Mysteries

 Mysteries

February 27, 2027

Who doesn’t lover a good mystery story. There is even an entire channel on TV now dedicated to Sherlock Holmes mysteries. But a mystery story is only enjoyable if you get to the end where the the criminal mastermind is revealed and Sherlock and Dr. Watson triumph over evil. What is satisfying about a mystery is the revelation of the truth. In the Bible, we see several references to mysteries, so what is the solution to those?

In Romans, Paul talks about the mystery of the gospel in relation to Israel and the church.

Romans 11:25

25For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—…

This is the same mystery that Jesus says that some can understand, but others are blind to its meaning:

Matthew 13:11

11Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.

The meaning of this is more fully explained in the letter to the Ephesians.

Ephesians 3:8-10

8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light whatis the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; 10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.

So then, in Biblical parlance, this mystery is something that was hidden, and remains hidden to some, but which is revealed to the elect. Those who accept Jesus have been granted the wisdom to know the mystery of the gospel. It was hidden by God for many generations, but was brought to light by Jesus. 

The other interesting phrase in Ephesians is “so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known…”. So what is manifold wisdom? The underlying meaning of “manifold” is multicolored or multifaceted. So the writer is saying that the gospel is like a diamond in the sun. When you rotate it in the light, different facets pick up the light and reflect it and refract it to reveal many different colors. Thus it is that when we examine the gospel in the light of God’s word, we see revealed many facets of truth. The mystery of the gospel is revealed in many different ways that are not apparent to the carnal mind. It is only by revelation from God that we understand the mysteries of salvation by grace, the election of the church, the remission of sins  by the blood of Christ, and many other mysteries. It is a manifold wisdom. 

So then, I urge you to examine the Word of God and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the manifold mysteries of the gospel. It is more satisfying that any Sherlock Holmes mystery story.

Freedom

 Freedom

February 24, 2025

Romans 8:18-22

18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

What is freedom? And how can creation experience freedom? In this passage, Paul is comparing “slavery to corruption” to “freedom of the glory of the children of God”. Remember, this is in the context of him explaining the redemptive work of the blood and the cross in Romans 5-8. He was also thinking of the creation and fall in Genesis when he compared “the first man Adam” to “the last man Christ” (Romans 5:14, 1 Corinthians 15:45). So what does it mean then for creation to experience freedom? Also consider a passage about freedom in Galatians.

Galatians 5:1, 13, 16

1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

…

13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

…

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

It seems to me that Paul is using all creation as a metaphor for our natural man. Nature was subjected to corruption by the fall of Adam and Eve and has suffered from thorns and thistles ever since (Genesis 3:18). In the same way our natural man has been subjected to the power of sin and death, and it is the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus that has set us free from this bondage. In Galatians, he makes it clear that it is by walking in the Spirit that we experience the fullness of of this freedom. Thus the freedom he is talking about is freedom from sin and death and the liberty to walk in newness of life in the Spirit.

Paul also makes it clear that this freedom is not a license to do whatever your natural man wants. It is a common misconception among Americans that freedom is the absence of any rules. That is not freedom, it is anarchy. Freedom in Christ is to experience the freedom from sin by following the constant direction of the Holy Spirit.

So when we say that nature is groaning under the slavery to corruption, it is to say that our old man, our carnal nature, is experiencing this pain. Jesus redemptive work on the cross has freed us from this corruption and given us a new nature which is free from the law of sin and death. Nature itself rejoices with us when we walk in the Spirit, experiencing life and peace and bring healing and redemption into the lives of those around us.

The Love of Christ

 The Love of Christ

February 22. 2025

Romans 8:35-39

35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36Just as it is written,

“FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG;

WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.”

37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is one of the most encouraging passages in the Bible and does t need much explanation. When you get the revelation the Jesus loves you, you realize that nothing else matters. There is. It much else I can add to this. Just keep your eyes in Jesus and overwhelmingly conquer all things through Him who loves us.

All Things…

 All Things…

February 21, 2025

Romans 8:26-28

26In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

28And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Yesterday we talked about how life is unfair. But here we have the scripture that says that all things work together for good. This is easy to misinterpret as “all things are good”, which violates are sense that many things are unfair. But that is not what it says. If says “God causes all things to work together for your to those who love God…”. There are a lot of modifiers there. It is not the “all things” that are good, but it is God who is good and is working though all other things to bring about good things in our life. He loves us and has a purpose for us, so he uses all things, even those things that don’t seem fair to us, to work for our good.

And don’t forget verse 26. It is the Holy Spirit working in us that intercedes for us. Many times we don’t know what is best for us. What is the purpose for the things going on around us? When we don’t understand what is going on, the Spirit intercedes for us and helps us to pray for God’s purpose for our life to be revealed. Even if we are groaning and feeling down about our present circumstances, the Spirit knows our purpose and prays for the will of God to be manifested in our lives. It is after this proclamation of the Spirit’s work that the we see in verse 28 “all things work together for good…”. 

