Randy Green's Blog - Posts Tagged "habakkuk-2"
Proud Lawyers and Humble Saints – Part 1
Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith [Habakkuk 2:4].
The phrase “the righteous will live by his faith” is quoted in the New Testament and is oft repeated. It is a key expression to express the Biblical concept of salvation by grace through faith. We would do well to give serious consideration to what the phrase teaches us about invisible spiritual reality.
There are three foundational positions for mankind to take in Scripture. Two of them wind up in the same place, while the other one finds eternal habitation in quite the opposite place. Here are the three:
1. pride
2. legality
3. faith
The first and third ones are presented in the quoted text with which we began this study. The other one, legality, isn’t. So let’s begin with it, shall we?
Leviticus 18: 5 reads,
So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the Lord.
The Apostle Paul quoted this verse in Galatians 3:12. The Lord verbally proclaimed the Ten Commandments to the Israelites from atop Mount Sinai. What with all the smoke and fire, lightning and thunder and earthquake, the Israelites were petrified with fear.
They demanded of Moses that he keep God away from them. Let Moses go and fetch the Word of God from Him and then return and repeat it to them. They pledged to do everything the Lord demanded of them. But don’t let God near them anymore or else they’d die!
Here was the Lord, desiring to create a personal relationship between the Israelites and Himself, and the Israelites wanted none of it. They preferred a more high church approach—you know, some clergy to stand between the Lord and them, leaving them to perform some rituals while the clergy did the personal relationship part.
So the Lord acquiesced and gave them His Law through Moses. The numerous rules and regulations did not comprise many “laws”, of which they could pick and choose which to obey and which to ignore. All of the regulations in the Law of Moses were an indivisible whole. Obey all of it perfectly all the time, or else be a lawbreaker and thus be unfit to live with the Lord.
Hence the Law was not given to save anyone because no sinner can obey all of it perfectly all the time without any failure. The Law was given to show sinful man with his proud heart that he cannot save himself. Ergo, he needs a Savior. That was the purpose of the Law of Moses, and it was given only to the Israelites while they lived in the Promised Land.
Nonetheless, the Israelites were determined to earn their own salvation. They were determined to have a relationship with the Lord by keeping the Law. When they failed to obey the Law perfectly all the time without failure even once, they didn’t get it. They figured the Lord must grade on a curve to accommodate them. Such is the usual and typical thought process of sinful man with respect to salvation. It stems from the pride which lurks in sinful man’s heart.
This is a fine location to camp for the night. Let’s pitch our tents here and spend time alone with the Lord Jesus before falling asleep. We will meet around the camp fire tomorrow to finish this study.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The phrase “the righteous will live by his faith” is quoted in the New Testament and is oft repeated. It is a key expression to express the Biblical concept of salvation by grace through faith. We would do well to give serious consideration to what the phrase teaches us about invisible spiritual reality.
There are three foundational positions for mankind to take in Scripture. Two of them wind up in the same place, while the other one finds eternal habitation in quite the opposite place. Here are the three:
1. pride
2. legality
3. faith
The first and third ones are presented in the quoted text with which we began this study. The other one, legality, isn’t. So let’s begin with it, shall we?
Leviticus 18: 5 reads,
So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the Lord.
The Apostle Paul quoted this verse in Galatians 3:12. The Lord verbally proclaimed the Ten Commandments to the Israelites from atop Mount Sinai. What with all the smoke and fire, lightning and thunder and earthquake, the Israelites were petrified with fear.
They demanded of Moses that he keep God away from them. Let Moses go and fetch the Word of God from Him and then return and repeat it to them. They pledged to do everything the Lord demanded of them. But don’t let God near them anymore or else they’d die!
Here was the Lord, desiring to create a personal relationship between the Israelites and Himself, and the Israelites wanted none of it. They preferred a more high church approach—you know, some clergy to stand between the Lord and them, leaving them to perform some rituals while the clergy did the personal relationship part.
So the Lord acquiesced and gave them His Law through Moses. The numerous rules and regulations did not comprise many “laws”, of which they could pick and choose which to obey and which to ignore. All of the regulations in the Law of Moses were an indivisible whole. Obey all of it perfectly all the time, or else be a lawbreaker and thus be unfit to live with the Lord.
