This Week On Grace Walk Radio

This week's message on Grace For Life is:

Taking Poison - Part 2

Grace For Life radio archives are here.

Glitch In Blog Comments - Sorry

Sorry for a technical glitch in a switchover from regular Blogger to "new and improved" [yeah, right] Beta Blogger:

The glitch caused comments to require moderating, but then didn't email them to me for moderating. So a bunch of comments on several older blog posts didn't get posted.

After discovering the glitch, I "released" all the comments at once, so if you wondered why your comment didn't appear at the time you wrote it, now you know.

They are all posted now, and from now on, Lord willing, your comments will be immediately published without requiring moderation.

And thanks for the comments!

Terry

This Week On Grace Walk Radio

This week's message on Grace For Life is:

Taking Poison - Part 1

Grace For Life radio archives are here.

Why The New Covenant Is Unilateral

As we read and study the Bible, one of the most important things we can do is to "rightly divide" the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15). We need to rightly divide the Word, in seeing the divisions that God Himself has made as He progressively revealed Himself over many hundreds of years.

And one of the most important ways that we need to "rightly divide" the Word is regarding the difference between the Mosaic Covenant, or Old Covenant, and the New Covenant.

In Hebrews 8:7-13 we find three truths:

1. The Old Covenant is obsolete.

This doesn't mean that we can't learn anything from the Old Covenant. It is well worth studying. What we want to know is the heart of our Lord, don't we? There is much we can learn about Him from the Old Covenant.

But it is obsolete.

2. The Old Covenant has been replaced by the New Covenant.

Although the New Covenant was promised to Israel, the Gentiles have been grafted in, Romans Chapter 11 tells us. This is something to be exceedingly grateful to God for. And we Gentiles who believe in Jesus Christ are now included in this great New Covenant.

We see this in passages like 1 Corinthians 11:25, "In the same manner he also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.'"

And 2 Corinthians 3:6, "...who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

3. There is a reason why the New Covenant replaced the Old, and why the New Covenant is a BETTER Covenant.

Hebrews 8:7,8 says, "For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: 'Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah...'"

What does it mean, "finding fault with them"?

Well, it simply means this. The Old Covenant was a bi-lateral covenant. That means it had conditions for both sides. This was expressed many times in the Old Covenant laws, which said over and over this basic message:

"If you follow these laws, you will be blessed. If you don’t follow these laws, you will be cursed."

Now there are a couple of problems with that, to put it mildly.

First, it couldn’t save. There were over 600 laws under the Old Covenant, and the Bible makes it clear that if you broke one single law, one time, it was just as if you’d broken them all, and that would keep you from earning salvation. And obviously, no one could keep all the law, all the time. Most couldn’t keep any of the law all the time, and some could hardly keep any of the law any of the time. So the Law couldn’t save.

Secondly, the Law was a great burden. If you read through Exodus and Leviticus and Deuteronomy, you will literally thank God that you are not under the burden of the 600 laws prescribed there, many with a simple penalty: death.

But even if you made the attempt, of course you would fail over and over, at least regarding the perfection the Law required. And because you would fail, the sacrificial system itself was a burden. Actual rivers of blood flowed from the slain animals sacrificed to cover sins.

And that brings up a third problem. There could be no forgiveness of sins, only the covering of them. Only the temporary covering of sins, because "it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins". (Heb. 10:4)

And so the sacrifices had to be done over and over and over, with never any real assurance that it was enough. At times God Himself said something like, "your sacrifices make me sick, because your hearts aren’t right."

Ah, but then came Jesus. Then came the Lamb of God who became the final sacrifice, the once for all sacrifice, the One who gave His blood that truly could take away sins. In came the New Covenant.

The New Covenant is not a bi-lateral Covenant. The bi-lateral Old Covenant failed, in that man was unable to keep his end of the the Covenant. So a better Covenant was put in place. And the one sure defect was left out, namely, dependence on man doing his part.The New Covenant is UNI-lateral, that is, it was planned, instituted, carried out, fulfilled, and maintained by God. It is not a Covenant between God and man, with each having conditions to make the Covenant "work". It is not of the "letter", but of the "Spirit", and thus cannot fail.

