Friday, December 9, 2016, 5:54 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Seek the Lord.” Speak, Lord, your words
to my heart. I read Romans 1 (Select
vv. ESV).
The Gospel of Christ (vv. 16-17)
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone
who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the
righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The
righteous shall live by faith.”
So, what is the gospel of
which Paul was not ashamed? It is first of all that we are born into sin, when
we come into this world. We are separate from God, without hope, and destined
to spend eternity in hell, apart from God’s grace and mercy. All this is
because of the sin of one man, Adam (See: Ro. 3:23; 5:12-19; 1 Co. 15:21-22,
42-49).
So, God in his mercy devised
a plan for us to be saved, which he had planned all along. He sent his Son,
Jesus Christ, to the earth to take on human flesh, to suffer as we suffer, and
to be tempted in like manner as we are also tempted, yet without sin. He sent
him to be the sacrificial Lamb given for our sins so we could be set free from
sin and reconciled to God. “For our sake he” - God - “made him” - Jesus – “to
be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of
God” (2 Co. 5:21).
So, Jesus died for our sins,
but on the third day he was resurrected from the dead, having triumphed over
sin, hell, Satan and death, on our behalf. Through faith in him we can be
forgiven our sins, be delivered from slavery to sin, and be given the hope of
eternal life with God. Through faith in Christ, we are now set on a course of
life in which we now walk in the Spirit and no longer according to our sinful
nature, i.e. we now live by faith.
In other words, Jesus died
that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. When we genuinely believe
in him, we are crucified with him in death to sin, and we are resurrected with
him to newness of life, “created to be like God in true righteousness and
holiness.” Because he died and was resurrected back to life, we, too can now
live in holiness and in purity. Amen! Because he died, the righteous requirement
of the law will be fully met in us who walk not according to the flesh, but
according to the Spirit. In addition to all that, God’s grace, which brings
salvation, teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to
live self-controlled, upright and godly lives while we wait for Christ’s return
(See: Ro. 6:1-23; 8:1-14; Eph. 4:17-24; Gal. 2:20; Tit. 2:11-14). So, we now
live by faith.
The Suppression of Truth (vv. 18-23)
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness
suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because
God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal
power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation
of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For
although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him,
but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were
darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of
the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and
creeping things.
But, not everyone has faith.
Although what can be known about God was made plain to all humans by God, in
that God’s divine attributes can be clearly seen in the things he has made, many
people throughout the world have chosen to suppress the truth they do know, and
have chosen to follow the way of their sinful flesh, instead. So, they are
without excuse.
How much more then are they
without excuse who have been taught the scriptures, who have studied the Word
of God, who have professed to know Jesus Christ as Lord and as Savior of their
lives, and yet have chosen a path (lifestyle) of ungodliness and immorality. And,
many of these, I imagine, have professed Christ much of their lives, and yet
have continued in the way of ungodliness and unrighteousness. Some of them,
most certainly, have developed excuses, too, for continuing in the path of sin,
and maybe they even claim ignorance. But they, especially, are without excuse,
for they truly know the way of righteousness and yet have chosen to walk in
willful disobedience to God, even covering up their sin with lies, and with
religious practices, and with a persona of being godly in order to deceive others.
God Gave Them Up (vv. 24-32)
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their
hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served
the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable
passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are
contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women
and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts
with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God
gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were
filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are
full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,
slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil,
disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they
know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die,
they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
God doesn’t force his will on
us humans. We are not puppets on a string. He created us with the ability to
make choices. He gave Adam and Eve the choice to choose to obey him, or not, by
giving them the command not to eat of one tree in the garden. But, they chose
to sin against God.
Because he does not force his
will on us, if we choose to go our own way and to ignore him and the truth we
know of him, he lets us go. I am not certain, though, at what point this takes
place. What I mean by this is that I know that God reveals himself to people,
and he calls people to himself, and he convicts of sin. I know he is very
loving and patient, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come
to repentance. “The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding
in steadfast love” (Ps. 145:8). And, I have seen how he has sent messenger
after messenger to the people of the world, confronting them with their sin,
calling them to repentance, warning of divine judgment, and yet promising hope
and healing for the repentant. He hasn’t entirely given up on the human race,
in other words.
So, I have a sense that when
he finally gives people over to the lusts of their own flesh, to have at it, it
is because they have resisted him over and over again, and they have suppressed
the truth more than once, and maybe many, many times. They make it the practice
of their lives (their lifestyle) to suppress the truth they know, to ignore it,
to ignore God, and to do what they want to do despite God, and despite anyone
else who might try to stand in their way.
They became futile in their
thinking. This sounds like it was a process. Claiming to be wise, they became
fools. Again, this sounds like a process of denying the Lord, suppressing the
truth, ignoring the promptings of the Holy Spirit, covering their ears to the
spoken Word and to godly counsel, and continuing to give way to the flesh and
to what is unthinkable, in many cases. So, at some point, God responds by
handing them over to their immorality and impurity, and he lets them go their
own way, and to suffer the consequences of their own wrong choices.
Sometimes, I think, though,
that God allows us to follow after our own devices, so that when we hit rock
bottom, we will look up, and we will see that he alone is God, and that he
alone is our satisfaction, our hope, our healing, our purpose, and our
direction and meaning to life. Some people will never look up (to God) until
they have literally gotten as low as they can get. It is there that they
realize the futility of their life choices. There they truly repent of their
sins, and they turn to faith in Jesus Christ, and they choose to obey their
Lord and to walk in his ways the rest of their days. These people have been
snatched from the fires of hell, and God has saved them, forgiven them, healed
and renewed them, and given them hope.
Yet many people, who would
never think of practicing some of these things mentioned here themselves, will
allow themselves to be regularly entertained by those who act out the lives of
those who do practice them, and thus they share in their guilt. For, by their permitting
themselves to be amused by the sins of others, they not only approve of those
who practice these sins, but they sin in these ways in their own minds by inviting
these sins into their minds. So, we must guard against taking into our minds
what is unholy, unrighteous, and which glorifies these types of sins. And,
instead, we must seek after the Lord and his righteousness. And, live by faith.
Seek the Lord
/ An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Based off Isaiah 55
“Come to Me all you who
thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and eat what’s
good today,
And your soul will delight in
richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and you will
live.
I have made an eternal
covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of the
Lamb.”
Seek the Lord while He may be
found; call on Him.
Let the wicked forsake his
way, in truth.
Let him turn to the Lord, and
he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons him.
“For My thoughts are not your
thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,”
declares the Lord, our God.
“My word that goes out of My
mouth is truthful.
It will not return to Me
unfulfilled.
My word will accomplish all
that I desire,
And achieve the goal I
intend.
You will go in joy, and be
led forth in peace.
The mountains will burst into
song… before you,
And all of the trees clap
their hands.”
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