Hence the Law was not given to save anyone because no sinner can obey all of it perfectly all the time without any failure. The Law was given to show sinful man with his proud heart that he cannot save himself. Ergo, he needs a Savior. That was the purpose of the Law of Moses, and it was given only to the Israelites while they lived in the Promised Land.
Nonetheless, the Israelites were determined to earn their own salvation. They were determined to have a relationship with the Lord by keeping the Law. When they failed to obey the Law perfectly all the time without failure even once, they didn’t get it. They figured the Lord must grade on a curve to accommodate them. Such is the usual and typical thought process of sinful man with respect to salvation. It stems from the pride which lurks in sinful man’s heart.
This is a fine location to camp for the night. Let’s pitch our tents here and spend time alone with the Lord Jesus before falling asleep. We will meet around the camp fire tomorrow to finish this study.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Proud Lawyers and Humble Saints – Part 2
Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith [Habakkuk 2:4].
In our last study we noted three positions which man can take with regard to eternal life. Two of them were cited by Habakkuk in the verse we quoted above. The other one, legality, was not. We already gave the Scriptural presentation of legality. Now let’s consider the other two positions man can take vis-à-vis salvation and eternal life.
Habakkuk penned his words in response to the Babylonians. Those fierce warriors were having a heyday. The peoples of the world were falling before them. No one could resist their mighty military.
But they were some of the worst idolaters ever! They perceived all their worldly success and victories as their own achievement. They were big and bad. They were self-made men. They conquered one nation after another, and they cruelly abused those they conquered. They needn’t fear, however, because they were invincible.
This is spelled p-r-i-d-e, PRIDE, dear friends. It is utter arrogance, and a concomitant disdain for fellow man accompanies it. They had their pantheon of Babylonian gods, yes, but those gods should consider themselves lucky to have the Babylonians in their service. “Just look at all we accomplished by our own prowess!” was the motto on the Babylonian seal.
Such was the way of Babylon, when it came to their eternal destiny. They were self-achievers, not by obeying the gods and keeping a set of laws, but by doing what they felt like because they were just that good! If anyone would ever make it to heaven or paradise or nirvana or wherever eternal life was, you just know it had to be them.
So much for the second position man can take vis-à-vis eternal life. This position, pride, winds up in the same place as does the first position, legality. Both pride and legality embrace the belief that man deserves eternal life because he is just that good. He earns his own way because he is good enough to do everything the Lord says.
The third and final position is faith. Faith has nothing to do with pride or legality. Faith is the opposite of deserving or earning eternal life. Faith begins with certain spiritual truths:
1. every man is a sinner
2. the wages of sin is death
3. ergo, every man must die, i.e., not have eternal life
4. the only way out is via a Savior
5. the Savior has no sin of His own for which to die
6. the death of the Savior pays the penalty for others’ sins
7. accepting the Savior’s payment for my sins affords me eternal life
Biblical faith is the way I accept the Savior’s payment for my sins. I don’t do anything to earn eternal life. The Savior already accomplished it for me. I don’t deserve eternal life because I am a sinner who deserves eternal death. The Savior has eternal life and freely provides me with it. I simply accept the Savior’s offer by believing His Word, the Bible. Voilà! Biblical faith.
We conclude our presentation of the three positions man can take with regard to eternal life. Which one do you take?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
In our last study we noted three positions which man can take with regard to eternal life. Two of them were cited by Habakkuk in the verse we quoted above. The other one, legality, was not. We already gave the Scriptural presentation of legality. Now let’s consider the other two positions man can take vis-à-vis salvation and eternal life.
Habakkuk penned his words in response to the Babylonians. Those fierce warriors were having a heyday. The peoples of the world were falling before them. No one could resist their mighty military.
But they were some of the worst idolaters ever! They perceived all their worldly success and victories as their own achievement. They were big and bad. They were self-made men. They conquered one nation after another, and they cruelly abused those they conquered. They needn’t fear, however, because they were invincible.
This is spelled p-r-i-d-e, PRIDE, dear friends. It is utter arrogance, and a concomitant disdain for fellow man accompanies it. They had their pantheon of Babylonian gods, yes, but those gods should consider themselves lucky to have the Babylonians in their service. “Just look at all we accomplished by our own prowess!” was the motto on the Babylonian seal.
