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Un telegrama oportuno
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at 7:37PM
Un telegrama oportunoU
Un joven telegrafista estaba oprimido desde hacía algún tiempo por el sentimiento de sus pecados y suspiraba por la gracia del perdón. Una mañana estando de servicio tuvo que recibir y transmitir un telegrama. Con gran sorpresa descifró estas palabras: "He aquí el Cordero de Dios que quita el pecado del mundo". Un cristiano que se hallaba de viaje telegrafiaba este texto en respuesta a la carta de un amigo que le pedía consejo sobre la salvación de su alma.
El mensaje estaba destinado para otro, pero el que lo transmitió recibió por su medio la vida eterna aprendiendo a poner su confianza en la obra redentora de quien, fue sacrificado como un cordero para nuestra salvación. - Spurgeon.Dead or Alive?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at 7:35PM Dead or Alive
Larry Kirkpatrick. Price Seventh-day Adventist Church
Opening Hymn: #338 Redeemed! Closing Hymn: #240 Fairest Lord Jesus
Why Belong to a Church? Click and find out out.
Romans 6:11
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We are born under the dominion of death
Happy Sabbath, Brethren! Do you want the good news first, or the bad news? Let's start with the bad news. How's this for bad news: you and I were born into this earth under the reign of death. Turn with me to Romans 5:12.Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.The Bible makes it clear that we are all born with a death sentence hanging over our head. We are like AIDS babies--we have inherited something that we didn't ask for. We are born into our lives "without strength" (Romans 5:6), subject to a moral-warpedness, a gross tendency towards evil. God designed us to be worshiping beings from the beginning, but our trait of worshipfulness is all bent-up, and unless we turn to the Living God, we inevitably turn to the worship of unliving gods. We are born under this reign of death; we are born into a situation that we must each, individually, purposefully resolve. If we do not turn to the only Being in the universe that has the power to restore us, then we will never be remade--never be repaired--never be made capable of dwelling with everlasting burnings (Isaiah 33:14), of living in the same universe as our God who "is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29). Our God is holy, and only a holy people can dwell in His presence. The Bible tells us in no uncertain terms that unless we are changed, we'll go up in a whisp of smoke when He appears (2 Thessalonians 1:8, 9; 2:8). Ah yes; that's the bad news. But that's not the only news...
As Soon As There Was Sin, There Was a Savior, Jesus, Who Instituted the Reign of Grace
You see, as soon as there was sin, there was a Savior. Look to Romans 5:15.But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.What God has done is so much different from what Adam did! Because Adam disobeyed God, all humanity inherited a double booby-prize. We all received the first death--the sleep death; and everyone of us is going to sleep that sleep of death unless we are translated when Jesus comes. But that death is a consequence of sin, not a directly accountable moral penalty upon us individually. Just like the infant born with AIDS who will eventually die through no moral fault of its own, we are born into a diseased body doomed to dissolution. But that is not as bad as the second half of the results of Adam's disobedience. We also come into this world with an inborn tendency towards evil. If we remain plugged-in to that tendency, we will inevitably go down into destruction. Through the offense of one the whole human race was put on a hopeless road, not merely to the sleep death, but to eternal death, because there was no reserve power left in us to bring us back; Adam's transgression was a one-way door to doom. But that's what grace is all about. God reached down into the abyss of our hopelessness. He gave His Son Jesus so that that door could be pulled open. See, God's side of the door still had a handle on it; ours didn't. He could die to meet the demands of the Broken law in our place, and purchase for us again a fresh opportunity to be changed. Jesus' death is not for only an elite few, but for all.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only-Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him might not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).The gift by grace that comes through Jesus has abounded to many. Many have received the grace that brings salvation, and empowers us to live "soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world" (Titus 2:12). Grace is given, not as a cheap cloak to hide our sin, but as a medicine to heal our broken minds and hearts, to heal us, and release us from our prisons. But some have radically redefined grace and made it into license--the very thing that Paul in Romans six warns us against! You see, Satan has been trying to hide this truth from us for thousands of years, because his only hope is to keep the universe locked into a sufficient doubt of God's goodness to keep Satan in business. As long as there are still some angels that aren't sure that God is right and Satan is wrong, the demonstration of God's kingdom of grace and Satan's kingdom of sin goes on.
