To Tell You The Truth

I asked the question earlier, "How can God, Who is unchanging, in Jesus take on human form (permanently I might add) and still be unchanged?" I know what I think. What do YOU think?

This is just an aspect of what I have been pondering as of late. But before I continue, you need to read, "What is the Love of God?" As well as, "God's Glory" and "The Glory of God in the Gospel". Yes, quite a bit of reading, but what I am about to embark in writing is deeply connected to the foundation upon which I have already built.

I do not want to separate God's Glory, God's Love and His unchanging character. How can God, In Jesus, take on human flesh yet be unchanged? Seth Rone hits the nail on the head, at least in part- maybe more :) .

We must keep in mind before creation, OUTSIDE time, God’s creative plan included the cross: see Acts 2:23, Acts 4:27&28, 1 Peter 1:19&20, and Revelation 13:8. In eternity past, God planned (foreordained) the cross- meaning, it was meant to happen and there was no chance that it could not not happen. In other words, the cross was not optional. It was THE plan of the ages.

Further, since God is love, then it is God's nature to give up His life as a ransom. Jesus said in John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." There is no possibility that God could have done otherwise. None. The cross was not plan B. It was the only plan.

This is why when God in Jesus took on human flesh, He did not change because there was never a time that God in Christ did not plan to die to save.

But at the same time, pardon the pun, WITHIN time, God did change.

Douglas Kelly says that the Incarnation is a greater miracle and mystery than God's creating everything out of nothing. The change WITHIN time from God to God/Man is ultimately what makes it a miracle and mystery at the same time. Amazing.

This is such a deep subject that it will take all of eternity to plumb its depths (and then we'll still need an infinite amount of eternities to continue the quest of plumbing those depths!). Wow.

It reminds me how absolutely insane it is to seek our satisfaction in idols that can neither see nor hear. When THIS God--the God that has come to us in Jesus like this--calls us to come to him....

So what do we do now? We place our faith in Jesus because He always planned to take on our sin, guilt, and shame- to be the Spotless Lamb slain from the foundation of the world for without faith, we can never please God (Hebrews 11:6).

If you've never placed your faith and trust in Jesus, now is always a good time to start. If you have placed your faith in Jesus in the past, continue to believe, look to the cross, and be saved.

There has never been another option for salvation.

This is the glory of the Gospel.

Here is Genesis 2 of the New Literal English Translation

Here is my first attempt at translation. I decided to begin with Genesis 1. At the present time, I am calling this translation the New Literal English Translation.

If there's one thing I've learned (and am still learning) over the years it's that the Gospel Changes Everything!  This includes (but not limited to) my understanding of 'Scripture.  The Gospel is so comprehensive in its power to change everything that it frees me from my previous understandings of Scripture to understanding passages anew and afresh.  In other words, as my understanding of Scripture changes, I am free to embrace my new understanding instead of being fearful that "I am rejecting what I've been taught all these years!"

Michael Spencer, aka Internet Monk (iMonk) wrote a Gospel-Centered article called The Man in the Shadow of Adultery.

Joshua Harris also has a few articles relating to love and lust taken from his book Sex is not the Problem (Lust is). Fighting Internet Porn (aka Purity Download - Tip 1). Purity Download - Tip 2. Purity Download - Tip 3. Purity Download - Tip 4.  Too bad Joshua (and SGM) won't provide this great book as a free download.

After a delay of fiddling with CoverItLive software, we are in the midst of the preaching of Rick Phillips.

Our adoption is not regeneration; we need both.  We are justified by legal decree and regeneration gives the ability to live out our justification.

Does prayer work via our technique?  No.  Prayer works because of our Sonship with Christ.  We have access to the Father because of His love for us in Christ, in the Gospel.  Why does prayer work?  Because God has taken it upon Himself to adopt us as children of God through the great grace He has bestowed upon us in Christ.

Paul says, "I will cast all my care upon you because you care for me."  We have God the Father taking upon Himself the obligation to take care of us in this life.  This is not prosperity teaching.  He is not Santa Claus.  But God takes care of us.  The Psalmist says, "I have never seen the righteous forsaken."

 Because of Christ we can call God, "Father"  Even in death God takes care of us.  We are a beloved child of God; He will receive us.

Because God's name is upon us, we have the privilege of discipline.  He describes a plane ride in which a young boy was disobedient to his father and showing disrespect.  Rick would not discipline the boy because he doesn't love him.  But God LOVES us, therefore He disciplines us.

I love myself and have a wonderful plan for my life.  I desire children who are all-star athletes, beauty queens, but God loves me even more than I love myself and He gives me trials to make me what He wants me to be- righteous, holy, blameless.  How do we understand our trials and struggles?  "Father,you love me.  You have sent your Son and care for me.  You have dreams for me that I scarcely dream for myself.  There is a day that I will be glorious.  As CS Lewis says, "If we see others as they will be, we would be tempted to worship each other."

We can come to God's presence because of Christ.  All whom are Sons of God will come into the full inheritance of all that God has given us.

We are heirs of the Glory of God.  Adoption answers the question, "what do we look forward to as a Christian?"  We are heirs of the Father- incomplete in this life, but we have by the promise in the Word of God that we will possess the full inheritance which is rightly Christ's but given to us also.

"My Son give me your heart" says Proverbs.  God wants our heart and desires our affection because He loves us- He is our Father.  When we understand how God has adopted us, we will approch the orphans in the world in a new way.  We will seek out a new manner in which we live out what God has done for us.

God has chosen us to be adopted because of Christ.  There is nothing in us that merits God's choosing to adopt us in Christ.  God did not come to the cosmic adoption clinic to pick people who have something to offer God.  There is nothing good in us with which to offer God- all we have is demerit and corruption.

When we live in the freedom of the Son, we know that our adoption is all of grace.  We possess love to give as we have been given by God in Christ.

 

There is a technical difficulty which is not allowing the use of CoverItLive, the software we are trying to use for live blogging today's T4A conference.  Please stay tuned for published posts by refreshing preriodically.  Once the CoverItLive software begins to function once again, we will use that.