It has His laws placed into the hearts and minds of His people, and He causes them to walk in His ways. It causes man to die to the Law (the very *principle* of Law), so that he is no longer under Law, but under Grace. And this very construct insures that the Law, all Law, is fulfilled, not by the [always shaky] performance of man, but by the [always sure] performance of God.

It will bless you to remember that next time you take communion.

"In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the New Covenant in my blood." (1 Corinthians 11:25)

Let others know that the conditions have been met by Christ. We are under Grace, beloved. Because Jesus paid it all. We love Him and follow Him now, not because of conditions placed on us, but because the conditions have been met in His wonderful New Covenant. Minister that to one another.

"Who also made us sufficient as ministers of the New Covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (2 Corinthians 3:6)

This Week On Grace Walk Radio

This week's message on Grace For Life is:

Why The New Covenant Is Unilateral.

Grace For Life radio archives are here.

Where Do You Go When You Sin?

Anyone who never sins, raise your hand.

I didn’t think so. Of course we do sin. Let’s get that out of the way first. 1 Jn. 1:8 says, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Two verses later it says, "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."

But wait a minute. In 1 Jn. 3:6 it says, "…Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him [that is, Jesus]." And two verses later John writes, "He who sins is of the devil."

What’s going on here?

Well, that’s where English breaks down a little bit. The New Testament was of course written in Greek, the common Greek of the time. And when they wrote and spoke in that day, they would use different tenses of a verb that could make quite a drastic distinction in what they said. One tense might be a reference to a single action, and one tense might be a reference to a continuing action.

We do a similar thing in English, but we usually add other words, or forms of a word to get the point across. For example, if we were talking about a baseball player hitting a single home run, the announcer might say simply, "Wow, he hits a home run!" But if we were talking about a baseball player whose habit is always hitting home runs, we might say, "Wow, he sure hits home runs!" That’s his practice, that’s his norm. He’s always hitting home runs. He’s a home run champ.

So in 1 Jn., when it says, "Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor know Him," we find the Greek word for "sins" is in the present tense, which refers to continuous sinning. In other words, one who lives in sin, walks in sin, continues in sin, and never really repents of it, or turns away from it. This fits the context of 1 Jn. also, because as we’ve already said, if we deny that we sin at all, we’re calling God a liar.

O.K. I say all that to say this.

When you sin, where do you go? Do you run straight to God, or do you do what many of us have a habit of doing? We shy away from God. We don’t exactly mean to. But we do.

Some process goes through our mind, maybe not clearly, but something like, "Oh boy. There I go again. How can I face God after that? I mean, we’ve been through that sin so many times. I know God forgives me, but does He really? I mean, what kind of wretch am I that I would do that again? I think I’ll just sit it out and see how it goes. I can’t go to God yet. I’m not sure I even feel like going to God right now. What would He think? Even God has His limits. He must really be frowning on me right now, or even downright angry. And I can’t face His frown and anger. Lord knows I deserve it, though. Do you have any idea how many times I must have disappointed Him. And after all He’s done for me?"

We may not verbalize all that, but it’s a common feeling that I’ve heard many people express one way or another.

And of course, eventually, we do turn to Him, and our sweet fellowship with Him goes on. And even though we know on some level that the quicker we turn back to Him the better, yet we delay it for what can only be called crazy reasons of bad theology?

Because is it accurate to see God frowning or angry at us? Is it good biblical theology?  No, it’s not. It’s a view of God that is just plain incorrect. And to get a correct view of God, and how He relates to us when we sin, we can look at a story you may be quite familiar with, the Prodigal Son. But you may not be familiar with it from the vantage point, not of the wayward son (that’s us), but of the father in the story.

I can't tell you how many sermons I've heard through the years on the subject of "The Prodigal Son". What he did. How he treated his father. Where he went. How he worked with the pigs. How he squandered his inheritance. Finally, how he was restored. On and on about the son, with usually some contrasting comparisons about his elder brother. It's supposed to be a picture of us Christians when we sin or "backslide", and how we can return to God. And how there's always forgiveness, if we repent, turn 180 degrees, say our speeches to God, resolve to do better, etc., etc.

But is that really what it's about? The son? Well, sure, but only incidentally. I think it's really about the Father, and His heart toward us, his children. It's a picture of God. The son is almost just a prop, added in to make a point. So what's the point?

