Month: July 2021

26.h. “You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!”

Psalms 119:1  Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. I will praise you with an upright heart when I learn your righteous rules. I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me!

Blessed are those whose way is blameless (undefiled).  Being “blessed” – happy, joyful, cheerful, satisfied, content, and at peace seems to be a rarity in very many people. There is so much stuff out there that quickly captures our thoughts away from things of God. Open up any online media source that is proclaiming news.  You will not find one mention of God’s Word other than to use it wrongly or to prove a point against God. These outlets of societal worldly thoughts want to tell you how to be happy, satisfied, and content.  They will bend the truth, lie, cause fear, make boasts, cast doubts, and most assuredly will promote what seems right for the time or in the eyes.  Think about how much of your time and brain is consumed by this rubbish of foolishness.  You hear people say “I read where”, “I saw that”, “so and so said”, “I saw on the news”, “they say”, etc…. Do you ever hear “God’s Word says”? What would it be like if every news and social media outlet would have an editor who reviewed what was being said in light of scripture? What would our government officials be saying if everything they said were as if God was listening? When there is no hunger and thirst, desire and longing, and wanting for God’s Word, what comes out of the heart will be seasoned and filled with what those void of God’s Word want to hear.  

There is nothing more worthy of our time than God’s Word.  There is nothing more precious than God’s Word and His promises. There is nothing more satisfying than God’s Word. There is nothing that can bring peace to the heart, mind, and soul than God’s Word. There is nothing more powerful than God’s Word. There is nothing more that can give courage, hope, and joy than God’s Word. And yet, day after day we choose to neglect it in search of what only it can bring into our lives. There is no excuse to neglect or become complacent with God’s Word. 

26.g. “How then can man be in the right before God?”

 

Galatians 2:15  We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

 Job 9:2-3   “Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be in the right before God?

 Job 25:4     How then can man be in the right before God? How can he who is born of woman be pure?

 Psalms 130:3-4   If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?  But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.

 Acts 4:12     And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

 John 20:31    but these 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.

We all grew up observant to do what is right and good. Yet somehow we think we are considered right before God because of doing right and good – justified – by these works of the flesh that we did. We should know that we, even though we grew up as observant of doing right and good, we are only considered right before God by faith in Jesus Christ. It will be a sad day for those who, in self-reliance, trust in doing right and good on judgment day.

“‘Faith in Jesus Christ’, then, is not intellectual conviction only, but personal commitment. The expression in the middle of verse 16 is (literally) ‘we have believed into (eis) Christ Jesus.’ It is an act of committal, not just assenting to the fact that Jesus lived and died, but running to Him for refuge and calling on Him for mercy.” (Stott)

Self-righteousness and self-reliance will never justify a person before God. There is but one way – belief in and through Jesus Christ.  This belief is more than a piece of intellectual knowledge, it is a life surrendered.  Casting away any thoughts of self-reliance and self-righteousness, and clinging to, relying on, trusting in, following, obeying, and living to honor and glorify Jesus Christ. 

26.f. “Making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ”

Galatians 1:15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me,

 Ephesians 1:5   he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

 Ephesians 1:9   making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ

 Isaiah 49:1   Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.

 Jeremiah 1:5  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

 Isaiah 49:5    And now the LORD says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him— for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, and my God has become my strength

 1 Corinthians 1:9   God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

 1 Corinthians 15:10   But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.

 2 Timothy 1:9   who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began

 Paul wanted to show that his calling depended on the secret election of God, and that he was ordained an apostle, not because he had fitted himself for undertaking such an office by his own industry or because God had discerned that he was worthy of having it bestowed on him, but because, before he was born, he had been set apart by the secret purpose of God.” (Calvin)

God wants to do more than reveal Jesus to us; He wants to reveal Jesus in us. The revealing of Jesus to us is the place where eternal decisions of great consequence are made.  Being set apart for the purpose of God’s will requires a surrender of self-will and a seeking, desiring, and wanting to do God’s will.  Too often we interject our will, purpose, plans, and wants over God’s will, purpose, and plans.  This is easy to identify.  When our heart is more set on things of this world than wholly living in perfect purpose and desire to solely honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all we say, think, and do, it is safe to say we give more thought to self and this world than Him.  Our life is a journey with many distractions that can tempt us to take our eyes off of God’s plans and purposes.  It is a matter of the heart.  Fill it continually with God’s Word, seek to honor and glorify Him in every moment as you grow more and more in your understanding and knowledge and love of Him.

