mushrooms
REDEMPTION
SABBATH RENEWAL
“…we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day” (2 Cor 4:16 ESV).
“…the Spirit’s quickening is only the beginning of God’s work of grace in the soul. This does not wholly renew the heart at once: no indeed, the inner man needs to be ‘renewed day by day’…” A.W. Pink (ref#269, p65).
“…the Sabbath…God is not satisfied by the people’s merely resting from their weekly labors; rather, inward sanctification is the primary purpose of the Sabbath…Sabbath is a sacrament of regeneration…” John Calvin (ref#164, May 10th).
“…though spiritual things always remain the same, yet we do not experience their effect or perceive their value unless we are careful that our lack of faith does not profane what God has consecrated to our salvation….Merely taking time off from work and going to church perfunctorily may be missing the most crucial benefit of all: the blessing of the Spirit in our inward sanctification. By faith we must observe the wondrous grace of the sacraments, including this sacrament of regeneration” John Calvin (ref#164, May 10th).
FATHER, I learn keeping the Sabbath is just as important as following Your commands for You always link Sabbath-keeping with a call for obedience. One example: “…they rejected my rules and did not walk in my statutes and profaned my Sabbaths…” (Ezek 20:16 ESV).
I ask that You fulfill my need for day to day regeneration by forever reminding me to keep the Sabbath so that I might not “lose the blessing of the Spirit” John Calvin (ref#164, May 10th).
REDEMPTION
REDEMPTION
“…the Bible is the story of a hero Redeemer who transforms weak and ordinary people by his powerful grace” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, Aug 29th).
“God’s ultimate purpose in redemptive history is to create a people to dwell in his presence, glorifying him through numerous varied activities, and enjoying him forever. The story begins with God in eternal glory and it ends with God and his people in eternal glory. At the center stands the cross, where God revealed his glory through his Son.
The biblical story of redemption must be understood within the large story of creation. First Adam, and later Israel, was placed in God’s sanctuary (the garden and the Promised Land, respectively), but both Adam and Israel failed to be a faithful, obedient steward, and both were expelled from the sanctuary God had created for them. But Jesus Christ—the second Adam, the son of Abraham, the son of David—was faithful and obedient to God. Though the world killed him, God raised him to life, which meant that death was defeated. Through his Spirit, God pours into sinners the resurrection life of his Son, creating a new humanity “in Christ.” Those who are “in Christ” move through death into new life and exaltation in God’s sanctuary, there to enjoy his presence forever.
The ‘bookends’ concept of biblical theology illustrates that in the third-to-last chapter of the Bible (Revelation 20) God removes his enemies—Satan, death, and evil—that entered the story line in the third chapter of the Bible (Genesis 3), thus completing the story of redemption. The last two chapters (Revelation 21-22) don’t simply restore the first two chapters (Genesis 1-2); they go beyond them to a world that is fully ordered and holy, in which God is fully present with his people, completing the story of creation….” The ESV Study Bible (ref#125, p2495, “The Bookends of Biblical Theology”).
“…the person who fears the Lord and attends to his commandments has God’s own moral traits reflected in his character. This is the goal of redemption, to renew the image of God in human beings” The ESV Study Bible (ref#125, p1085, “Psalm 111”).
“…I’m no longer under God’s wrath. I don’t have to live with the burden of low-grade guilt. I’m completely and finally forgiven. I have been declared righteous in the sight of God—not on the basis of my own works, but on the basis of Christ’s righteousness that has been imputed to me. This is what it means to be justified. There’s nothing more we can do to earn God’s forgiveness” Bob Kauflin (ref#199, p130-131).
FATHER, I bow in inexpressible admiration.
LORD’S PRAYER PRAYERS
1ST COVENANT
FAITH COUNTED AS RIGHTEOUSNESS
“The exodus was a sign for Israel, just like the death and resurrection of Jesus are a sign for the church. The meaning of the sign is that God is for you and will work for you and take care of you if you will only trust him” John Piper (ref#277).
“…Old Testament believers, were saved by looking forward to the work of the Messiah who was to come and putting faith in him” Wayne Grudem (ref#63, p519).
“…the law did not call for meritorious works, but for the obedience which flows from faith. If love is what the law aimed at, and only faith can love, then the law must teach faith…the law…taught us to trust the gracious God…and to live out the obedience of faith” John Piper (ref#277).
“Acceptable sacrifices are based on a right relationship brought about by faith in the God who delivers” The ESV Study Bible (ref#125, p1388, [Jer 7:22-23]).
“Paul teaches that we should not leave the law behind, not reject the law for something else, but fulfill the law in the power of the Holy Spirit through faith which works itself out in love” John Piper (ref#277).
“True religion consists of communion with God based on trust and issuing into obedience” The Reformation Study Bible (ref#56, p13, [Gen 3:6]).
1ST COVENANT
THE LAW OUR GUARDIAN
“…the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin…we were held captive under the law, imprisoned…So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came…” (Gal 3:22-24 ESV).
“The law took men into its training…to make the very best that could be made of them by external instruction….God dealt with them as men in whom, with all the ruin sin had brought, there still was a conscience to judge of good and evil, a heart capable of being stirred to long after God, and a will to choose the good and to choose Himself” Andrew Murray (ref#279).
“Before Christ and His salvation could be revealed and understood and truly appreciated, these faculties of man had to be stirred and wakened” Andrew Murray (ref#279).
“The law, in short, was nothing else than an immense variety of exercises, in which the worshippers were led by the hand to Christ” John Calvin (ref#281).
