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9 Aug:
Nina’s Favorite Scripture:
Romans 8:28 “And 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.”
This was Nina’s favorite passage and over the years you have heard me reference this passage many, many, many times as well. This verse along with passages like Rom 5:9 are the foundational teachings of Christianity. Rom 5:9 “Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him!”
Christ came to this earth, lived a sinless life and then was put to death in order to take our sins away. If you remember last week’s lesson, we have been given Christ’s righteousness through our faith. We have been baptized to remove our sins, and we are then to love, honor and obey Christ: Jesus Himself tells us: John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
The question that may arise in someone’s mind is to ask why do we want to align ourselves with Christ? Why do we want to become obedient to Christ’s will? Well Paul does a pretty good job of answering that question: 2 Tim 4:7,8 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
If we too, can live our lives taking up our cross and following after Jesus as best we can, then we too can echo Paul’s assurance and know there is a home in heaven waiting for us. But our eternal reward is not the only motivation for following after Christ. John 10:9,10 “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
These are passages where Jesus Himself gives us assurances of where He will be with us throughout our lives. These are the verses which serve as the source behind the truth given to us in the poem: ‘Footprints in the Sand.’
A person might ask what the value is in having Christ with us and how might we find that abundant life which He promised. I believe that answer is in our opening verse: Romans 8:28 “And 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.”
In light of our discussion, you should notice right off that this verse is telling us that God is with us. Like the ‘Footprints’ poem, He is with us carrying us and working things our FOR us! Consider the story of Joseph, Jacob’s 2nd youngest child.
Out of jealousy Joseph’s brothers first desire to kill him but Reuben diverts his death to captivity in slavery. Joseph is taken to Egypt and sold there as a slave and to fast forward through many events Joseph becomes the second most powerful person in Egypt. In these circumstances Joseph is able to save his family from the world famine that was going on. And what does Joseph say about all the things that happened to him: Gen 50:19,20 “But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”
In order for Joseph to save his family he had to endure much suffering to reach the position he needed to be in. This was God working out salvation not just for Joseph but also for the patriarch Jacob and his family.
Another situation that many of you may be familiar with is the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego: Daniel 3: Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold and called together all of his government officials. He stood them before the image and announced that all who heard the music played must bow and worship. To refuse to do so would result in being thrown into a furnace. When these three men refused to do so Nebuchadnezzar declared: “If you do not worship you will be cast into a furnace blazing with fire – and what god is there who can deliver you of my hands?’
As you may remember, these men do not bow and are thrown into the furnace, stoked up 7 times hotter than normal and when the King looks into the furnace he sees four individuals. He calls for the men to come out and when they do – there is no evidence that they were ever in the furnace. Nebuchadnezzar’s response: “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshack and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore, I make a decree that any people, nation or tongue that speaks anything offensive against their God shall be torn limb from limb and their houses reduced to a rubbish heap, inasmuch as there is no other God who is able to deliver in this way. Then the King caused these men to prosper in the province of Babylon.”
Shadrach’s threat of being thrown into the furnace and being burned to a crisp looks to be a horrible way to die. But His faith not just in God’s deliverance but his willingness to go all the way to death resulted in two significant conclusions. 1) God’s name was given glory, honor and recognition throughout the whole realm of Babylonia. 2) All three men then began to be supported and blessed by the King.
These blessings which the men received reminds me of another instance of blessings from God: Job 42:10-12 “The Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord increased all that Job had twofold. Then all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate with him and consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the Lord had brought on him. And each one gave him one piece of money, and each a gold ring. The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning.”
We all know the beginning of this story as to how the devil comes to God and gets permission to do harm to Job. And during this long-time frame of suffering Job holds back from cursing God and dying as was suggested to him by his wife. Job had no way of knowing who and why those misfortunes fell on his neck – but as James suggests with regard to our ‘persevering’ – doing so results in God bringing about good to (Job) those who are faithful – just as our passage in Romans promises.
