Conscience toward God
1 Peter {2:19} For this [is] thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. {2:20} For what glory [is it,] if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer [for it,] ye take it patiently, this [is] acceptable with God. {2:21} For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: {2:22} Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: {2:23} Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed [himself] to him that judgeth righteously: {2:24} Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. {2:25} For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
For conscience toward God...
How can we have our conscience toward God?
conscience
conscience (kòn´shens) noun
1. a. The awareness of a moral or ethical aspect to one's conduct together with the urge to prefer right over wrong: Let your conscience be your guide. b. A source of moral or ethical judgment or pronouncement: a document that serves as the nation's conscience. c. Conformity to one's own sense of right conduct: a person of unflagging conscience.
2. The part of the superego in psychoanalysis that judges the ethical nature of one's actions and thoughts and then transmits such determinations to the ego for consideration.
Excerpted from The American Heritage® Dictionary
We need an awareness of our moral responsibility to God. When we have our conscience towards God then we prefer what God prefers and not what we naturally prefer selfishly. To have our conscience towards God is thankworthy, meaning we have reason to give thanks if our conscience, if our awareness of our responsibility to God, is pronounced in our lives. Too often people have NO conscience towards God. They've taken God out of their lives entirely believing in themselves, believing in humanity, believing in tangible things that just are because those people are without any thought of God at all.
For conscience toward God it is thankworthy...worth thanks if a man--
-- endures grief and suffers wrongfully.
Being thankful for enduring grief??
Being thankful for suffering wrongfully??
Our senses tells us that's wrong! How can we be thankful for grief, for suffering, how? We should be thankful when we don't have to grieve or suffer, right? Yet here we are being told it's thankworthy to suffer and grieve when we don't deserve to do either. Sure, if we're hateful, spiteful, lying, cheating, and deserving of our grief and suffering we have no one to blame but ourselves for it and being thankful for such suffering is ridiculous. For such suffering we deserve we have no reason to be glad. And you want to say for suffering we don't deserve we should be even less happy about and that's true for the natural man, for the man whose conscience isn't towards God.
If we suffer undeservedly, if we endure grief patiently, thankfully, when we are focused on God guess what? It's is acceptable to God that we do grieve and suffer so. Why? Because Christ suffered for us as an example. He suffered worse than we can ever suffer and He did so without seeking revenge, without ranting and raving, without swearing, He suffered and committed himself to him that judges righteously- He committed Himself to God! He suffered an innocent man as our example. If we are to endure suffering, if we are to endure grief our natural man says to lash out at those causing it all, to give as we are given, to hurt those who are hurting us and yet we can't do that not if our conscience is towards God. With our conscience towards God we suffer as Christ suffered and let God judge. God's judgment isn't clouded by all infallible opinion. God's judgment is true and just and infinitely better than any ability we may think we have to judge. If we let God judge then we are willing to submit ourselves to Him, letting go of our own selfish need to exact revenge and to pay back others for their hurtful, hatefully, horrendous, insidious, reprehensible behavior.
Through Christ we live. Through Christ's righteousness we live. By the suffering of Christ we are healed. No, we aren't promised a live of no suffering and no grief, but we are promised Christ and life eternal through Christ. We are promised that all we endure is nothing compared to what our Savior endured and we should be thankful that we do suffer for Christ, for our conscience towards God because there is life promised in that suffering and grief, a promise through Christ.
1 Peter {2:19} For this [is] thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. {2:20} For what glory [is it,] if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer [for it,] ye take it patiently, this [is] acceptable with God. {2:21} For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: {2:22} Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: {2:23} Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed [himself] to him that judgeth righteously: {2:24} Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. {2:25} For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
It is so hard for our natural selves to be hurt and to be thankful for that hurt. It is so hard for our natural selves to grieve and be thankful for the grief. Only through Christ is it at all possible to be so, knowing that God is in control. God is in control of our lives and we must trust Him. That doesn't mean we won't grieve- that we are to smile through tears- no, it doesn't mean that at all. It doesn't mean we are to laugh through pain. God understands we must cry, and we must feel the agony that grief brings, and to suffer means to feel the pain and yes, to even cry out upon feeling the pain. We aren't called to be smiling as our hearts are torn to shreds or our bodies filled with agony. We are called to be thankful to God, we are called to trust in God, we are called to put all our faith in God that all that horror is for some reason we can't begin to understand and yet God does understand and He alone can judge everything. We are not to judge God. Yes, we cry out WHY GOD?! WHY?! And that's natural as well, but ultimately we have to trust that we can't know the why's of God yet we must still trust in Him.
