An Exchange and An Encouragement
An Exchange and and an Encouragement
Mark 8; Romans 8
Against the background of these two texts and the OT one of the offer of Isaac by Abraham to God after He tested him these texts offer us an exchange and an encouragement. An article on God's control of our situations no matter how desperate highlights this as well, " The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow.
Those rivers sweep many good things away. Your deepest distress is deeply distressing. But the God who loves you is Master of your significant sorrow. He calls you to go through even this hard thing. Though woe feels impossible, though woe devastates earthly hopes, God sets a boundary (but not where we would set it). He convinces you that this hard thing will come to good beyond all you can ask, imagine, see, hear, or conceive in your heart (Eph. 3:20; 1 Cor. 2:9). You will pass through the valley of the shadow of death that is filled with evils and enemies. But you will come out saying that goodness and mercy followed you all the days of your life as you were coming home to your Shepherd’s house (Psalm 23). God's grace in your suffering by David Powlison."
The exchange , point 1 is in Mark 8. It is necessary or the benefits of eternal salvation will not be applied to our souls. WE must take this action. "6 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? " Simple math. What can we ransom,the word is, or buy for our soul? What? This is the problem of our natures. We cannot redeem our sinful natures. We cannot offer them to God as payment for our original sin. The Gospel says you don't have to....but many try. They are not willing to come to the gospel and the eternal grace of God in His Son Jesus Christ. They do not believe the message of the Bible.
The Bible does not say do this and you will live....it says live and do this. That is GRACE. Unearned, undeserved we offer our lives to Christ and it is the Call of God that comes into hearts once we say yes to Him, and He causes eternal life to come. Can we offer our homes, our wealth, our goals or whatever as payment? No. They will not buy us eternal life. What is needed is our poverty. We must offer ourselves in humility and love to Him . He gives us what we cannot buy. No, baptism does not save us....of course we heard this last week in I Peter 3: 21 but note in the context it goes on and says ....the answer of a good conscience toward God...
The whole theme of the Bible is faith . Faith saves us . This faith is a gift of God. If we have not come to the point of faith in Christ then we are lost, simple and plain. We are not on the way to heaven. And if we have offered ourselves and our faith in Christ to God we will make changes through His Holy Spirit. We will delight in the people of God and the House of God more than anything else. We will want to hear the Word of God and nothing can keep us away. The contrast is stark. Some build their houses on sand, and some on the Rock, which is Christ.
Encouragement is the second thought from Romans.
In Christ we are loved and surrounded by His angels, and His plan to work out all things for our good, 8:28 He makes intercession for us. vs 34. V. 37 says we are literally, " super conquerors" through Him that loved us. " HELPS Word-studies
5245 hypernikáō (from 5228 /hypér, "beyond" and 3528 /nikáō, "conquer") – properly, exceedingly conquer, being "more than a conqueror," i.e. "super-conqueror" who is "completely and overwhelmingly victorious" (L & N, 1, 39.58). 5245 (hypernikáō) is used only in Ro 8:37.
[The intensive prefix (hyper) adds the idea, "surpassing victory" (i.e. of a pre-eminent conqueror).]" from Biblehub.com Word studies on "more than conquerors"
In other words for the Christian, not the nominal ( in name only....) Christian ( which is not a Christian in the heart and the mind ---both are needed), the true Christian who truly believes... And if you are one only in name, that is not going to bring you to heaven. It is an earthly and fleshly thing alone. It is not of the Holy Spirit, is it?
Do we feel as conquerors? Mostly not....But Romans 8 tells we are. So which is right? Feelings or facts? Both are good to have, but facts are more important. They determine our destiny.
The article is the beginning of this meditation is pertinent again," though woe devastates earthly hopes, God sets a boundary (but not where we would set it). He convinces you that this hard thing will come to good beyond all you can ask, imagine, see, hear, or conceive in your heart (Eph. 3:20; 1 Cor. 2:9). You will pass through the valley of the shadow of death that is filled with evils and enemies. But you will come out saying that goodness and mercy followed you all the days of your life as you were coming home to your Shepherd’s house (Psalm 23)"
Do you know what I detest? Perhaps you do too. A funeral that reads Romans 8 and it is not true for the person. We all wonder. Is this the person I knew? God forbid we should be such a person outside of the love of Christ because we spurned it , and our actions showed this. A tree is known by its fruit Jesus Christ said.
The service today is not an exercise in liturgy. It is a time when we read God-breathed words and we trust that the breath of God would come into our hearts and minds and lives so that others would not see us, but they see Jesus in us. There is nothing that can separate us from that love. Nominal love is not enough. Nominal is not real in the substance of the object or person.
God forbid we can hear one more message or see one more person we cannot be a light to in our lives. We are either light or darkness. We cannot be both at the same time.