“The law had promised life; but it could not give it (Deut iv. 1; Gal iii.21). The real purpose for which God had given it was the very opposite:…He gave it that it might convince man of his sin and might so waken the confession of his impotence, and of his need of a New Covenant and a true redemption…” Andrew Murray (ref#279).
1ST COVENANT
THE TWISTED FIRST COVENANT
“The ten commandments are based on a call for faith in the God of the exodus, just like the moral teachings of the NT are based on a call for faith in the Lord of Good Friday and Easter” John Piper (ref#277).
FATHER, from Genesis to Revelation Your entire Bible holds the one theme: Your people trusting in You. The subject of “faith” did not instantly appear with Your 2nd Covenant. It would be well for all Your chosen ones if we would just trust in Your instructions. However…
For some simply trusting You is not an immediate concept. I, for one, spent many years trying to love and be loved by You through my own efforts.
“Sin is essentially man’s failure to trust in God, an act or state of unbelief” The Reformation Study Bible (ref#56, p13, [Gen 3:6]). “…the human heart would much rather offer to God its works, no matter how costly, than humble itself to confess sin. That is the reason why man is always predisposed to go the way of works” Roy and Revel Hession (ref#100, p80).
“…concerning Israel…they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness” (Rom 9:27, 10:2-3 ESV). “…in…the covenant God had made with them, they perverted His grace by seeing it as dependent on their own law-keeping” The Reformation Study Bible (ref#56, p1631, [Rom 10:3]).
“Why did Israel fail to achieve right standing with God through the law? They did not pursue obedience to the law in humble trust, but tried to make it a means of establishing their own righteousness” The ESV Study Bible (ref# 125, p2174, [Rom 9:32]).
“…many in Israel twisted the Mosaic law into legalism. That is, they severed it from its foundation of faith…and thus turned the commandments into a job description for how to earn the wages of salvation” John Piper (ref#277).
“The law never commanded anyone to try to merit his salvation. The law is based on faith in God’s promises, not on legalistic strivings. The mistake of Israel was not in pursuing the law, but in pursuing it by works instead of by faith” John Piper (ref#277). “The Jews’ zeal and sincerity does not lead them to salvation. The broader principle is that many sincere, ‘religious’ people are wrong in their beliefs” The ESV Study Bible (ref#125, p2174, [Rom 10:2]).
1ST COVENANT
COVENANTS
“…God works in history to redeem His chosen ones through a series of covenants. These covenants define His law, assess penalties for breaking His law, and provide for the imputation of Jesus’ vicarious fulfillment of God’s requirements…” Carol J. Ruvolo (ref#228, p148).
INTERVENING FATHER, Your loving will and compassion work to my advantage through the covenants You set in place. Through them I have no question about my course with You.
“A covenant is an unchangeable, divinely imposed legal agreement between God and man that stipulates the conditions of their relationship” Wayne Grudem (ref#63, p515).
In sovereign authority You reveal Your desire and my part is only to accept or reject it (ref#63, p 515). You will be my GOD and I will be Your child if I keep Your decrees and ordinances (Lev 18:5). Moses writes that the man who can practice the perfect conformity to Your will shall live (Rom 10:5). “If you obey…by loving the LORD…by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments…then you shall live…” (Deut 30:16 ESV).
FATHER, how I long to keep Your covenant but, my contribution makes it impossible. I may not murder, but I certainly can’t keep Your law that says I am a transgressor even if I am angry at someone (Matt 5:21-22). And Your stipulation is that if I fail in one point of Your law, I become accountable for all of it (James 2:10).
So, because I can’t keep Your covenant I am liable to judgment—liable to the hell of fire (Matt 5:22). The very ordinance which You designed and intended to bring me life actually means death to me (Rom 7:10). On my own I cannot keep Your covenant of works.
“…the covenant of works is still in force for every human being apart from Christ, even though no sinful human being can fulfill its provisions and gain blessing by it….for Christians today to think of themselves as obligated to try to earn God’s favor by obedience would be to cut themselves off from the hope of salvation” Wayne Grudem (ref#63, p518).
Thank You, FATHER, for CHRIST and Your covenant of grace.
LORD’S PRAYER PRAYERS
FAITH
WEAK FAITH
“Faith has its trials as well as its temptations….The faith of a child of God may not only be severely assailed, but there are times when that faith may waver greatly….Nothing but the divinity that dwells within that grace keeps it….David: in the strength of faith slaying Goliath, and in the weakness of faith fleeing from Saul!…Nothing but the power of God and its own incorruptible and imperishable nature preserve it” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, June 2nd).
“You don’t have to hide in guilt when weak faith gets you off the path, because your hope in life isn’t your faithfulness, but his. You can run in weakness and once again seek his strength. And you can know that in zealous grace he will not leave his craftwork until faith fully rules our heart unchallenged. He always gives freely what we need in order to do what he has called us to do” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, Feb 12th).
“…this direct faith; it is simply resting upon Christ…realizing our utter weakness and helplessness and hopelessness….” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#189, Dec 10th).
FATHER, when I recognize weak faith my first reaction is to rely on myself to rise to the occasion. Misguided, I think I own faith and it is my responsibility to make it better. But, no; I own nothing; I have given my life to CHRIST. Now that I know, continually remind me that my strength of faith comes from You. If I dislike my weak faith let me turn to You and plead and not think twice of trying to raise faith myself.
Bonnie's Prayer Affair 