matthew is making throughout the book is that Jesus is our only righteousness. Enter through the narrow gate (Jesus) or you do not enter at all.

We need a savior. That means all of us without exception. It was impossible for Jesus to save the "righteous" because they were so busy deluding themselves into thinking they had righteousness of their own that they would never come to Jesus Christ as a savior. Jesus came for the sinners who knew they needed help and could not make it on their own.

On His Own Authority

Jesus could speak on His own authority and carry weight. He lived what was called an indestructible life, so he had practical authority. He was from heaven and was the Son of God, so he had positional authority and spoke from first-hand knowledge.

Knowing this, we must be careful to take Him at His word and understand that what we decide to do with Jesus - how we intend to treat Him - is the most important decision of our lives.

He wants us to make Him Lord of our lives. He is Lord, whether we acknowledge Him or not, but He wants us to come to Him in faith and realize who He is, trusting Him.

Good Friday

Why is it Good Friday? Bad things happened.

God planned all of this. Nothing caught Him by surprise. We needed a Savior and God offered up his Only Son for us. That is complete love.

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8:32

We have it made. The one who loves us knows all of our bad deeds, yet loves us anyway. We get all the good stuff from him and he took all the bad stuff from us.

This is a "Good Friday."

Two Houses - Two Destinies

The final word is that two identical houses could be built with differing foundations and the foundation difference is the deciding factor as to whether the house makes it though the storm OK.

The rock foundation is obedience to Jesus' words and the foundation of sand is disobedience to His words. We cannot be hearers only but must put His words into practice by obedience.

I am speaking to myself here as much as anyone else. This is the final and deciding factor with regard to building our lives.

The people were amazed with the authority Jesus spoke with. He cannot be denied as the Master of the spoken word and the final authority on Scripture and its interpretation.

Only Two Ways

D. A. Carson makes the point Jesus is making in his Sermon on the Mount: that there are only two ways available to travel in this life.

1. The broad road that leads to death
2. The narrow road that leads to life

There is not an infinite number of choices: only one choice involving two paths.

The tragedy is that otherwise reasonable men become so enamoured with the spaciousness and popularity of their path that they take little thought as to it's destination. Should they hear that it leads to destruction, they will deny it, arguing that they are no worse than others on the same road, and that in any case God would not permit the destruction of so many. Let me state emphatically that the Scriptures do not encourage such optimism. Jesus himself insists that only the narrow way leads to life.

Sermon On The Mount

Jesus tells it like it really is in the Sermon on the Mount. "You have heard it said" but "I say to you."

Enough of what men have said about the Law of Moses, this is what it was really meant to say and how our hearts should react to it.

I highly recommend Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and His Confrontation with the World by D. A. Carson. It was one of the text books for my class I am taking (not for credit) from ITS. The class lectures are also great, by John Stott. The Sermon on the Mount has a definite purpose and it is often misunderstood. The Law was put in place to show sin and most of all to show that we have no righteousness of our own. Any Pharisee who thought he might be righteous in God's eyes by keeping the Law perfectly would be shocked to learn what God's real expectations are as presented by the One who would know, the Son of God. There is no one who is righteous.

The behavior expected by God, perfection as depicted in the Sermon, is only attainable with the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives after we completely admit we are broken and unable to meet this standard on our own. We become poor in spirit and meek due to the knowledge of our own unworthiness in God's sight. It is only then that we can obey God in His power, not our own.

Technological Explosion Reverses Babel

This is an amazing account of an event that is greatly underestimated in importance. Technology is exploding today and language barriers are less and less an issue in slowing down the expansion of knowledge.

A huge statement by God: "nothing" would be too difficult for mankind to accomplish.

What if man had developed atomic bombs before Christ came and paid for our sins? The languages brought barriers that slowed down the current headlong dive into new capabilities for mankind.

Man's potential to control his environment is God given and apparently has no limits. Sin really complicates man's motivation and goals involving his environment and God slowed down the process to allow time for redemption.

The tower may also have been designed to track the stars and other heavenly bodies. So many different places around the world tried to duplicate it. The Mayan calendar was very elaborate and precise. Most cultures seemed to have a large monument of some kind that was laid out in conformity with the sun, moon and stars. Stonehenge, the pyramids of Egypt, etc. Finally, Kepler and Copernicus and Sir Isaac Newton developed modern math and a concept of planetary motion that led to modern physics and the atomic bomb.

Tower Of Babel Account

Both Salt And Light

There is a constant debate about whether we are supposed to preach the gospel or do good deeds and influence our culture and John Stott has observed that both are taught by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. We can be salt which improves the flavor of the world and helps to preserve it. We also should provide light in a dark place and point people to God.

We must remain different to remain "salty." We must not hide our light in order to be visible.

A Wide Open Promise

The first thing you might want to ask is, "What's the catch?" This is a powerful promise and the only thing is we need to pray such that the Son can bring glory to the Father in order for this promise to hold. What power that gives us! I just want to think on this for a while and ponder what I could pray for that would help the Son bring glory to the Father.