Mark 8; Romans 8
Against the background of these two texts and the OT one of the offer of Isaac by Abraham to God after He tested him these texts offer us an exchange and an encouragement. An article on God's control of our situations no matter how desperate highlights this as well, " The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow.
Those rivers sweep many good things away. Your deepest distress is deeply distressing. But the God who loves you is Master of your significant sorrow. He calls you to go through even this hard thing. Though woe feels impossible, though woe devastates earthly hopes, God sets a boundary (but not where we would set it). He convinces you that this hard thing will come to good beyond all you can ask, imagine, see, hear, or conceive in your heart (Eph. 3:20; 1 Cor. 2:9). You will pass through the valley of the shadow of death that is filled with evils and enemies. But you will come out saying that goodness and mercy followed you all the days of your life as you were coming home to your Shepherd’s house (Psalm 23). God's grace in your suffering by David Powlison."
The exchange , point 1 is in Mark 8. It is necessary or the benefits of eternal salvation will not be applied to our souls. WE must take this action. "6 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? " Simple math. What can we ransom,the word is, or buy for our soul? What? This is the problem of our natures. We cannot redeem our sinful natures. We cannot offer them to God as payment for our original sin. The Gospel says you don't have to....but many try. They are not willing to come to the gospel and the eternal grace of God in His Son Jesus Christ. They do not believe the message of the Bible.
The Bible does not say do this and you will live....it says live and do this. That is GRACE. Unearned, undeserved we offer our lives to Christ and it is the Call of God that comes into hearts once we say yes to Him, and He causes eternal life to come. Can we offer our homes, our wealth, our goals or whatever as payment? No. They will not buy us eternal life. What is needed is our poverty. We must offer ourselves in humility and love to Him . He gives us what we cannot buy. No, baptism does not save us....of course we heard this last week in I Peter 3: 21 but note in the context it goes on and says ....the answer of a good conscience toward God...
The whole theme of the Bible is faith . Faith saves us . This faith is a gift of God. If we have not come to the point of faith in Christ then we are lost, simple and plain. We are not on the way to heaven. And if we have offered ourselves and our faith in Christ to God we will make changes through His Holy Spirit. We will delight in the people of God and the House of God more than anything else. We will want to hear the Word of God and nothing can keep us away. The contrast is stark. Some build their houses on sand, and some on the Rock, which is Christ.
Encouragement is the second thought from Romans.
In Christ we are loved and surrounded by His angels, and His plan to work out all things for our good, 8:28 He makes intercession for us. vs 34. V. 37 says we are literally, " super conquerors" through Him that loved us. " HELPS Word-studies
5245 hypernikáō (from 5228 /hypér, "beyond" and 3528 /nikáō, "conquer") – properly, exceedingly conquer, being "more than a conqueror," i.e. "super-conqueror" who is "completely and overwhelmingly victorious" (L & N, 1, 39.58). 5245 (hypernikáō) is used only in Ro 8:37.
[The intensive prefix (hyper) adds the idea, "surpassing victory" (i.e. of a pre-eminent conqueror).]" from Biblehub.com Word studies on "more than conquerors"
In other words for the Christian, not the nominal ( in name only....) Christian ( which is not a Christian in the heart and the mind ---both are needed), the true Christian who truly believes... And if you are one only in name, that is not going to bring you to heaven. It is an earthly and fleshly thing alone. It is not of the Holy Spirit, is it?
Do we feel as conquerors? Mostly not....But Romans 8 tells we are. So which is right? Feelings or facts? Both are good to have, but facts are more important. They determine our destiny.
The article is the beginning of this meditation is pertinent again," though woe devastates earthly hopes, God sets a boundary (but not where we would set it). He convinces you that this hard thing will come to good beyond all you can ask, imagine, see, hear, or conceive in your heart (Eph. 3:20; 1 Cor. 2:9). You will pass through the valley of the shadow of death that is filled with evils and enemies. But you will come out saying that goodness and mercy followed you all the days of your life as you were coming home to your Shepherd’s house (Psalm 23)"
Do you know what I detest? Perhaps you do too. A funeral that reads Romans 8 and it is not true for the person. We all wonder. Is this the person I knew? God forbid we should be such a person outside of the love of Christ because we spurned it , and our actions showed this. A tree is known by its fruit Jesus Christ said.
The service today is not an exercise in liturgy. It is a time when we read God-breathed words and we trust that the breath of God would come into our hearts and minds and lives so that others would not see us, but they see Jesus in us. There is nothing that can separate us from that love. Nominal love is not enough. Nominal is not real in the substance of the object or person.
God forbid we can hear one more message or see one more person we cannot be a light to in our lives. We are either light or darkness. We cannot be both at the same time.
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