Such was the way of Babylon, when it came to their eternal destiny. They were self-achievers, not by obeying the gods and keeping a set of laws, but by doing what they felt like because they were just that good! If anyone would ever make it to heaven or paradise or nirvana or wherever eternal life was, you just know it had to be them.
So much for the second position man can take vis-à-vis eternal life. This position, pride, winds up in the same place as does the first position, legality. Both pride and legality embrace the belief that man deserves eternal life because he is just that good. He earns his own way because he is good enough to do everything the Lord says.
The third and final position is faith. Faith has nothing to do with pride or legality. Faith is the opposite of deserving or earning eternal life. Faith begins with certain spiritual truths:
1. every man is a sinner
2. the wages of sin is death
3. ergo, every man must die, i.e., not have eternal life
4. the only way out is via a Savior
5. the Savior has no sin of His own for which to die
6. the death of the Savior pays the penalty for others’ sins
7. accepting the Savior’s payment for my sins affords me eternal life
Biblical faith is the way I accept the Savior’s payment for my sins. I don’t do anything to earn eternal life. The Savior already accomplished it for me. I don’t deserve eternal life because I am a sinner who deserves eternal death. The Savior has eternal life and freely provides me with it. I simply accept the Savior’s offer by believing His Word, the Bible. Voilà! Biblical faith.
We conclude our presentation of the three positions man can take with regard to eternal life. Which one do you take?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Proud Lawyers and Humble Saints – Part 1
Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith [Habakkuk 2:4].
The phrase “the righteous will live by his faith” is quoted in the New Testament and is oft repeated. It is a key expression to express the Biblical concept of salvation by grace through faith. We would do well to give serious consideration to what the phrase teaches us about invisible spiritual reality.
There are three foundational positions for mankind to take in Scripture. Two of them wind up in the same place, while the other one finds eternal habitation in quite the opposite place. Here are the three:
1. pride
2. legality
3. faith
The first and third ones are presented in the quoted text with which we began this study. The other one, legality, isn’t. So let’s begin with it, shall we?
Leviticus 18: 5 reads,
So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the Lord.
The Apostle Paul quoted this verse in Galatians 3:12. The Lord verbally proclaimed the Ten Commandments to the Israelites from atop Mount Sinai. What with all the smoke and fire, lightning and thunder and earthquake, the Israelites were petrified with fear.
They demanded of Moses that he keep God away from them. Let Moses go and fetch the Word of God from Him and then return and repeat it to them. They pledged to do everything the Lord demanded of them. But don’t let God near them anymore or else they’d die!
Here was the Lord, desiring to create a personal relationship between the Israelites and Himself, and the Israelites wanted none of it. They preferred a more high church approach—you know, some clergy to stand between the Lord and them, leaving them to perform some rituals while the clergy did the personal relationship part.
So the Lord acquiesced and gave them His Law through Moses. The numerous rules and regulations did not comprise many “laws”, of which they could pick and choose which to obey and which to ignore. All of the regulations in the Law of Moses were an indivisible whole. Obey all of it perfectly all the time, or else be a lawbreaker and thus be unfit to live with the Lord.
Hence the Law was not given to save anyone because no sinner can obey all of it perfectly all the time without any failure. The Law was given to show sinful man with his proud heart that he cannot save himself. Ergo, he needs a Savior. That was the purpose of the Law of Moses, and it was given only to the Israelites while they lived in the Promised Land.
Nonetheless, the Israelites were determined to earn their own salvation. They were determined to have a relationship with the Lord by keeping the Law. When they failed to obey the Law perfectly all the time without failure even once, they didn’t get it. They figured the Lord must grade on a curve to accommodate them. Such is the usual and typical thought process of sinful man with respect to salvation. It stems from the pride which lurks in sinful man’s heart.
This is a fine location to camp for the night. Let’s pitch our tents here and spend time alone with the Lord Jesus before falling asleep. We will meet around the camp fire tomorrow to finish this study.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
The phrase “the righteous will live by his faith” is quoted in the New Testament and is oft repeated. It is a key expression to express the Biblical concept of salvation by grace through faith. We would do well to give serious consideration to what the phrase teaches us about invisible spiritual reality.
