Hebrews 4:14-16
“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
This is one of my most favorite passages. One that gives raw unbridled hope to us sinners. Telling us we are not alone in our temptations, we have One that sympathizes with our weaknesses.
"Before the throne of God above,
I have a strong and perfect plea,
A great high priest whose name is ‘Love’
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart,
I know that while in heaven He stands,
No tongue can bid me thence depart.
When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there,
Who made and end to all my sin.
Because a sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free,
For God the Just is satisfied,
To look on Him and pardon me.
Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect, spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace.
One in Himself I cannot die,
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!"
Praise the One, risen Son, of God!
I don’t know what to say of this passage. Let it be a source of joy for our broken souls. Our confidence does not rest in ourselves, thank God, but rather in our great High Priest who intercedes for us. No longer must we try to withdraw from the throne of God, because the stain of our sin goes to our core, but rather we are free to draw near because of Jesus, because ‘It is finished.’ Instead of God’s righteously just wrath we find grace and mercy to help in time of need (indeed all the time).
What should this make us do? Sing and dance with all our being? Or weep and cry like only the freed slave does? How do we react to this truth of grace and mercy rather than just damnation? I know of no other answer than overflow and love.
Love for God who saved us apart from anything we could do or want. Love for people to tell them of this great mystery that has been revealed to us. A wellspring of love, more than that of the man and women in love; more than that of a father and mother to their children. This love is, and indeed does drastically change us.
The atheist believes; the agnostic become Christian; the simple become wise; the slaves are freed; the dead live; and the broken hearted rejoice. I’ve been all over the world and know of nothing more beautiful than the weeping eyes of the new believer. Not a sunrise or a sunset; not a new born child; not a lovers embrace; not even the husband washing his wife’s feet (though these are all beautiful they don’t compare). Nothing but a sinner seeing, for the first time, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Hosea 1:2-3 (Pt. II)
This is part 2 of Hosea 1:2-3 “The unbeliever’s whoredom.” Last time we looked at the believer’s.
For this section we’ll look at Romans 3 starting in verse 10
“’None is righteous, no not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good;
not even one.’
‘Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.’
‘The venom of asps is under their lips.’
‘Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.’
‘Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.’
‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’”
One who does not believe is first of all, disobedient, and therefore in direct rebellion to God their Maker. Rom. 11:30, 32; Ephesians 2:1-2; 5:6; Colossians 3:6; Hebrews 4:6,11 these verses all speak of the disobedience of unbelievers (some of which have now become believers, by God’s grace) The Greek word is “apeithia” not only means ‘disobedience’ but also ‘rejection of belief.’ Thus when the dead man is not doing good, nor can do good, he is living in unbelief and therefore rejection of the Gospel.
Faith is an act of obedience toward the calling of God in our lives. Now the calling of God is irresistible, yet at the same time it is still obedience to believe the Gospel.
Those who are living unaware in their whoredom are those that do not believe the Gospel; those that do not have the call of God on their life; those that, as Romans 3 puts it, have, ‘no fear of God in their eyes.’
Thus for those of you that do not believe the Gospel, your whoredom is just as real, you just don’t know better. How could dead people know better?
So, examine your life. Do you believe the Gospel? The purpose of this blog is not to make you wonder whether or not you’ve been redeemed rather it is to spur you who are believers on to grow. And to spurn you who do not believe to belief. So for both you who believe and you who do not believe be, “working out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Phil. 2:12-13)”
For this section we’ll look at Romans 3 starting in verse 10
“’None is righteous, no not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good;
not even one.’
‘Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.’
‘The venom of asps is under their lips.’
‘Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.’
‘Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.’
‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’”
One who does not believe is first of all, disobedient, and therefore in direct rebellion to God their Maker. Rom. 11:30, 32; Ephesians 2:1-2; 5:6; Colossians 3:6; Hebrews 4:6,11 these verses all speak of the disobedience of unbelievers (some of which have now become believers, by God’s grace) The Greek word is “apeithia” not only means ‘disobedience’ but also ‘rejection of belief.’ Thus when the dead man is not doing good, nor can do good, he is living in unbelief and therefore rejection of the Gospel.
Faith is an act of obedience toward the calling of God in our lives. Now the calling of God is irresistible, yet at the same time it is still obedience to believe the Gospel.
Those who are living unaware in their whoredom are those that do not believe the Gospel; those that do not have the call of God on their life; those that, as Romans 3 puts it, have, ‘no fear of God in their eyes.’