God's Kingdom, Front and Center
The difference between the reign of sin and the reign of grace is vast. Sin reigns unto death; that's not too complicated. If we continue to sin, we will die--we'll be fully identified with sin and ultimately destroyed with it in its final end. But how does grace reign? It reigns "through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 5:21). Grace doesn't simply "reign;" it reigns through righteousness, not unto death, but unto "eternal life." How does it reign "through righteousness?" The answer is "by Jesus Christ our Lord." Look at Romans 6:3-4. Those verses tell us that baptism into Christ means burial into the death that Adam managed to saddle us with, and that Jesus experienced for us. The result is present living in newness of life. The next two verses tell us that our "old man" is crucified with Jesus to free us from the reign of sin. Sin's reign has ended for us because Jesus has paid its penalty. We are living now unto God, who gives newness of life to the resurrected. The rite of baptism does not change us--it testifies publically to what Jesus did for us at the cross, and what Jesus is doing for us now in the heavenly sanctuary. It marks one's recognition of their condemnableness, because it says "Jesus died for me, because I deserved to die." It marks one's public commitment and desire to live the resurrected life, and to be a part of God's present covenant community, living and breathing and existing here and now in this world and in this age! It marks a commitment to discipleship--to following the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. Finally, it marks not merely a potential triumph of God and the gospel, but the actual triumph of Jesus over the dominion and reign of sin and death; it is the very symbol of the resurrection of Christ. He walked out of the grave, and when you are baptised, it says to all "I too am walking out of the grave, right here and now..." Who or what is the "old man?" Some have understood this to mean our fallen or sinful nature. But listen, when do we get to trade in that nature? Not until glorification when this corruptible puts on incorruption (1 Corinthians 15:53). The phrase that we are looking at is used by Paul three times; in Romans 6:6; Ephesians 4:22; and Colossians 3:9. In Ephesians 4:22 the Bible tells us to stop behaving like the "old man." God asks us to "put off concerning the former conversation the old man." "Conversation" was the old english word commonly used to mean "behavior," so this text is saying "don't do those things from your old life when you were under bondage to sin." Verses 23 and 24 there urge us to be renewed, and that we "put on the new man." So you see that this must be something that we can experience now, through the power of the Living God. Colossians 3:9-10 tells us that we are not to engage in the old behavior, "seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new." The old man is the crispened, burned character we've built up onto the top of our sinful, fallen nature. We can cooperate with God and see Him change us--change our character while we live. He brings newness of life to us. The fallen nature will cry out; it will whine and roar and holler and provoke; but its power has been neutralized. We can steer out of the ruts of sin and up onto the highway of holiness. The chains are loosed. The question then is whether we will swallow hard and take hold of God's help, or whether we will sink back into the darkness where our darling sin-habits await our indulgence and Satan awaits our destruction. God's kingdom is front and center because His people are no longer under the dominion of sin. Sin's reign has, for us, ended. The question is, can anyone in the universe tell by looking at us?Joining the Kingdom
Well, and just where is the kingdom of God? Jesus said "the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21). The new-agers love that verse. But if they looked more closely at the Greek they'd realize that among "you" is in the plural, and that the Greek word for "in" translates equally well as "among"; that is, Jesus was saying that the kingdom of God was there, then present among them. He also said that His kingdom was not of this world. John 18:36. He also said that we must be born of both the water and spirit or we cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:1-8). Wow. What a literalist! But why did Jesus insist on this? Why does He insist that we publically participate in this outward rite? It is because when we come to God, He is going to brag on us. When you enter a race, you get a number. A race car has the names of the companies that are sponsoring it painted all over it. They want to identify their products with that car when it wins. And God our Father in heaven wants to identify His products [us] with Him when He wins the great controversy. Indeed, He has put us into a very important role in the great controversy so that He can win it. Our lives will show the universe whether the kingdom of grace is what God claims it to be, or just a blast of hot air out of the heavenly throne-room. Turn with me to Ephesians. What do we find there? We find out why God wants us to join ourselves to an organized church on this earth here and now. Look at Ephesians 3:9-10.And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ; to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.God wants us to be part of a literal church body so that all--not just all men, but all throughout the universe, all angels and anyone else who might be lurking out there--may see what is the fellowship of the mystery. It is important for Him to make known to principalities and powers in heavenly places that He has been truly just in dealing with the sin problem in this universe. How does He demonstrate this? "By the church," that is, by means of the church; the church is the earthly instrument of demonstration. See, God owns the soundstage of this universe. And He wants someone to go up on that stage and live out His gospel. And we got the part. God is making a visible demonstration. See, He knows our hearts, that is true. But the demonstration is not for Him. It's for everyone else--all the other beings who cannot see our hearts except through our actions. Look down the page a bit further there. Look at Ephesians 3:21.