There are three foundational positions for mankind to take in Scripture. Two of them wind up in the same place, while the other one finds eternal habitation in quite the opposite place. Here are the three:
1. pride
2. legality
3. faith
The first and third ones are presented in the quoted text with which we began this study. The other one, legality, isn’t. So let’s begin with it, shall we?
Leviticus 18: 5 reads,
So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the Lord.
The Apostle Paul quoted this verse in Galatians 3:12. The Lord verbally proclaimed the Ten Commandments to the Israelites from atop Mount Sinai. What with all the smoke and fire, lightning and thunder and earthquake, the Israelites were petrified with fear.
They demanded of Moses that he keep God away from them. Let Moses go and fetch the Word of God from Him and then return and repeat it to them. They pledged to do everything the Lord demanded of them. But don’t let God near them anymore or else they’d die!
Here was the Lord, desiring to create a personal relationship between the Israelites and Himself, and the Israelites wanted none of it. They preferred a more high church approach—you know, some clergy to stand between the Lord and them, leaving them to perform some rituals while the clergy did the personal relationship part.
So the Lord acquiesced and gave them His Law through Moses. The numerous rules and regulations did not comprise many “laws”, of which they could pick and choose which to obey and which to ignore. All of the regulations in the Law of Moses were an indivisible whole. Obey all of it perfectly all the time, or else be a lawbreaker and thus be unfit to live with the Lord.
Hence the Law was not given to save anyone because no sinner can obey all of it perfectly all the time without any failure. The Law was given to show sinful man with his proud heart that he cannot save himself. Ergo, he needs a Savior. That was the purpose of the Law of Moses, and it was given only to the Israelites while they lived in the Promised Land.
Nonetheless, the Israelites were determined to earn their own salvation. They were determined to have a relationship with the Lord by keeping the Law. When they failed to obey the Law perfectly all the time without failure even once, they didn’t get it. They figured the Lord must grade on a curve to accommodate them. Such is the usual and typical thought process of sinful man with respect to salvation. It stems from the pride which lurks in sinful man’s heart.
This is a fine location to camp for the night. Let’s pitch our tents here and spend time alone with the Lord Jesus before falling asleep. We will meet around the camp fire tomorrow to finish this study.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
Proud Lawyers and Humble Saints – Part 2
Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith [Habakkuk 2:4].
In our last study we noted three positions which man can take with regard to eternal life. Two of them were cited by Habakkuk in the verse we quoted above. The other one, legality, was not. We already gave the Scriptural presentation of legality. Now let’s consider the other two positions man can take vis-à-vis salvation and eternal life.
Habakkuk penned his words in response to the Babylonians. Those fierce warriors were having a heyday. The peoples of the world were falling before them. No one could resist their mighty military.
But they were some of the worst idolaters ever! They perceived all their worldly success and victories as their own achievement. They were big and bad. They were self-made men. They conquered one nation after another, and they cruelly abused those they conquered. They needn’t fear, however, because they were invincible.
This is spelled p-r-i-d-e, PRIDE, dear friends. It is utter arrogance, and a concomitant disdain for fellow man accompanies it. They had their pantheon of Babylonian gods, yes, but those gods should consider themselves lucky to have the Babylonians in their service. “Just look at all we accomplished by our own prowess!” was the motto on the Babylonian seal.
Such was the way of Babylon, when it came to their eternal destiny. They were self-achievers, not by obeying the gods and keeping a set of laws, but by doing what they felt like because they were just that good! If anyone would ever make it to heaven or paradise or nirvana or wherever eternal life was, you just know it had to be them.
So much for the second position man can take vis-à-vis eternal life. This position, pride, winds up in the same place as does the first position, legality. Both pride and legality embrace the belief that man deserves eternal life because he is just that good. He earns his own way because he is good enough to do everything the Lord says.
The third and final position is faith. Faith has nothing to do with pride or legality. Faith is the opposite of deserving or earning eternal life. Faith begins with certain spiritual truths:
1. every man is a sinner
2. the wages of sin is death
3. ergo, every man must die, i.e., not have eternal life
4. the only way out is via a Savior
5. the Savior has no sin of His own for which to die
6. the death of the Savior pays the penalty for others’ sins
7. accepting the Savior’s payment for my sins affords me eternal life
Biblical faith is the way I accept the Savior’s payment for my sins. I don’t do anything to earn eternal life. The Savior already accomplished it for me. I don’t deserve eternal life because I am a sinner who deserves eternal death. The Savior has eternal life and freely provides me with it. I simply accept the Savior’s offer by believing His Word, the Bible. Voilà! Biblical faith.