Is it easy? No. It's suffering, it's grief, it's pain, and that is never easy.
Through it all we know Christ placed all His faith and trust in the Father, Satan tempted Him and YES He could have fallen to the temptation. He didn't have a shield around Himself, He didn't have a special protection from sinning, He was tempted LIKE WE ARE IN ALL POINTS and remained without sin. People like to think Christ couldn't have sinned, but that's wrong. He could have and He didn't. He had faith in the Father. He was constantly praying to the Father, constantly seeking the Father and to live for the Father, Christ's conscience was towards God, His Father. His life was lived for the Father, saving us through His suffering.
Ease isn't something we're promised when we have our conscience towards God. Life eternal is the promise we are given through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, by His amazing grace and mercy now and forever.
Amen.
5/27/10
The law does not save. Jesus saves. We have to die to the belief that we can work our way to heaven. The law- keeping the law in and of itself does not save, cannot save.
Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren,
ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ;
that ye should be married to another,
even to him who is raised from the dead,
that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
We become dead to the law- we agree the law cannot save us, but Christ saves us. 'We should be married to another' married to Christ. The law, the belief we can save ourselves by acting in accordance with the law must die. Touting our godliness, touting our goodness, holding up our actions, holding fast to the belief that we can behave and be saved is all wrong. Christ saves us. Christ raised from the dead and we find life in Him. The fruit we bring forth- our actions that will naturally be in accordance with the commandments of God- are brought forth through the love of God, the love of our Savior. We have to die to self and the belief we can save ourselves through the law. Love needs to reign through our Savior. Our flesh is weak and if we rely on ourselves we are relying on the flesh and we are lost. We must rely on the Lord.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior now and forever! In His righteousness.
Amen.
*******
Rom 7:1 Know ye not, brethren,
(for I speak to them that know the law,)
how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
Rom 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth;
but if the husband be dead,
she is loosed from the law of her husband.
Rom 7:3 So then if, while her husband liveth,
she be married to another man,
she shall be called an adulteress:
but if her husband be dead,
she is free from that law;
so that she is no adulteress,
though she be married to another man.
Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren,
ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ;
that ye should be married to another,
even to him who is raised from the dead,
that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
Rom 7:5 For when we were in the flesh,
the motions of sins,
which were by the law,
did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
Rom 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law,
that being dead wherein we were held;
that we should serve in newness of spirit,
and not in the oldness of the letter.
Rom 7:7 What shall we say then?
Is the law sin?
God forbid.
Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law
for I had not known lust
except the law had said,
Thou shalt not covet.
Rom 7:8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment,
wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.
For without the law sin was dead.
Rom 7:9 For I was alive without the law once
but when the commandment came,
sin revived, and I died.
Rom 7:10 And the commandment,
which was ordained to life,
I found to be unto death.
Rom 7:11 For sin,
taking occasion by the commandment,
deceived me, and by it slew me.
Rom 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy
and the commandment holy,
and just, and good.
Rom 7:13 Was then that which is good made death unto me?
God forbid.
But sin,
that it might appear sin,
working death in me by that which is good
that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
Rom 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual
but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Rom 7:15 For that which I do I allow not
for what I would,
that do I not;
but what I hate,
that do I.
Rom 7:16 If then I do that which I would not
I consent unto the law that it is good.
Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it
but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,)
dwelleth no good thing
for to will is present with me
but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not
but the evil which I would not,
that I do.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not,
it is no more I that do it,
but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21 I find then a law,
that, when I would do good,
evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man
Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind,
and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am!
who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God;
but with the flesh the law of sin.