You have been set apart for Him and His plans and purposes.

26.e. “Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

 

Galatians 1:10   For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

 Acts 4:19-20    But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge,  for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

 1 Thessalonians 2:4    but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.

 2 Corinthians 5:9-10     So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

 Ephesians 6:6   not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,

 James 4:4    You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

 “There have always been preachers who have sought popular acclaim above all else, and there are some still. It is part of fallen human nature that even those charged with the responsibility of proclaiming the gospel can fall into the trap of trying to be popular rather than faithful.” (Morris) 

Being faithful with the gospel of Jesus Christ means we do not add to it or take away from it.  The same is true of God’s Word.  People pleasers give lip service and head nods toward things of God but their heart is in being joined with the world in a way that does not honor and glorify God.  The gospel of Jesus Christ can not be separated from heaven and hell, righteousness and sin, forgiveness and guilty, and Judgment.  How can a person know of the need for Jesus Christ without an understanding of these?  To water down the need is to obscure the greatness of grace, love, and mercy Jesus Christ gave when He sacrificed Himself for sinners.  God’s Word is clear in regards to man’s separation from Him due to sin.  “All have sinned and fall short” – Sin is and will be judged by God – Eternity awaits us all – Heaven and Hell – Eternity in heaven is a promise of God just as eternity in hell.  I can think of no other scripture that is as clear as what is written in the Gospel of John.  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 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. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” There is no other way by which a man can be saved. There is no way to be good enough or do good enough things to be right before the holiness of God.  It is only when there is a humble surrender of all self-reliance and complete reliance, trust, faith, and belief in and through Jesus Christ will any person be saved from eternal hell. God has given mankind free choice to choose between self and Christ, heaven and hell, forgiveness and guilt.  The message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the absolute need should never be diluted or obscured.  Wide is the road that leads to Hell and narrow is the path to Heaven.  Never let it be accounted to you that the gospel of Jesus Christ was diluted or obscured in any way.

26.d. “For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own”

 

 

Galatians 1:6  I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

 Mark 6:6     And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching.

 Psalms 106:13    But they soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel.

 Isaiah 29:13     And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,

 Jeremiah 2:12-13     Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD,  for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

 Romans 10:3   For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

 1 Peter 1:15     but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,

 2 Peter 1:3    His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,

Someone brought this false gospel to the Galatians. False gospels don’t just happen. People bring them, and the people who bring them may be sincere and have a lot of charisma.  It is not as though these deceivers make are proclaiming a new or different Savior.  They twist the Gospel and its pure message into something different and that seems true. 

The gospel offends our sinful nature of self-pride. It tells us we need a savior, and that we cannot save ourselves. It gives no credit to us at all for our salvation. The gospel offends our sinful nature of self-wisdom. It saves us by something many consider foolish. Third, the gospel offends our sinful self-knowledge. It tells us to believe something which goes against scientific knowledge and personal experience.

There is so much more to being a Christian than knowing about God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Knowing about something does not mean you believe in it, you just know about it.  There is a big difference.  When the gospel of Jesus Christ is watered down and diluted to the point where you can think that by doing something other than believing in, trusting on, clinging to, and relying on Jesus Christ alone, you are ignorant of the righteousness of God, and will seek to establish their own, not submitting to God’s righteousness.

26.c. “It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power”

Jeremiah 32:17 ‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts, great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. You have shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day. You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror. And you gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. And they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this disaster come upon them.

How do we understand and look at God?  Do we see Him, as Jeremiah did, “nothing is too hard for You”, or as something less? The One who created all there is is not limited.  Our understanding and belief are limited but not God. Since God created everything there is, is there anything more powerful than the Creator? Jeremiah is saying, confessing belief in, and acknowledging the unlimited power and control of God.  Jeremiah knows, beyond just believing, that God sees all of what mankind does, thinks, and will do. He knows God is a just rewarder of those who walk in His ways and a righteous judge of those who does not.  

Living to honor and glorify God is as much a choice as not doing so.  Living for self and self-honor and glory will not and does not honor and glorify the Creator of all there is. It always comes down to an intentional choice.  Honor and glory for God through believing in, trusting in, relying on, clinging to, obeying, following, and living for Jesus Christ.  Anything short of striving for this will not honor or glorify the One and only worthy of it.  The One who holds the keys to eternity in heaven and hell. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 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.  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”

26.b. “I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.”

