For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
— Romans 1:21
Probably we all have wondered at some time or another why our gardens do not produce red tomatoes and yellow corn and green beans without great care and cultivation on our part. Left to themselves, our garden plots will bring forth their own crops of weeds, thistles and briars. This they will do without any help from anyone. Why? Because the world has been upside down since Adam?s fall. God had to say to Adam,
Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, . . . By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food. . . . (Genesis 3:17–18). We are grateful to God for the historical insights of Genesis 3. Adam and Eve fell from their first holy and lofty estate, sinning by transgressing the Word of their God. That is a statement of fact. But even without the inspired record, we know that the progeny of those first parents are sinners. It is a self-demonstrating truth. The news in our morning paper is proof enough. Hatred is everywhere. Greed surrounds us. Pride and arrogance and violence rule our race. The issue is murder, war and a long list of continuing offenses against one another and against God.
thought
Turning to God opens us to light and life. Turning from Him brings darkness and judgment. It is a choice God gives us within the parameters of His omnipotence. What and who are we choosing today?
prayer
Thank You, Lord, for Your grace and patience and love! Today and tomorrow I would choose You.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name ["name" is singular] of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit . . .
— Matthew 28:19
When Jesus was to launch His earthly ministry, He went to John at the Jordan River to be baptized. The record speaks of the Trinity?s involvement. As Jesus stood on the bank of the river following His baptism, the Holy Spirit descended as a dove upon Him and the voice of God the Father was heard from heaven saying "This is my Son, whom I love." Similar references remind us of the Trinity?s involvement in the glory of Christ's resurrection. During His ministry, Jesus spoke of His coming death. "Destroy this temple," Jesus said, referring to His body, "and I will raise it again in three days." Jesus also declared that the Father would raise Him up on the third day.
We are accustomed to saying that the Father raised Jesus from the dead. But in Romans 1 we read that the Spirit of God declared Jesus to be the Son of God with power "by his resurrection from the dead." Throughout the Bible record, we have the ever-recurring instances of the persons of the Godhead, the Trinity, working together in perfect harmony. I rejoice in the scriptural assurances of the ministries of the holy Trinity. But I know there are many who confess to problems with the concept of and the teaching concerning the thought
"For there is one Person of the Father: another of the Son: and another of the Holy Spirit. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Spirit, is all one: the Glory equal; the Majesty coeternal" (Athanasian Creed).
prayer
O Lord, increase my understanding of You, the One God in Three Persons, each deeply involved in the salvation of humankind yet with differing roles.Trinity. If we are going to grasp and appreciate this truth, it will mean diligence on our part. We may need to "pull the weeds" in order that the truth will have soil in which to mature.
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'
— Matthew 3:16–17
Hebrews 9:14 informs us that Christ, who is God the Son through the divine Spirit, offered Himself to God, the heavenly Father. Thus we have in the act of redemption the involvement of the Trinity, the Godhead. Keep in mind that the persons of the Godhead cannot fulfill their ministries separately. We may think of them separately, but they can never be separated. The early church fathers recognized this wholeness of God's person. They said we must not divide the substance of the Trinity, though we recognize the three persons. Critics often have declared that the Bible contradicts itself in matters relating to the Trinity.
For example, Genesis speaks of God creating the heavens and the earth. The New Testament declares that the Word—God the Son—created all things. Still other references speak of the Holy Spirit?s work in creation. These are not contradictions. Father, Son and Spirit worked together in the miracles of creation, just as they worked together in the planning and effecting of human redemption. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are consubstantial—going back to the statement of the early church fathers. They are one in substance and cannot be separated.
thought
One definition of the Trinity is this: "God eternally exists as Three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God and there is one God" (Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology, 226).
prayer
Forgive me, O God, for departmentalizing You. You are three persons each fully God but You are one God.
He [Jesus] replied, 'Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.'
— Luke 11:28
am reminded that one old saint was asked, "Which is the more important: reading God's Word or praying?" To which he replied, "Which is more important to a bird: the right wing or the left?" The writer to the Hebrews was telling his readers—and telling us—that Christians must believe all there is to be believed. They are to do all that the Word commands them to do. Those two wings take the Christian up to God! I sense a spirit of independence, if not rebellion, in the believer who states, "I am not going to bother with the doctrines and the teachings. I am just going to lean back and enjoy Jesus!" It is the path of least resistance.
Although I do not wish to scold anyone at this point, it is where many Christians need proper encouragement and godly example. God has purposefully given us a mental capacity with wide human boundaries. Beyond that, if we are justified, regenerated believers, He has given us an entirely new spiritual capacity. God wants us to believe, to think, to meditate, to consider His Word. He has promised that the Holy Spirit is waiting to teach us. He has assured us concerning all of our blessings in Jesus Christ.
thought
Hearing what God is saying in His Word and obeying it is the way we grow in Christ. To choose what we will obey is not an option! The Spirit teaches those whodo the Word, not just hear it.
prayer
O Lord, may I be a doer of the Word, not a hearer only.
For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel.
— Ezra 7:10
There . . . is no ground for a thoughtful, thankful believer to deny that his or her salvation was wrought by the same eternal Trinity—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is the whole emphasis of Hebrews 9:14. And it is what I want to emphasize, too. None of us can ever be fully pleasing to God if we are not willing to be well taught in His Word. I want to be sure that we know what being well taught in the Word means. It does not refer to being well taught in religion. Rather, it is being well taught in the basic concepts necessary to the Christian faith. One of these basic concepts is the insistence that the crowning achievement of New Testament revelation is the implantation within a believer of a force that impels him or her to act righteously.