*******
Do we celebrate having no other God's before God?
Do we celebrate not worshipping idols?
Do we celebrate not taking the Lord God's name in vain?
Do we celebrate not murdering?
Do we celebrate not committing adultery?
Do we celebrate not stealing?
Do we celebrate not lying?
Do we celebrate not coveting?
We are told not to do these things in God's great ten commandments. But in two of the ten commandments we are told to DO something.
We are to honor our parents.
We are to honor our Creator on a day that He has chosen, once a week.
When we are told to honor our parents it's a continuous commandment isn't it? A commandment without end. We are CONSTANTLY to honor our parents, doing so without ceasing. There were no time constraints whatsoever placed upon this commandment. There were no guidelines, no limitations.
Exo 20:12 Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee.
Honor them. Never dishonor them. In dishonoring our parents we only end up hurting ourselves. Just as we are to NEVER have another before God, just as we are to never worship idols, take the Lord God's name in vain, murder, commit adultery, steal, lie, or covet, we are to ALWAYS honor our parents. These commandments are eternal, ever lasting, ever important, ever pertinent, ever righteous, ever good, ever Holy. There will never come a time when any of these commandments will be changed, never.
Because we live in a world that chose to disobey God, sin entered our world. Before sin entered the world the commandments were kept perfectly, naturally. There was no reason to explain to Adam and Eve that they shouldn't murder each other. There was no reason to tell them not to lie, steal, covet. There wasn't a need for them to have to be told to worship God in not making the nature around them their God, they knew better naturally without having to be told. They were given this command-
Gen 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
Gen 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
This was the command given to man. DO not eat the fruit of ONE tree.
Would man obey God? Would man naturally choose to obey God? Would man in the face of temptation choose God over that temptation? What sort of creature was this man created from the very earth created by God. Created from something created, having a form unlike any other created being. Created in God's image, created not to be ethereal, but to be subjected to the world around them, a world they were created on and in need of for the very life they lived. The earth would bring forth all the food they'd need, all the water, all the air, gravity, heat would touch the planet from the created sun. Man was to be special very special.
We, as mortals are fixated on things immortal. Our very culture shows this over and over again. More than ever people are obsessed with tales of immortality. What teenager out there isn't longing for lives of immortality portrayed to them on the movie screen in the form of vampires, superheroes, varied fictional supernatural creatures?
The immortal God created man to be immortal- conditionally mortal. Yes, man was created to be a creature dependent upon the very created world that gave them form. Immortality in an exquisite world, immortal with the potential for a growing knowledge that would endlessly keep mankind living in the fascination of their Creator, God.
We were created with the condition of needing air to breath, of needing food to eat, we were created needing to eat from the tree of life.
Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden…
The tree of life giving immortality! The tree whose fruit was filled with the power of immortality for all of mankind that God created.
Think about it for a moment. We tend to view our mortality as something awful because IT IS. It is NO senseless coincidence that we desire immortality. We were created to be immortal beings with free access to the fruit of immortality. Our immortal God didn't punish human beings by making them creatures dependent upon the tree of life for immortality. We were made uniquely different from other created beings- the angels. Immortal angels not dependent upon a tree laden with fruit giving them eternal life. Immortal because they were created to be immortal. Humans immortal created to be immortal. Humans being created to procreate. Angels were not created to procreate. Human beings created in God's image. Angels were not created in God's image and yet so many believe that angels are created more in God's image than mankind, it's just not true.
Our wondrous God created us marvelously and even with all our sin the miracle of our lives, our creation still shines through the thick blanket of darkness. We were created with the ability to comprehend the truth of immortality found in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Immortality was lost to us, taken from us because we chose to disobey our Creator in the one thing He asked of us, choosing selfishness over God.
Gen 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
Immortality was restored to us by the promise of a coming Savior- a Savior who fulfilled that promise is His birth, life, death and resurrection- and a Savior who will return again for us bringing immortality with Him.