Unto Him [God] be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages."In the Bible, glory often carries the meaning of "brightness," but just as often carries the meaning of "character." God wants His church to shine, but how can we shine unless God is changing our character? "Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord..." (Isaiah 43:10). And Matthew 24:14 says that "this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." God is sending His people out there into the world to live this gospel. Changed people are His witnesses, because unchanged people have not experienced inwardly the power of the gospel; they have only an empty bucket. How do we change? Can we do it on our own? Our strength comes from God, doesn't it? So He would know the best way to lead us to nurture that strength and growth. And what do we find? God's people all the way down through time have always been bound together by Him into covenant communities. Look at this: in Acts 7:38 He refers to Israel in the wilderness as a church! Interesting, eh?
This is he [Moses], that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us.Well, what about it? Weren't they really there, an identifiable, organized, flesh-and-blood grouping--a church-- there on God's stage in the wilderness? And they were a covenant community, bound together to each other and to God; they were not a blurry hodge-podge of individuals each going their own way. Exodus 24:8 shows us a specific flesh-and-blood group of believers, bound under a covenant of blood. What did Paul do when he was converted? He tried to join the church. It took him awhile to get in, too, because they weren't too sure about him at first (Acts 9:26-28). God added to the church daily such as should be saved (Acts 2:47). He gave the members of His church gifts to lead it, to nurture it, and to grow it too. Listen to this from Ephesians 4:16.
From whom [Christ] the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.Friends, if we are joined to Christ, we are joined to His body, and His body is a church; it's alive. The kingdom of God is among us, but it is not of this world. That living community of faith out in the desert in the wilderness--that "church," as the Bible calls them, was under the blood. And in the very end, so too will be all who are saved. God will have His last day people under His blood too. Let's make our last three stops today in the book of Revelation. First, turn with me to Revelation 1:5, the last part, and verse 6 too.
Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.God's last-day people are washed in the blood; they too have entered into the blood of the covenant; they are a family, bound together into a community with God and with each other. And let's look over at Revelation 14:4 too. What do we find there?
These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.Now in the figures of the apocalypse, you know a woman represents a church. These are they then, who "are not defiled with women," that is, they have removed themselves from false churches that rise up in the last-days that misrepresent God and His kingdom--who are not His witnesses, but someone else's witnesses. And do you see that "these were redeemed from among men," that is, they have been redeemed--bought back. But bought back by what means? Consider 1 Peter 1:18-19:
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.We have been bought back by the precious blood of Jesus and washed in the precious blood of Jesus. We've been redeemed. We're involved in the blood of the covenant. Together.
An Appeal to Join the Kingdom
Let's turn to our last Scripture today, on the last page of your Bible. Revelation 22:17.And the Spirit and the bride say, Come.And isn't that what the Holy Spirit is saying to us today? Come! Let us rejoice in the fellowship that we share; let us encourage one another as we see the day of Jesus' return fast approaching; let us remember our covenant with the Lord and experience "newness of life" in Him; and if anyone here has not been born of the water, then the bride--the church--says "Come." Prepare for baptism. Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
End
Paul's argument in Romans 5:12-7:6.
| Romans 5:12-19 The reign of death began with the fall through the one, Adam, but the gift of God began with the one, Jesus Christ. |
| Romans 5:20-21 Sin --> Death Grace --> through righteousness --> Eternal life. Grace reigns through righteousness. |
| Romans 6:1-2 The purpose of grace is not to facilitate sin, but to remove it from the life in the present. |
| Romans 6:3-4 Baptism into Christ means burial into the death that Adam managed to saddle us with, and that Jesus experienced for us. The result is present living in newness of life. |
| Romans 6:5-6 The old man is crucified with Jesus to free us from the reign of sin. |
| Romans 6:7-10 Sin's reign has ended for us since Jesus has paid its penalty. We now live unto God, who gives newness of life to the resurrected. |
| Romans 6:11-14 Be aware that you are dead to sin and alive to God. We now yield ourselves to God and our members in particular to righteousness. We are not under the reign of sin's condemnation through the law, but under the reign of grace's righteous newness of life made possible through Jesus. |
| Romans 6:15-23 We may now freely obey to the working of righteousness. The fruitage of our freedom is the "telos," the outcome or arrival at the goal of eternal life. |
| Romans 7:1-3 The law has dominion over a person as long as they live (the law of the first husband). |
| Romans 7:4-6 Because Jesus died for us, we also have died, and are thus released from bondage to the first husband; we are free to be remarried to Christ and live in newness of spirit. |
El puente de amor
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at 7:34PM
El puente de amor
Los padres de Luis............ vivían en la playa de un hermoso lago de Suiza. Su padre trabajaba en el lado opuesto. Un día Luis y su hermano fueron a través del lago al encuentro de su padre. La madre les vigilaba desde la ventana. Todo iba bien, pero de repente se dio cuenta de que el hielo sobre el cual andaban estaba partido. El hermano mayor saltó fácilmente al otro lado, pero la madre exclamó sollozando desde la ventana: "¡El pequeño! El pequeño no puede saltar". Entonces vio como el hermano mayor extendía su cuerpo entre los dos hielos y el pequeño pasaba por encima de él.
