Abraham justified by faith – Romans 4:1-12

Abraham justified by faith – Romans 4:1-12 – 03/20/2016

Romans 4:1 (ESV) What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” 9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

This is a series in the book of Romans, for the home page in our study and to see other studies then please click here or our main epistle page is here. My aim is to go through the Book of Romans as the LORD wills.

Let’s start in verse one of chapter four…

V1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?

Paul continues on what he was saying in Romans three and uses Abraham as an example to show his point. Abraham was known as the father of the Jewish people and was revered and esteemed by the Jewish people. Paul knew what he was doing when he chose this example. If Paul was looking at addressing the American people he would probably have used a similar analogy by using some of the names of the Founding Fathers.

V2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

After introducing Abraham he makes the question on whether Abraham was justified by works and whether he could boast in the good things that he has done, Paul comes back to Romans 3:23 and states that no he could not boast before God because we are all sinful by nature and have not and cannot attain God’s holy and perfect standard on our own.

V3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

And like any good teacher Paul bases his argument on scripture, he shows where it states that he was not indeed justified by works, but by belief and it was counted to him as righteousness. In context I have attached the scripture below…

Genesis 15:1 (ESV) After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

I love how Paul takes away any notions that Abraham was somehow exempt from the rules that the rest of mankind had to follow and that by the same train of thought he would have had to look at the possibility that God makes exceptions from his holy nature which of course is preposterous.

Abraham is never mentioned as being “perfect” but only mentioned as being counted as righteous and the reason for the righteousness was based on the action of the belief of God. I would say that Abraham sought after God’s will before the Law was given in the same manner that we would make deposits in a financial institution Abrahams credit worthiness or righteousness was high with God because God saw the heart of Abraham and knew who he was and that is why he was declared righteous.

You will notice that it only mentions how God saw Abraham and not how his fellow man saw him. This is convicting for me because man will look at the external package first and I am no different. I have been surprised by who God has used in the past and it is very God to use someone whom the world didn’t think much of. I am very much in that camp because often times I have been passed over for things (both in the world and in Christian circles) because of assumptions that people have made on limitations they perceived me to have.

V4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.

Paul uses the idea of a salary to compare and contrast the idea of grace versus works because as we know (those of us who have accepted Christ) that grace is a free gift given to those of us who does not deserve it. I often laugh internally if I hear someone praying “Oh Lord- give us what we deserve!” I then back away a little in case God takes them literally.

If a system of works was correct then that would mean that we were owed something by God, in which God would be in debt to us (in this case for a salary) I am uncomfortable with that because it puts you on some severely shaky theological ground. It is true that works will come as fruit of faith but I do not see that faith will come from God being in our debt.

V5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

Paul agrees with the above hypothesis by stating that belief is greater than works as the one who does not work but believes will have his faith counted as righteousness. Seems obvious huh? Not always though as Gods ways are higher than our ways. We are to believe in the one who justifies the ungodly (God himself) who grants grace and mercy to all who do not deserve it. God justifies us as a result of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross where he took the punishment for our sins.

God is holy and hates sin, and he hates separation between his beloved creation and Him so he loves us enough to justify us despite our sin but we have to want to be saved. There is no “catch all solution” I do not doubt that God justifies the ungodly but I marvel at the sheer miracle that he does. (Going back to getting what we deserve!)

King David is mentioned and this is beautiful because he was described as a “man after God’s own heart” but he was a sinful man who committed murder and adultery but he was a man who strived after God and repented of his sins. (Sound familiar?) He was a man who understood sin, the impact and the repercussions of that sin and the relief and weight that is lifted off you when you are truly forgiven. If King David were judged based on his works, he would be sunk but the just God convicts him based on his belief as none of us can atone for our sins on our own.

V7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

And should God forgive your sins by belief (and He will for the truly repentant) then you truly are blessed because this forgiveness is based not on your nationality, genealogy, social status or where you were born it is based on your relationship with God. The sins are not just forgiven but they are covered and removed from sight! These verses are a quote from Psalm 32…

A Maskil of David.
Psalm 32:1 (ESV) Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Make no mistake about it God should count our sin but we truly are forgiven and regardless of how holy we think we are we all stink and reek of sin, some of us smell a little better than others but we are all in the same boat. I am reminded of the following parable by Jesus…

Matthew 18:23 (ESV) “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

We are all debtors to God in relation to sin, sin is the debt that we cannot possibly pay and without Jesus we are in that hopeless situation. The good news is that the gospel is for everyone. This is why David was quoted because if we could work it off then we would all be at it like little worker bees and that would be easier and more palatable for the human mind, however God has decided to bless everyone who will just have faith and turn to him. Paul continues…

V9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.

The beauty of it is that we can do nothing for God but we have great joy in the grace of God. It truly is a blessing for us, not just the Jew but also the Gentile and uses Abraham as an example why circumcision, whilst it being a sign of obedience is not the be all and end all of entry into heaven. Paul asks a logical question if circumcision is the key to salvation and that question is “When was Abraham justified? Was it before or after circumcision?” and as we have looked at before we see that Abraham was justified in Genesis 15 and let’s now look at Genesis 17 when he was circumcised…

Genesis 17:9 (ESV) And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, 13 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

As you can tell I like to back up the claims that I make with scripture to back it up! Paul states quite clearly that Abraham was circumcised AFTER the blessing and Paul closes this part of scripture with the following…

V11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

So the sign was exactly that A SIGN! He was to do this to show an outward sign that he was with God. As Christians we are reminded that the circumcision we go through is that of the heart and in remembrance of this please observe what Paul said in Romans 2…

Romans 2:25 (ESV) For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. 26 So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. 28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

You see if we wish to burden ourselves with the Law then we will be held accountable by the Law, Paul explains that in Galatians 5…

Galatians 5:1 (ESV) For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. 2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

The Christian faith is not a case of Christ+ (Christ and something else) What I mean is that Jesus was serious when he said “I am THE WAY” he is the definitive article, Son of God, part of the triune God and the only one who could be sacrificed for your sins. Just as today, the Jews of that day used circumcision to prove that they were in some way the true descendants of Abraham. Paul flips this on its head by asking “Why are you not walking in faith like Abraham did?” or “If you are Abrahams descendants then why are you not following in his footsteps?”