1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1Co 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Just as intended we would keep immortality by trusting wholly in our God, our Creator- obeying Him in all things. We are given the promise of immortality by trusting wholly in our God, our Creator- obeying Him in all things- by the sacrifice of our Savior, in Christ's righteousness.
In the beginning of this little study the mention of the commandments was made and it was mentioned there were two of the ten commandments that are geared towards us 'DOING' something rather than us NOT doing something. We talked about honoring our parents but let's talk about the other commandment, the fourth.
Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
Exo 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day
We are told to--
Remember and keep.
We have to ask ourselves WHY weren't we told to remember all the other commandments? Seriously, why? Surely it's important for us to remember not to kill, steal, lie, covet, commit adultery, have only God as our God, not to make gods out of graven images, not to take God's name in vain- right?
Maybe this fourth commandment was a bridge. Seriously, maybe it was given to us to connect our worship and love of God to our love for our fellow man.
Jesus Himself said there were two great commandments upon which the rest hung.
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
It's easy for ANYONE to see in the ten commandments the ones geared towards God and the others towards our neighbors.
Maybe that fourth one isn't strictly geared towards God but more of a bridge.
Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
Exo 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day
First we are to REMEMBER the Sabbath day and KEEP it holy.
Six days we work.
The seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord and we aren't to work.
Not just us though… OTHERS our neighbors are not to work either! Yes, our sons, daughters, manservants, maidservants, are our neighbors too aren't they? Seriously, anyone that isn't us is one we are to love as a neighbor- surely Jesus meant it when He said the second great commandment was to love your neighbor as if they were you. Our family members have to be included in that commandment to love our neighbor as if they were us, if they're not then where else would they fit in the grand scheme of things? Many, many, MANY people do not love their family members, though we'd like to believe family members are automatically loved by other family members they're not, by far. Sometimes, or rather, often we are more cruel to family members than strangers.
So if others in our lives are NOT to do any work on the Sabbath this is the bridge reaching from each side of the commandments God and neighbors. These two laws come together perfectly on the Sabbath day- for God and man together make up the reason for the Sabbath. God made the heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them… including US, and then He made it a holy day of rest, of remembrance for the crown of His creation- US. Together God and Man, Creator and Creature.
Jesus even had to remind people of this most important fact--
Mar 2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath
This heavenly WEEKLY reminder was created for US.
While many changes in our calendar have been made over time- if you look at the changes - for example the Gregorian and Julian calendars- the numbering of the day was changed, but the WEEKLY CYCLE HAS NEVER BEEN CHANGED.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th day.
God sanctified the SEVENTH DAY of the week and that's never been changed, never.
Our weekly reminder that means so incredibly much! A day set aside, a full day, not just an hour or two. A full day set aside for us to keep holy to God. 1/7th of our week God requires of us, surely by anyone's standard that isn't too much to ask. Surely by even the most selfish person 1/7th of a week is not too much to keep holy to God, a time for the love of God to be realized most fully by man. Jesus kept the seventh day Sabbath. The Pharisees may have question is actions ON the Sabbath but they never accused Him of abandoning the Sabbath, never accused Him of doing away with the Sabbath and you can be sure they would have given the most miniscule chance!
We need to celebrate the Sabbath! Celebrate this wonderful gift of time from our Creator who in His great wisdom knew we needed time set aside to be with Him more so than at any other time in our weeks.
By HIS amazing love and grace may we keep His holy Sabbath as He would have us keep it- wholly spent with HIM, in His love, by His mercy and His righteousness!
Let us also remember this---
Rev 22:1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Rev 22:2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Isa 66:23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.
We will be with Christ and that immortality promised to us will be kept - the tree of life will be there and we will gather from one moon to another, from one sabbath to another. The creature God created from the earth will be drawn to heaven and then in the great holy city, the New Jerusalem we will be drawn back to earth and all will be made new! We will inhabit the earth as originally intended all by the grace of our Savior, all to the glory of God! Forever we will be the humans God created in His image- perfect and immortal never again to sin, never! We will forever keep the Sabbath with Him as He intended, forever!