We conclude our presentation of the three positions man can take with regard to eternal life. Which one do you take?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
In our last study we noted three positions which man can take with regard to eternal life. Two of them were cited by Habakkuk in the verse we quoted above. The other one, legality, was not. We already gave the Scriptural presentation of legality. Now let’s consider the other two positions man can take vis-à-vis salvation and eternal life.
Habakkuk penned his words in response to the Babylonians. Those fierce warriors were having a heyday. The peoples of the world were falling before them. No one could resist their mighty military.
But they were some of the worst idolaters ever! They perceived all their worldly success and victories as their own achievement. They were big and bad. They were self-made men. They conquered one nation after another, and they cruelly abused those they conquered. They needn’t fear, however, because they were invincible.
This is spelled p-r-i-d-e, PRIDE, dear friends. It is utter arrogance, and a concomitant disdain for fellow man accompanies it. They had their pantheon of Babylonian gods, yes, but those gods should consider themselves lucky to have the Babylonians in their service. “Just look at all we accomplished by our own prowess!” was the motto on the Babylonian seal.
Such was the way of Babylon, when it came to their eternal destiny. They were self-achievers, not by obeying the gods and keeping a set of laws, but by doing what they felt like because they were just that good! If anyone would ever make it to heaven or paradise or nirvana or wherever eternal life was, you just know it had to be them.
So much for the second position man can take vis-à-vis eternal life. This position, pride, winds up in the same place as does the first position, legality. Both pride and legality embrace the belief that man deserves eternal life because he is just that good. He earns his own way because he is good enough to do everything the Lord says.
The third and final position is faith. Faith has nothing to do with pride or legality. Faith is the opposite of deserving or earning eternal life. Faith begins with certain spiritual truths:
1. every man is a sinner
2. the wages of sin is death
3. ergo, every man must die, i.e., not have eternal life
4. the only way out is via a Savior
5. the Savior has no sin of His own for which to die
6. the death of the Savior pays the penalty for others’ sins
7. accepting the Savior’s payment for my sins affords me eternal life
Biblical faith is the way I accept the Savior’s payment for my sins. I don’t do anything to earn eternal life. The Savior already accomplished it for me. I don’t deserve eternal life because I am a sinner who deserves eternal death. The Savior has eternal life and freely provides me with it. I simply accept the Savior’s offer by believing His Word, the Bible. Voilà! Biblical faith.
We conclude our presentation of the three positions man can take with regard to eternal life. Which one do you take?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
Proud Lawyers and Humble Saints – Part 1
Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith [Habakkuk 2:4].
The phrase “the righteous will live by his faith” is quoted in the New Testament and is oft repeated. It is a key expression to express the Biblical concept of salvation by grace through faith. We would do well to give serious consideration to what the phrase teaches us about invisible spiritual reality.
In Scripture there are three foundational positions for mankind to take. Two of them wind up in the same place, while the other one finds eternal habitation in quite the opposite place. Here are the three:
1. pride
2. legality
3. faith
The first and third ones are presented in the quoted text with which we began this study. The other one, legality, isn’t. So let’s begin with it, shall we?
Leviticus 18: 5 reads,
So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the Lord.
The Apostle Paul quoted this verse in Galatians 3:12. The Lord verbally proclaimed the Ten Commandments to the Israelites from atop Mount Sinai. What with all the smoke and fire, lightning and thunder and earthquake, the Israelites were petrified with fear.
They demanded of Moses that he keep God away from them. Let Moses go and fetch the Word of God from Him and then return and repeat it to them. They pledged to do everything the Lord demanded of them. But don’t let God near them anymore or else they’d die!
Here was the Lord, desiring to create a personal relationship between the Israelites and Himself, and the Israelites wanted none of it. They preferred a more high church approach—you know, some clergy to stand between the Lord and them, leaving them to perform some rituals while the clergy did the personal relationship part.