Lastly what Paul was stating was culturally sensitive as the Jews did not like the Gentile proselytes referring to Abraham as the father or their descendent. (That was their thing) And now Paul states that classification is available to all who are reconciled to God in Christ. That we have a share in Abrahams blessings, what a bountiful God we serve.

Lord willing, in our next article in Romans we will look at verses thirteen through twenty five when we explore the promises that we looked at today being realized through faith, which is really a part two of what we look at today. I pray that you are able to join us as we go through the bible, line by line and precept by precept.

God bless and I pray this was a blessing and please feel free to like, share or comment on here or whatever social media platforms you use as the Lord leads you to, as always I love questions about this or any other article so please feel free to fill in the form below, all comments are moderated to avoid profanity.
TTE
TGBTG
SDG

The creation of Man – Genesis 2:4-9 – 03/08/2016

The creation of Man – Genesis 2:4-9 – 03/08/2016

Genesis 2:4 (ESV) These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. 5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

This article is designed to be a slightly more in depth article than I did in the “creation series” elsewhere on this website, Lord willing I hope to look at the full creation week and examine the case for a Biblical creation from the mindset that the bible is accurate and a honest and truthful source of history in how we came to be here. I am not here to attack other mindsets as I appreciate that not everyone shares my view of a biblical history and I do welcome lively debate on the subject regardless of your thoughts or beliefs on how the earth was made.

In order to look at this from a biblical context we must first look at the text in question starting in chapter two verse four…

V4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.

In Genesis 1:1-2:3 we see a brief summary of all creation was created and often times we see critics of the bible point to the texts in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 and claim that there is a discrepancy or contradiction in the scriptures. I must first advise that this is not the case. Genesis two is simply giving part of the creation account in much greater detail.

It would be like you inviting me to a party and charging me with the task of bringing chips, soda and dip for the chips. On the way there I text you and reconfirm that I am in the supermarket buying chips and dip. Imagine then I send you a further text telling you that I went to WalMart and bought a bag of Doritos, a bag of Cheetos, two bags of potato chips, 3 2 liters of soda, some fruit punch for the kids and 3 different dips. The second text gives much the same information as the first but in much greater detail; this is the same situation in this text.

The writer states that “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.” That this was narrated to the writer as the writer was not there when God created, the writer was not omnipresent with God and he got the generations/genealogy/history directly from God who was indeed the primary witness.

We see the use of the word LORD in this passage, the name that was so holy to the Jewish people that they would remove the consonants and from that we get our pronunciation “Yahweh” and somewhere along the line some pronounced JHVH as “Jehovah”. When you see the name LORD it stands for the name of God, the bread giver, the true LORD of everything, the name that demands our reverence. The capitals are important as they show the correct translation.

V5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground—

The first thing that strikes me is that there has been no rain upon the land. This gives a great indication of what the climate was like that rain was not required to make the plants grow. The waters above the waters provided the perfect atmosphere to be inhabited and make things grow. Of course we have this confirmed by the fact that creation was deemed as “good” at this point having no death, no decay and only positive creation on the earth. The writer of Genesis two rewinds to before there was vegetation on Genesis one and we get a reconfirmation of some highlights of some of the points in chapter one.

God made the scene in an aged format, the rivers were rivers without rain, the plants sprouted without being planted, the trees had fruit ready for man to eat, the vegetation happened on the same day it was created. We don’t read on this day God planted a seed and six months later it came up. We are reminded of the order of creation in verse five in that man had not been created yet.

Verse six gives an indication of the tropical paradise by the description of how the mist was going up from the land and causing a precipitation cycle that did not require an actual rainfall. God had the creation all planned out to be a self-sufficient creation prior to the fall. We will go into that in greater detail LORD willing when we get to Genesis 3. All we need to complete this creation picture is the arrival of man…

V7 then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

So we were formed from DUST! Do you still have that self-pride and self-worth problems? I look at the creation in two ways, that we are who we are meant to be because we are made in God’s image so please do not doubt your value from a loving Father God, but we were made from the lowest materials available so please use this as a balance to keep your pride in check.

We have life by the gift of God; even in the beginning life did not happen except through the breath of God. Man became a living creature (or soul) and you will not see anywhere in scripture that God breathed life into the animals and despite the fact that we are made of something that is of little worth (when was the last time you saw someone spending millions of dollars on dust?) with the basest of components, it is literally next to nothing but with the touch of God it became his beloved creation.

V8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

Here is the employ that God has for the man, he puts the man in the garden he created called Eden, this was a made to measure garden for Adam and was made to be the perfect place to live in. This is the creation that at the end of the creation week was called “very good”. At this time only Adam is mentioned, we are not introduced to Eve until later, all we know at this time was that this place was created for man, it truly was man’s special place, created just for him.

V9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The last description we have of the garden is that it is beautiful, blossoming garden that God has created every tree to blossom and spring forth that is both pleasant to the eye and functional for good food. Talk about the easy life! God literally created everything that man could ask for, what a paradise but that does not sound much like the death and decay that we face today…

We see that God created two trees amongst the other trees and these have special significance and we will see why in the next article.

Lord willing, in our next article in Genesis we look at verses ten through seventeen where we understand the rivers of Eden and God gives man one rule to obey. I pray that you are able to join us as we go through the bible, line by line and precept by precept.

God bless and I pray this was a blessing and please feel free to like, share or comment on here or whatever social media platforms you use as the Lord leads you to, as always I love questions about this or any other article so please feel free to fill in the form below, all comments are moderated to avoid profanity.
TTE
TGBTG
SDG

Psalms Saturday #9 – Psalms 93 – The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty

Psalms Saturday #9 – Psalms 93 – The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty – 02/27/2016

Psalm 93:1 (ESV) The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed; he has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved. 2 Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting. 3 The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring. 4 Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty! 5 Your decrees are very trustworthy; holiness befits your house, O LORD, forevermore.

This Psalm is awesome in its praise to the LORD. I love this because it gives titles that should only be ascribed to the LORD, please enjoy this great Psalm of praise, although it is just five verses it is rich in teaching moments. Let’s look it all five verses on a verse by verse basis beginning in verse one.

V1 The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed; he has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.

