Randy Green's Blog, page 386

MachoMan vs. GodMan

NEWS FLASH!!! Matthew: Volume 9 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

You may say in your heart, “My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.” But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth [Deuteronomy 8:17-18].

The first sentence of that quotation (v.17) expresses the words of the natural man, the person who was born a sinner. Such a one is egocentric, which means his life and world revolve around himself. He is a self-made man, you see. Nobody ever gave him anything. He worked hard all his life to get to where he is at.

The second sentence of the quotation (v.18) reveals the spiritual man, the person who was reborn a saint. Such a one is Christocentric, which means his life and world revolve around Christ. He is a remade man. Whatever he achieves is God’s blessing to him, not his own goodness or strength.

The way to understand Christ and what He wants with us individually can only come via the Bible. And we need the Holy Spirit to teach it to us personally. This scenario is known as quiet time alone with the Lord. It should be the Christian’s standard daily exercise regimen. Spiritual maturity is not possible without it.

This Thanksgiving let’s thank the Lord Jesus, the GodMan, for all the blessings He’s given us. Let us not take the glory to ourselves by claiming to be Mr. MachoMan.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

Now that is glorious!

HOT OFF THE PRESS!!! Romans: Volume 9 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

We’ve spent the last two posts vetting the theological concepts of justification and sanctification. The concept of justification occurs throughout the New Testament.

For example, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus [ Romans 3:26]. God can justify the sinner and still be just because the Son of God, Jesus Christ, paid the penalty for the sins of all mankind for all of time. His death on the cross served that purpose. The wages of sin is death [Rom.6:23]. Jesus had no sin because He is God. Ergo, His death wasn’t for His own sins but for everyone else’s. Consequently God is both just and the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus as their personal substitute sin offering.

Sanctification also fills the pages of the New Testament. By way of example, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure [Philippians 2:12-13]. God lives in the saved person, the born again person, the person who has been justified by faith in Christ Jesus.

The Christian has God’s new life already in him/her. Our job is to mature spiritually so that we learn how to allow God control over our life. Instead of living in the power of our old life according to what we think, we live in the power of the Holy Spirit according to the Word of God. This maturing process is known as sanctification, and it lasts throughout our time here on earth. The old life remains inside the Christian and he/she has to choose to submit to it or else heed the Holy Spirit.

The third stage of salvation occurs when Christians are raptured, that point of time when the Lord Jesus calls us to meet Him in the clouds. At that time God’s kids will be clothed in their new resurrection bodies, and this will be their state through all eternity. This resurrection body is like that of the resurrected Christ. He is totally without sin, and so will we be thenceforth. No longer will temptation find a home in us. We will nevermore commit sin.

An example of glorification in the New Testament is in 1 Corinthians 15:51-53,

Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

In Scripture the number “3” often typifies the superlative degree. For instance, we drive a car, someone else drives a better car, and then there is the best car. “Car” is the base degree, “better car” is the comparative degree, and “best car” is the superlative degree. Consider that there is the thrice holy God, and He is holy, holy, holy. This is Scripture typology to mean that God is the MOST HOLY GOD, the holiest God. No one can compare with Him.

By the same token man’s salvation is comprised of three stages: the past or perfect tense stage, the continuous present tense stage, and the future tense stage. Biblical typology reads this as meaning that our salvation is the most complete in every way. Nothing can be added to it. It is lacking in nary a thing. Praise the Lord!

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

Like being sanctified…

NEWS FLASH!!! Acts: Volume 8 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

I remember a popular song back in the day with the lyrics, “like being sanctified”. No, that song hasn’t a thing to do with this post. So if you want to discuss the song, go to your mp3s!

Imagine a person who commits a crime and is hauled before the judge to stand trial. The evidence against him is inconclusive so the judge pounds his gavel on the judge’s bench and thunders, “Not guilty!” The man has just been justified. Trouble is, he is guilty of the crime. In fact his life is filled with guilt for breaking the law.

This is where sanctification enters the picture. The guilty person has been freed from guilt for his crime. Double jeopardy prevents him from being retried for it. However, he does have a penchant for committing crimes. Will he return to his life of crime, or will he turn over a new leaf?

The word sanctification is a theology textbook word for turning over a new leaf. A saint is a sinner who has been justified. He/she has accepted the Lord’s provision of forgiveness for sins, based upon the death on the cross of Jesus Christ for man’s sins and his resurrection out of death. This acceptance was achieved by grace through faith. This means that the Bible states this to be true, and he/she accepts in both the head and the heart that the Bible is true and acts accordingly.

The word sanctification refers to the continual present tense of a person’s life, the day-to-day actions of a person in rejecting the old life of living for self and substituting in its place the new life of living for Jesus. This is not a life of doing what seems good in our own estimation. It is a life of faith, of feeding on the Bible daily in quiet time alone with the Lord to learn what He wants us to do, and then doing it.

