Category Archives: the gospel

Obey?

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The ignorance of man is astounding!  I say that knowing that I am a man.  And that I am ignorant of many things.  But there is a difference between not knowing something, and knowing it for the sake of abuse.

How dearly humanity loves the law of God.  But we do not love it so that we might obey it, for we know that is impossible.  Men love the law of God because it is a tool with which they can readily hate their brother.

But this is so absolutely contrary to the nature of the law of God. 

I don’t want to make this a long post.  But there is something key to understanding the law of God, that I have never heard men speak of: how all of heaven embraces the law of God without question, yet man turns it into a tool of death.  Enough apology.  Let’s get at it.

When the law of God was delivered to Moses for the people, at a certain point they begged that no further word be spoken.  Realization struck them and fear overwhelmed them.  Yes they wanted God but they knew they could not have him.  The inability of men to obey the Holy law of God was blatantly obvious.

But still God commands us to be holy, and to obey His law.  How can this be?  Does he demand too much?  Is the devil’s accusation against him valid; You demand too much and you do not give the resources to obey?

Isn’t this what men say?  Isn’t this what every single one of us finds our soul believing at one point or another?  But we know that cannot possibly be true. 

We know we will die and we know that God never will.  He obeys his great Holy Law with the most perfect ease.  And so do all the other creatures in heaven!  And the Christ of God has walked among us, fulfilling the law completely, again with the greatest of ease!  How can this possibly be?

Because the creatures of heaven, and the Christ himself, love the Father more than anything in all creation.  Never once does rebellion cross their mind.  Eternity is sustained by this love.  It is not sustained by obedience to a set of rules.  Yet this is the perspective of man!

We raise the Ten Commandments and scream at our brother!  “Do these or you will die!”  But we know they cannot.  And even the one who is screaming knows he cannot obey these laws!  And so we divide and hate one another by the very law that brings unity in heaven.  By the very law that is the foundation of eternity.

There.  That’s what I wanted to say.  But I don’t find myself feeling any better for having written it.  For I know it will not be received or understood.

We will all nod our heads in agreement.  But we will turn right back around and hate our brother.  We will read the Ten Commandments as if there might be something we missed.  But we will not find it.

Let’s add one more key to this proclamation that will devastate the heart of the one who considers it. 

What is the first and greatest commandment?  Jesus replied: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22: 38)

There’s the key to obedience.  Love.  But when we read the Ten Commandments we don’t hear love do we?  All we hear is fear. 

Fear gives birth to rebellion and hatred.  Fear reads the law of God and despises it.  Fear turns away from God with a great willing heart.  And fear will eventually lead to complete obliteration.

You ask perhaps, how can I love God?  There is only one way.  Look to Jesus the Christ of God.

Without him you will never love God.  Without him you will only obey according to your understanding; you’ll find your obedience is nothing more than a mental exercise.  It never finds its way to your fingers or feet.  Not to mention her filthy mouth.

I do not need to say more than this.  Because if you will not turn to Jesus, you will not believe these words anyway.  Yet if you do turn to Jesus you will find yourself in complete agreement, and I will be rightly pushed to nothing.  That is my proper place.  I am only a messenger of he who lives forever.

May God bless this testimony to the very door of eternity.  Amen.

By His Grace

The RIGHT to Brood

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I just had a realization that is fully worthy of contemplation.

Every Christian blogger desires that his or her things be read.  And oh how we take note of our ministry.  And it is right that we should care so deeply about our charge to write.  For there are plenty enough worthless writings of man in the very same place.  But we hold up the Living God’s Holy Son!

I came to understand that it is just as right to brood over this blog, as it is for a Pastor to brood over that which is his.  But then the stupendous struck me.

I have a right from God’s Holy Son to brood over the work He has delivered to me.  But I brood over what has been given.  How much more is it right for Jesus to brood over the work that is HE?  He is the source.  How deeply does He desire that His things be read and understood, ingested into the soul and accomplished?

If I care about the ministry that He had delivered to me.  How much more does He care about His Living Ministry among the people of this place of testing?

The Life of Convenience

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How very foolish we are to conveniently forget that we will die.  And how very foolish we are to love what we call freedom, so much that we will resist, even unto death, the commands that can give us life.  Truly, is this freedom?