¿no es esto lo que Cristo hizo con su propio cuerpo? Lo puso cono puente por el cual el hombre pudiera llegar hasta Dios.Untying God's Hands
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at 7:32PM Untying God's Hands
Larry Kirkpatrick.. Moab SDA Church.Psalm 78:40-43 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy. How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan:
Approaching to God Without Arrival?
Would you turn with me today to Isaiah 58:1, 2? Let us start in that place.
"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God."Twenty-seven hundred years ago Isaiah recorded the then current piety of God's people. He said that even though they were sinning and really living in opposition to Him, still they sought Him daily, and were diligent in learning from His Word. "They seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways." Oh yes, they were quite religious, "as a nation that did righteousness," he says. He doesn't say that they did righteousness, but that they acted as if they were righteous. "They ask of Me the ordinances of justice," that is, they pled with God to be fair to them; they thought that they were entitled to something from Him. "We're O.K., so where's God's blessing?" they wondered. They took delight in approaching to God, but it was all approach and no arrival. There was too much ceremonialism and not enough authentic brokenness of heart. Did they realize that "God does not desire our ceremonial compliments, but the unspoken cry of the heart broken and subdued with a sense of its sin and utter weakness..." Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 87?
Clearing the King's Highway
They had a necessary work to do before they could expect to see God working on their behalf. And so do we. Our necessary work today is to personally clear the King's highway so that we may cooperate with God in ending the great controversy. And this work can only be accomplished through prayer and the putting away of sin.
If we want to see this new series of prophecy meetings change lives, then we have a work to do ourselves. We must clear the King's highway. We must be purposefully involved in a work of
- Putting away personal sin
- Personal conversion and reconversion
- Interpersonal reconciliation
- Spiritual growth
- Coming into harmony with God.
When a special effort to win souls is put forth by laborers of experience in a community where our own people live, there rests upon every believer in that field a most solemn obligation to do all in his power to clear the King's highway, by putting away every sin that would hinder him from co-operating with God and with his brethren.And that's not saying anything that the Bible doesn't already say, is it? Each one of us must be spiritually "on" or we won't be able to cooperate effectively with God; we'll limit the Holy One of Israel. (Psalm 78:40-43). But how can a mere individual like me or you "hinder" God? He is sovereign, He is in control; man is dust, a vapor. Can man limit God?
Can Man Really Hinder God?
God is Sovereign
God is really the Being who is ultimately in control, there is no question of that. Psalm 115:3 says "Our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased." There is no question that God is sovereign. Even in the book of Job we find it clearly presented that Satan is kept under wraps by God. He is not permitted to indulge his Luciferian malice past a certain point. And you know 1 Corinthians 10:13:"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."God and Satan have no partnership at all. They are working at exactly opposite purposes. God would be a fool to cooperate with Satan; a house divided against itself cannot stand (Mark 3:24). That's why Satan has been thrown out of the house. God has let him have a long rope in order to hang himself with it. Satan is like "that wicked Haman" in the book of Esther, who built himself a gallows to hang Mordecai the representative of God on, but wound up dangling from it himself. God is all-powerful. He has the sheer unstoppable strength to do whatever He wants. No being could begin to fight against the strength of God.