Justification is a once-for-all act where we accept God’s offer of forgiveness for sins by accepting the Lord Jesus’ death on the cross as our substitute death, and receiving His new resurrection life in its place. Sanctification is our day-to-day action of refusing to live the old life of doing what seems right in our own eyes and living for self, but instead living according to what the Bible teaches us to do. This can only be done by quiet time alone with the Lord Jesus daily, in prayer and meditation on the Bible.

Justification is a one time, once-for-all act, with consequences which continue through the present time. In Grammar this is known as the perfect tense. Sanctification, contrariwise, is a present tense affair. It continues day in and day out throughout our lifetime.

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure [Philippians 2:12-13]. God already worked His salvation in us. That is justification. Our job as those who are born again and therefore kids in God’s family is to live like it, to work out what God has already worked in us. This is sanctification.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

Justified. What’s that?

NEWS FLASH!!! Matthew: Volume 7 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

There’s this TV show about  U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens of Kentucky. The name of the show is Justified. No, the TV show has nothing to do with the topic of this post, so go back to your widescreen if that’s what you’re looking for.

Consider another TV show which is more appropriate for our topic, viz., Perry Mason. I know, it’s a bit dated and some of you young whippersnappers might not have a clue. But it is more apposite for our subject than the other TV show is.

Picture in your mind’s eye this imaginary courtroom. The defendant is accused of killing his wife. His defense attorney is none other than the famous Perry Mason himself. Mason’s P.I. sniffs around the crime scene a while and does his stuff elsewhere, coming up with a goodly number of clues. Perry Mason does his stuff and figures out who the real culprit is.

At the conclusion of the trial the judge pounds his gavel on the judge’s bench and roars in thunderous pronouncement, “NOT GUILTY!” Guess what? The defendant has just been justified. The word justification is a legal term which means “not guilty”. It is really that simple, no matter how many paragraphs and chapters some theology textbooks use up in explaining it.

In Scripture we are taught by Judge Jesus that the absolute ONLY way to be justified is by grace through faith. The word grace refers to what God did all on His lonesome, and He freely bestows it on any person who will accept it by faith. The word faith has reference to what God teaches in the Bible. When we believe the Word of God in our heart and confess it with our mouth, then we have Biblical faith.

The Bible teaches that Jesus is the ONLY way to the Father, that there is salvation—in our case justification—in on one but Jesus Christ. Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection out of death is the basis for man’s “not guilty” verdict regarding sin. When we believe the Bible regarding this matter, believe it in our heart and confess it with our mouth, then we are justified. All our sins become judged on the cross circa 27 A.D., and we are thenceforth “not guilty” regarding them.

Isn’t God marvelous? Isn’t He awesome? I’d much rather depend on Him for salvation than on myself. Me get to heaven? Not a chance! But me “in Christ” get to heaven? Without a doubt.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

What’s it take to be a Christian leader?

HOT OFF THE PRESS!!!  Romans: Volume 9 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes  is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

There’s a misconception amongst a goodly portion of Christian leaders today. Such folks have the notion that Jesus, Paul, Peter, John, Moses, Joshua, Isaiah, Jeremiah—in fine, all those whom the Bible presents as strong spiritual leaders—that suchlike people would make poor leaders in the churches today.

If you will permit me to say so, I beg to differ! The Word of God instructs us to speak the truth in love. In today’s mushy liberal culture, anything controversial is politically incorrect. It is a no-no which only rabble rousers and low-lifes would dare foment. Perish the thought.

Such sentiments are founded upon the worldview of our contemporary anti-christ society, dear friends. Today “love”—when it’s not defined as sex—is defined as a feel good, kum ba yah around the camp fire moment. Following that prescription, leaders who don’t make us feel good are not “loving” and so are not Biblical.

In terms of the Bible such a view attempts to speak “love” without keeping the “truth” attached to it. This cannot be done! The Lord NEVER sets aside the truth in order to make us feel good. He ALWAYS keeps the truth and love connected. When “love” is not conjoined in holy matrimony with the truth, then it is not Biblical love.

Yes, let us speak in a loving manner by looking out for the welfare of our brothers and sisters. But let us not set aside any of the whole counsel of God because we don’t want to offend someone. If we present the truth in love and anyone is offended, then they are offended by the Word of God, not by us…in which case they need to take it up with the Lord and not with us!

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

Adam, meet Adam.

NEWS FLASH!!! Acts: Volume 8 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

When the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, the Lord dried up the water for them to do so. When they crossed the Jordan River, the Lord likewise dried up that water near the town of Adam, so they could cross over on dry ground. The symbolism is intriguing.