I love and rejoice when I read these words and I thank you firstly if you are spending your precious weekend reading these words. Let’s look at how the Psalmist refers to his LORD to set out the tone of the Psalm…

• LORD – He calls him LORD (All Capitals) the name above all names and as rich as our language is, we still do not have the words to describe how majestic God is. The author of the words of this precious book that we read and a constant thread throughout scripture that is never contradictory.
• Reigns – To the writer of this Psalm, his LORD is ruler in his life, he is in charge and in control he has total devotion to the LORD of all creation.
• Robed in Majesty – Think of the finest king you can imagine and you are no-where close. The one who alone is worthy of All gory, All honor and All praise, then you are getting closer.
• Strength – Do you have confidence in your countries foreign policy? Do you have confidence in being a world superpower? What about the defense policy? The Psalmist is using the same confidence that is displayed in Psalm 20…

  Psalm 20:7 (ESV) Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God

  We have moved on a little from using chariots and horses but I am sure you will get the picture that whatever strength you think that your nation has, it is nothing compared to the strength of the LORD.

• World is established – He is the one who made everything in 6 days! It was established as to his measurements and his criteria, nothing is there that he did not request.
• Never be moved – It will never be moved except at the LORDs command.

Getting a picture of how big and awesome He is yet? If not then please read on!

V2 Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting.

He is beyond time, he is established before “old” was, he will be established after everlasting is. The prophecies of the Old Testament he could see them happening when the prophets were moved to predict them. He is outside of time but yet he made time. He had the birth of Christ planned when Micah was prophesying what city he would be born in. He established the law as an example to the people of his perfect standard knowing that he would send a redeemer to save them because God’s standards were so much above our own. The Psalmist now gives examples of how big God is…

V3 The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring. 4 Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty!

Now we have an example of the power of God, that he can even control the floods and the waves of the sea. He can lift up the floods and make the waters roar. If you have ever stood at a shoreline with a child you will know of the worry that swells up inside of you if a wave comes in that is mightier than you would like. (For me if the water is going to hit her kneecap then I pull her out) and that is nothing compared to the type of wave the LORD can begin to send.

The terms are very descriptive and describe the situation rather well. Terms like “mightier”, “thunders”, “lifted up their voice” and “lifted up their roaring” tell of a God who has the ability to allow the waters cover the earth such as in the days of Noah, but in his benevolent grace he restrains the waters from doing so. This is classic Jewish poetry to demonstrate the point of why the original declaration of the LORD being mighty is in fact correct. The Psalmist speaks greatly about the strength of the LORD but what about the LORD’s character?

V5 Your decrees are very trustworthy; holiness befits your house, O LORD, forevermore.

The Psalmist talks about the HONESTY of the LORD. His words, his commands, his decrees are very trustworthy. You can trust his words and the words that are written in his name are words you can quite literally build your life upon. Lastly we see the term “holiness befits your house” and that is very apt, God is holiness, he does not lie and his perfect standard is way too perfect for us.

He does not lie and he is that holy that he hates sin, which is why he made provision for you to escape your sins by faith in the messiah Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only way to heaven and God desires you to be in heaven and as the Psalmist says that is not a temporary state but will be forevermore. There are two ways that you can travel when you die, you can have an eternity without God with eternal death and suffering in the lake of fire or you can choose eternal life with God in heaven. God is that just a God, he allows you to choose for yourself.

Lord willing, in our next article in Psalms we look Psalm 100 and an awesome Psalm of praise. The Psalmist used such wonderful terms as “mighty”, “majesty”, “everlasting” and “holiness” all words which are very befitting a glorious God. I pray that you are able to join us as we go through the bible, line by line and precept by precept.

God bless and I pray this was a blessing and please feel free to like, share or comment on here or whatever social media platforms you use as the Lord leads you to, as always I love questions about this or any other article so please feel free to fill in the form below, all comments are moderated to avoid profanity.
TTE
TGBTG
SDG

Genesis Two – Day Seven – The Seventh Day, God Rests – Genesis 2:1-3

Genesis Two – Day Seven – The Seventh Day, God Rests – Genesis 2:1-3 – 02/23/2016

Genesis 2:1 (ESV) Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

This article is designed to be a slightly more in depth article than I did in the “creation series” elsewhere on this website, Lord willing I hope to look at the full creation week and examine the case for a Biblical creation from the mindset that the bible is accurate and a honest and truthful source of history in how we came to be here. I am not here to attack other mindsets as I appreciate that not everyone shares my view of a biblical history and I do welcome lively debate on the subject regardless of your thoughts or beliefs on how the earth was made.

In order to look at this from a biblical context we must first look at the text in question starting in chapter two verse one…

V1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

This is the day where a line was drawn in the sand. This verse shows that creation was a one off event and that God had finished creating it all. When he created the earth, the plants and even the humans, he created them fully grown and we read that the plants were blooming, the trees were bearing fruit and the man was fully grown. We read in the biblical accounts that there were no babies until the days of Cain and Abel.

V2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.

The interesting thing about this account is that God is so big that he did not have to rest, he could have gone on creating for an indefinite amount of time if he wished, however the seven day example that God set out was an example for us as humans. He rested as an example that the creating work was done and we need to look at our own lives and make sure we are taking time for rest.

I say this because I am as guilty as the next man of taking on tasks or jobs that I have no business taking on. I do over-schedule, sometimes I do under-deliver and I do not take enough rest and God, who knows what is best for us designed the week for us to have a rest. It is good for our physical, our emotional and obviously our mental health.

God knew what was best for us and this was even in the days before electronic devices that consume our lives and take us almost like a prisoner. (Perhaps that is why they are called “cell phones”) and I saw good evidence of that this week when I visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Every exhibit that I went to I found myself almost being rude and guarding my own little section of the glass where my family were trying to see the exhibits due to the “selfie culture” where folks would barge in front of you to try to get a picture or video of the animals rather than actually view them with the beautiful eyes that God gave them. I actually watched one of the keeper talks through someone else’s cell phone because the lady did just what I said earlier.

I am not against electronic devices and I own a cell phone, PC and a tablet but I do feel that we do need to take a Sabbath rest from these devices because we are becoming a culture of artificialness. I will give you an example where I am the butt of the joke if you will…
On Sunday I went to Calvary Monterey where I got up early and opened my tablet to google maps to map out my journey, I took the same tablet to church in lieu of a notepad and bible and for most of the next two hours I relied on an electronic device to guide my way, read the bible and to take notes based on the sermon text.