You may want to take a look at the story in Luke 15:11-24. Notice that the prodigal son had a little speech prepared. A little repentence speech. A groveling speech. Sort of, "Father, I'm a low-down miserable worm, not worthy to be your son, so let me be a hired servant of yours." Did the father listen to the speech, and judge the son's sincerity by it? No! Remember? He never even listened to the speech! He was too overjoyed by his son's return! It's as though he said, "Oh shut up, you big lug! Give your daddy a hug! Welcome home, son!"

And that's the point: God is not interested in the content of our little speeches. He isn't interested in our groveling, as if the more miserably we grovel, the more we "earn" His forgiveness. Why? Because He has already forgiven us, and paid for that forgiveness on the Cross. Well, what is He interested in, then? You. And me. He is interested in our fellowship!

If I may paraphrase the Father, he said: "Cut the speech! I get it. Go get the robe! Get the ring! Kill the fatted calf! My son has returned! That's all I want! I love you, son! I love you! Just abide in me. I'll produce the fruit. I know you've failed, and you'll fail again. But that doesn't change my love for you! And I'm at work in you both to will and to do my good pleasure!" (Phil. 2:13)

In our heart of hearts, as believers in Jesus Christ, we don’t want to sin, do we? But the world, the flesh and the devil deceive us, and we do sin. Where do we go? Let’s get in the habit of running to the Father. Don’t walk, run to Him. He will always, always, have His arms open to you, His child, to wrap those arms around you in love. Because our sins are already paid for, remembered no more, as far as the east is from the west, because of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Oh, that we "may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that [we] may be filled up to all the fulness of God..." (Eph. 3:18,19a)

This Week On Grace Walk Radio

This week's message on Grace For Life is:

Meditation for Freedom.

Grace For Life radio archives are here.

This Week On Grace Walk Radio

This week's message on Grace For Life is:

Church Membership or Biblical Fellowship?

Grace For Life radio archives are here.

Politics And Guarding The Heart

I became politically active in 1964, when Barry Goldwater ran against Lyndon Johnson. I was only 14 years old.

I've campaigned, planted signs, made phone-bank calls, done door-to-door flyers, attended rallies, written speeches.

In the late 60's, while half the country was going Left and anarchic, I went Right and Republican. I attended anti-communist John Birch Society meetings, led by Fred and Ethel [not their real names], a husband and wife who became my good friends.

But politics can't satisfy the heart, and I was lost as lost could be, until 1976, when God reached down and opened my heart to Jesus Christ.

As a new believer, I still took an active interest in political happenings, but the rabid hand-wringing and fighting ceased. I began to see the sovereignty of God in everything. I saw that the history that was unfolding was God's history, and that He was raising up and bringing down men and nations at will.

I began attending a wonderful church in 1976, and lo and behold, there were my friends Fred and Ethel, Christians who had told me about the Lord, but not with the enthusiasm they had for fighting the Communist Conspiracy.We became friends again, but Fred was always distraught about "the state of the Government and the World".

I was now engaged in ministry, and politics took a seat way in the back by comparison. Fred would have none of it. He seemed to truly love the Lord, but his crusade was a political one, seeking to save the world by politics, and it drove him over the edge. In the early 80's, Ethel went home one day and found Fred dead, hanging from a rope.

Devoid of understanding the sovereignty of God in nations, and not understanding that the Kingdom of God is not of this world, Fred thought things had gotten out of God's hand.

He couldn't have been more wrong.

"Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness..." That's what's of primary importance to us. And that means that we not only witness of our Lord Jesus Christ, it means we rest in Him and His sovereignty, even while we support our candidates according to our consciences.

And it means that our faith should work itself out in love (Gal. 5:6) . . . Love for Republicans, and Democrats, and political opponents, and other ethnic groups, and immigrants (legal and otherwise), and Muslims, and even terrorists (though the Government doesn't bear the sword for nothing -- Rom. 13:4).

Otherwise, we're just clanging cymbals (1 Cor. 13:1), and our politics has become our God in practice.

This Week On Grace Walk Radio

This week's message on Grace For Life is:

Where Do You Go When You Sin?

Grace For Life radio archives are here.