God has promised this as confirmation that He is able to purge the human conscience from dead religious works, freeing the believer to serve the living God in joy and victory regardless of his or her circumstances in life. The writer was not suggesting that these early Hebrew Christians, in a time of crisis, lean on religious forms or depend on religious practices. He stressed their need to grasp what God had done for them in a New Covenant centered in Jesus Christ, Savior and Messiah.
thought
Ezra provides us with a superb model. He devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD, and to teaching its decrees. Commitment both to diligent study of the Word and to living it equips one to effectively teach the Word.
prayer
Deliver me, Father, from an obligatory or superstitious study of Your Word. May I seriously study it in order to practice it.
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unbleminshed to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God.
— Hebrews 9:14
A person cannot be a Christian and deny that the living God has revealed Himself to our sinful race as the sovereign Father, the eternal Son and the faithful Spirit. Yet some professing Christians are so selfishly intrigued by their own expressions of "following Jesus" that they seem unaware that their lives are daily dependent on the promised ministration of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For such as these—and actually for all of us in the Christian faith—the writer of the letter to the Hebrews has set forth a compelling and revealing truth: "Christ . . . Through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God" (Hebrews 9:14). How do we effectively teach this to our "babes in Christ" who are prone to say, "I like what I know about Jesus. Surely it is not necessary for me to go beyond that." Our best answer, of course, is a simple statement of Christian doctrine: The Bible makes it plain that the redemption of our lost race was effected on our behalf by the eternal Trinity—God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We cannot overestimate the full significance of that statement in terms of our redemption and God's atoning work.
thought
Recognition that all members of the Trinity were closely involved in the provision of our redemption is acknowledged in the words attributed to Ignace Franz: "Holy Father, Holy Son, Holy Spirit—Three we name Thee; though in essence only one, undivided God we claim Thee, and adoring bend the knee while we sing our praise to Thee."
prayer
I worship You, O God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
— Psalm 18:2
It is fitting that I close this chapter with a word of testimony. I trust it will be helpful. I came to Christ and was converted when I was 17. My testimony was just as dull as it is possible for a testimony to be. I had never been in jail. I did not use tobacco in any form. I did not know anything about the use of drugs. I had never taken to any kind of strong drink. I had never deserted my wife—I had never been married! If you have seen me in later life, you might not believe it, but I was a healthy, red-cheeked young man at the time the Lord found me. There were some who considered me good looking.
We had neighbors who said, "Aiden is a fine boy!" If I had had to get up and tell people what I was saved from, in the eyes of the curious world my testimony would not have been worth two lines of type. But I was a sinner in the sight of God and I have found Him faithful. What I was saved to is much more important than what I was saved from. I have had a lifetime of telling and retelling everyone around me of the goodness, kindness, mercy and grace of God. He has saved me to the uttermost. He guarantees an eternity of fellowship and rejoicing with our Lord Jesus Christ and the redeemed family of God. If you are doubtful or hesitant, I can only say: Do not make the mistake of trying to match your time on earth against the eternity that is your endless future. No matter who you are, all of your past is time; your future is eternity. On Christ the solid rock you stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
thought
He is our rock, our fortress, our deliverer. All other ground is sinking sand. It doesn't matter how filthy the mire or how deep or how long we have wallowed in it. Once we come to Christ we are on solid ground!
prayer
O Lord, once I have come to You it no longer matters what I have come from. What matters eternally is the one to whom I have come and the life I now have in You.
Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.
— Psalm 32:1–2
Our Lord has given an invitation that excludes no one. "Whoever" is as broad as the human race. I do not believe God is concerned at all about where we have come from. He is concerned with where we are going. The decision we have made to go where we are going—to be with God forever—is what pleases Him and causes the angels to rejoice. Some Christian workers have made an entire career of dwelling on the negative aspects of the human, sinful life—"from the uttermost." "Let me tell you what a hopeless drunkard I was!" "Attend the services and let me share what it is like to be a helpless drug addict!"
"Come and let me relate the awful, tragic time in my past when I was a good-for-nothing wife-beater!" It is a gracious thing that God does for us in His mercy and love when we are forgiven, regenerated and converted. It is indeed a new birth! God saves us from what we were, whatever it was. But He expects us to spend the rest of our lives praising Him, telling about the wonders of Christ and His salvation. He wants us to spread the good news of the great eternal future He has planned for us. He wants us to tell others of the eternal habitation He is preparing for all who love and obey Him.
thought
The slightest sin condemns eternally unless by faith Christ's sacrifice is appropriated. Degrees of sin are not an issue. Spiritual transformation is a miracle no matter what our background.
prayer
Thank You for forgiving my sins, Lord, all of them.
Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
— Hebrews 7:25
How different is our vision of Jesus Christ from that of the ones who put Him to death, saying, That is the end of him! Our vision is of a risen, victorious, all-powerful and all-wise High Priest. Quietly, triumphantly He pleads the worth and value of His own life and blood for the preservation and victory of God?s believing children. Just consider, if you will, the gracious implications of God's guarantee. He declares in His Word that Jesus, our Savior and Mediator, "is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them." The King James translation reads "is able to save to the uttermost." There have been preachers who changed the preposition to and made it from. They preached a salvation with emphasis on what the individual sinner is saved from. I heartily disagree with that emphasis!
thought
The phrase translated "completely" is used only once elsewhere in the New Testament. Whatever our need, Christ is able now to save completely, entirely, utterly if we come to God through Him—with final culmination yet in the future.
prayer
Yours is the power, Lord, to save me completely. It is for me to surrender myself fully to You that I might experience salvation completeness.