Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Yeah right! pt.3


He is a rock. What he does is perfect. All his ways are fair. He is a faithful God, who does no wrong. He is honorable and reliable. 
Deut 32:4 (GW)
God's way is perfect! 
Psalms 18:30 (GW)
The teachings of the Lord are perfect. They renew the soul. The testimony of the Lord is dependable. It makes gullible people wise. 
Psalms 19:7 (GW)
God shines from Zion, the perfection of beauty. 
Psalms 50:2 (GW)
If you love those who love you, do you deserve a reward? Even the tax collectors do that! Are you doing anything remarkable if you welcome only your friends? Everyone does that! That is why you must be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. 
Matt 5:46-48 (GW)
How can we possibly be perfect? We can’t. Then why did Jesus say this? To point out that we can’t! And this, once again, is what separates us from God. But because God loves us so much, He has actually taken care of that problem Himself. 
Then Peter, because he was filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and leaders of the people, today you are cross-examining us about the good we did for a crippled man. You want to know how he was made well. You and all the people of Israel must understand that this man stands in your presence with a healthy body because of the power of Jesus Christ from Nazareth. You crucified Jesus Christ, but God has brought him back to life. He is the stone that the builders rejected, the stone that has become the cornerstone. No one else can save us. Indeed, we can be saved only by the power of the one named Jesus and not by any other person.” 
Acts 4:8-12 (GW)


Salvation – the deliverance of man or his soul from the power or penalty of sin; redemption
If you need a more thorough examination of the means of being saved by God from the penalties for what you have done wrong, I highly suggest you read my other blog “The Simple Truth”.
The bible speaks of man’s natural state of imperfection which is in need of saving several times.
The human mind is the most deceitful of all things. It is incurable. No one can understand how deceitful it is. 
Jer 17:9 (GW)
Jesus said, “Don't you understand yet? Don't you know that whatever goes into the mouth goes into the stomach and then into a toilet? But whatever goes out of the mouth comes from within, and that's what makes a person unclean. Evil thoughts, murder, adultery, {other} sexual sins, stealing, lying, and cursing come from within. These are the things that make a person unclean. 
Matt 15:16-20 (GW)
We have all strayed like sheep. Each one of us has turned to go his own way, and the Lord has laid all our sins on him. 
Isaiah 53:6 (GW)

The corrupt nature's attitude leads to death. But the spiritual nature's attitude leads to life and peace. This is so because the corrupt nature has a hostile attitude toward God. It refuses to place itself under the authority of God's standards because it can't. Those who are under the control of the corrupt nature can't please God. 
Romans 8:5-9 (GW)
God was pleased to have all of himself live in Christ. God was also pleased to bring everything on earth and in heaven back to himself through Christ. He did this by making peace through Christ's blood sacrificed on the cross. Once you were separated from God. The evil things you did showed your hostile attitude. But now Christ has brought you back to God by dying in his physical body. He did this so that you could come into God's presence without sin, fault, or blame. 
Col 1:19-22 (GW)
Sin came into the world through one person, and death came through sin. So death spread to everyone, because everyone sinned. Sin was in the world before there were any laws. But no record of sin can be kept when there are no laws. Yet, death ruled from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin in the same way Adam did when he disobeyed. 
Romans 5:12-14 (GW)
Since you are stubborn and don't want to change the way you think and act, you are adding to the anger that God will have against you on that day when God vents his anger. At that time God will reveal that his decisions are fair. He will pay all people back for what they have done. He will give everlasting life to those who search for glory, honor, and immortality by persisting in doing what is good. But he will bring anger and fury on those who, in selfish pride, refuse to believe the truth and who follow what is wrong. There will be suffering and distress for every person who does evil, for Jews first and non-Jews as well. But there will be glory, honor, and peace for every person who does what is good, for Jews first and non-Jews as well. God does not play favorites. 
Romans 2:5-11 (GW)
These passages clearly divide humanity into two categories. Those who live by their own rules, and those who try to live the way God wants us to. Those who make it up as they go are driven by their own passions and desires. Selfishness is their natural inclination. And although they cannot be aware of it, they are not good. Those who are born again and live to serve God have the advantage of God’s Spirit within them guiding them and letting them see how things really are, including their own selfishness. And because they also inherit God’s righteousness when they enter a relationship with Jesus, they now have the choice to do what is right, as opposed to being naturally inclined toward that which is wrong. Of course, those who follow Jesus are still not “good”, as evidenced by their own thoughts and actions even after being redeemed by Jesus’ death and resurrection. But because they have accepted the fact that they are not good, and now rely on God’s goodness, they are now seen as being good through the shed blood of Christ. C.S. Lewis said in the amazing primer of faith “Mere Christianity” that the reason many reject following Jesus is because the ideas behind who He is and what He really did are not simple enough for our minds to fully process. He said that this alone makes it obvious that the bible is truly the word of God, and not man. If Christianity were an invention of the human mind, it would be simple and easy to digest. It would also be appealing to what we want to hear about ourselves. It definitely isn’t a happy happy joy joy concept that all of us are self centered, deceitful and just plain bad in our natural state. And then that the only way to rectify the problem of our separation from God is through God Himself coming here and enduring horrible, undeserved pain and suffering which led to His eventual death and short term residence in hell. Paul, who wrote most of the letters in the New Testament, and is considered to be an outstanding vessel of God, bringing millions of people to the knowledge of salvation through Christ wrote:
I know that nothing good lives in me; that is, nothing good lives in my corrupt nature. Although I have the desire to do what is right, I don't do it. 
Romans 7:18 (GW)
Many people claim that they are good, or righteous. Yet this man, whom God used extensively within His own communication to us, states clearly that he himself is not good! How arrogant for any of us to believe that we are good.
When you are driving and someone cuts you off, what is your initial instinct? And if someone at work cusses you out, how would you react if you did not utilize self-control? Most would admit that our reaction in these scenarios would not lean toward the kindly. How could a naturally good creature summon these initial reactions? Not possible. The whole idea of there being One who is actually good is the crux of our distorted perception. We deal with so much ego, that without a full understanding of God, we tend to feel worthless and hopeless if we truly ponder our own bad behavior and thoughts. But when we are able to accept that Jesus sees every one of us as equally worthy to die for, we are able to alleviate some of that potential self loathing. You need to understand that if you were the only human ever born, and you were imperfect, He still would have died so that you could be redeemed through His sacrifice. Good for bad.
Then, brothers and sisters, firmly hold on to the traditions we taught you either when we spoke to you or in our letter. God our Father loved us and by his kindness gave us everlasting encouragement and good hope. Together with our Lord Jesus Christ, may he encourage and strengthen you to do and say everything that is good. 
2 Thess 2:15-17 (GW)
Certainly, there is no one so righteous on earth that he always does what is good and never sins. 
Eccl 7:20 (GW)

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