We need to unplug ourselves and rest but not for the sake of being lazy, we are supposed to remember God on our day of rest because it is a gift from God. God is not a tyrant or benevolent dictator, yes we are on God’s cycle of seven days but we are to realize that the seven day week is a foreshadow to the rest that we have in our messiah Jesus Christ, you see that even from the dawn of creation God had made a plan for a redeemer. Let’s look at verse three…

V3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

We see the Sabbath mentioned again in Exodus 20…

Exodus 20: 8 (ESV) “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

In the Law given to the children of Israel there was a provision made for the Sabbath, again God was looking out for the children of Israel as they had just come from the worst slavery imaginable in the country of Egypt under the Pharaoh where they literally worked from dust till dawn making bricks out of straw, often having to forage for their own building materials building the great cities of the Egyptian empire, is it any wonder that the God who loved them so much had told them to literally “take a day off”.

Certain churches that are Sabbath keepers will have the Sabbath as holy as the teachings of Jesus but fail to realize the rest we are supposed to have in Jesus. There is a whole side issue of whether you should take a Sabbath, what day should it be? And that for me is a secondary issue. Paul makes this clear in the book of Colossians chapter 2…

Colossians 2:16 (ESV) Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

And who is to argue with the Apostle Paul, there truly are better things to focus our attention on and can we not address the sins in our lives with the same vigor and zeal that we rush into arguments like this? Let’s look at what Paul wrote to the Galatian church…

Galatians 4:8 (ESV) Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! 11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.

We have to be careful to not make the sacrament holier than it actually is. It is an observance and if you are convicted by God to keep a certain day over others then great. I know many pastors that take Monday as a day off because as you would expect they work on a Sunday. Lastly let’s look at what is written to the Hebrew church…

Hebrews 4:9 (ESV) So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

We have that Sabbath rest; remember I said that before – in our messiah Jesus. I put it to you that every day should be set apart for God and we should be living in that great commission to go out, evangelize, tell people the good news and allow the Holy Spirit to convict hearts and be an example that changes people’s lives. We are to go make disciples and show them who we are in our messiah Jesus Christ, who is in?

Lord willing, in our next article in Genesis we look at the creation of man and woman as we continue in chapter two in Genesis starting at verse four going through to verse nine. I pray that you are able to join us as we go through the bible, line by line and precept by precept.

God bless and I pray this was a blessing and please feel free to like, share or comment on here or whatever social media platforms you use as the Lord leads you to, as always I love questions about this or any other article so please feel free to fill in the form below, all comments are moderated to avoid profanity.
TTE
TGBTG
SDG

Genesis One – Day Six – Let us make man in our image, after our likeness – Genesis 1:24-31

Genesis One – Day Six – Let us make man in our image, after our likeness – Genesis 1:24-31 – 02/09/2016

24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

This article is designed to be a slightly more in depth article than I did in the “creation series” elsewhere on this website, Lord willing I hope to look at the full creation week and examine the case for a Biblical creation from the mindset that the bible is accurate and a honest and truthful source of history in how we came to be here. I am not here to attack other mindsets as I appreciate that not everyone shares my view of a biblical history and I do welcome lively debate on the subject regardless of your thoughts or beliefs on how the earth was made.

In order to look at this from a biblical context we must first look at the text in question starting in verse twenty four…

V24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

God makes the land animals today after completing the sea and the air animals yesterday. It is important that we see that creation follows that same model “after their kind” in that sea lions didn’t become lions, catfish didn’t make cats, but from the dog family we have Poodle, Chihuahua, Labrador, Terrier and St Bernard, all different but all Dogs. Wonderful variation between kinds of dogs but only a fool would argue that any are less of a dog because they are different from the other!

God again concludes that “it was good” If the gap theory, or millions of years between genesis 1:1-Genesis 1:2 were true then this would make God a liar by stating that creation was “good” up until this point, a God who was true and did not lie would not state that something was “good” if there was millions of years of death and suffering that predated this creation. Theologically and looking at the character of God it just does not make sense.

V26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

God makes man in his own image, separate from the animals. God takes great care to separate the creation of the land animals and the man that he created in his own image, in the likeness of God. We see this in greater detail in Genesis two when they go into a more exhaustive history of this time period. Let me make a few observations about the creation of man…

• Man was in “our own image” – God the Father and Jesus Christ were at this point in creation, co-authors of creation who saw the original blueprints for the plan for mankind. As stated previously we are separate from the animals, but also separate from the angels as we do not read anywhere in scripture that angels were in “God’s image”.

Because we are in God’s image, do you see the value in your life, it is not something that is cheap by any means, you resemble your creator, He loved you that much that he made you in his image! Animals do not have the same personality traits of humans, they do not exhibit knowledge, feelings, facial expressions, a sense of morality, a sense of spirituality – I see no chimps at the zoo arguing about the benefits of Calvinism over say Lutheran theology! And lastly man alone speaks in a discernable language
• “Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” – God put man in charge, prior to the fall there were no lions chasing the first man around, everything was to be in unison and in perfect harmony.
• So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them – God created man to multiply and be able to breed. He created male and female and gave an example of how a relationship should look, there was a monogamous heterosexual relationship that left no room for an argument for polygamy or homosexuality. This is an emotive issue so I have decided to just stick with what the Word says on the matter and not leave any opinion. Lastly I do want to observe that man was created fully formed, there is no notation of Adam going through puberty, being a baby or a toddler, he starts as a fully formed man.

V28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

And as promised God gave the earth to man to be fruitful and multiply. We had better not tell Al Gore! God had an original plan and that was for man to be all over the earth and he made an earth large enough to cope with the population. This flies in the face of modern man who claims that the earth is too overcrowded when in truth there are large parts of the earth that are uninhabited.

The writer goes to great lengths to show that Adam was man and Eve was woman from the beginning, Adam was as much man as I am with the same biological parts and anatomy that you would associate with a male human. God created two distinct genders; there was no transgender or gender-confusion in God’s original plan. God gave the man a desire for the woman and vice versa, this was God’s plan to populate the earth with his creation.

He gave vegetation for food initially, the first animal was not killed until after the first sin and that was to clothe the first humans. It was not until Genesis 9 that we see that man starts eating of the animals. (After the flood)

V31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

God culminates the sixth day of creation with the phrase “very good” not just “good” but “very good” Some would say that God was very pleased with his creation. Why wouldn’t he be, he created a paradise with no death, no decay which was a self-sustaining tropical paradise that man could live in easily and could have many decedents and never outgrow the place. What could possibly spoil this paradise? How did we get to the place of decay that we are in today?