In His LOVE!
Amen.
For conscience toward God...
How can we have our conscience toward God?
conscience
conscience (kòn´shens) noun
1. a. The awareness of a moral or ethical aspect to one's conduct together with the urge to prefer right over wrong: Let your conscience be your guide. b. A source of moral or ethical judgment or pronouncement: a document that serves as the nation's conscience. c. Conformity to one's own sense of right conduct: a person of unflagging conscience.
2. The part of the superego in psychoanalysis that judges the ethical nature of one's actions and thoughts and then transmits such determinations to the ego for consideration.
Excerpted from The American Heritage® Dictionary
We need an awareness of our moral responsibility to God. When we have our conscience towards God then we prefer what God prefers and not what we naturally prefer selfishly. To have our conscience towards God is thankworthy, meaning we have reason to give thanks if our conscience, if our awareness of our responsibility to God, is pronounced in our lives. Too often people have NO conscience towards God. They've taken God out of their lives entirely believing in themselves, believing in humanity, believing in tangible things that just are because those people are without any thought of God at all.
For conscience toward God it is thankworthy...worth thanks if a man--
-- endures grief and suffers wrongfully.
Being thankful for enduring grief??
Being thankful for suffering wrongfully??
Our senses tells us that's wrong! How can we be thankful for grief, for suffering, how? We should be thankful when we don't have to grieve or suffer, right? Yet here we are being told it's thankworthy to suffer and grieve when we don't deserve to do either. Sure, if we're hateful, spiteful, lying, cheating, and deserving of our grief and suffering we have no one to blame but ourselves for it and being thankful for such suffering is ridiculous. For such suffering we deserve we have no reason to be glad. And you want to say for suffering we don't deserve we should be even less happy about and that's true for the natural man, for the man whose conscience isn't towards God.
If we suffer undeservedly, if we endure grief patiently, thankfully, when we are focused on God guess what? It's is acceptable to God that we do grieve and suffer so. Why? Because Christ suffered for us as an example. He suffered worse than we can ever suffer and He did so without seeking revenge, without ranting and raving, without swearing, He suffered and committed himself to him that judges righteously- He committed Himself to God! He suffered an innocent man as our example. If we are to endure suffering, if we are to endure grief our natural man says to lash out at those causing it all, to give as we are given, to hurt those who are hurting us and yet we can't do that not if our conscience is towards God. With our conscience towards God we suffer as Christ suffered and let God judge. God's judgment isn't clouded by all infallible opinion. God's judgment is true and just and infinitely better than any ability we may think we have to judge. If we let God judge then we are willing to submit ourselves to Him, letting go of our own selfish need to exact revenge and to pay back others for their hurtful, hatefully, horrendous, insidious, reprehensible behavior.
Through Christ we live. Through Christ's righteousness we live. By the suffering of Christ we are healed. No, we aren't promised a live of no suffering and no grief, but we are promised Christ and life eternal through Christ. We are promised that all we endure is nothing compared to what our Savior endured and we should be thankful that we do suffer for Christ, for our conscience towards God because there is life promised in that suffering and grief, a promise through Christ.
1 Peter {2:19} For this [is] thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. {2:20} For what glory [is it,] if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer [for it,] ye take it patiently, this [is] acceptable with God. {2:21} For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: {2:22} Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: {2:23} Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed [himself] to him that judgeth righteously: {2:24} Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. {2:25} For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
It is so hard for our natural selves to be hurt and to be thankful for that hurt. It is so hard for our natural selves to grieve and be thankful for the grief. Only through Christ is it at all possible to be so, knowing that God is in control. God is in control of our lives and we must trust Him. That doesn't mean we won't grieve- that we are to smile through tears- no, it doesn't mean that at all. It doesn't mean we are to laugh through pain. God understands we must cry, and we must feel the agony that grief brings, and to suffer means to feel the pain and yes, to even cry out upon feeling the pain. We aren't called to be smiling as our hearts are torn to shreds or our bodies filled with agony. We are called to be thankful to God, we are called to trust in God, we are called to put all our faith in God that all that horror is for some reason we can't begin to understand and yet God does understand and He alone can judge everything. We are not to judge God. Yes, we cry out WHY GOD?! WHY?! And that's natural as well, but ultimately we have to trust that we can't know the why's of God yet we must still trust in Him.
