Showing posts with label grace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grace. Show all posts
By Grace, We Shall Stand.
‘How are the mighty fallen!’(2 Samuel 1:19,25,27). The tragedy of Saul was there for all to see. He had made a right mess of things! What are we to think when we read of this tragic figure? He started out so well. He ended so badly. There were high hopes - but it all came to nothing. Do we not see ourselves in Saul? - This could happen to me, if I’m not careful. The danger signs are there. Satan is at hand. He is ready to sweep in. He will sweep the feet away from us, if we don’t watch out. We are very weak, but the Lord is ‘able to keep us from falling’(Jude 24-25). These are things we must never forget - our own weakness and the strength of the Lord. Disaster threatens. Tragedy looms. Jesus draws near. He speaks His Word - ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness’(2 Corinthians 12:9). By grace, we shall stand!
Where Sin Increased, Grace Abounded All The More.'
Leviticus 13:47-14:32
We read about skin disease. Remember: there is also the sin disease - and we're all suffering from that!. Sin is a deadly 'cancer' for which there is only one treatment: 'Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow; no other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus' (Redemption Hymnal, 333). The new birth - like physical birth - is a unique, once-for-all, experience: it is the beginning of the Christian life (John 3:3-6). Many times over, we will need to be 'washed a second time' (58). Justification(Romans 5:1) happens in a moment: ‘The vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives’. Sanctification(Romans 6:13,19). lasts a lifetime: 'Take time to be holy...(Mission Praise, 708,625). God loves us: He will help us to 'be holy' (1 Peter 1:16).
Leviticus 14:33-15:33
You can get 'dry rot' in people - as well as houses (14:34; Hebrews 12:15)! Sin is like 'a wasting disease' (Psalm 106:13-15). It will only get worse - unless something is done about it! Sin spreads. and spreads, and... Can anything be done about this sad situation? Look into yourself, and you will find that the situation is hopeless (Romans 7:14-20). Look to Christ, and there is hope: 'where sin increased, grace abounded all the more' (Romans 5:20). Sin is not to be taken lightly. Don't underestimate the power of sin. Little by little, it will lure you away from Christ. Keep close to Jesus, rejoicing in this: 'He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world' (1 John 4:4). God calls for holiness: 'your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit'; 'present your bodies...to God' (1 Corinthians 6:19; Romans 12:1).
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Blessings in Christ
Christ in all the Scriptures
http://christinallthescriptures.blogspot.com
We read about skin disease. Remember: there is also the sin disease - and we're all suffering from that!. Sin is a deadly 'cancer' for which there is only one treatment: 'Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow; no other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus' (Redemption Hymnal, 333). The new birth - like physical birth - is a unique, once-for-all, experience: it is the beginning of the Christian life (John 3:3-6). Many times over, we will need to be 'washed a second time' (58). Justification(Romans 5:1) happens in a moment: ‘The vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives’. Sanctification(Romans 6:13,19). lasts a lifetime: 'Take time to be holy...(Mission Praise, 708,625). God loves us: He will help us to 'be holy' (1 Peter 1:16).
Leviticus 14:33-15:33
You can get 'dry rot' in people - as well as houses (14:34; Hebrews 12:15)! Sin is like 'a wasting disease' (Psalm 106:13-15). It will only get worse - unless something is done about it! Sin spreads. and spreads, and... Can anything be done about this sad situation? Look into yourself, and you will find that the situation is hopeless (Romans 7:14-20). Look to Christ, and there is hope: 'where sin increased, grace abounded all the more' (Romans 5:20). Sin is not to be taken lightly. Don't underestimate the power of sin. Little by little, it will lure you away from Christ. Keep close to Jesus, rejoicing in this: 'He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world' (1 John 4:4). God calls for holiness: 'your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit'; 'present your bodies...to God' (1 Corinthians 6:19; Romans 12:1).
_________________
Blessings in Christ
Christ in all the Scriptures
http://christinallthescriptures.blogspot.com
The Way To Revival - "If My People ... "
Judges 20:1-28
God uses a sinful and shameful situation - ‘Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day’(19:30) - to call His people back to Himself - ‘all the people of Israel... assembled as one man to the Lord’(1). God’s call was clear - ‘Put away evil from Israel’. ‘The Benjaminites would not listen’ to this call for holiness among God’s people (13). This was a serious situation. It was not to be taken lightly. This was no mere difference of opinion, something that would soon be forgotten. ‘The Benjaminites came together... to go out to war against the people of Israel’(14). Three times, God called His people to ‘go up’against the Benjaminites (18,23,28). Victory comes from the Lord: ‘I will give them into your hand’(28).
Judges 20:29-21:25
Judges ends on such a sad note: ‘every man did what was right in his own eyes’(21:25). This situation is not merely political - ‘no king’. It is moral and spiritual. The people had no regard for the authority of God and His Word. In Romans 5:20, we have Good News: ‘where sin increased, grace abounded all the more’. Here, we have bad news: ‘where grace increased, sin abounded all the more’. Reading Judges, we become acutely aware of the need for revival in our own day. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 we see the way to revival: ‘If my people who are called by My Name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land’. Read of human ‘compassion’(6,15). Rejoice: God ‘will again have compassion upon us’(Micah 7:19).
_________________
Blessings in Christ
Christ in all the Scriptures
http://christinallthescriptures.blogspot.com
God uses a sinful and shameful situation - ‘Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day’(19:30) - to call His people back to Himself - ‘all the people of Israel... assembled as one man to the Lord’(1). God’s call was clear - ‘Put away evil from Israel’. ‘The Benjaminites would not listen’ to this call for holiness among God’s people (13). This was a serious situation. It was not to be taken lightly. This was no mere difference of opinion, something that would soon be forgotten. ‘The Benjaminites came together... to go out to war against the people of Israel’(14). Three times, God called His people to ‘go up’against the Benjaminites (18,23,28). Victory comes from the Lord: ‘I will give them into your hand’(28).
Judges 20:29-21:25
Judges ends on such a sad note: ‘every man did what was right in his own eyes’(21:25). This situation is not merely political - ‘no king’. It is moral and spiritual. The people had no regard for the authority of God and His Word. In Romans 5:20, we have Good News: ‘where sin increased, grace abounded all the more’. Here, we have bad news: ‘where grace increased, sin abounded all the more’. Reading Judges, we become acutely aware of the need for revival in our own day. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 we see the way to revival: ‘If my people who are called by My Name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land’. Read of human ‘compassion’(6,15). Rejoice: God ‘will again have compassion upon us’(Micah 7:19).
_________________
Blessings in Christ
Christ in all the Scriptures
http://christinallthescriptures.blogspot.com
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