We will all find our last moment of waking.  We will all take our last step.  We will all take our last moment of careless repose.  And then we will come face to face with a reality that we have pushed off on purpose.

What comes next?  Do you know?  Have you even taken the time to look into these things?

When your car develops signs that it is about nickel and dime you to death, you quickly traded in.  And you watch carefully for those signs. 

You look forward to retirement, and you diligently keep working so that you can have your last years in peace.  And oh how many compromises you make willingly so that you can have what you want.  But does what you want include what comes after death?

The foolish man keeps on as if he will never die.  The foolish man never looks into these things.  Yet the foolish man will receive his rightful reward.

Live your life with abandon, and you will find yourself abandoned for eternity.

The Bible will tell you everything you need to know.  But how many even have the curiosity?

By His Grace

What Does Jesus Do?

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Jesus will forgive your sins.  How would it feel to have a clean conscience for a change? Will others understand?  No, but you will.

He will teach you to listen.  If you let him, he will teach you how to obey his Heavenly Father.  Even if you are full of rebellion and are difficult to teach, he will provoke you to obedience.  If only you will continue to call on him.

He will teach you of the eternal way.  What men say is good, changes from hour to hour.  He will teach you what lasts forever.

One thing at a time, you will overcome difficulties in your life that you did not even know you had.  Then as the appearance of maturity arrives, you and He will do a significant work to obliterate rebellion.

In the process of becoming a man of God you will develop peace.  With a clean conscience, and proof in your soul that God has accepted you, you will find you have no fear.  And the longer you walk with Him as your Lord, the deeper that peace will penetrate.

You will find yourself teaching others.  Not because someone told you you have to go out and evangelize, but because you simply can’t keep your mouth shut.  And you will not only tell them the words, but you will act them out in the their presence.

In time you will come to know you have eternal life.  You will not just believe the words that you were told, you will know, with clarity, those words are true, and that they belong to you. 

Because he is always reliable, you will find yourself looking to him for every possible solution to every possible problem.  It won’t be a matter of discipline to go to prayer.  You will find you never leave it.

What does jesus do?  He will create such a change in you, that you will not be any resemblance to what you were.  And if you continue in the way, all this will happen to you while you were here.  Yes he can prepare you to be a citizen of heaven here.

By His Grace

Bruises and Stammering

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When you were a baby learning how to walk, you fell down a lot.  Did they beat you because you fell down? 

Eventually you learned how to walk.

When you went to school to learn how to read, did they pluck out your eyes because you didn’t read well?

Eventually you learned how to read.

You have learned how to do a great many things that humans are supposed to do.  Unfortunately for all of us, we were taught by imperfect people.  Still we learn.

They didn’t always love us through our troubles.  But we pushed ahead anyway.  We found the reason to make it happen.

An awful lot of Christians just tend to give up.  It seems to me that they attributed man’s form of love to God.  The expectations are steep.  But God’s patience and love are much higher.

When did you stop trying?  When did you start looking for the encouraging words?  At what number of attempts did you finally decide you can’t make it?

Look back.  I doubt you can remember, but you bruised your butt a whole lot before you took five steps.  Why didn’t you give up?  You struggled with letters until you thought you’d go blind.  Why didn’t you give up?

Christianity is only a matter of “want to”.  You had it then.  Why don’t you have it now?

By His Grace

Got Good?

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Can you be good for a day?  Have you even tried?

Let me define what I mean by good.  I’m not talking about the good of God.  I’m talking about the extreme and exemplary behavior of a good man.

Perhaps you can live close to the target for 24 hours.  Or until something comes to test your value, whichever comes first.

You can likely pull off a 24 hour stint of good behavior, as long as everything goes your way.  But what about a week?  Perhaps you’re rather disciplined.  Can you do an entire month?

Let the time keep stretching out.  At some point you will fall flat on your face.  At some point, you will prove to yourself that you are full of fault.

If you can’t make it past 2 hours, what makes you think you can live for eternity and be pleasing to God?

Better read up on the Gospel my friend.  Everything that is not perfect will be destroyed.

By His Grace