Time - Procedure Combinations

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NIV


Who is like the wise man?
Who knows the explanation of things?
Wisdom brightens a man's face
and changes its hard appearance.

Obey the king's command, I say, because you took an oath before God. Do not be in a hurry to leave the king's presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. 4 Since a king's word is supreme, who can say to him, "What are you doing?"

Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,
though a man's misery weighs heavily upon him.
Ecclesiastes 8:1-6 NIV

It appears that wisdom is knowing what procedure to do at which time. You also have to keep the will of the king (God) in the picture so that what you do pleases him. There is a proper time for every activity or procedure and there is an improper time for every activity or procedure.

Bearing Fruit - How To Please God

The fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians was something I remember hearing about as a kid growing up and not really grasping what it was. First of all, it is fruit. Jesus says we are to bear fruit and many times we think that means bringing a certain number of people to Christ. We really cannot bring anyone to Christ on our own, but that is another issue.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control

are fruit of the Spirit in and of themselves. They manifest God working in our lives. Fruit is what God is pleased with, so striving to bear this kind of fruit is significant and I am sure God is pleased with it.

Galatians 5:16-26

Predators

In case it is not clear what men are capable of:

Predators on Dateline NBC

Hundreds of men showed up at houses all over the country to molest / rape teenage girls they met in chat rooms online. They did not realize they were actually chatting with adults posing as teenage girls. The chart on the right side of the web page shows how many men showed up in just a few days at each location. The T.V. producers had to give them appointments at spaced intervals to try not to have them all show up at the same time.

Is it any wonder that God is disgusted with mankind and has promised a coming judgment. His willingness to forgive is beyond our understanding.

Real Peace Through The Second Adam

We do have real peace because of our faith in Jesus Christ. He brings peace and joy to us and very real salvation.

Jesus loved us in that he was willing to die for us while we were still unlovable. We were still sinners, yet he loved us and was willing to give his life for us.

Romans chapter 5

Romans five contrasts the first and second Adam. Jesus is the father of a new race of men who are alive spiritually, whereas the race that came from the first Adam was dead in sin and did not have a realtionship with God.

Romans Chapter Four - Abraham's Faith

Abraham was counted as a righteous man because he believed the promises of God. He lived before the Law of Moses came. He had conversations with God and was given promises from God that he would become the father of many nations, yet he had no son.

Romans chapter 4

God delivered on his promises to Abraham, but Abraham had ever increasing belief in what God told him. Like us, Abraham was a sinner on his own and had no personal righteousness. His faith in God was based on God's promise to him and not on any merit of his own.

This is very significant and is all important to us. We can have righteousness in the same way Abraham did: by trusting in God's promises in the Bible, not by obeying a set of rules.

The Need For Special Revelation

It is very important to understand Paul's letter to the Romans in order to understand God's plan of salvation for mankind.

Romans chapter 1

Romans chapter 2

Mankind lives in a state of constant sin when left to his own desires. All of mankind is included here and there is no exception except for Jesus. Natural Revelation (looking only at nature) is not sufficient for mankind to find God due to our being blinded by our own sin, but it is enough evidence of God's power to condemn all men for not seeking God on our own.

Since all of mankind has fallen seriously into sin and continues to live there, God says that man needs extra revelation in order to be redeemed. This is why the word of God was given. It is something completely unique and comes from outside of creation and springs from God's true nature of love.

This Special Revelation introduces God's perspective and power into man's situation. Now man has hope from God for reconciling the relationship.

It is extremely important to understand that salvation is entirely from God. We were lost and rightly condemned for not seeking God on our own simply from Natural Revelation. God sending Scripture into the world to reach us shows that he is now seeking us. We are not seeking him.

The Law was introduced and Romans explains this very complicated issue well. The Law shows us even more obviously to be sinners and shows us that we cannot please God on our own. Grace is introduced to illustrate again that salvation is from God and not from us.

Jesus himself is the ultimate Savior for us. He did everything for us on the cross when he died to carry our sins and we receive his righteousness in place of our sins.

Romans chapter 3

Eternal Words

Everything dies and decays in this world. Change is the only constant. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is the person called the Word of God and the Holy Scriptures are the written Word of God. They are both eternal.

Nothing else in this world measures up. Many people in the world have put their complete faith in this word. Many have tested these words and found them to be true in a way that other truths are not. They are eternally true. "Heaven and earth may pass away, but my words will not pass away" said Jesus.

Man is of such a temporary nature that he is compared to grass, a seasonal form.

We have so little power. We are made of dust and return to dust in a matter of seventy or eighty years. Did you know your grandparents? Did you know your ancestors going back six generations? Do you know where they lived? Do you know anything about your ancestors from a thousand years ago? Two thousand years ago? Three thousand years ago?

You get the picture.

This is why modern man has so much trouble realizing his place in the universe. He is here so briefly and changes so little of what is going on.