But He Exercises Self-Limitation
Although God is all-powerful, He has decided to exist and operate His kingdom in harmony with a set of non-arbitrary moral principles. That is, He has chosen to make known to the universe what is morally right and wrong, proper and improper, and then to hold to those principles. Satan can use lies against God to try to further his purposes. But God refuses to use lies against Satan; He will only use truth. For God, this is a long-term bonus, but a short-term problem. Time reveals what is truth and what is not, what is a lie and what is not. The devil wants us to make our spiritual decisions either prematurely or post-maturely; either before we have the information we need, or after we have passed the most opportune moment of decision. God is "bound" in the sense that He exists and operates in self-limitation. He refuses to cross the line. Even though He is right, and He knows He is right, He won't bypass dealing in the fairest way possible with the sin problem. The Bible says that God is "of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." Habakkuk 1:13. But He does every day. He sees you and me and the random murderer in Texas or LA or Moab. Does He immediately carry out judgment when He sees sin? Ecclesiastes reminds us that "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." Ecclesiastes 8:11. So what? Does God enjoy giving the wicked time to build up an overwhelming pile of guilt and them "whammo," really let them have it? Keep in mind a few things. Paul, before his conversion was an accomplice in the murder of Stephen. But he turned to God and was changed. David murdered Uriah the Hittite and took his wife. But David turned back to God and was changed. King Manasseh sawed Isaiah in half, that's how he died (Hebrews 11:36-38), but he finally repented and turned to God (2 Chronicles 33:11-13). Apparently he'll be in the kingdom, but he left behind an earthly nation in moral wreckage. What of all of these folk? What about you or me, when we hated our brother in our heart? Were we not murderers too? (1 John 3:15). I'm glad that God did not cut me down then, and I'm glad that He didn't cut Manasseh or David or Paul down when they were murderers. God gives "space" for repentance (Revelation 2:21), He exercises mercy that men might fear before Him. Time showed that these men turned away from selfishness and subscribed to the kingdom of God. They enlisted in God's army and He changed them. No, God can't let evil run on unchecked indefinitely. But he is willing to restrain His wrath against it in order that those who want to choose the One altogether lovely can turn to Him and be changed. Yes, God permits evil to exist temporarily. But the completion of Haman's gallows--of Satan's gallows--is almost finished.God Remains True to Himself
God won't cross the line. Don't we pray too often asking Him to cross the line, to enter into our moral space and either force His decision upon us or to take the decision away from us? How many years will we go on like this? How much time must be wasted before we each learn that such prayers are futile. Let's learn how to cooperate with Him. Let's learn the science of prayer and go forward. Do you remember the confrontation at the red sea? God told Moses (Exodus 14:1-4) what He would have Israel camp in a place with no escape before Pharaoh's angry following army. And the Egyptians showed up right on schedule to find Israel encamped with their backs against the sea. And the people came up and cried out against Moses about it. And Moses told them to watch and see what the Lord will do. And then he prayed to the Lord. How do we know Moses prayed to the Lord at that point? Look at Exodus 14:15: God says to Moses, "Wherefore criest thou unto Me? Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward!" Go forward? But where? There was no where to go! But there was. They went forward out there into the Red sea, God parted the waters, and they walked out on dry ground. Have you or I encamped with our back against the sea, and prayed to God for deliverance? Could it be that He would likewise say to us, "What are you praying to Me for now about this? Go forward!" Second Timothy 2:14 reveals that God remains faithful, He cannot deny Himself. Titus 1:2 tells us that God cannot lie. God won't violate His own principles; He operates within them. So He waits. Oh yes, He reserves the right to respond in His own way and His own time. But He operates within His own principles. The operation of divine laws does not take away God's freedom (Great Controversy, p. 525). God answers prayer in a manner consistent with His self-limitation.
Our Prayers Authorize God to Act
Did you realize that our prayers authorize our God to act within His supremely fair self-limitation in the great controversy? Haven't you heard this remark before, from Great Controversy, p. 525:
"It is a part of God's plan to grant us, in answer to the prayer of faith, that which He would not bestow did we not thus ask."And don't just look there. Look at Mark 6:5 and Matthew 17:23, and other places. It is because of unbelief--because of small faith--that God is limited in His reponse to us. We'd best ask and ask in faith. Then we'll see something. So we'd better be asking. Let's get this thing over with. Oh, and by the way, you know that when we pray for deliverance from sin, the response is automatic?
"When we pray for earthly blessings, the answer to our prayer may be delayed, or God may give us something other than we ask, but not so when we ask for deliverance from sin. It is His will to cleanse us from sin, to make us His children, and to enable us to live a holy life." Gal 1:4; 1 John 5:14, 15; 1 John 1:9. Desire of Ages, p. 266.But there are Scriptural conditions. And we need to know about them.
Conditions to Answered Prayer
The very first condition of acceptance is acknowledgment of our personal guilt. "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit." Psalm 34:18. Here is a first step.