So today, no matter what the circumstances around you, pray in the Holy Spirit that the will of God will be revealed in your life, that your purpose will be made clear, and that all things will continually be working to bring God’s best into your life.

Justice and Fairness

 Justice

February 20, 2025

Romans 9:14-15

14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! 15 For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ONWHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.”

The Bible speaks at great length about justice and injustice. But what about fairness? My father used to tell me repeatedly, “Life is not fair!”. I even heard a Bible teacher say recently that “God is not fair”. Like in the story on Jesus feeding the 5000, where he took the boy’s lunch, but then he broke it, and blessed it, and fed 5000 people with it. I don’t know if the boy got back an equal share of the loaves and fishes, which would have been fair, but it says that everyone was satisfied, which is Justice. 

I searched the NASB text and only found “unfairness” used once and that is in Exodus 21:8 in the regulations of how a master was supposed to treat a female slave. On the other hand, “injustice“ is used 13 times and “justice”  is used 138 times. So what is the difference between unfairness and injustice?

In the Romans 9 text, the example used is of God’s treatment of Jacob and Esau. Even though they were twin brothers, God did not treat them the same. One was blessed to become the nation of Israel and the other was not favored. Their treatment was not fair, but Paul says that it was not unjust. God had a special plan for Jacob and the nation of Israel. Esau also became a mighty nation (Edom) but his descendants were rivals of the Israelis to this very day.  It was God’s justice to choose one for His plan and to not choose the other. It doesn’t seem fair, but it was was part of God’s plan to raise up a people to call His very own.

In our life, there are often things that happen that are not fair, but to appreciate the justice of the situation, we need to know God’s plan. We often don’t see this plan at the time, but in the long run we can see how God uses even unfair circumstances to fulfill His plan in our lives. Corrie Ten boom likened this to making a quilt. As a small girl she would sit under the quilting frame as her mother and other ladies made a quilt. From below it was just a random bunch of threads and various colored bits of material. Only when the quilt was complete and was viewed from above was the beautiful pattern revealed. What appears to us as random bits of clothe and hanging threads becomes a beautiful quilt when we observe in from Gods point of view when complete.   

So take heart. When life is unfair. Know that there is no injustice with God and that when you trust Him and walk according to Hisplan for your life, in the long run you will see justice.

The Word of Faith

 The Word of Faith

February 19, 2025

Romans 10:8-10

8 But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

There is an interesting translation note for verse 8. “Word” here is the Greek “rhema”, not “logos”. Thus, the word of faith that Paul is talking about is a transient, spoken word as distinct from the eternal “logos” Word, as used in John 1:1.

John 1:1

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

In preaching the word, we translate the eternal “logos” to a spoken “rhema” which brings faith to the hearers in the here and now. The results is then that, when the hearer believes, he confesses “homologeō”, which literally means “to speak the same word”. Thus, the salvation message is all about a word of faith. We must believe that Jesus is the “logos”, the eternal Word, who is one with the Father. And our message is a “rhema” word that brings this message to life in the hearer. When he accepts this message, in faith, he agrees with that word and confesses his faith and is saved.

Therefore, the word of faith is very important. As the writer of Hebrews puts it, the word is like a two edged sword:

Hebrews 4:12

12 Forthe word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

This is “logos”, but to have an effect on a person, it needs to be spoken and brought into reality (“rhema”). That is when it becomes a living word and can bring a person to faith in Jesus, and salvation when he confesses that faith. Words matter. So let us endeavor to speak words of life, words of faith, and words that lead to salvation.

Sons of God

 Sons of God

February 13, 2025

Romans 8:12-17

12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

We have been looking at the doctrines of the faith as laid out in Romans. But we are not careful, we can get caught up in the intellectual understanding of these things; propitiation, justification, sanctification, glorification, etc. We need to remember that we aren’t saved by understanding these things in our mind, but we are saved saved because God the Father loves us, and has adopted us as sons. All that Jesus did on the cross was for our benefit because He loves us. I am particularly subject to this problem, having been trained over many years to think about everything and to try to understand and analyze everything . Some things don’t need to be analyzed, they need to be accepted by faith, and appropriated into our soul and spirit. Knowing that God the Father loves us is not something that we can understand intellectually. I know, I have tried. It is only when the Spirit of God reveals it to your spirit that you really comprehend it, and can cry out, like Paul says, “Abba! Father!”. It is then that we realize that we are heirs to the promise, and that forgiveness, holiness and the ability to please God are gifts. They are part of our inheritance as sons. We just need to accept them. Perhaps that is one meaning of the verse that we often use as a call to worship:

Habakkuk 2:20

20“But the LORD is in His holy temple.

Letall the earth be silent before Him.”

Our voices clamor and our minds inquire, but to truly understand the Father’s Love, sometimes we just need to be silent before Him.