When you look throughout the Old Testament you see God time and again causing suffering to come to Israel because of their disobedience and then He restores them and blesses them for the time of that generation as they worship faithfully. The generation of Israel who are slaves in Egypt when Moses comes and delivers them are the most obvious example of God hearing and responding to and for the people.
These may seem like isolated and unique situations, but they are not. These are recorded examples of Romans 8:28 playing itself out. Consider: Jeremiah 29:10,11 “For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity – to give you a future and a hope.’” What does 1 Cor 10:11 say: “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction”.
Now consider one last situation: Jesus speaks these words in His ‘priestly prayer’, as it is referred to in John 17:4,5 “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”
And just before Jesus ascends to heaven: Matth 28:16-18 “But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worship him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”
Just like the earlier examples which we looked at – Jesus suffered according to God’s will or plan but in doing so Jesus receives the ultimate reward of ascending, sitting at God’s right hand, and being given all authority over heaven and earth.
We need to know and believe that our cross and our following the Lord may very well cause our lives to suffer. We need to understand that living in this broken world which does not recognize nor honor our heavenly Father is going to cause negative situations to occur in our lives but like Job and the Lord, we need to persevere and trust God’s good will to return to our lives - either in this world or the next.
2 August: Why Jesus Is Called the “One Mediator” 07/19/26 Vern S. Poythress www.crossway.org
Why is Jesus called the “One Mediator” and why do we need one.
Well first, let us confirm ‘what’ we are talking about. The letter Paul writes to Timothy confirms the role Jesus plays as being the one and only mediator that we need.
Christ the Mediator: 1 Tim 2:5 “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
Christ the Intermediary: Heb 9:24 “Christ has entered into heaven to appear in the presence of God for us.” Romans 8:34 – “Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” So, what is the meaning or importance of these verses? Well, the answer to this is a story that starts at the very beginning – in Genesis.
According to Genesis God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them. He created man and woman and had a personal fellowship with them in the garden of Eden. (Gen 3:8) The Bible makes it clear that sin started with Adam and Eve. Since that time all human beings have become sinners. And because God is holy, He cannot be in the presence of sin. So, Adam and Eve had to be cast out of God’s presence, separated from God by their sin. This is a universal problem of humanity because we are all sinners.
Paul confirms this situation in Romans: Rom 3:23 & 6:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” & “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” In other words, man sins, and cannot escape death/punishment if he stands on his own merits. God is a God of justice. And His standards of justice are perfect. He condemns all wrongdoing and sets the standards for right and wrong.
We see this clearly in the establishment of the Ten Commandments and the many other laws and regulations which guided Israel in their lives. Jesus wraps up fulfilling all these requirements established by the Law and the teachings of the Prophets when we fill our hearts with love for God and in loving our neighbor.
Fulfilling the two great Commandments goes beyond the Ten Commandments. 1 Cor 6:9,10 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolater, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers (gossip), nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.” In Rom 1:29ff Paul extends that list of “unrighteousness” to include greed, envy, strife, malice and more.
I bring this extended list of wrongdoing to your awareness because it is not Just the big Ten that is going to get us blackballed from heaven. James 4:17 “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
Good Samaritan; Sheep/Goats; 5-2-1 Talent Servants; Lazarus and the Rich Man; Rich man who tore down his barns to build bigger
These are all parables told where those who refused to show mercy and LOVE to his fellow man were condemned. It is NOT the doing wrong that gets a person in trouble – it is the NOT SHOWING LOVE that gets condemnation.
Now I don’t know how many Ten Commandments you have broken; I don’t know how many times you strayed off the path of God’s teachings and acted like the Prodigal Son for a season; I certainly do not know how many times you have callously left behind you someone broken and lost in a ditch. But I am fairly certain that such situations have occurred at some point in time in all our lives.