Lord willing, in our next article in Genesis we look at the seventh day as we begin chapter two in Genesis. I pray that you are able to join us as we go through the bible, line by line and precept by precept.

God bless and I pray this was a blessing and please feel free to like, share or comment on here or whatever social media platforms you use as the Lord leads you to, as always I love questions about this or any other article so please feel free to fill in the form below, all comments are moderated to avoid profanity.
TTE
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SDG

Genesis One – Day Five – God makes the birds, the sea creatures and every living creature that moves – Genesis 1:20-23

Genesis One – Day Five – God makes the birds, the sea creatures and every living creature that moves – Genesis 1:20-23 – 01/26/2016

Genesis 1:20 (ESV) And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

This article is designed to be a slightly more in depth article than I did in the “creation series” elsewhere on this website, Lord willing I hope to look at the full creation week and examine the case for a Biblical creation from the mindset that the bible is accurate and a honest and truthful source of history in how we came to be here. I am not here to attack other mindsets as I appreciate that not everyone shares my view of a biblical history and I do welcome lively debate on the subject regardless of your thoughts or beliefs on how the earth was made.

In order to look at this from a biblical context we must first look at the text in question starting in verse twenty…

V20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”

I love the rich wording here when it says “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures” which shows the fullness that was created with just a few words. Think of the rich diversity you have when you go underwater, fish are in all shapes, all sizes all colors and the variety is tremendous. It shows a creator God who had limitless possibilities and just as a small demonstration of who he is as God he created such richness that has been summed up in eight small words.

God’s word is at odds with an evolutionary belief that creatures evolved from a single cell organism and evolved into the animals in the sea, the ones on land, the ones in the air and then at the pinnacle of evolution you have the “homo erectus” the human. God’s word states that was not the case, it does agree that humans came after the animals but it states quite clearly that God did it and they were created so that they could survive, so these were fully grown animals and not eggs or tadpoles.

V21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Again God created them “according to their kinds” and there was plenty of variation within fish and water dwelling mammals, you just have to go into your local pet store to have a small sampling of just how much variety there is. If I was to walk into my local PetSmart and say “can I have a fish please?” I could want a guppy but be handed a goldfish because the understanding would be different.

They are all according to their kinds, the fish don’t transform into birds and the birds don’t turn into dogs, the birds were created according to the bird kind, the eagle, the raven, the dove are exactly that all birds but all different. Another example is in my front room where I have a Labrador and a Queensland dog, they are two dogs and if the male Labrador was to mate with the Queensland then they would make …(wait for it)… A DOG! That would be a process known as macro evolution or a variation within kinds which has a solid scientific footing, but if you were to suggest that if they mated generation upon generation and suddenly they made another animal say a horse then that would be preposterous, however that is what you are asking me to swallow when you are saying that a fish landed on the land, sprouted legs and became a land dweller and through series of changes became a monkey and then a human. That process where two mate and it forms an intermediate species is called “macro-evolution” and that does not come from “micro-evolution”.

If this was the case then the fossil record would be littered with intermediate species bones and fragments that would blow the case for creation completely out of the water it is not there and if anything we have more fossils that show a worldwide flood where animals have been enveloped while eating others, not exactly millions of years there?

We have to come to one of three conclusions…

• Evolution happened slowly, creating billions of years of changes that the scientific evidence does not support
• The changes came in huge steps such as a lion mated or an elephant mated and created say a Rhino
• It was exactly as the bible said it happened and the earth is in fact younger than they think it is.

Obviously I have issues with the first two as to believe in either of those outcomes would require faith that I do not have. God continues his population control plan in verse twenty two…

V22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

God commands them to be fruitful and multiply, the earth was created to be populated and again the bible flies in the face of man’s logic that complains that there are too many people on earth. God created the earth to be inhabited and even with today’s numbers there is still plenty of room to be inhabited. Even in the USA there are vast lands that have no-one living on them for literally miles, and many other countries are like that also. Even in densely populated cities in the UK like Glasgow or London if you drive 20-30 miles out you see rural countryside, so we are hardly living on top of one another.

You have to remember, the land animals are not here yet! We just have the water borne and airborne animals thus far! There is no land dwelling creatures or man as of yet. Perhaps that is where evolution and the bible stop agreeing that man arrived last.

V23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

And if we needed more confirmation, God names the day a day and calls it the fifth day, a literal day that was not to be interpreted any other way. LORD willing, next time we look at Genesis we will look at day six where God creates the land animals and makes man in their own image, I pray that you can make the next article and please check out Epistles page for our collection of bible studies on this and other books.

God bless and I pray this was a blessing and please feel free to like, share or comment on here or whatever social media platforms you use as the Lord leads you to, as always I love questions about this or any other article so please feel free to fill in the form below, all comments are moderated to avoid profanity.
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What is the value of circumcision? – Romans 3:1-8

What is the value of circumcision? – Romans 3:1-8 – 01/24/2016

Romans 3:1 (ESV) Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. 3 What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.” 5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) 6 By no means! For then how could God judge the world? 7 But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? 8 And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.

This is a series in the book of Romans, for the home page in our study and to see other studies then please click here or our main epistle page is here. My aim is to go through the Book of Romans as the LORD wills. Let’s start in verse 1 of chapter 3…

V1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?

Paul asks a series of questions starting with this one and the thought follows from the previous article where we finished chapter two, “here” is the article. Paul debates in that article whether possession of the law would save a Jewish person still in their sins and starts with this question. Paul answers this in verse 2…

V2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.

Paul extols the rich history of the Jewish relationship with God, they were given the “oracles of God” his word before the mission of Jesus Christ, they were his chosen people and were meant to be the ones that showed the gentiles the way to communion with God. God made covenants with them, he gave them his supreme law and Paul goes on to talk about the blessings and curses the Jewish people received based on their faithfulness to him…

V3 What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?

Paul makes provision for the fact that not everyone in the Jewish faith would always be faithful, God is God and God is perfect. An example of this would be when he covenanted with Abraham that he was the one who took the covenant and walked where Abraham could not have. God will continue to be faithful regardless of our personal faithfulness and as a Christian who has been grafted into the family of God and not one of the natural branches I find that incredibly encouraging.

God when he loves us or works in us is not doing a futile work, yes he knows who will accept him and who will not and this is something that we can carry on today in our evangelism efforts we know that there will be those who will reject the promises and faithfulness of God and will go on believing a lie. The gospel will not fail because not everyone will receive it, Our place in the battle (the battle of course belongs to the LORD) is to be ready and willing to be in the place that God places us and ready to be used as a tool in his arsenal.

