2004-06-25
Good Morning Dear Ones,
This morning I’m led to continue discussing how God transforms human hearts. What a subject this is turning out to be! As I have looked over what I know about human history, there are some amazing facts that come to the forefront. 1) How very sinful mankind without the Holy Spirit melding with their spirits can be. 2) How very loving, patient, and compassionate our awesome God is to stick with this long, hard task of civilizing mankind and transforming their hearts. 3) The unparalleled extent of the great sacrifice the Son have made for us, even though we were His enemies at the time. 4) How great is the grace [unmerited favor] we have been given not only in our salvation for coming to faith and repenting, but also in being given the gift of the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. 5) The Father has been provoked to utter wrath by the sinfulness of mankind, and yet, because He has no evil in Him, His decisions and actions are always righteous and just. A question arises for us to ponder. With all of this in mind, why can’t mankind keep the Law on his own?
As usual, we can find the answer to this in the Scriptures. RO 7: 8-11, 14, 19-20, & 23 give us some insight. Imagine Paul writing these God-given insights toward the end of his third missionary journey in Cenchrea, the port city for Corinth. Scholars generally agree that he was there for only three months in 56 AD, before being chased away due to plots against him. “But by means of that commandment [the Law] sin found its chance to stir up all kinds of selfish desire in me. Apart from the law, sin is a dead thing. I myself was once alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life, and I died. And the commandment which was meant to bring life, in my case brought death. Sin found its chance, and by means of the commandment it deceived me and killed me…We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a mortal man, sold as a slave to sin…I do not do the good I want to do; instead, I do the evil that I do not want to do. If I do what I do not want to do, this means that I am no longer the one who does it; instead, it is the sin that lives in me…But I see a different law at work in my body-a law that fights against the law of which my mind approves. It makes me a prisoner to the law of sin which is at work in my body.” What Paul is saying here is that because of the Ten Commandments, he became aware of what is sin and what is not, what pleases God and what does not [RO 7:7]. He also became aware that he couldn’t stop sinning, and thus, felt enormous frustration, because he knew it was wrong and it didn’t please God. It made him desire to stop being a slave to sin and caused him to ask in RO7: 24, “What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death?” God, by virtue of His love for Paul and for all of us, gave Paul the answer in RO 7: 25, “Thanks be to God, Who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ! This, then, is my condition: on my own I can serve God’s law only with my mind, while my human nature serves the law of sin.”
When one puts these insights together with those God has given other prophets and writers in the Scriptures, it is like we are trapped in bodies of sin, bodies with strong appetites from which we have only one escape. That escape is in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Once we have that, then our gracious Lord does the rest. Those of you who have been reading my writing for awhile know that I have a nagging sin in my life, which is taking all my adult self-control at times to expunge. There are some four letter words which sadly escape from my mouth when I’m provoked, and I admit to being very ashamed of that and am willing to stop using them. Just when I think I’m gaining on it, up pops the problem again! James wrote about the tongue in JAS 3: 5, 9-10, “So it is with the tongue: small as it is, it can boast about great things. Just think how large a forest can be set on fire by a tiny flame!…We use it to give thanks to our Lord and Father and also to curse our fellow-man, who is created in the likeness of God. Words of thanksgiving and cursing pour out from the same mouth. My brothers, this should not happen!” While the Lord is allowing the devil to put such a word in my mouth, I’m giving into the desire to utter it occasionally. It is God’s way of reminding me that He still has a lot of work to do to civilize me. Thankfully, I’m not cursing my fellow man, but it still shouldn’t happen at all. The last time was when I was trying to deflate an air bed and was having an awful time doing it. That led to a session of prayerful apologies to the Lord and another assertion of my dedication to stop this behavior. That is one way to deal with this, and the Lord has taught me there are negative consequences for continuing this behavior. My dear husband overhead me cussing at the air bed, and I was mortified. And yes, I am doing what we have all been taught to do. I am laying this problem at the Lord’s feet by confessing it and am asking for His help with it, recognizing that I simply can’t overcome this problem without His help.
And now, I am led to encourage each of us to confess sin to the Lord and ask for His help. Our amazing, compassionate, and simply wonderful God is eager to give us His help if we will ask for it with a genuine, open-hearted contrition. Through David, who himself committed some awful sins, God gives us this wonderful ray of hope. PS 37: 11, “But all who humble themselves before the Lord shall be given every blessing, and shall have wonderful peace.” Think about it; we are blessed to have a Lord Who loves us enough to be there to stand in the gap for us every time we ask Him for something He knows is right. JN 15: 7, “If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, then you will ask for anything you wish, and you shall have it.”
PRAYER: O Lord, we stand before your altar undeserving of the grace you extend, because we are sinners. You have told us in EPH 3: 12, “In union with Christ and through our faith in Him we have the boldness to go into God’s presence with all confidence.” At the time we came to repent and have faith in Him, we began to open the doors to our human spirit and let Your Spirit enter our hearts. The process of doing this is gradual. Yet, You have the patience not only to give us the time to open our hearts to You wider and wider, but You also root for us to succeed! Your Son, Jesus Christ, told us in JN 6: 39-40 that His purpose was not to lose any souls You have given Him, but to bring them to You on the last day. His teaching and that You have given us through the OT prophets and the NT writers have given us a wonderful Roadmap [the Bible] filled with the paths we need to take to eternal life. That is why I call the Bible Your love letter to us. Some who read it, don’t understand that all the negative things that happen in it are to teach us why we should come to obedient faith, submit to Your will, and learn to love You with all our hearts. Those negative things are also to show us that there are limits to the human sinfulness You will tolerate. Choosing life with You is a far better choice than forever giving into the demands of the flesh. You are a supreme and sovereign God. We dedicate ourselves to expunging sin from our lives and giving our hearts over to obedient faith in You. These words we pray in Christ’s holy name. Amen.
Next week’s message will continue discussing how we gain a new perspective from the interaction we have with our Covenant Partner, Who leads us closer to Himself as we expunge sin from our lives. We will examine our desire to live lives of holiness in keeping with His assertion in LV 11: 44-45 and 1 PET 1: 15-16. Those of us who had good human parents know that there were times when we misbehaved, and they had to take corrective action. I’ll admit my parents had their trials raising me, and my mother had some good laughs when God gave me an equally difficult child to raise. But there was always love behind my parent’s actions even if they weren’t always the best ones to take. God is a Parent like that, except that His actions are always the best ones to take. Because He loves us so very much, I’m sure He can feel keen disappointment with us when we act with rebellion. But, He keeps at the process of sanctification, polishing each rough surface in those He loves-in the hope we will let His light shine through. That is what a loving parent would do. Take comfort in knowing that our God is just, eager to see us able to come back to Him, and has given us the Son and the Holy Spirit to that end. We are truly a blessed people when we endure in our obedient faith in Him no matter what fiery arrows Satan sends our way. Take heart that He gives us the same power to fend off the evil one as He used to raise the Son from death to life [EPH 1: 18-20]. Dear Ones, we are blessed with God’s love every day of our lives.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn