"For the LORD is righteous, and he loves justice, / Those who do what is right will see his face" (Psalm 11:7, NLT).
"... Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne" (Psa. 97:2, NLT).
"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (cf. Gen. 18:25).
What qualifies God to be our judge? Remember, God is our Judge; we are not His judge! He judges everyone according to what they've done; even the righteous according to their deeds, not their faith. God is holy as His chief attribute that regulates all others and is without sin. Because He is just, He is obliged to judge all sin and evil. Also, Jesus lived the sin-free life as what to expect of us, while the Ten Commandments delineated God's demands and expectations. We know what to judge by as a measuring rod when we behold the perfect God-man, Jesus the righteous One. God is a God of justice and sin and evil are incompatible with His nature just like matter and anti-matter cannot co-exist. He wouldn't be holy if He let sin slide and let us get away with it.
But He did do something that allows a way out of exercising judgment on everyone. By declaring all guilty of sin in Adam, He has the right to impute righteousness on those who are in Christ. It's the principle of substitution and representation. Adam was Christ's prototype and represents us, while Christ is the last example and our substitution that sets us free from Adam's sin. God is just and must not compromise His perfect holiness and violate justice so He had to find a way to become both Just and Justifier. He did this by sending His Son to be our replacement or substitute. His wrath is satisfied in Christ who died on our behalf.
God is not only offended by sin, But He's also angry at it and will take vengeance on it in due time. God cannot even behold or look upon evil! The only way to appease His wrath is by expiation or propitiation through the blood of Christ. His demands were fully met and we can have this reconciliation on account of the blood of Jesus. Note that God doesn't make us righteous but declares us righteous. Just like God, we ought to be indignant at the evil in the world and for God to avenge in His time.
Now God is unjust to no one! The exercise of grace and mercy are forms of non-justice but are not injustice. The reconciled believer has been imputed with righteousness and is considered as if he'd never sinned in God's eyes--as righteous, not sinful. But Paul says in Gal. 2:17 that the believer is, in reality, both sinner and righteous at the same time. We never stop sinning but grow in our acknowledgment and holiness as we get to know our Lord. The believer who thinks he can reach a point of maturity without sin is self-deceived! This is where confession comes into play. We must continually confess our known sin to remain in fellowship with God the Father and God the Son, as well as our believers in Christ ("forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us").
We must not reckon that justice delayed is justice denied, for God tarries to exercise His judgment on mankind and in His time the day of grace will cease. It may appear that the sinner is getting away with cursing God and sin but his day will come and someday he'll give an account of himself. God's goodness and delay are meant to give us time and space to repent and to bring us to realize our sin by conviction.
By definition, justice is rendering to someone their due desserts! Giving them what they deserve, good or bad! But Christians receive both mercy (not getting what we do deserve) and grace (getting what we don't deserve). What we must realize is that God was not under any obligation of justice to be merciful to anyone--He could've condemned everyone all the same and remain holy and just. However, to demonstrate His love, He found a way to be both just and justifier and to save some from the consequences of the coming wrath.
If God had to save anyone, it would be justice, not mercy and grace. We can rejoice that God tempers His justice with mercy (cf. Hab. 3:2), knowing that He was under no obligation to save us, but loves us even while we were His enemies and still in our sin. Rest assured that no one will ever be punished beyond that which strict justice demands they deserve, even in hell, if they are not covered by the blood of Jesus!
Don't ask God for justice for your case, but mercy and grace! Don't just say, "All I want is justice!" Because you may get it and that is not what you want! But note that vengeance belongs to the Lord and is not our prerogative or duty, we must have faith that God's will is for our best and He will determine what justice is and mete it out to His standards. CAN WE BELIEVE IN JUSTICE WITHOUT A JUDGE? In summation: We should become so convicted that we are great sinners and that God is a great Savior that we plead "guilty as charged": "... God be merciful to me, the sinner!" (cf Luke 18:13, NASB). and concur with John Bunyan, in his book, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. Soli Deo Gloria!
To bridge the gap between so-called theologians and regular "students" of the Word and make polemics palatable. Contact me @ bloggerbro@outlook.com To search title keywords: title:example or label as label:example; or enter a keyword in search engine ATTN: SITE USING COOKIES!
About Me
- Karl Broberg
- I am a born-again Christian, who is Reformed, but also charismatic, spiritually speaking. (I do not speak in tongues, but I believe glossalalia is a bona fide gift not given to all, and not as great as prophecy, for example.) I have several years of college education but only completed a two-year degree. I was raised Lutheran and confirmed, but I didn't "find Christ" until I was in the Army and responded to a Billy Graham crusade in 1973. I was mentored or discipled by the Navigators in the army and upon discharge joined several evangelical, Bible-teaching churches. I was baptized as an infant, but believe in believer baptism, of which I was a partaker after my conversion experience. I believe in the "5 Onlys" of the reformation: sola fide (faith alone); sola Scriptura (Scripture alone); soli Christo (Christ alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and soli Deo gloria (to God alone be the glory). I affirm TULIP as defended in the Reformation.. I affirm most of The Westminster Confession of Faith, especially pertaining to Providence.
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Indebted To Jesus!
Do you know that you owe
It all to the Lord Jesus!
When your goal loses your soul,
And you want a way out,
Remember He's near and saves ev'ry tear,
And your woes won't overflow His bowl.
When the fight is lonely as the night,
And you wonder where He is,
Remember all the same to praise His name.
So thank Him anyway,
For you He'll win, so don't lose by sin.
And if you pray, claim His fame.
The joy you'll share, knowing He's there,
Treading those paths ahead.
But let it glow, and you will grow,
To lighten the paths of sin;
But love is the way to make His day,
And loving the Lord will make them know.
Soli Deo Gloria!
It all to the Lord Jesus!
When your goal loses your soul,
And you want a way out,
Remember He's near and saves ev'ry tear,
And your woes won't overflow His bowl.
When the fight is lonely as the night,
And you wonder where He is,
Remember all the same to praise His name.
So thank Him anyway,
For you He'll win, so don't lose by sin.
And if you pray, claim His fame.
The joy you'll share, knowing He's there,
Treading those paths ahead.
But let it glow, and you will grow,
To lighten the paths of sin;
But love is the way to make His day,
And loving the Lord will make them know.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Sunday, May 5, 2019
It Costs To Be Saved
They say that salvation is free, but it costs everything you've got. Salvation is free but not cheap; so-called cheap grace justifies the sin, not the sinner. It costs to be saved, but more not to be. We must be willing and open to the idea of saying goodbye to our past and it's ties, friendships, idols, and commitments and turn over everything to Christ. We make a clean break with our old life and old nature and venture ahead in a leap of faith with Christ in charge of our life and at the helm. It's a clean cleavage from our past and an ever new beginning. Christ doesn't put a new suit on the man, but a new man in the suit. Behold, all things become new! Christianity is not turning over a new leaf, making a New Year's resolution, or making an AA pledge, it's becoming a new person from the inside out.
Our lives are salt and light to the world and we are here to bear testimony of what Christ did for us. But most people love their lives too much to leave them and cling to idols, which are anything that takes the place of God. But we didn't want to be born the first time either! We came into the world crying and throwing a fit or tantrum thinking it was worse, but not realizing it was for our good. People don't like commitment either no matter the choice. Marriage takes a leap of faith too! Christ is infinitely more trustworthy than any spouse.
The real reason many people reject Christ is that they love their sin too much and don't want to leave a life of sin or even living in sin. They don't have an intellectual problem with believing, masked in smokescreens, but have a moral problem--they don't want to change their way of life and stop living in sin. People cannot imagine a life without their sin and don't realize that the only abundant and fulfilling life is in Christ doing His will (cf. John 10:10). That's the safest place to be!
That's why we give a testimony of how much Jesus has done for us, not how we turned around our lives and got our act together! No one can argue your personal story of salvation: "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!" (cf. Psalm 107:2). The fact is that we come to Christ, as we are, warts, blemishes, and flaws in all and He makes us into His image; i.e., we will not stay that way, though the change doesn't happen all at once, it's a process; that's why we're called a work in progress!
God owns us and we belong to Him as His own and we are never asked to give up anything in the sacrifice, that Christ didn't suffer or give up, without reward and abundant recompense--our crosses pale in comparison. Reality 101 is that we enroll in the school of suffering to complete Christ's sufferings in the body and bring Him glory from our adversities. It is an honor to suffer for the sake of the Name. The principle is, "No cross, no crown!" In glory, all the suffering we bore will be worth it and rewarded. Soli Deo Gloria!
Our lives are salt and light to the world and we are here to bear testimony of what Christ did for us. But most people love their lives too much to leave them and cling to idols, which are anything that takes the place of God. But we didn't want to be born the first time either! We came into the world crying and throwing a fit or tantrum thinking it was worse, but not realizing it was for our good. People don't like commitment either no matter the choice. Marriage takes a leap of faith too! Christ is infinitely more trustworthy than any spouse.
The real reason many people reject Christ is that they love their sin too much and don't want to leave a life of sin or even living in sin. They don't have an intellectual problem with believing, masked in smokescreens, but have a moral problem--they don't want to change their way of life and stop living in sin. People cannot imagine a life without their sin and don't realize that the only abundant and fulfilling life is in Christ doing His will (cf. John 10:10). That's the safest place to be!
That's why we give a testimony of how much Jesus has done for us, not how we turned around our lives and got our act together! No one can argue your personal story of salvation: "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!" (cf. Psalm 107:2). The fact is that we come to Christ, as we are, warts, blemishes, and flaws in all and He makes us into His image; i.e., we will not stay that way, though the change doesn't happen all at once, it's a process; that's why we're called a work in progress!
God owns us and we belong to Him as His own and we are never asked to give up anything in the sacrifice, that Christ didn't suffer or give up, without reward and abundant recompense--our crosses pale in comparison. Reality 101 is that we enroll in the school of suffering to complete Christ's sufferings in the body and bring Him glory from our adversities. It is an honor to suffer for the sake of the Name. The principle is, "No cross, no crown!" In glory, all the suffering we bore will be worth it and rewarded. Soli Deo Gloria!
What Is Saving Faith?
"... [A]nd a large number of priest became obedient to the faith" (Acts 6:7, NIV).
"Through him we have received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from or his Name's sake" (Romans 1:5, NKV).
"... [S]o that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith" (Rom. 16:26,NIV).
Everyone has faith; in what is the question. We are a religious creature made to worship and will worship someone or something if not God, which is idolatry. Dostoevsky said that "man cannot live without worshiping something." We are made for God and can only find our fulfillment in living for Him. But why is man opposed to God when He offers Himself to them? Man is a slave to sin and doesn't want to change his way of life, doing his own thing his way. He doesn't want to submit to authority and grant the ownership of his life to the One who made it. A person of no organized religion may have their faith in the scientific method, that science can solve all our problems--but he is nevertheless a person of faith. And so everyone is a person of faith! We have sound reasons to believe and need not commit intellectual suicide.
Real faith in God is when we go a step beyond so-called story-book faith or head belief and it registers in the heart and we desire to live it out in trust and commitment. We must be obedient to the gospel and to the faith. Saving faith is always accompanied by genuine repentance--they go hand in hand! And we must never divorce faith and faithfulness, for we live by faith and it must grow, not being dead. Dead faith produces no works and that kind of faith cannot save. Good soil produces fruit and saving faith produces the fruit of good works. As the Reformers said, "We are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone." If we have no works, our faith is suspect. James says that faith without works is dead! James 2:18 also says, "I'll show you my faith by my works!" But we are not saved by works, but not without them either. We don't have faith in ourselves or our ability in trying to save ourselves, because it's the object that matters. We must realize that genuine faith expresses itself!
God opens our eyes to have faith, for we are blinded by Satan. He quickens or kindles faith within us by grace and it's not a meritorious work as Rome would have you believe--for then we would be saved by merit or works. We will have nothing to boast of in God's presence. Faith is the work of God but our act. We must put our faith in the right object to be saved, for we don't have faith in faith, but faith in Christ--faith doesn't save, Christ does! But this faith must be penitent as we turn from sin to God and believe in Christ. That's why it may be termed penitent faith or believing repentance that saves. We have believed through grace, a supernatural act of God regenerating us. God grants both repentance and faith as a privilege of being the elect (cf. Acts 5:31; 11:18). He opens the door to faith and repentance (cf. Acts 14:27).
There is a profession of faith and reality of faith, whereas bogus faith is misplaced and insincere. God doesn't ask for perfect faith, only sincere, unfeigned faith (cf. 1 Tim. 1:5; 2 Tim. 1:5). Without faith, we cannot please God (cf. Heb. 11:6). There are people of great faith but it's misplaced (cf. Romans 10:2; Proverbs 19:2)--sincerity matters but it's not everything (you can be sincerely wrong). There are believers in name only or nominal Christians who go through the motions and have memorized the Dance of the Pious. Saving faith is obedient as Bonhoeffer says, "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes." (cf. Romans 16:26; Romans 1:5, Acts 6:7). They shall know we are Christians by our love--the ultimate obedience. That is the litmus test! Faith and obedience are correlated in Heb. 3:17-18, HCSB, as follows: "And who did He swear to that they would not enter His rest, if not those who disobeyed? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief." We desire to obey, even if we fall short of perfection (cf. Matt 5:48).
The faith you have is the faith you show! The rallying cry of the Reformation was that we are saved by faith alone and Rome pronounced anyone anathema that adhered to this doctrine at the Council of Trent (the Counter-Reformation). We are not saved by good works, and faith is not a work, but we are saved unto good works, that we may accomplish the will of God. Works are no substitute for faith, but only evidence of it. In fact, God foreordains good works for us to do for His purposes. We must be saved by grace, for this is the only way to have assurance. And "salvation is of the LORD," as Jonah found out (cf. Jonah 2:9) which means it's God's accomplishment, not man's achievement. We receive faith, we don't achieve it, i.e., we don't conjure it up by ourselves, but it's totally a gift of grace (cf. Acts 18:27; John 6:29; 2 Pet. 1:1). But we must put our faith to work and turn our creed into deeds, for faith is knowledge in action. Keeping the faith only works if it's in Christ!
Rome reduces faith to assent or acquiescence or acknowledgment with the church dogma. Just realizing Christ is God and rose from the dead, if one doesn't put the faith into action, will not save. Believing Christ rose from the dead is history; believing He died for you and rose for you and personalizing this is salvation. By faith Abraham obeyed! True saving faith is a surrendered, substituted, inhabited, relinquished, and even yielded life to the will of God, whereas Christ lives in us through the Holy Spirit's residence--in other words, He owns us because He bought us and redeemed us! We must take a spiritual checkup or spiritual inventory to find out whether we have the Spirit or not and if Christ is living in us--if anyone has not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His and he is reprobate (cf. Romans 8:9). In sum, if we love Jesus we will obey Him (cf. John 14:15) and there is a curse on anyone who doesn't love the Lord (cf. Rom. 16:22)--true faith trusts in Christ as Savior and submits to Him as Lord, as Jesus said, "If you love Me, you will obey My commands." Soli Deo Gloria!
"Through him we have received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from or his Name's sake" (Romans 1:5, NKV).
"... [S]o that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith" (Rom. 16:26,NIV).
Everyone has faith; in what is the question. We are a religious creature made to worship and will worship someone or something if not God, which is idolatry. Dostoevsky said that "man cannot live without worshiping something." We are made for God and can only find our fulfillment in living for Him. But why is man opposed to God when He offers Himself to them? Man is a slave to sin and doesn't want to change his way of life, doing his own thing his way. He doesn't want to submit to authority and grant the ownership of his life to the One who made it. A person of no organized religion may have their faith in the scientific method, that science can solve all our problems--but he is nevertheless a person of faith. And so everyone is a person of faith! We have sound reasons to believe and need not commit intellectual suicide.
Real faith in God is when we go a step beyond so-called story-book faith or head belief and it registers in the heart and we desire to live it out in trust and commitment. We must be obedient to the gospel and to the faith. Saving faith is always accompanied by genuine repentance--they go hand in hand! And we must never divorce faith and faithfulness, for we live by faith and it must grow, not being dead. Dead faith produces no works and that kind of faith cannot save. Good soil produces fruit and saving faith produces the fruit of good works. As the Reformers said, "We are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone." If we have no works, our faith is suspect. James says that faith without works is dead! James 2:18 also says, "I'll show you my faith by my works!" But we are not saved by works, but not without them either. We don't have faith in ourselves or our ability in trying to save ourselves, because it's the object that matters. We must realize that genuine faith expresses itself!
God opens our eyes to have faith, for we are blinded by Satan. He quickens or kindles faith within us by grace and it's not a meritorious work as Rome would have you believe--for then we would be saved by merit or works. We will have nothing to boast of in God's presence. Faith is the work of God but our act. We must put our faith in the right object to be saved, for we don't have faith in faith, but faith in Christ--faith doesn't save, Christ does! But this faith must be penitent as we turn from sin to God and believe in Christ. That's why it may be termed penitent faith or believing repentance that saves. We have believed through grace, a supernatural act of God regenerating us. God grants both repentance and faith as a privilege of being the elect (cf. Acts 5:31; 11:18). He opens the door to faith and repentance (cf. Acts 14:27).
There is a profession of faith and reality of faith, whereas bogus faith is misplaced and insincere. God doesn't ask for perfect faith, only sincere, unfeigned faith (cf. 1 Tim. 1:5; 2 Tim. 1:5). Without faith, we cannot please God (cf. Heb. 11:6). There are people of great faith but it's misplaced (cf. Romans 10:2; Proverbs 19:2)--sincerity matters but it's not everything (you can be sincerely wrong). There are believers in name only or nominal Christians who go through the motions and have memorized the Dance of the Pious. Saving faith is obedient as Bonhoeffer says, "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes." (cf. Romans 16:26; Romans 1:5, Acts 6:7). They shall know we are Christians by our love--the ultimate obedience. That is the litmus test! Faith and obedience are correlated in Heb. 3:17-18, HCSB, as follows: "And who did He swear to that they would not enter His rest, if not those who disobeyed? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief." We desire to obey, even if we fall short of perfection (cf. Matt 5:48).
The faith you have is the faith you show! The rallying cry of the Reformation was that we are saved by faith alone and Rome pronounced anyone anathema that adhered to this doctrine at the Council of Trent (the Counter-Reformation). We are not saved by good works, and faith is not a work, but we are saved unto good works, that we may accomplish the will of God. Works are no substitute for faith, but only evidence of it. In fact, God foreordains good works for us to do for His purposes. We must be saved by grace, for this is the only way to have assurance. And "salvation is of the LORD," as Jonah found out (cf. Jonah 2:9) which means it's God's accomplishment, not man's achievement. We receive faith, we don't achieve it, i.e., we don't conjure it up by ourselves, but it's totally a gift of grace (cf. Acts 18:27; John 6:29; 2 Pet. 1:1). But we must put our faith to work and turn our creed into deeds, for faith is knowledge in action. Keeping the faith only works if it's in Christ!
Rome reduces faith to assent or acquiescence or acknowledgment with the church dogma. Just realizing Christ is God and rose from the dead, if one doesn't put the faith into action, will not save. Believing Christ rose from the dead is history; believing He died for you and rose for you and personalizing this is salvation. By faith Abraham obeyed! True saving faith is a surrendered, substituted, inhabited, relinquished, and even yielded life to the will of God, whereas Christ lives in us through the Holy Spirit's residence--in other words, He owns us because He bought us and redeemed us! We must take a spiritual checkup or spiritual inventory to find out whether we have the Spirit or not and if Christ is living in us--if anyone has not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His and he is reprobate (cf. Romans 8:9). In sum, if we love Jesus we will obey Him (cf. John 14:15) and there is a curse on anyone who doesn't love the Lord (cf. Rom. 16:22)--true faith trusts in Christ as Savior and submits to Him as Lord, as Jesus said, "If you love Me, you will obey My commands." Soli Deo Gloria!
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