GOD IS FAITHFUL – Basic John 3:16 stuff here, God does love the world and that was the reason for Jesus sacrifice and regardless of your past you can still have a future and a use in the service of God. As much as I look good on here in the words I type, I wish I was as faithful to the service of God as I want to be. I fail and mess up as much as anyone who is reading this. (And possibly much more)

V4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”

And that is the flip side of what we are talking about, for as unfaithful and untruthful and messed up by what we have experienced in this world, God is the reverse, in as much as we are liars God is truth and the simple fact that we are so unrighteous goes to show what a righteous God we serve. We cannot attain the heights of God or even hold a candle to his holiness but God will justify us and that is a brief look at the grace of God.

We cannot earn this or attain it, Jesus scoffed at the very notion of this stating that our “righteousness would have to exceed those of the scribes and Pharisees” meaning that we would have to keep as many standards as they did but do it with the right heart realizing that we are saved by grace as well as works, works should be the fruit of our salvation but completing a checklist will not save us.

V5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.)

And Paul goes on to make the point that I was touching on the last paragraph that our unrighteousness shows the righteousness of God, he then goes on to ask if God is unrighteous to inflict wrath upon us? We have to look at it from angles that have been wrongly justified in the past for this passage of scripture

• My sin gives God a job to do – to judge me! – This is incorrect as God does not desire that we sin, he desires obedience more than sacrifice (Read the book of Hosea if you need further clarification on that one!)
• My sin gives him glory, so I should go on sinning in order to be forgiven – God is a loving father who wants the best for his kids and I know that as a father if my child at age six was still making baby mistakes then I would be concerned for her development. We understand this but yet this is how many of us live our Christian lives.
• God cannot conquer xxx sin that I have – How big is your God? Are you serving he same one I am that created all that we see here in six literal days? What is your sin to this Big God? How big is your belief?

Let us get one thing straight here – God is not unrighteous in his wrath, your wickedness is still your wickedness, you have to own that! By our own efforts we are separated from God, if we choose to remain on that path then God is righteous in giving you your “due reward” for your rebellion against him. We have the same choice that Adam and Eve had in the Garden of Eden to follow Gods plan or not.

Tonight in my bible study we are looking at Genesis 27 and the account of Jacob and the fact that he deceived his father by lying and presenting himself as Esau in order to steal the birthright from his brother Esau. In this scenario Jacob could present himself by stating “I sinned to allow your prophecy to be fulfilled, why would I be judged on this?” but as stated above his sin is still his sin, just because God used it to his glory does not make it any less his sin or less culpable.

V6 By no means! For then how could God judge the world?

Paul uses the world as an example. Make no mistake about it, the world will be judged and Paul knew that a day of judgment was coming where God would judge the evil and restore the good. The Jews knew the difference between righteousness and evil, the difference between being on Gods side and not. Where they erred was they believed that because they were Jewish they would automatically be counted as righteous.

V7 But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?

Paul states that through his lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, so if what Paul does, even if it is not truthful it increases the glory of God then would it be justified and okay in God’s sight? This may seem odd but Paul gives reason behind this thought process in verse eight…

V8 And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.

Paul’s teachings were misinterpreted and twisted to make it sound like he was trying to pervert the teachings of God. However Paul goes on to explain here (and in the next article God willing) that the purpose of sinning for the sake of sinning or living a life in sin in order to perversely glorify God is not just alien but downright the reverse of what God wants in your life. Paul did not teach this but it is what was reported and accredited that it was said that he was teaching these doctrines.

We have to be careful in our doctrine that we don’t preach “free grace” in that we can live the lives that we want because we know that in the end up God is going to forgive us. That to me at least is not living the Christian life; we are not seeking to be like Christ and looking to grow at a healthy rate in our day to day relationship with Jesus. Paul preached (and we have evidence in the written epistles) that God will forgive our sins and give us salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and not a works based check the box Levitical law system.

Paul agrees with them that they would be right to condemn such teachings; we have grace that we will be forgiven but we have to look at the heart of our sin. When we sin with a sin that we keep falling into, be honest and ask yourself “why did I plan to do this?” because we have accepted salvation and the things of this world, although they be appealing is a toilet bowl compared to what we are promised by God. We cannot serve two masters because we will love one and hate the other. If we choose to live such a life in unrepentance mocks the God that you claim to love so much. Looking forward Paul goes to look at how righteous we are in verses nine through twenty, I pray that God willing we get the opportunity to look at this together.

God bless and I pray this was a blessing and please feel free to like, share or comment on here or whatever social media platforms you use as the Lord leads you to, as always I love questions about this or any other article so please feel free to fill in the form below, all comments are moderated to avoid profanity.
TTE
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SDG

Genesis One – Day Four – God makes the Sun, the Moon and stars – Genesis 1:14-19

Genesis One – Day Four – God makes the Sun, the Moon and stars – Genesis 1:14-19 – 01/12/2016

Genesis 1:14 (ESV) And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

This article is designed to be a slightly more in depth article than I did in the “creation series” elsewhere on this website, Lord willing I hope to look at the full creation week and examine the case for a Biblical creation from the mindset that the bible is accurate and a honest and truthful source of history in how we came to be here. I am not here to attack other mindsets as I appreciate that not everyone shares my view of a biblical history and I do welcome lively debate on the subject regardless of your thoughts or beliefs on how the earth was made.

In order to look at this from a biblical context we must first look at the text in question starting in verse fourteen…

V14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.

God again showed what he was doing in creation by noting that the creation on this day would mark three different timespans…

• signs and for seasons
• for days
• for years

And that is even true today, you could ask my child who is in first grade “ is it light or dark when you wake up?” and she could give you an answer that can be traced all the way back to that scripture.

We are all familiar with the idea of “day”, “night”, “months”,  “years” and “spring”, “summer”, “autumn (fall)” or “winter” because we have based our very time, day, dates and years around evidence that we can see on a daily basis, we can see the sky getting darker, we can see the sky getting lighter, only a fool would try to deny that there is a planet that somewhat illuminates the night called the Moon and a planet that gives a greater light in the day called the Sun, we also see our temperature get hotter, colder, wetter and dryer at different intervals in the year, scientists would call that good observational science and I would tend to agree with them.