NOW, I want to stop and make a break in my train of thought and share this with you:
American Bible Society; Cal. Food Bank; Compassion: Children’s Intrntl: DAV; Jesus Film Project; Kern County Prison; Kings Crossing Prison Ministry; Mountain States Children Home; The Mission/Bakersfield; Mercy Home; The Navigator; Towers to Tunnel; St. Judes Children’s Hosp; Shriners Hospital; VFW; WBC; Youth for Christ; Wounded Warrior Project; World English Institute: ** India Mission; Churches of Christ Disaster Relief Effort; ** Zambia Mission
These are SOME of the many programs that are making a difference in people’s lives who are struggling!!! You can be a Good Samaritan and help or you can pass by on the other side and do nothing.
NOW, for those times and days when we looked the other way and did nothing we need to know that this puts us all into the Romans 3:23 category of being sinful and falling short of God’s glory. This puts us all into the category of deserving death. But, thankfully, the Bible has delivered to us a message of salvation (good news). No sinner needs to stand before God on his own merits. 1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also died for sins once for all, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.”
Paul also tells us in 2 Cor 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf …”
Christ came into the world and died as our substitute in order to atone for our sins. By His death we can escape condemnation. Rom 5:9 “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”
In Christ our sinful souls have become righteous souls. 2 Cor 5:21 “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Rom 3:22 “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” Our sins have been exchanged for righteousness because of the work of Jesus.
So, Christ came to this earth to bring salvation to mankind. Isn't that what John 3:16 is telling us? And this is reiterated in Acts 4:10-12 “Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, … salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Jesus Himself declares: John 10:9 “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” And the Apostle John tells us this: 1 John 5:11.12 “this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us … to live godly lives in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
So, on the one hand we have sinful condemned man awaiting judgment and being sent into hell and then we have those who believe in the Lord and have been removed from judgement with a promise of eternal life – James 1:12 “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”
We see these two positions of being either condemned or forgiven explained very well in Scripture. In John 3:18 “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” Rom 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Jesus is the only one—the only way, the only name, the only advocate, the only propitiation, and the only mediator for mankind.
And I would be amiss if I left out the piece of the puzzle which explains how a man is approved by God, as James put it earlier. Peter’s audience in Acts 2 cries out asking Peter what they should do since they were guilty of crucifying the Son of God? Peter tells them that their response should be to repent and then be baptized. Their ‘SIN’ and our sins require repentance and baptism. Then in Acts 8 we read how Philip “preached Jesus to him (Ethiopian)” and when the man saw water he wanted to be baptized and Philip told him, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”
So in both instances we see a person’s belief/faith leading to being baptized. The reason or purpose of this baptism is explained: Acts 22:16 “And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on His name.” 1 Peter 3:21 “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ”. Gal 3:27 “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” = Rom 6:3,4 “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus was baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”
26 July: Luke 15: the Chapter of the “LOST”
Last week we looked at who we are as Christians, and we found out that Christians are God’s children as a new ‘Christ-like’ people who are united and bring glory to God and we share the awesome responsibility of sharing God’s plan of salvation. We are the embodiment or living illustration of God’s love for man – we are His ambassadors!
And what advantage might we have as being His ambassadors? We can know with assurance that He has our back. He is in our corner providing the armor we need and giving us His Word to guide us and sustain us. Consider these three passages: Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” Isaiah 41:10 “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you & help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Rom 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, those who have been called according to His purpose.”
Following the Lord cannot be anything but a blessing to and for us. But today I want to consider the alternative. What if we decide to try life on our own merits, ability and wisdom:
A prime illustration of that scenario is found in Luke 15: there is a parable there that we know as ‘the Prodigal Son.’ When you look at the parable of the Prodigal Son you see very soon the actions of someone who certainly wants to do things his own way. The son leaves the presence of his father with his inheritance and goes off to live the lifestyle he desires in a foreign land. You just have to know that this decision was made to get him away from that quiet voice whispering in his ear (his father’s voice).