Galatians 1:1  Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

  John 4:34    Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

 John 5:30     “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

 Romans 8:27   And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

 Ephesians 1:11    In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

 John 6:38    For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

 Psalms 40:8     I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”

 Psalms 119:92   If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

 Job 23:12   I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever.” –“because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.” – “according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.” – “I delight to do your will”

What is the will of God?  Do we search scripture to understand, in part, the will of God? Do we blindly live our lives without giving thought to what God’s will is for our lives? Many books have been written to help us understand the will of God for our lives. Here are a few “The will of God”, What the will of God really means”, “Experiencing God, knowing and doing the will of God”, “Decision making and the will of God”, “What the bible says about how to know God’s will”, “How you can know the will of God”, “Discovering His will for your life”, “Understanding and pursuing the will of God,” “How to know the will of God”, “Walking in the will of God”, “The will of God”, “You can know the will of God”, “Finding God’s will for you”, “How do I know God’s will”, “Discovering God’s will”, “The secret to knowing God’s will for your life”, “Can I know God’s will”, “The will of God”, “Finding God’s will”, etc…………… These books have been mostly written in an attempt to explain and point to understanding the Will of God.  I am sure there are many good points and thoughts in these books.  Some of them will be similar and some will be one-offs.  

At the end of the day, what is important: having a desire for God’s will, seeking God’s will, and believing, trusting, following, and obeying His will.  Know this – we can not expect to begin to understand God’s will if we are neglectful and complacent or if our eyes are on the worldly rather than the heavenly, and if our fleshly heart is not surrendered. Seeking, desiring, and wanting to do the will of God should not be seen as a one and done event, but rather, an intentional daily continual choice – a way of life – wanting to be and willing to be lead by the Holy Spirit of God for the glory and honor of Jesus Christ.

26.a “This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.”

2 Corinthians 12:19  Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding, beloved. For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.

 Galatians 5:15    But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

 Galatians 5:19-21   Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,  idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,  envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 Ephesians 4:31-32   Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.  Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

 James 3:14-16    But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.  This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

 Proverbs 16:28    A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.

 Romans 1:29   They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,

The purpose of God’s Word is not to make us squirm, but to bring us to our senses, to help us rid ourselves of worldly influences, to cancel the narcotic effects of worldly pleasures/desires, to set our feet on solid ground, to light the path we are to walk, and to give us discernment between right and wrong, truth and false, good and bad, eternal and temporal, heaven and hell, Holy and unholy, Godly and godly, etc….When there is neglect or lacking desire for His Word our hearts will take on and be filled with what our culture and society think is right in its own eyes. We should not think we are immune to the troubles affecting the Corinthian church.  When God’s Word is being neglected all sorts of unholy thoughts and actions will manifest in our lives.  Our hearts, minds, and souls will be filled with something.  We get to choose what that is.  Intentionally choose to be filled to overflowing with His Word, the Grace, Love, and Mercy of Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit for His honor and glory.

26. “Even though I am nothing”

2 Corinthians 12:11 I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing. The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!

Luke 17:10    So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

Ephesians 3:8   To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

Romans 15:18-19   For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed,  by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ;

What would our lives be like if we would look at all we do, all we are able to do, and all we have done and know in our heart that we are nothing and it is by the grace of God that we exist and are able to do anything at all. Would we act differently? Would we be more thankful? Would we be more humble? Would we be more helpful to others? Would we see others in a different light? It is not a though we should be walking around with our head hung low and seemingly pouting or self-deprecating. Rather, we should walk with our head on straight with the knowledge that we are nothing in the flesh but in the spirit, we are a child of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. In the flesh we are but a tool of our Lord, that is if we keep the influences of fleshly desires and worldly temptations out of our mind. This is not easy when there is so much technology that feeds anti-christian worldly ideas at lightning speed continuously. There is but one way to keep from being drawn away. Staying in His Word. I am not saying this lightly but that it should be a desire of your soul. Why is this important? Because without feeding and digesting His Word the world has a way of dragging you into its lifestyle and way of thinking. Feeding and digesting His Word will manifest humbleness, trust, obedience, faith, hope, praise, honor, worship, and reliance in Him alone in your life.