We also see other lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth; again my first grade daughter would easily tell you that we call them stars. (Which is confirmed by name in the next verse if you don’t wish to trust the wisdom of a six year old.) We again can observe them so it does not take a great deal of faith to believe in something that you can see plainly and interpret what it is.

V16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.

Once we have had the recipe, we then get the execution and this is where theology and evolutionary scientists depart from each other, one believes that God placed the sun and the moon in exactly the correct place in order to sustain life and another believes in no deity and it is there because it is there.

I prefer the idea of a design that was created by an architect to plan who placed all of the pieces exactly where they were supposed to be, here is my evidence this far…

• Day one – he created the universe, made it light and dark creating the first day
• Day two – he separated the waters from the waters creating the correct climate
• Day three – dry land, vegetation and everything created fully bloomed and ready for man
• Day four – where we are today he placed the sun exactly where it needed to be to be the light sustainer.

If you don’t understand why he did this then it is confirmed in the next few verses…

V17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

Not content with creating them, he placed them exactly where they were meant to go and science continues to show what an expanse that was! They keep finding more and more beautiful stars as our technology catches up to God in so many ways. I see this as a proof of the largeness of God as opposed to being problematic to showing that God created it. For me it humbles me and gives such a perception shift when we realize the size of God that we serve and the fact that if we were to realize this then we would not approach God in the way that we do.

God is a god who deserves all the honor, glory and majesty and once I fully understood this first chapter of genesis that shows the biblical creation account, it truly changed my life and I am truly grateful to my old pastor at Calvary Glasgow who took me to see a man called Ken Ham in a small church in Glasgow back in 2007 on a night that would be not even remembered by anyone who worked that tour, but I was a brand new believer and was still reconciling things in my heart as to what the bible said on many things and that night was really a game changer because that man had so many answers that led me to investigate fully based on the foundational knowledge that I now had. I am truly grateful to the Answers in Genesis organization for organizing that tour.

People ask if there is any life on other planets and I would doubt that because of how this text is finished “And God saw that it was good” and as I stated above, we have so many factors that would have to pre-exist in order to have a sustainable environment for living creatures to survive let alone live, so much so that even the most ardent science fiction person or person who wishes extra-terrestrial life to be the case would even concede that it has very problematic probability of chance based on mathematics alone. I find it to be as the name suggests “science fiction”. It would also call into question why God chose this planet to send his Son Jesus Christ to die and not any others.

God also stated that it was “good” as a reminder that nothing had interrupted creation thus far and everything so far had been from Gods hand, God is a perfect God who does not make mistakes and this is a reminder that everything was going to plan.

V19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

And as if we needed a reminder, God called this the fourth day, a literal day that was not to be interpreted any other way.

God bless and I pray this was a blessing and please feel free to like, share or comment on here or whatever social media platforms you use as the Lord leads you to, as always I love questions about this or any other article so please feel free to fill in the form below, all comments are moderated to avoid profanity.
TTE
TGBTG
SDG

Enoch prophesied about the Lord’s judgment – Jude 1:14-16

 

Enoch prophesied about the Lord’s judgment – Jude 1:14-16 – 01/08/2016

 

Thank you for reading this Bible study on the book of Jude. This bible study is part of a series on the book of Jude, in order to see the full series please check out our “epistle” page or alternatively please check out our page dedicated to the book of Jude for other studies in this book.

 

Let’s start in verse fourteen of the first chapter of Jude…

 

Jude 1:14 (ESV) It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.

 

Jude speaks straight from the Old Testament and quotes from the book of Genesis and confirms a genealogy that points back all the way from Adam. He references Enoch who we are introduced to in Genesis 5…

 

Genesis 5:1 (ESV) This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man  when they were created. 3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. 4 The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. 5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. 6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh. 7 Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8 Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died. 9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan. 10 Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan 815 years and had other sons and daughters. 11 Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died. 12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel. 13 Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalel 840 years and had other sons and daughters. 14 Thus all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died. 15 When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared. 16 Mahalalel lived after he fathered Jared 830 years and had other sons and daughters. 17 Thus all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died. 18 When Jared had lived 162 years he fathered Enoch. 19 Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died. 21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. 22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

 

The first thing that strikes me about that genealogy list is that Enoch lived 365 years and is not listed as dying, he stopped walking with God on this earth when God took him. So what happened? Did he vaporize? Was he raptured? Paul sheds a little more light in the book of Hebrews chapter eleven…

 

Hebrews 11:1 (ESV) Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

 

He was taken up so he did not see death, his body was not found. That really is about as much as we need to know on that score. We know from history that Enoch was a prophet and there were early writings that were revered by the Jewish people but were never accepted as inspired scripture and Jude would be referring to these works.

 

Is this a problem? I don’t actually believe so! I went to see a group recently called “The City Harmonic” play in a local church in Exeter (see link) and they have in one of their songs  called “Solid Rock” they use a quote from a Scottish poet called Robert Burns that states the following…

 

“The best laid plans of mice and men, so often go astray”

 

They are not basing a foundational doctrine of a church or movement on the words of a secular, winebibbing, womanizing freemason, but they do recognize that there is some truth in that statement and in the same vein Jude references something that will be well known to his audience but he also quotes the book as to avoid any loss in translation of his point or the possibility of some Gentiles coming along and having not read that book looking in and questioning what he meant. Does it mean the whole book of Enoch is inspired testimony? I don’t believe so but the quotation is to help illustrate a point, it is not the actual point itself and I prefer not to get too deep into rabbit trails that really do not help understand the true meaning and context of these Holy words!

 

What does floor me is the prophesy that even as far back as Enoch, there were men declaring the coming of Christ, there is no actual new information or doctrine that is mentioned only here in the bible, what is important is the earliness of that prophecy. The prophecy was in the following parts

 

•       The coming of Christ with ten thousand (v14)  – Jude is like a “mini book of Revelation” here when he declares triumphantly that the sinful life that these people know will come to an end and Christ will come again to redeem his people.

•       Convict the ungodly (v15) – If you are still in your sins when he comes or when you die (whichever comes first) then you will be tried according to your sins. With no reconciliation to God you will be found wanting in the scales and you will be convicted of your sins. If you are convicted prior to death you still have the option of repentance, if you wait until after then you make your own choice.

•       Execute judgment on all the ungodly (v15) – If you are convicted of your sins then what follows next is the judgment. I would urge that you check out the book of Revelation to see the alternative to Heaven and communion with God. There will be a judgment on all of the ungodly people and a decent family line or previous genealogy will not save you.