So the Lord acquiesced and gave them His Law through Moses. The numerous rules and regulations did not comprise many “laws”, of which they could pick and choose which to obey and which to ignore. All of the regulations in the Law of Moses were an indivisible whole. Obey all of it perfectly all the time, or else be a lawbreaker and thus be unfit to live with the Lord.
Hence the Law was not given to save anyone because no sinner can obey all of it perfectly all the time without any failure. The Law was given to show sinful man with his proud heart that he cannot save himself. Ergo, he needs a Savior. That was the purpose of the Law of Moses, and it was given only to the Israelites while they lived in the Promised Land.
Nonetheless, the Israelites were determined to earn their own salvation. They were determined to have a relationship with the Lord by keeping the Law. When they failed to obey the Law perfectly all the time without failure even once, they didn’t get it. They figured the Lord must grade on a curve to accommodate them. Such is the usual and typical thought process of sinful man with respect to salvation. It stems from the pride which lurks in sinful man’s heart.
This is a fine location to camp for the night. Let’s pitch our tents here and spend time alone with the Lord Jesus before falling asleep. We will meet around the camp fire tomorrow to finish this study.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
The phrase “the righteous will live by his faith” is quoted in the New Testament and is oft repeated. It is a key expression to express the Biblical concept of salvation by grace through faith. We would do well to give serious consideration to what the phrase teaches us about invisible spiritual reality.
In Scripture there are three foundational positions for mankind to take. Two of them wind up in the same place, while the other one finds eternal habitation in quite the opposite place. Here are the three:
1. pride
2. legality
3. faith
The first and third ones are presented in the quoted text with which we began this study. The other one, legality, isn’t. So let’s begin with it, shall we?
Leviticus 18: 5 reads,
So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the Lord.
The Apostle Paul quoted this verse in Galatians 3:12. The Lord verbally proclaimed the Ten Commandments to the Israelites from atop Mount Sinai. What with all the smoke and fire, lightning and thunder and earthquake, the Israelites were petrified with fear.
They demanded of Moses that he keep God away from them. Let Moses go and fetch the Word of God from Him and then return and repeat it to them. They pledged to do everything the Lord demanded of them. But don’t let God near them anymore or else they’d die!
Here was the Lord, desiring to create a personal relationship between the Israelites and Himself, and the Israelites wanted none of it. They preferred a more high church approach—you know, some clergy to stand between the Lord and them, leaving them to perform some rituals while the clergy did the personal relationship part.
So the Lord acquiesced and gave them His Law through Moses. The numerous rules and regulations did not comprise many “laws”, of which they could pick and choose which to obey and which to ignore. All of the regulations in the Law of Moses were an indivisible whole. Obey all of it perfectly all the time, or else be a lawbreaker and thus be unfit to live with the Lord.
Hence the Law was not given to save anyone because no sinner can obey all of it perfectly all the time without any failure. The Law was given to show sinful man with his proud heart that he cannot save himself. Ergo, he needs a Savior. That was the purpose of the Law of Moses, and it was given only to the Israelites while they lived in the Promised Land.
Nonetheless, the Israelites were determined to earn their own salvation. They were determined to have a relationship with the Lord by keeping the Law. When they failed to obey the Law perfectly all the time without failure even once, they didn’t get it. They figured the Lord must grade on a curve to accommodate them. Such is the usual and typical thought process of sinful man with respect to salvation. It stems from the pride which lurks in sinful man’s heart.
This is a fine location to camp for the night. Let’s pitch our tents here and spend time alone with the Lord Jesus before falling asleep. We will meet around the camp fire tomorrow to finish this study.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
Proud Lawyers and Humble Saints – Part 2
Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith [Habakkuk 2:4].
In our last study we noted three positions which man can take with regard to eternal life. Two of them were cited by Habakkuk in the verse we quoted above. The other one, legality, was not. We already gave the Scriptural presentation of legality. Now let’s consider the other two positions man can take vis-à-vis salvation and eternal life.
Habakkuk penned his words in response to the Babylonians. Those fierce warriors were having a heyday. The peoples of the world were falling before them. No one could resist their mighty military.
