Church "Reformation"-- "The Just Shall Live by Faith"

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ....For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, 'The just shall live by faith.'" (Romans 1:16a, 17) 

 

Yesterday, I began Romans-- It was Martin Luther's deliverance.  Our text literally turned his life around.  

 

Luther was arguably the most radical Augustinian Monks of his day.  He once wrote, "If ever a monk got to heaven by monkery, I was determined to get there."  He said, however, that "though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was a sinner before God with an extremely disturbed conscience. I could not believe that he was placated by my satisfaction."  Luther was like all humanity before he encountered, "the righteousness of God," in Jesus Christ---------------- rather than his own monumental efforts.  

 

Luther wrote that he had come to despise Biblical religion because of the judgement meted out against sinners for all eternity based on a law which no one could fulfill.  In his study of Romans, he wrote that a "single word" deeply troubled him, "the righteousness of God."  After the great revelation of our text, however, he wrote, "And I extolled my sweetest word with a love as great as the hatred with which I had before hated the word, 'righteousness of God.'  Thus that place in Paul was for me truly the gate to paradise.  Later I read Augustine's, The Spirit and the Letter, where contrary to hope I found that he, too, interpreted God's righteousness in a similar way, as the righteousness with which God clothes us when he justifies us."

 

The Reformation did not start with Luther.  It was embedded in Church History.  Jesus did in the Reformation what Acts 17 describes, "Who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways.  Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness...."  Praise Him; "the righteousness of God," which is Jesus Christ, triumphed.  From the time of Adam to right there in front of that computer, the truth has not changed.  "The just shall live by faith," and faith in Jesus Christ alone.

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, thank You for faithful witnesses.  Amen.

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Two new articles:

Congress Opposing Obama on Israel:

        www.apf327.blogspot.com

Jerusalem Mayor Standing Strong on Jerusalem in Recent US Visit:

        www.apfjw.blogspot.com

  

When an 18 year old Norwegian "heard the call to evangelize China, he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

Which, "Milk and Honey," Do You Desire?

"And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, but they said, 'We will not come up!  Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you should keep acting like a prince over us?  Moreover you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards.'" (Nu. 16:12-14)

 

Okay, let me get this straight.  I thought The Word of God told them Canaan, AKA, "The Promised Land," was the, "land flowing with milk and honey."  Now here are these, as the Word of God describes them, "sinners against their own souls," calling the land of slavery, where they had known nothing but whips and depravation, "a land flowing with milk and honey."  Maybe they were the originators of the idiom, "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't," or as someone defined it, "better to stay in a bad situation rather than risk a change and end up in a spot that's even worse." 

 

God declares, "I am God,.. declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure....'"  Yet how many times in life we are as the men in our text; we put up with slavery just because we don't believe, "The Word of God," Jesus Christ!  "[Jesus] speaks," the hymn says, "and the sound of His voice is so sweet the birds hush their singing."  Really?  Why then do we so often embrace the "voice of strangers," those who come across the television news networks, the printed media, the water cooler experts, or that know-it-all-uncle?  

 

What is needed in me daily is the attitude of Job, "Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand," or as Barnes interprets it, "I have pronounced an opinion on subjects altogether too profound for my comprehension"-- behold, Dathan and Abiram.  They yielded to the temptation that what they knew was better than what they did not.  I say, better to confess with Paul, "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature------ have this mind"!

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, I regret the years I called my way, "milk and honey," when only You are, "Milk and Honey."  Amen. 

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Two great new articles, one entitled, "Obama's Top Ten Insults Against Israel:    www.apf327.blogspot.com

When an 18 year old Norwegian "heard the call to evangelize China, he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

"Sober Judgment"

"For by the grace...given to me I warn everyone among you not to estimate and think of himself more highly than he ought [not to have an exaggerated opinion of his own importance], but to rate his ability with sober judgment.... (Romans 12:3--Amplified Bible)

The last two mornings I have been involved in press conferences with newspaper, radio, and television media concerning an award which will be given posthumously this summer to my high school football coach.  I was honored to be chosen to speak on his behalf and to represent all the players who played for him from 1954 to 1962.  Coach Dave Hart had a great impact on my life and reinforced many principles which my parents and grandparents sowed into my life.  One great life principle which he instilled in me was the idea that the football team was not there for my personal fulfillment.  Plays were designed for a reason; as a running back, I was dependent on blockers, not some individual "talent."  I ran the ball, caught passes, blocked, tackled did everything I did so that the team could win, not to get my name in the papers.

The mentality of personal fulfillment is dominant in American culture. Greg Epstein, Humanist Chaplain, Harvard University, said in a recent interview, "Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life, that without supernaturalism affirms our ability and our responsibility to live ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspires to the greater good of humanity....It is good without God."  This is mankind's thinking, "more
highly than he ought."  The, "sober judgment," spoken of in our text is the thinking and living of total surrender to Jesus Christ and living the life He teaches in His Word.  It teaches that as Believers, "individually we are parts one of another [mutually dependent on one another]."  This is the winning attitude of life in general, pagan and Believer alike.  "If two of you agree"------------------------------

Father, in Jesus' Name, thank You so much for people in my life who affirmed your life principles in me.  Amen.
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When an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

"Were You There?"

"And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit." (Matthew 27:50)

This was the birth pangs of the Church, the Body of Christ referred to in Ephesians as the, "one new man."  The Church was, "endued with
power from on high," at Pentecost.  The New Birth, deliverance from Satan's power, "I go to prepare a place for you," however, all began with that agonizing cry.  The word translated, "cried," is much more intensive than the English word implies.  The cry that came from our Lord Jesus at that hour on that day in human history must have been horrific to those who were there; and, it reverberated throughout the universe.  It was a cry of such anguish that Luke records, "And the whole crowd who came together to that sight, seeing what had been done, beat their breast and returned."  What our Lord Jesus bore on that cross perhaps we will never fully know. 

This horrific scene at Calvary was the price of my rebellion, my sin, my, "O wretched man that I am!"  Now add yours and the rest of humanity throughout human history.  No one ever will have to undergo what Jesus did on the Cross.  He took the eternal damnation for all humanity.  That is why even in Hell, no lost person will ever know the pain of Jesus during those six hours.  He experienced Hell for everyone.

I embrace Him anew today Who, "knew no sin," yet became, "sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."  The pathetic religions of man cannot counterfeit such love, grace, and mercy.  "For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and [Jesus] died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for [Jesus] who died for them and rose again."

Father, in Jesus' Name, I confess with Charles Wesley,
          "We have no other argument,
          We need no other plea;
          It is enough that Jesus died,
          And that He died for me."
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Prophetic News:                              www.apf327.blogspot.com
Jerusalem Watch:                         www.apfjw.blogspot.com
Prophecy:                                        www.antipasprayerforce2.blogspot.com

When an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2