Those who have not humbled their souls before God in acknowledging their guilt, have not yet fulfilled the first condition of acceptance. If we have not experienced that repentance which is not to be repented of, and have not with true humiliation of soul and brokenness of spirit confessed our sins, abhorring our iniquity, we have never truly sought for the forgiveness of sin; and if we have never sought, we have never found the peace of God. The only reason why we do not have remission of sins that are past is that we are not willing to humble our hearts and comply with the conditions of the word of truth. Explicit instruction is given concerning this matter. Confession of sin, whether public or private, should be heartfelt and freely expressed. It is not to be urged from the sinner. It is not to be made in a flippant and careless way, or forced from those who have no realizing sense of the abhorrent character of sin. The confession that is the outpouring of the inmost soul finds its way to the God of infinite pity. Steps to Christ, p. 37.
God "...knows whether we are clearing the King's highway from all rubbish and hindrance, so that He can beckon our souls onward and upward, or whether we are filling the path with rubbish and blocking up our own way, and placing stumbling blocks in the way of sinners to hinder the salvation of precious souls for whom Christ died." Mind, Character, and Personality, vol. 2, p. 434.We must let God take away not only our sins, but our character defects. What are they? Perhaps we can consider them to be long-term patterns of dealing with life that bring dishonor to Jesus and are harmful to our spiritual development. Have we I got any of those? Let's ask God to work on it with us. Let's get started. Ask Him to reveal and then ask Him to empower. He will answer both requests!
All of these things we've talked about today are important if we would stop limiting the Holy One of Israel; if we would untie God's hands so that we personally can become more like Jesus, and effectively work for the salvation of others. We should pray for God to intervene in our lives and bring others whom He has already been preparing across our pathway. But our first work is to see that our own souls are right. And we should personally intercede for other souls who need our Jesus. But again, let us be careful, so that our prayers may not be hindered.Let's untie God's hands that our spiritual drowsiness have tied. Today is a day of hope here in Moab. As we grow more serious about our own spiritual state, God will use us to His glory. And soon will His Kingdom come! |
Turning on the Lights
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at 7:30PM Turning on the Lights
Larry Kirkpatrick. Price SDA ChurchJames 1:16-21 Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
God is the Source for Gifts From Beyond That Impact Us Beyond Today
Let's turn to James 1:13. "Let no man say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God:' for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man." Although Satan wants to peg God as the source of our temptations, our actual sources of temptation are not from above. They are in each one of our hearts, and are provoked by the devil, our initiator provoker towards sin. You know how he goes on and on, launching one temptation after another into our minds. But catch this: he is determined, not only that we should sin, but that we should blame our sins on God. He is persistent enough and we are gullible enough to buy the lie, so James warns us carefully three verses down, "Do not err, my beloved brethren" (James 1:16). And then what does the verse say? "Every" gift of a certain nature is from God; everything that God gives us has a consistent quality about it; all of the gifts of God are pointing in a certain direction. Do you know what that is? "Every good and perfect gift" (vs. 1:17) points up to God, because He is the source of every good gift from beyond that can change us.
These gifts "come down from the Father of lights." They come down to us from the very bosom of the Creator of the stars and the planets that beautify and illumine the night sky. The greater light and the lesser light that rule the day, (Genesis 1:16) the sun and the moon, are nothing on his gauge. If there were a meter on God's creative power when He acted and made our solar system, I'm telling you that it wouldn't have even wavered at that outlay of power. Such a needle would never move, because our God has all power.
...All power.
He is our steady, morally-potent source of moral life. When faith rightly lays hold on Him, no force in creation can countermand His will. What did James tell us in verse 13? "For God cannot be tempted with evil." How can you be tempted, when you know all that there is to know? How can anyone convince you that it doesn't all add up the way that you already know it all adds up? How does one tell an effective lie to God? It can't be done. In Him there "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." God cannot be tempted with evil. He not only knows evil's fruitage, but He knows how to perfectly estimate the total cost of evil. He knows that it is only destructive, and He can't be bought off.
But that's not all. Neither does He tempt any person (James 1:13). God doesn't tempt you. Don't even think it. If Adam and Eve had remained faithful, they would have known life and known it more abundantly. Our Father would have showered them with "every good and perfect gift" from the beginning, and we'd be far, far in advance of where the human race is now. But let's stick with the way things are. Adam and Eve made a free choice. And now we are all weak. We are their "crack" babies, born oriented toward sin from the front-from the beginning on out. We are not directly responsible for the broken nature that we've been born into, and heaven knows this. But we are responsible for what we finally become. And that's what makes us afraid. Because deep inside (and maybe not so deep), we know that we are behind the curve; that we have not allowed our God to make of us what He would delight to make of us. Not yet.