The “lost or prodigal son”, so to speak, happens because he wants to live a life of fun and pleasure without having to hear his father’s voice in his ear preaching about being careful and wise and “thinking” about what he is doing. If you remember his brother accused the younger son of squandering his money on harlots, but the parable doesn't say that. If you asked me, I think he spent his money on ‘buying’ friends. He is in a foreign land – and at least initially, he would be very much on his own having to figure out what to do and where to go. The prodigal would need to find some support and encouragement and one sure fire way to do that is to entice people to come to him because, drum roll, he has money and therefore entices them by what he can provide. I am sure you can imagine how a young person with a large sum of money would behave. You can imagine the number of parties and accumulations of toys and impressive possessions he would purchase. AND, as you might expect, things do not go well in the long run.
So, fast forward: he is completely out of money, no real job to earn a living and he finds himself feeding pigs to sustain himself. Finally, he comes to his senses and returns home. He is simply hoping to be accepted as a servant in his father’s house. And surprisingly, and thankfully, what happens is that his father unconditionally accepts him back home.
Now consider the other parables which this one is grouped with in Luke 15. Consider the ‘Lost Coin’. The ‘Lost Coin’ parable also has a happy ending (the coin is recovered), but one wonders how such a valuable item becomes ‘lost’? Was it so taken for granted that there was little care or protection given to its possession? You know the old saying about how things are often times not truly appreciated until they’re lost. That seems to be the case here. Something of extreme importance was simply unappreciated until it was lost.
The other parable in this chapter is the parable of the ‘Lost Sheep’. Again, the parable ends on a happy note by the shepherd finding the lost sheep and returning it back to the flock. But the question that comes to my mind is to ask how it is that the sheep becomes separated from the others and eventually finds itself lost? Do you think the lost sheep is like the prodigal son and it intentionally wanders off or do you think it is more like the lost coin and it simply, inadvertently gets lost. It gradually wanders off to some other place and then moves forward to yet another place and then so on and so on until, before you know it, it has lost the sight and sound of all the other sheep – and shepherd. By its lack of attention and its disregard for where it was going it eventually found itself separated and lost. If it wasn’t for the watchfulness of the shepherd, the sheep’s story would likely end with it being invited to dinner – as the main course.
So, what is the warning here? Why did Luke record these parables for us and more to the point – why did Jesus share these parables with His audience. What would be one of those points that we should gain from the stories?
I think one such point is that those things that are not valued and cared for are very much likely to be lost. And what do we have that should be extremely valuable to us in our lives? I think James addresses that answer very well: James 1:12 “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.”
What is James addressing here? He is telling us the importance of persevering and staying true to our calling. As I reminded you at the beginning of this lesson, last week we saw our role as God’s children united together to bring glory to God. So, has our desire to worship together, to fellowship with one another, to encourage and help the Family when and where we can. Isn’t that the message in Heb 10:24,25 – we are NOT to forsake the assembly so that we can seek ways to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. Similarly, 1 Thess 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you are also doing. When you look at the end of Acts 4, you see the early Church doing exactly that as they sold their possessions and gave them so that “there was not a needy person among them”.
So how do we avoid going off into our own world and living for ourselves?
1) We keep our thoughts on things above by reading the Word (Ps 1:2 “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.) which has been provided for us to train us and guide us Col 3:2,3 “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” 2 Tim 3:16 “All Scripture is inspired for teaching/training…
2) and keep ourselves in the fold/family and we make our worship time with the family a priority. Eph 5:19 “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord. Acts 246,47 “Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.
3) We need to be diligent with keeping our prayer life a priority Phil 4:6 “… but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Eph 6:18 “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.”
4) Stay busy in the Lord’s work: 1 Cor 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain”.
Remember these words spoken by the Lord: Matthew 25:21, 34 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’” “Then the King will say to those on His right (sheep), ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
If we are faithful and steadfast in living our lives with and for the Lord then we will certainly hear those wonderful words. Paul reminds us in Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
Let us approach every task with a mindset aimed at increasing our effectiveness and glorifying God. Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.” Paul and Peter take this mental attitude and applies it to real life: Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” 1 Peter 4:10 “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”
So let’s make sure that we are staying on the path that God wants us to travel out of love for Him and a desire to be that Good Samaritan that we have been called to be.
If there is a struggle or difficulty that we can help you with then please come forward and let us know or contact one of your brothers/sisters and let them know. **