We must die to living in and for the world, symbolized by the exit from Egypt which ended by crossing the Red Sea. At the Red Sea God’s people died to their old sinful life (the first Adam). They were cut off from returning to Egypt. But that only begins the matter. We also must rise out of death to newness of life, symbolized by crossing the Jordan River and receiving our inheritance in the Promised Land.

In our earthly existence we are not merely to be born again. We are then to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are to mature spiritually into reborn adults, just as surely as newborns are to mature into adults in the natural realm.

By drying up the waters of both the Red Sea and the Jordan River, the Lord taught both aspects of being new creations in Christ Jesus. The Promised Land symbolized victorious spiritual living, while the wilderness wanderings typified defeated carnal living. If we don’t enter the Promised Land and live by faith, then we are wandering the desert and living by sight.

If the Church would grasp this truth, not just intellectually but spiritually, what vast expanses would appear on the horizon! Revival would be the result. We mustn’t merely call people to the front of the church building to “receive Jesus”, dear friends. We must needs rear them with strong spiritual meat to nourish them into spiritual maturity.

I fear that too often newborn spiritual babes are rushed into “serving Jesus”, into getting busy “doing things for Jesus”, before they are taught enough to grow up in Jesus. First we must be born again. Next we must spiritually mature enough to know our spiritual gifts. Only then are we equipped to know God’s ministry for our lives and perform it under the power of the Holy Spirit.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

Will the real sinner please stand up?

NEWS FLASH!!! Matthew: Volume 7 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all [1 Timothy 1:15].

Those words came from the Apostle Paul. The question is, “Did Paul write them before he was saved or after? Paul’s salvation experience occurred on the Damascus road (Acts 9). The above quoted words from Paul are from one of the final letters he wrote, before being martyred for preaching the Gospel.

In other words Paul wrote those words to Timothy toward the end of his life, long after he was born again. This is significant for Christians today because of false theology making the rounds on the Christian circuit. Some folks asseverate that Christians are not “sinners” because Christ saved them. Others limit sinlessness to just some Christians who follow Christ more maturely. Supposedly such folks have reached “perfection” already.

Paul’s words are from an apostle of Jesus Christ, a right holy man if ever there was one (aside from Jesus). Still, even as the end of his life drew nigh, Paul recognized that he was still a “sinner”. Indeed, he saw himself as the FOREMOST of sinners. In Philippians 3:12-14 Paul noted that he hadn’t yet attained to Christ’s goal for his life, but he continued to press onward to reach it.

Let us not grow a fat head and hard heart and be full of ourselves, dear Christians. Let us not be too righteous to accept correction. Let us instead recognize that we are indeed sinners still. Yes, we have been saved by grace through faith and are justified; but no, we are not yet glorified and in eternity with the Lord. Only then will we be fully perfected. Until then we must continue being sanctified, continue working out our own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 1:12-13).

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

Water for Three, Please!

HOT OFF THE PRESS!!! Romans: Volume 9 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

There are a lot of occasions in Scripture involving “three days”. The typology involved is theologically astute! The axis of all history is the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He died and was in a tomb for three days.

Realize that Jesus is the axis of all Scripture. Beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, (Jesus) explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures [Luke 24:27]. Jesus takes center stage in ALL THE SCRIPTURES, from Genesis through Revelation.

This being the case, and considering that His death and resurrection (a three day event) form the center of Jesus’ ministry, is it too much of a stretch to consider that “three days” in Scripture should be given consideration as typifying in some fashion Jesus’ death and resurrection?

Consider the Book of Joshua. In Joshua 1:11 Joshua announced that the Israelites would cross the Jordan in three days. In chapter 2 he sent two spies to survey Jericho before Israel attacked the city. The spies were gone for three days. In chapter 3 the Israelites crossed the Jordan after three days.

At the Red Sea the Israelites were baptized into Moses (1 Corinthians 10:2). Christian baptism typifies the Christian’s death and resurrection in Christ (Romans 6:4). Christ accomplished this on our behalf in three days.

When the older generation of Israelites left Egypt under the Lord’s auspices, they irrevocably left that life of worldliness to be the people of the Lord. In Christian terminology this is known as dying to self and rising to new life in Christ Jesus. Once they crossed the Red Sea and its waters returned, they were cut off from the life they had in Egypt. They in effect died to Egypt, the world power of the day and symbol of the world. Hence they were “baptized into Moses” at the Red Sea.

The same applied to the younger generation of Israelites some forty years later at the Jordan River. Once they crossed the Jordan to the west bank and the Jordan’s waters returned, they were cut off from the life of wilderness wanderings in order to receive their spiritual inheritance—for a spiritual inheritance it was, even though it was also a physical inheritance. They in effect were “baptized” into Joshua at the Jordan River.