But they were some of the worst idolaters ever! They perceived all their worldly success and victories as their own achievement. They were big and bad. They were self-made men. They conquered one nation after another, and they cruelly abused those they conquered. They needn’t fear, however, because they were invincible.
This is spelled p-r-i-d-e, PRIDE, dear friends. It is utter arrogance, and a concomitant disdain for fellow man accompanies it. They had their pantheon of Babylonian gods, yes, but those gods should consider themselves lucky to have the Babylonians in their service. “Just look at all we accomplished by our own prowess!” was the motto on the Babylonian seal.
Such was the way of Babylon, when it came to their eternal destiny. They were self-achievers, not by obeying the gods and keeping a set of laws, but by doing what they felt like because they were just that good! If anyone would ever make it to heaven or paradise or nirvana or wherever eternal life was, you just know it had to be them.
So much for the second position man can take vis-à-vis eternal life. This position, pride, winds up in the same place as does the first position, legality. Both pride and legality embrace the belief that man deserves eternal life because he is just that good. He earns his own way because he is good enough to do everything the Lord says.
The third and final position is faith. Faith has nothing to do with pride or legality. Faith is the opposite of deserving or earning eternal life. Faith begins with certain spiritual truths:
1. every man is a sinner
2. the wages of sin is death
3. ergo, every man must die, i.e., not have eternal life
4. the only way out is via a Savior
5. the Savior has no sin of His own for which to die
6. the death of the Savior pays the penalty for others’ sins
7. accepting the Savior’s payment for my sins affords me eternal life
Biblical faith is the way I accept the Savior’s payment for my sins. I don’t do anything to earn eternal life. The Savior already accomplished it for me. I don’t deserve eternal life because I am a sinner who deserves eternal death. The Savior has eternal life and freely provides me with it. I simply accept the Savior’s offer by believing His Word, the Bible. Voilà! Biblical faith.
We conclude our presentation of the three positions man can take with regard to eternal life. Which one do you take?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
In our last study we noted three positions which man can take with regard to eternal life. Two of them were cited by Habakkuk in the verse we quoted above. The other one, legality, was not. We already gave the Scriptural presentation of legality. Now let’s consider the other two positions man can take vis-à-vis salvation and eternal life.
Habakkuk penned his words in response to the Babylonians. Those fierce warriors were having a heyday. The peoples of the world were falling before them. No one could resist their mighty military.
But they were some of the worst idolaters ever! They perceived all their worldly success and victories as their own achievement. They were big and bad. They were self-made men. They conquered one nation after another, and they cruelly abused those they conquered. They needn’t fear, however, because they were invincible.
This is spelled p-r-i-d-e, PRIDE, dear friends. It is utter arrogance, and a concomitant disdain for fellow man accompanies it. They had their pantheon of Babylonian gods, yes, but those gods should consider themselves lucky to have the Babylonians in their service. “Just look at all we accomplished by our own prowess!” was the motto on the Babylonian seal.
Such was the way of Babylon, when it came to their eternal destiny. They were self-achievers, not by obeying the gods and keeping a set of laws, but by doing what they felt like because they were just that good! If anyone would ever make it to heaven or paradise or nirvana or wherever eternal life was, you just know it had to be them.
So much for the second position man can take vis-à-vis eternal life. This position, pride, winds up in the same place as does the first position, legality. Both pride and legality embrace the belief that man deserves eternal life because he is just that good. He earns his own way because he is good enough to do everything the Lord says.
The third and final position is faith. Faith has nothing to do with pride or legality. Faith is the opposite of deserving or earning eternal life. Faith begins with certain spiritual truths:
1. every man is a sinner
2. the wages of sin is death
3. ergo, every man must die, i.e., not have eternal life
4. the only way out is via a Savior
5. the Savior has no sin of His own for which to die
6. the death of the Savior pays the penalty for others’ sins
7. accepting the Savior’s payment for my sins affords me eternal life
Biblical faith is the way I accept the Savior’s payment for my sins. I don’t do anything to earn eternal life. The Savior already accomplished it for me. I don’t deserve eternal life because I am a sinner who deserves eternal death. The Savior has eternal life and freely provides me with it. I simply accept the Savior’s offer by believing His Word, the Bible. Voilà! Biblical faith.
We conclude our presentation of the three positions man can take with regard to eternal life. Which one do you take?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