My mom had a habit, and maybe some of us have it: right before leaving the house on any significant trip, she would go around the house and just "make sure" that all the doors were locked, that the stove was turned off, and so forth. And maybe one or two of us right now might suddenly become concerned that-just maybe-the stove was left on in your home this morning. But we have something more critical to worry about. Because friends, for all of us, the stove is left on; for all of us are here at a moment in time, a midpoint along our passage through life, God is still working. And we can be thankful that He hasn't turned off the oven yet. Because we're not done baking; we're not done refining. He's not done offering us His good and perfect gifts; and we are not done receiving them.
We Are Privileged to Be a Kind of Firstfruits
How do God's people arrive at 144,000-hood? Not by sitting by while the good and perfect gifts remain unclaimed. They will seek out and by experience learn how to cooperate with their heavenly Father.
See, we are to be "a kind of firstfruits of His creatures" (James 1:18). The firstfruits of the harvest in ancient times were always the first to mature, and the best of the harvest. And God's will for you, is that you be one of the first to mature; that you would be among the best in His harvest. No, not the person sitting next to you there. No. You. See, because all of us live at the end of time, don't we? And all of us are here in this place to be changed by the message we bear to the world, aren't we? And what is the result of the third angel's message supposed to be? It is plainly a message that is designed by our Creator to facilitate our becoming more like Jesus.
Oh friends, how could we ever entertain the idea that doctrine doesn't matter? That we can bumble along like a pinball, randomly careening along the devils bumpers and buzzers? We need to grow, and our Father offers us every good gift and every perfect gift so that we can grow into this likeness. Legalism? No, not at all. I like to call it, Jesusism.
An Attitude From Beyond
I am so glad, my brothers and sisters, that the gospel isn't bottled up someplace in someone's garage, with some bored angels selling tickets for a walk-through tour of it. Since every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, it is obvious that heaven has no plan to make merchandise of the gospel. Buy the gospel, and don't sell it. But the gospel is free. It cost heaven an infinite price, but it is offered to us freely, without money and without price. Does that mean there are no conditions in there? No. The gospel has some very important conditions built into it, because it comes from the Father of lights in whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. And that means there are moral edges in this universe that there is no way around. We will never put one over on God. Oh why do we try?! Yes, we've failed, each one, to live God's way always; but that was yesterday. Today--here--now--we can start again. We can receive one of heaven's good and perfect gifts here and now. If we will let God give to us. But who here needs gifts from the Father of lights? Well, only those of us who have sinned. I guess that would be all of us. Only those of us who need to let God work on us and change some of our less-than-dynamic personality traits. By that I mean maybe some of us need to loosen up, while some of us need to get more serious about our life. I'm not your pharmacist, so I'm not standing here prescribing for you. You listen for the Holy Spirit. Let Him convict you. But I'll bet that there's something that He is ready to do for you. God needs to adjust our character carburetor; He needs to tune our onboard computer; but He won't do it if we don't pop the hood for Him. Maybe we need to pop the hood so He can work more.Tips For Turning the Lights On
What suggestions would our God offer us today? Look with me at verse 19 and let's see what we find: "Wherefore my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath."Be Swift to Hear
See, because God has set out to make us "a kind of firstfruits," He urges us to adopt these important behaviors. And the first one given is "let every man be swift to hear." Practical Christianity right here-that's what James presents before us. "Let every man be swift to hear." To hear what?- To hear and live the teaching of God
- To hear the godly counsel of our fellow believers
- To weigh the preaching we hear and apply it to our lives
- To hear the Bible's doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness
Be Slow to Speak
Again, James admonishes us to be "slow to speak." What does he mean? Perhaps in part he means that we need to be more purposeful about weighing and thinking about the things that come to us before we open our mouth to respond to them. If our natures weren't fallen, this might not be such a problem. Pride would be a lot less likely to get in the way. We might much more readily be willing to admit we were wrong. But we do have fallen natures, and we have long practice in indulging these natures. Once we've opened our mouth and committed ourselves by saying something, the only thing we can do if we were wrong is to take it back, to back down. But in the fallen nature this means pushing the pride button. If I back down, I lose ground; I look like a fool for having said what I said it was in the first place. So heaven warns us be "slow to speak!"Be Slow to Wrath