 

V16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.

 

Here is what trips me out, when I read this sentence I immediately feel awful because I have done most if not all of what Jude complains about here. I am a convicted whiner, I have grumbled, I have followed my desires before Gods and tried to dress it up in a holy cap and gown, I am loud mouthed, I have boasted and I have tried to leverage to gain advantages.

 

So why am I even typing this? I know I have been a mess up in the past, but I have also been convicted and unlike the conviction above, I learned and when I see folks like this I pray for them. Please notice that most of the issues that stem from these folks behaviors stem from one of the smallest organs in the body, the tongue! Here is how they were in error…

 

•       They were grumblers – They did not use their words to edify, nowadays we don’t even need to use our tongues and with the advent of smart phones and social network our grumbles or rants can go viral if it catches the mood of the people.

•       Following their own sinful desires – They had their own MO, they had their own agenda and the will of God was very low on their priority list, because they had not set their spiritual compass to a spiritual true north they were always facing away from the direction God intended them to be in. The phrase “my ways are higher than your ways” was alien to them.

•       They are loud-mouthed boasters – They had great swelling words, they were the man with the plan and nothing to back it up, they were the popular ones who were seen as the visionaries but they were looking to advance their kingdom before Gods.

•       Showing favoritism to gain advantage – They would never be seen with the people that would not gain them any advantage in ministry, they were trying to be the leaders friends, if there was a small group they would only attend the one at the pastors house because one held at just another members house would not advance them in ministry or help gain an advantage on the man next to him. They were the schmoozers of the church world; you notice them by their lack of ministry works and wanting to just be seen with the “right people” or have their name in the church bulletin being in charge of something.

 

If you recognize yourself in any of these then please do what I did and repent and seek forgiveness, I say this as someone who had to learn those lessons in a knucklehead fashion so please know that it can be done.

 

God bless and I pray this was a blessing and please feel free to like, share or comment on here or whatever social media platforms you use as the Lord leads you to

TTE

TGBTG

SDG

Genesis One – Day Three – Land, seas and plants – Genesis 1:9-13

Genesis One – Day Three – Land, seas and plants – Genesis 1:9-13 – 12/29/2015

Genesis 1:9 (ESV) And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

This article is designed to be a slightly more in depth article than I did in the “creation series” elsewhere on this website, Lord willing I hope to look at the full creation week and examine the case for a Biblical creation from the mindset that the bible is accurate and a honest and truthful source of history in how we came to be here. I am not here to attack other mindsets as I appreciate that not everyone shares my view of a biblical history and I do welcome lively debate on the subject regardless of your thoughts or beliefs on how the earth was made.

In order to look at this from a biblical context we must first look at the text in question starting in verse nine…

V9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

Remember in the last article I wrote that “the creation of the earth was very ordered in that God did not place land dwelling animals or humans while it was all seas, well this is where we see the fruition of that. Before that point the earth was covered in water, there were no plants, no living things in the seas and no fossil record at that time.

It is vitally important that we read when the dry land appeared and why there was a separation between the two. We were not made to be evolved creatures as none of us have scales, fins or amphibious breathing apparatus in our bodies and would only survive in the waters as long as our strength would keep up above it. There is no fossil record that shows a half man/half fish evolved creature so by reasoned logic we use good observational science to state that there is not one due to lack of evidence. There is also no “FishDog” or FishCow” so the same can be concluded about the animal kingdom.

Can you imagine this task that God had here? Imagine the millions of gallons of water in the sea and the weight of what had to be moved. It seems like a small thing because it is only a few words but it is a large task and to remove it in such a fashion that it is just not covering the earth but the land was dry. This is what we live on today, the earth and the last part of verse ten confirms that “it was good”, at that point there was only positive creation, there was no death, no disease, no pain, no suffering and everything was good.

V11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Being of a critical mind, the first thing I notice is that the earth was growing vegetation, plants who yielded seed and trees bearing fruit all happened before the sun and moon were made on the fourth day, (Genesis 1:14-19) the skeptic may claim this is an error in creation or that the plants would never have survived without solar light. Well if this is their only criticism of creation then Praise the LORD!

My answer to this is that it follows creation perfectly in that if God had wished the Sun and the moon to be markers of a day or a night then he would have created them one day one. What he did create on day one was a light to signify day and a darkness to signify night. (Genesis 1:1-5) so the light that would have been enough to satisfy creation in day one and two is more than capable of sustaining life on day three.

Here also is where the evolutionary Christian, or Gap Theorist comes into an issue as well. If the days (even though the word for day is “yom” a literal Hebrew word for “day”) were ages of thousands of years or any time period in between would have a real issue trying to sell the notion that plant life, vegetation and trees could survive for thousands of years without a sun or a moon.

It is of course not out with the realms of possibility that God started Creation with the way that it will end (with no Sun and Moon) Let’s look at the book of Revelation…

Revelation 21:23 (ESV) And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

I am not here to tell you what to believe, I am just attempting to present the biblical case based on the text in front of me and how you interpret it or take a belief from it is on you, however I will state my bias as a Creationist and I have formulated that belief based on ten years of studying various texts from both sides and coming to the conclusion that my hermeneutics are that I will take the Genesis text as a literal translation based on what I have read and the text evidence from the original languages.

The text here tells us that the growth on earth was created not by God tossing some seeds on the ground and allowing the earth to cultivate crops within a few weeks or months or years, no! It states that “The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind” so by the end of that third day then those plants were already fully grown, bearing seeds to replicate and the trees were already bearing fruit as mature plants. This is consistent with the fact that when man was created there was food already there for him to eat and there is very little faith involved in looking at the text and reading it as a whole account.

God created them to bear seeds after its kind, so we don’t read of an orange tree bearing apples or vice versa, we would allow variation within a kind such as a red apple, yellow apple, green apple but they would still be – Apples! And God called it “good” and that comes from the one who cannot lie! He is the author and finisher of creation and despite it being his design it is called “good” as a reminder that it is a place that he has created that man can live in.

V13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

And if we needed a reminder the writer gives us a reminder that it was a literal third day and as if to labor the point we are also reminded that it was “an evening and a morning”.

God bless and I pray this was a blessing and please feel free to like, share or comment on here or whatever social media platforms you use as the Lord leads you to

TTE

TGBTG

SDG