Growing Roots

 Growing Roots

February 10, 2025

Today I want to talk about gardening. When we moved to Texas we started a garden. I’m really not very good at it. There is a good reason I left the farm as soon as I was able to get away! Anyway, we had some success growing tomatoes and cucumbers and had a good crop of potatoes one year. One year, I took leave of my senses and planted turnips. They came as a packet of tiny black seeds which I planted in one corner of the garden. In due time, with some water and sunlight, they started to come up, and grow, and grow. As they began to take over one corner of the garden, I pulled a few to thin them out and the first roots were interesting to eat. It was something different and was something I had eaten as a kid. But as they continued to grow, the roots grew larger and larger We ate a few, but after awhile the bitter taste was just too much to bear. We tried giving them away, but very few people wanted them. In the end, I pulled all the rest up and threw them into the woods, but not even the raccoons would eat them.

So how does this tale relate to our scripture today? Consider Hebrews 12:

Hebrews 12:15

15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;

So if we are to avoid having a root of bitterness, we need to know how to grow such a root. A root of bitterness grows like a turnip. It can start out small and dark, like the tiny black turnip seed. It may be a slight or other offense that sticks in your soul. You may not take much notice of it at first, but over time, if you allow it to sprout and grow, in will take root and get larger and larger. “How could they say such a thing about me! I never did anything to deserve the way they treated me.” You may even water these hurts with your tears, and may it seem like the most natural thing to dwell on these matters. But the more you meditate on these hurts, the more they grow, and eventually they will take root and become a root of bitterness. When fully grown, the writer of Hebrews tells us that they can produce all sorts of problems; depression, anxiety, and even physical illness such as arthritis or heart problems. So what are you to do then?

Fortunately, the Lord has provided a remedy for a root of bitterness.

1 John 1:8-9

8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous toforgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

John tells us that the first step is to acknowledge that we have a problem. A root of bitterness almost always takes hold because we blame someone else for our problems. Now someone may have in fact hurt you, and maybe hurt you grievously, but it is your holding on to the pain and unforgiveness that allows the bitterness to grow. It takes an act of faith, and an act of will, to admit that you have clung to this offense and have been unwilling to forgive. When you repent and confess your part in this and ask for forgiveness , the healing can begin. Asking for forgiveness is not easy, especially if the one who offended you has not repented and asked for forgiveness. But you have to realize that the root of bitterness is not in their heart, it is in yours, and you are the only one who can ask the Lord to forgive your and pull up the root and heal the wound. As John says, “He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness .” 

Once you have been forgiven, and healed, will the relationship with the offending person be restored? Perhaps, but in many cases there can be no reconciliation until the other person comes to the point of repentance themselves. They can be like the pile of rotten turnips in the woods that even the raccoons and buzzards refuse to eat! But their fate is the the Lord’s problem. You must take responsibility for your own sins and ask for forgiveness. Who knows, when your healing becomes evident to all those around, maybe those who have offended will notice and come to the Lord also. You can only continue to pray for them, that they also can ask for forgiveness and have their own root of bitterness healed.

Forgiveness

 Forgiveness

February 8, 2025

There is an old saying, “To err is human. To forgive is Devine”. There is some basic truth in this. The ability to forgive is certainly not easy and may , in fact, be the most notable fruit of the Spirit. Jesus highlighted the difficulty of forgiveness in this discourse in Mathew.

Matthew 18:21-22

21Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus *said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

When they portrayed this conversation in “The Chosen” series, they made it plainly obvious how much trouble Peter was forgiving Matthew.  They portrayed this as Peter having to forgive Matthew for his actions against Peter’s family when Matthew was a tax collector, and nearly put Peter in prison for failure to pay all his taxes. This was a very hard pill for Peter to swallow even though he knew that Matthew had accepted Jesus and turned his life around. Forgiveness is certainly not a natural, or easy action.

Other character traits can be faked. It is common for some people to act like they love someone, at least for a time. And compassion is claimed all the time, as long it is someone else’s time and money that is being donated. Bill Clinton is said to have remarked, “When you can fake sincerity, you can fake anything”. There are many actors, salesmen and politicians who have refined this level of acting to a fine art. Forgiveness is different though. Take the common public confession; “I’m sorry if you were offended by what I said”. The implication is clearly that they, in fact, did nothing wrong but are blaming the other person for being offended. This is not forgiveness. 

It is a Devine attribute for Father God to forgive the sins of all mankind when Jesus shed His blood on the cross. There is nothing in human nature that can approach this level of forgiveness. We have trouble enough forgiving a single person for a wrong committed against us. Yet, the Father can separate our sins from us as far as the east is from the west.

Psalms 103:12

12 As far as the east is from the west,

So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Yes Jesus command us to forgive, so it is possible. It takes an effort of the will and the strength of the Holy Sprit to truly forgive someone. And then forgetting about it and coming to a place of reconciliation is more difficult still. In many cases, we may never reconcile with the offending party, but it still required, for our sake, to forgive them. Our part in participating in the Devine nature, and thus living holy, is to forgive and also to ask for forgiveness when we have made a transgression .

1 John 1:9-10

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we havenot sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

There is a lot more that could be said on this subject, but that is enough for now. So meditate on what it means to forgive and on what it means to be forgiven. That is to meditate on the character and nature of God.