If we are swift to hear and slow to speak, then and only then, I think we have hope regarding the third admonition: that we be "slow to wrath." If we will start by listening, and then thinking about what we have heard, we'll be much slower to provoke or respond in wrath. Notice in the next verse that "the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." The righteousness of God can only come if we let God rebirth us by His own will with the word of truth. Look back to James 1:18. Oh yes. Some of you saw me go past that. Yes, I did; but I knew we were coming back to it. Let's read it through: "Of His own will begat He [God] us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures." I want you to know something: it is God's will that we be begotten. This word here in the Greek means that it is through God's will that we are given-birth-to. And the agency of our new birth by God is His "word of truth." But did you know that in James 1:15 it speaks of birth using the same Greek word? "And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death," literally, "and sin, when it is finished, gives birth to death." The contrast here is between two all-important agencies:- The word of truth, through which God's will can give birth to us as renewed people, and
- Following our own lusts, through which our own willful disobedience leads finally to anti-birth, to death
What to Lay Aside
And so the last verse now comes to us: James 1:21: "Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls." Literally, "therefore, strip off your sinful ways." But it's not so easy to set aside our wicked ways, is it? But there is something going on here. Do you know also that this is in the middle voice, and means "therefore, you strip off your sinful ways." There is a work for each of us to do that won't be done for us. No, we are not called upon to empower it, but to consent to it, to cooperate with it. God gives the power, we cooperate, and He gives the victory, and He is glorified. And what is this "superfluity of naughtiness?" It speaks here of excess, an excess of badness. Why will we let a crust of overflowing wickedness build up upon our being? We are to strip off our sinful ways with God's help, and we are to strip off the character-warping crust of evil too. See, we're not prisoners to that anymore. If we are looking to God, then that's not part of our reality any more. So strip it off! In exchange for this toxic, stinking monkey on our back, God gives us something so good. Do you know what it is?What to Receive
No, not the wrath of man, but the meekness put into man by God is necessary if we would receive "the engrafted word," literally, "the implanted word." Commenting on the passage here, Cleon Rogers says in the Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament "It is the word for an 'implanting' not at birth but later in life." p. 725. And I like the way the SDA Bible commentary puts it in commenting on this verse: "The 'word' is 'engrafted' within a man when he chooses to make the principles of Scripture the pattern for his life." vol. 7, p. 513. Now let me share this with you. After doing my Bible study on this passage, I turned to the writings of Ellen White, just to see what she had said. And what did I find there? Listen!When one is fully emptied of self, when every false god is cast out of the soul, the vacuum is supplied by the inflowing of the Spirit of Christ. Such a one has the faith which works by love and purifies the soul from every moral and spiritual defilement. The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, can work upon the heart, influencing and directing, so that he enjoys spiritual things. He is "after the spirit," and he minds the things of the Spirit. He has no confidence in self; Christ is all and in all. Truth is constantly being unfolded by the Holy Spirit; he receives with meekness the engrafted word, and he gives the Lord all the glory, saying, "God has revealed them to us by his Spirit." "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God." The Spirit that reveals, also works in him the fruits of righteousness....When God's people humble the soul before him, individually seeking his Holy Spirit with all the heart, there will be heard from human lips such a testimony as is represented in this scripture: "After these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory." There will be faces aglow with the love of God, there will be lips touched with holy fire, saying, "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Ellen G. White, from The Home Missionary, November 1, 1893What is this "engrafted word," this "word of truth" that will make your heart and mine glow with the love of God? It is a gift from "the Father of lights." It is one of His every good and perfect gifts. There is no shadow of turning in Him, and there is no shadow of turning in His perfect gifts. What there is, is change, positive change, growth, new life. But we haven't let James finish yet, have we? Because the last part of his sentence says not just to receive this implanted, engrafted word, but of the word he speaks of, of this gift from heaven, we read that it "is able to save your soul" (James 1:21). It illuminates. It turns on the lights. It brings power for change. It doesn't affect just an isolated sin here and an isolated sin there, but it changes the whole person. It can change even deeply ingrained character patterns. See, it saves not by counting you something; it saves by making you something. And that something is a new creature in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). It is an implanted word of truth, not a divinely spoken lie draped over you. Oh friends, if you've ever doubted whether God cares for you, whether he can change you I pray after this morning you'll doubt it no more. Let His light be turned on. Let your light shine, because the night is far spent, the day is at hand (Romans 13:12). Let us walk in the light as Jesus is in the light; and He was always basking in the beams of glory of His Father of lights. He endured the darkness of the cross so that the Father of lights could enter your heart, and do a work there. Let us receive so that we may live like Jesus before a world caught up in darkness. Let's turn on the lights.