The name Joshua means “salvation of YHWH”. In English the name is Jesus. Moses brought the Israelites out of the world (Egypt), and Moses represented the Law. But Moses failed to bring the Israelites into the Lord’s inheritance, into the new life of resting in Him because the Law cannot achieve that. It took Joshua (aka Jesus) to do that.

So we see that Moses (the Law, the Old Covenant) and Joshua (Jesus, grace, the New Covenant) are symbolized by the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, their wilderness wanderings, and their new life in the Promised Land. But the Promised Land does NOT typify heaven. It typifies victorious Christian living which can only be the result of God’s grace. The wilderness wanderings, contrariwise, typify defeated Christians who walk in the flesh. This results from living in one’s own strength and power, which the Law typifies.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

How, and how not, to build character

NEWS FLASH!!! Acts: Volume 8 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope [Romans 5:3-4].

I live a life of affluence in an affluent society. I have all I need or want and give my kids all they want. I have so many worldly toys to play with, I am like a little child in a toy store. I cannot make adult choices and commitments in life because I am impossibly distracted by so many opportunities. It’s more fun to go with the flow and not have to commit. I eat free lunches rather than earn my keep.

Trouble is, there is no such critter as “free lunch”. Someone paid for the lunch, even if I ate for free. So my free lunch meant I loafed on the back of someone else’s labor. This is the way of today’s society in the good ol’ USA.

How can I expect my kids to develop character, unless they experience the sufferings which can lead to real character. Am I really doing my kids right when I make their life so easy? Fact is, I am harming them by stunting their growth spiritually, emotionally, and in all ways.

As a Christian I need to do much better than the world. I need to be salt and light to the world by means of the Gospel, not mimic the world in affluent living. We cannot serve two masters. Either we serve the Lord or we serve affluence. Country club church is not the Gospel.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

The Chicken or the Egg? – Part 2

NEWS FLASH!!! Matthew: Volume 7 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

He will cry to Me, “You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.” I also shall make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth [Psalm 89:26-27].

The concept of the “firstborn” has to do with inheritance rights. It began with Adam and Eve and has continued to this day. The “firstborn” refers to the son born first in a family.

In the realm of natural birth, the firstborn received the leadership of the family when dad died. He also received “the double portion”, twice as much of the family wealth as the other sons.

In the spiritual realm the Lord also employs the concept of the “firstborn”. Truth be told, the concept in the spiritual realm came first. The Lord made use of it to establish “the law of the firstborn” for the natural realm.

There is a significant difference in the concept of the “firstborn” with respect to the natural and spiritual realms though. We will assay this distinction in today’s study. Without understanding this distinction, we cannot rightly divide the Word of Truth. The Bible will be inexplicable with regard to the spiritual firstborn.

In our two Bible verses today God is speaking. He notes that the future Messiah, the Son of God, will recognize Him as His Father (verse 26). Then Father God adds, “I also shall make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth” (verse 27).

This is a reference to the spiritual firstborn, dear friends. God is spirit. He doesn’t procreate and have children. The Son of God eternally coexists with Father God and with the Holy Spirit through all eternity. The Son of God was never born, so He cannot be “the son born first”, as is true of the “firstborn” in the natural realm.

What, then, are we to make of this concept of the “firstborn” in the spiritual realm? Well, the most significant aspect of the spiritual firstborn is defined in our Bible verse: he is “the highest of the kings of the earth.” The spiritual firstborn is a reference to preeminence, not to who was born first.

Three offices existed in Old Testament Israel under the Law of Moses. These were,

prophet
priest
king

The Messiah was to combine all three offices in His one person. This was a no-no for anyone else to ever do. Each person of authority in Israel held one or the other of these three offices, but no one was to hold all three. Indeed, even those who held one office had to be chosen by God to that office. Man could not take it upon himself to lay claim to the office of prophet or priest or king.

The Messiah held all three offices. He was the fulfillment of the Law and the fulfillment of all righteousness. He was the King of kings and Lord of lords. He was “the highest of the kings of the earth.”

You can see from this that the spiritual firstborn refers to preeminence. It has reference to being the most distinguished person of his type. He is unique and outstanding above all others.

Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. He is also fully man, but only since circa 7 B.C. Jesus is the firstborn of all creation, making Him preeminent over all creation, not the person or thing born first in creation.

Jesus Christ is also the firstborn of all recreation. He is the first man to rise out of death as being dead to sin but alive evermore to righteousness. Those of us who are born again are “second born”. Jesus has the preeminence. All glory goes to Him.

Let’s spend time now giving Him the glory. Let’s stop being full of self and instead deposit self in the nearest rubbish bin. To God be the glory! Jesus Christ be praised. Hosanna to the Son of David!

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86