Is it easy? No. It's suffering, it's grief, it's pain, and that is never easy.
Through it all we know Christ placed all His faith and trust in the Father, Satan tempted Him and YES He could have fallen to the temptation. He didn't have a shield around Himself, He didn't have a special protection from sinning, He was tempted LIKE WE ARE IN ALL POINTS and remained without sin. People like to think Christ couldn't have sinned, but that's wrong. He could have and He didn't. He had faith in the Father. He was constantly praying to the Father, constantly seeking the Father and to live for the Father, Christ's conscience was towards God, His Father. His life was lived for the Father, saving us through His suffering.
Ease isn't something we're promised when we have our conscience towards God. Life eternal is the promise we are given through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, by His amazing grace and mercy now and forever.
Amen.
5/27/10
The law does not save. Jesus saves. We have to die to the belief that we can work our way to heaven. The law- keeping the law in and of itself does not save, cannot save.
Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren,
ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ;
that ye should be married to another,
even to him who is raised from the dead,
that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
We become dead to the law- we agree the law cannot save us, but Christ saves us. 'We should be married to another' married to Christ. The law, the belief we can save ourselves by acting in accordance with the law must die. Touting our godliness, touting our goodness, holding up our actions, holding fast to the belief that we can behave and be saved is all wrong. Christ saves us. Christ raised from the dead and we find life in Him. The fruit we bring forth- our actions that will naturally be in accordance with the commandments of God- are brought forth through the love of God, the love of our Savior. We have to die to self and the belief we can save ourselves through the law. Love needs to reign through our Savior. Our flesh is weak and if we rely on ourselves we are relying on the flesh and we are lost. We must rely on the Lord.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior now and forever! In His righteousness.
Amen.
*******
Rom 7:1 Know ye not, brethren,
(for I speak to them that know the law,)
how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
Rom 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth;
but if the husband be dead,
she is loosed from the law of her husband.
Rom 7:3 So then if, while her husband liveth,
she be married to another man,
she shall be called an adulteress:
but if her husband be dead,
she is free from that law;
so that she is no adulteress,
though she be married to another man.
Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren,
ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ;
that ye should be married to another,
even to him who is raised from the dead,
that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
Rom 7:5 For when we were in the flesh,
the motions of sins,
which were by the law,
did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
Rom 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law,
that being dead wherein we were held;
that we should serve in newness of spirit,
and not in the oldness of the letter.
Rom 7:7 What shall we say then?
Is the law sin?
God forbid.
Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law
for I had not known lust
except the law had said,
Thou shalt not covet.
Rom 7:8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment,
wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.
For without the law sin was dead.
Rom 7:9 For I was alive without the law once
but when the commandment came,
sin revived, and I died.
Rom 7:10 And the commandment,
which was ordained to life,
I found to be unto death.
Rom 7:11 For sin,
taking occasion by the commandment,
deceived me, and by it slew me.
Rom 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy
and the commandment holy,
and just, and good.
Rom 7:13 Was then that which is good made death unto me?
God forbid.
But sin,
that it might appear sin,
working death in me by that which is good
that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
Rom 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual
but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Rom 7:15 For that which I do I allow not
for what I would,
that do I not;
but what I hate,
that do I.
Rom 7:16 If then I do that which I would not
I consent unto the law that it is good.
Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it
but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,)
dwelleth no good thing
for to will is present with me
but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not
but the evil which I would not,
that I do.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not,
it is no more I that do it,
but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21 I find then a law,
that, when I would do good,
evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man
Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind,
and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am!
who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God;
but with the flesh the law of sin.