Thus for those of you that do not believe the Gospel, your whoredom is just as real, you just don’t know better. How could dead people know better?
So, examine your life. Do you believe the Gospel? The purpose of this blog is not to make you wonder whether or not you’ve been redeemed rather it is to spur you who are believers on to grow. And to spurn you who do not believe to belief. So for both you who believe and you who do not believe be, “working out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Phil. 2:12-13)”
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Hosea 1:2-3
“When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.” Hosea 1:2-3
The theme of Hosea is laid out for us in these two verses, “Take to yourself a wife of whoredom… For the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” Here we will look at the two types of whoredom in two parts. First in the post we’ll look at the believer’s whoredom. In the next post we’ll look at the unbeliever’s whoredom. Let’s begin with the believer.
As believers in the Gospel, this is our condition. We are Gomer. We are the whores. The ones pledging our affection solely to Christ, then turning to love anything else. To describe this better I default to Henry Scougal’s small yet powerful book (originally a letter) “The Life of God in the Soul of Man”. Within which he writes we must,
“…Wean our affections from created things, and all the delights and entertainments of the lower life, which sink and depress the souls of men, and retard their motions toward God and heaven; and this we must do by possessing our minds with a deep persuasion of the vanity and emptiness of worldly enjoyments.”
“This is an ordinary theme, and everybody can make declamations upon it; but alas! How few understand and believe what they say? These notions float in our brains, and come sliding off our tongues, but we have no deep impression of them on our spirits; we feel not the truth which we pretend to believe. We can tell that all the glory and splendor, all the pleasures and enjoyments of the world are vanity and nothing; and yet these nothings take up all our thoughts, and engross all our affections, they stifle the better inclinations of our soul, and inveigle us into many a sin.”
We say we love Christ Jesus more than life, and love, and freedom, and family, and friends and money, yet we spend more time worrying about, thinking upon and hoping for these things than we ever have Christ. We, the believers in the Gospel, are the whores, placing our affections anywhere but on Jesus.
Thus the necessity of the Gospel, we knew not how we ought to love, therefore Christ came; we knew not how we ought to live, therefore Christ came; we knew not what it meant to be alive, therefore Christ came. Paying our debt by dying in our place and propitiating the punishment we so justly deserved. So that, positionally speaking, we now stand before God perfect, by Christ work only. Though we are shot through with our sin, and in dire need of progressive sanctification.
The theme of Hosea is laid out for us in these two verses, “Take to yourself a wife of whoredom… For the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” Here we will look at the two types of whoredom in two parts. First in the post we’ll look at the believer’s whoredom. In the next post we’ll look at the unbeliever’s whoredom. Let’s begin with the believer.
As believers in the Gospel, this is our condition. We are Gomer. We are the whores. The ones pledging our affection solely to Christ, then turning to love anything else. To describe this better I default to Henry Scougal’s small yet powerful book (originally a letter) “The Life of God in the Soul of Man”. Within which he writes we must,
“…Wean our affections from created things, and all the delights and entertainments of the lower life, which sink and depress the souls of men, and retard their motions toward God and heaven; and this we must do by possessing our minds with a deep persuasion of the vanity and emptiness of worldly enjoyments.”
“This is an ordinary theme, and everybody can make declamations upon it; but alas! How few understand and believe what they say? These notions float in our brains, and come sliding off our tongues, but we have no deep impression of them on our spirits; we feel not the truth which we pretend to believe. We can tell that all the glory and splendor, all the pleasures and enjoyments of the world are vanity and nothing; and yet these nothings take up all our thoughts, and engross all our affections, they stifle the better inclinations of our soul, and inveigle us into many a sin.”
We say we love Christ Jesus more than life, and love, and freedom, and family, and friends and money, yet we spend more time worrying about, thinking upon and hoping for these things than we ever have Christ. We, the believers in the Gospel, are the whores, placing our affections anywhere but on Jesus.
Thus the necessity of the Gospel, we knew not how we ought to love, therefore Christ came; we knew not how we ought to live, therefore Christ came; we knew not what it meant to be alive, therefore Christ came. Paying our debt by dying in our place and propitiating the punishment we so justly deserved. So that, positionally speaking, we now stand before God perfect, by Christ work only. Though we are shot through with our sin, and in dire need of progressive sanctification.
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