As In a Mirror

Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?” And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that ‘ Seeing they may not see, And hearing they may not understand.’ (Luke 8:9-10)

This is also why unbelievers who read the Bible do not understand so many things, why they see apparent contradictions and misinterpret Scriptures. They do not have their understanding opened to the words of God because they have not humbled themselves before Him. But when one turns to Jesus Christ, their understanding is opened.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “ I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.” (1 Corinthians 1:18-31)

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Today’s tweets all come from the book of 1 Peter– what a great letter!

Do you find yourself in the midst of sore trials? Fear not; these trials will show that your faith is genuine. (1 Peter 1:7)

We, who love God without seeing Him, are blessed because we trust Him; we wait for Him with joy. (1 Peter 1:8)

We are strangers on the earth, and conduct ourselves with reverent fear during our stay. (1 Peter 1:17)

Was God shocked when Adam sinned? Nope. “God chose [Jesus] as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed Him to you in these last days.” (1 Peter 1:20)

When we have tasted the Lord’s kindness, we desire to grow in sanctification and in doctrine. (1 Peter 2:2)

We have been called out of darkness into light. Now what do we do? Announce God’s goodness to others. (1 Peter 2:9)

When we suffer, oh that we followed in the steps of Jesus! (1 Peter 2:21-23)

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Hey, y’all! Sorry I haven’t been around for a while. Last week we went up to the Adirondacks, and it was SO BEAUTIFUL!!! We’ve known for a loooooong time that we’ve needed to go up there, but now we are enamored with the place. We went up at the perfect time of year, too, just as the leaves are starting to turn color, before the bitter cold sets in. So, you could say we’re having post-vacation-readjustment-syndrome. Gah! Normal suburban life! Sorrow…

I also watched Ray Comfort’s new film about the Holocaust, abortion, and morality, the 180 movie, at the beginning of this week. It was quite astounding! There is quite a big buzz about the film now, and I’m certainly glad, and hope the good buzz grows. It does have a warning for graphic content; in an instrumental section in the film is where they show the Holocaust pictures; I watched it online, so just minimized the window as soon as it started. Hopefully, I’ll have a review up soon; but it sure is a hard kind of film to review, just because the content is something you have be engaged in for yourself. Hence, I highly recommend you watch it for yourself, and seriously consider its propositions.

I take notes while reading the Bible, and set them aside as pithy thoughts. Most of them are too brief to suffice as a blog post, so I had the idea of putting a handful of them in one post, as if they were a bunch of “tweets,” since they are all random and unrelated, but still worth sharing (and I don’t have twitter). What do y’all think of the idea?

Colossians 2:11: Our circumcision is the cutting away of our our sinful nature.

Acts 10:4: The angel said to Cornelius that his prayers and gifts to the poor have been received by… God!

Luke 6:35-36: We are to be of a compassionate spirit, as our Father is. He is kind to the unthankful and wicked. Is this our attitude, or do we instead boast against them as if we are more deserving of His favor, or deny our own imperfection?

John 7:7: Jesus was hated by the world. Why? Because He testified that their works were evil. If we are followers of Christ, we will be hated by the world. Why should the world hate us? Because we testify that its works are evil.

John 15: If you feel like parts of you are being cut off, don’t fear. The Vinedresser is pruning you so that you will produce even more fruit.

Are we to seek the signs, the wonders, the miracles and great “power of the Spirit”? 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12: “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Are signs and wonders God’s key to revival? Mark 13:22: “For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones.”

Love: it proves to the world that we are disciples of Jesus.

BTW, yes, I will continue the Gospel in the Gospels series; I’ve got a few quick sketches that I’ll finish soon.
How was your week?

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Hey, welcome to our second installment of “The Gospel in the Gospels,” and today’s verse leads up to the very rudimentary principles of the Gospel.

“But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20)

Wow, how in the world can our righteousness exceed that of the teachers of the religious law? We typically think, “Well, if we love justice, mercy, and truth, and don’t just pay the tithes and wear the right stuff and study the Scriptures and all do all those religious practices, then our righteousness exceeds theirs.” This is all good and well, but if we have sinned, and we all have, what is our righteousness? It is “filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64:6) Our righteousness will exceed that of the teachers of the religious law if we have the imputed righteousness of Christ! This is because Christ’s righteousness is complete! Notice that from this verse, Christ continues on to magnify the law (Isaiah 42:21), so that we would realize our sinful, needy state; we need His imputed righteousness!

Check out how the Epistles exposit righteousness:

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. (Philippians 3:8-9)

For they [the nation Israel] being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (Romans 10:3-4)

Now, THIS is the kicker!

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26)

The word “propitiation” used here (Strong’s 2435) means, “A sin offering, covering,” and comes from a similar word that means, “I have mercy on; I pardon; I forgive.” He was the atonement (the book of Hebrews exposes this topic thoroughly). These words express that the required penalty for the sins of the whole world was satisfied in Him. In Him. Did He sin? No. But the penalty for sin was satisfied in Him! And that’s where the great transaction took place:

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Did we do any righteousness to earn our status? No, but just as our sin was credited to Christ’s account, His righteousness was granted to be credited to the account of anyone who will receive the gift, by repentance and faith! The requirement of God’s perfect law is satisfied in Christ!!!! Woooo! Now you can’t make up stuff like that!

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Hey, y’all, I’m starting a new series on this blog; they’ll be short and posted on random days. That way I know I will follow through with it. This series will be called “The Gospel in the Gospels”; personal observations of mine regarding foreshadowings of the fulfilled Gospel in the four Gospels in the New Testament.

Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds, and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

Why will they praise our Father in heaven? Because we do good works? Because we are good? No, but that the Father exemplifies His gracious, merciful love, the love that He showed on the cross, in us. They see our gratitude expressed to God through the good works we were created for but previously could never accomplish. We see God as a God worth living for, in good times and bad, and we see His blessings. All the while, men observe, and ultimately will glorify God, whether now or later.

Here’s the exposition of the fulfillment of this Scripture:

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-10)

Filed under : Discipleship, Gospel, Word for Wednesday

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