*******
Do we celebrate having no other God's before God?
Do we celebrate not worshipping idols?
Do we celebrate not taking the Lord God's name in vain?
Do we celebrate not murdering?
Do we celebrate not committing adultery?
Do we celebrate not stealing?
Do we celebrate not lying?
Do we celebrate not coveting?
We are told not to do these things in God's great ten commandments. But in two of the ten commandments we are told to DO something.
We are to honor our parents.
We are to honor our Creator on a day that He has chosen, once a week.
When we are told to honor our parents it's a continuous commandment isn't it? A commandment without end. We are CONSTANTLY to honor our parents, doing so without ceasing. There were no time constraints whatsoever placed upon this commandment. There were no guidelines, no limitations.
Exo 20:12 Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee.
Honor them. Never dishonor them. In dishonoring our parents we only end up hurting ourselves. Just as we are to NEVER have another before God, just as we are to never worship idols, take the Lord God's name in vain, murder, commit adultery, steal, lie, or covet, we are to ALWAYS honor our parents. These commandments are eternal, ever lasting, ever important, ever pertinent, ever righteous, ever good, ever Holy. There will never come a time when any of these commandments will be changed, never.
Because we live in a world that chose to disobey God, sin entered our world. Before sin entered the world the commandments were kept perfectly, naturally. There was no reason to explain to Adam and Eve that they shouldn't murder each other. There was no reason to tell them not to lie, steal, covet. There wasn't a need for them to have to be told to worship God in not making the nature around them their God, they knew better naturally without having to be told. They were given this command-
Gen 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
Gen 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
This was the command given to man. DO not eat the fruit of ONE tree.
Would man obey God? Would man naturally choose to obey God? Would man in the face of temptation choose God over that temptation? What sort of creature was this man created from the very earth created by God. Created from something created, having a form unlike any other created being. Created in God's image, created not to be ethereal, but to be subjected to the world around them, a world they were created on and in need of for the very life they lived. The earth would bring forth all the food they'd need, all the water, all the air, gravity, heat would touch the planet from the created sun. Man was to be special very special.
We, as mortals are fixated on things immortal. Our very culture shows this over and over again. More than ever people are obsessed with tales of immortality. What teenager out there isn't longing for lives of immortality portrayed to them on the movie screen in the form of vampires, superheroes, varied fictional supernatural creatures?
The immortal God created man to be immortal- conditionally mortal. Yes, man was created to be a creature dependent upon the very created world that gave them form. Immortality in an exquisite world, immortal with the potential for a growing knowledge that would endlessly keep mankind living in the fascination of their Creator, God.
We were created with the condition of needing air to breath, of needing food to eat, we were created needing to eat from the tree of life.
Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden…
The tree of life giving immortality! The tree whose fruit was filled with the power of immortality for all of mankind that God created.
Think about it for a moment. We tend to view our mortality as something awful because IT IS. It is NO senseless coincidence that we desire immortality. We were created to be immortal beings with free access to the fruit of immortality. Our immortal God didn't punish human beings by making them creatures dependent upon the tree of life for immortality. We were made uniquely different from other created beings- the angels. Immortal angels not dependent upon a tree laden with fruit giving them eternal life. Immortal because they were created to be immortal. Humans immortal created to be immortal. Humans being created to procreate. Angels were not created to procreate. Human beings created in God's image. Angels were not created in God's image and yet so many believe that angels are created more in God's image than mankind, it's just not true.
Our wondrous God created us marvelously and even with all our sin the miracle of our lives, our creation still shines through the thick blanket of darkness. We were created with the ability to comprehend the truth of immortality found in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Immortality was lost to us, taken from us because we chose to disobey our Creator in the one thing He asked of us, choosing selfishness over God.
Gen 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
Immortality was restored to us by the promise of a coming Savior- a Savior who fulfilled that promise is His birth, life, death and resurrection- and a Savior who will return again for us bringing immortality with Him.
1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1Co 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Just as intended we would keep immortality by trusting wholly in our God, our Creator- obeying Him in all things. We are given the promise of immortality by trusting wholly in our God, our Creator- obeying Him in all things- by the sacrifice of our Savior, in Christ's righteousness.
In the beginning of this little study the mention of the commandments was made and it was mentioned there were two of the ten commandments that are geared towards us 'DOING' something rather than us NOT doing something. We talked about honoring our parents but let's talk about the other commandment, the fourth.
Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
Exo 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day
We are told to--
Remember and keep.
We have to ask ourselves WHY weren't we told to remember all the other commandments? Seriously, why? Surely it's important for us to remember not to kill, steal, lie, covet, commit adultery, have only God as our God, not to make gods out of graven images, not to take God's name in vain- right?
Maybe this fourth commandment was a bridge. Seriously, maybe it was given to us to connect our worship and love of God to our love for our fellow man.
Jesus Himself said there were two great commandments upon which the rest hung.
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
It's easy for ANYONE to see in the ten commandments the ones geared towards God and the others towards our neighbors.
Maybe that fourth one isn't strictly geared towards God but more of a bridge.
Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
Exo 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day
First we are to REMEMBER the Sabbath day and KEEP it holy.
Six days we work.
The seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord and we aren't to work.
Not just us though… OTHERS our neighbors are not to work either! Yes, our sons, daughters, manservants, maidservants, are our neighbors too aren't they? Seriously, anyone that isn't us is one we are to love as a neighbor- surely Jesus meant it when He said the second great commandment was to love your neighbor as if they were you. Our family members have to be included in that commandment to love our neighbor as if they were us, if they're not then where else would they fit in the grand scheme of things? Many, many, MANY people do not love their family members, though we'd like to believe family members are automatically loved by other family members they're not, by far. Sometimes, or rather, often we are more cruel to family members than strangers.
So if others in our lives are NOT to do any work on the Sabbath this is the bridge reaching from each side of the commandments God and neighbors. These two laws come together perfectly on the Sabbath day- for God and man together make up the reason for the Sabbath. God made the heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them… including US, and then He made it a holy day of rest, of remembrance for the crown of His creation- US. Together God and Man, Creator and Creature.
Jesus even had to remind people of this most important fact--
Mar 2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath
This heavenly WEEKLY reminder was created for US.
While many changes in our calendar have been made over time- if you look at the changes - for example the Gregorian and Julian calendars- the numbering of the day was changed, but the WEEKLY CYCLE HAS NEVER BEEN CHANGED.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th day.
God sanctified the SEVENTH DAY of the week and that's never been changed, never.
Our weekly reminder that means so incredibly much! A day set aside, a full day, not just an hour or two. A full day set aside for us to keep holy to God. 1/7th of our week God requires of us, surely by anyone's standard that isn't too much to ask. Surely by even the most selfish person 1/7th of a week is not too much to keep holy to God, a time for the love of God to be realized most fully by man. Jesus kept the seventh day Sabbath. The Pharisees may have question is actions ON the Sabbath but they never accused Him of abandoning the Sabbath, never accused Him of doing away with the Sabbath and you can be sure they would have given the most miniscule chance!
We need to celebrate the Sabbath! Celebrate this wonderful gift of time from our Creator who in His great wisdom knew we needed time set aside to be with Him more so than at any other time in our weeks.
By HIS amazing love and grace may we keep His holy Sabbath as He would have us keep it- wholly spent with HIM, in His love, by His mercy and His righteousness!
Let us also remember this---
Rev 22:1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Rev 22:2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Isa 66:23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.
We will be with Christ and that immortality promised to us will be kept - the tree of life will be there and we will gather from one moon to another, from one sabbath to another. The creature God created from the earth will be drawn to heaven and then in the great holy city, the New Jerusalem we will be drawn back to earth and all will be made new! We will inhabit the earth as originally intended all by the grace of our Savior, all to the glory of God! Forever we will be the humans God created in His image- perfect and immortal never again to sin, never! We will forever keep the Sabbath with Him as He intended, forever!
In His LOVE!
Amen.