Pastor Jon's Blog The whole counsel of God from the perspective of a pastor, a church planter, and a blogger....... Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 3967 10 14404

Articles from Pastor Jon's Blog

Romans 7:14 2007-05-30 00:00:00 Romans 7 - The Weakness of the Law Exposed 2. (14) The spiritual law cannot restrain a carnal man. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.a. But I am carnal: The word carnal simply means ?of the flesh.? Paul recognizes that a spiritual law cannot help a carnal man. i. Carnal uses the ancient Greek word sarkikos, which means, ?characterized by the flesh.? It speaks of the person who can and should do differently but does not. Paul sees this carnality in himself, and knows that the law, though it is spiritual, has no answer for his carnal nature. b. Sold under sin: Paul is in bondage under sin and the law can?t help him out. He is like a man arrested for a crime and thrown in jail. The law will only help him if he is innocent, but Paul knows that he is guilty and that the law argues against him, not for him. c. Even though Paul says that he is carnal, it doesn?t mean that he is not a Christian. His awareness of his carnality is evidence that God has ...

Romans 7:13 2007-05-29 00:00:00 Romans 7 - The Weakness of the Law Exposed C. The purpose and character of the law. 1. (13) The law exposes and magnifies sin. Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. a. Sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good: Though the law provokes our sin nature, this can be used for good because it more dramatically exposes our deep sinfulness. After all, if sin can use something as good as the law to its advantage in promoting evil, it shows how evil sin is. i. We need sin to appear sin, because it always wants to hide in us and conceal its true depths and strength. ?This is one of the most deplorable results of sin. It injures us most by taking from us the capacity to know how much we are injured. It undermines the man?s constitution, and yet leads him to boast of unfailing health; it be ...

Romans 7:10-12 2007-05-28 00:00:00 Romans 7 - The Weakness of the Law Exposed The audio for Romans 7:1-12 is posted at Springfield Calvary. 5. (10-12) Sin corrupts the law and defeats its purpose of giving life; once law is corrupted by sin, it brings death. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. a. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death: Sin does this by deception. Sin deceives us: · Because sin falsely promises satisfaction · Because sin falsely claims an adequate excuse · Because sin falsely promises an escape from punishment b. For sin . . . deceived me: It isn?t the law that deceives us, but it is sin that uses the law as an occasion for rebellion. This is why Jesus said you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:32) The truth makes us free from the deceptions of sin. c. And ...

Sunday Quotes 05.27.07 2007-05-27 05:00:00 "The more you invest in a marriage, the more valuable it becomes." -- Amy Grant When Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross, it was not the blood of a martyr; or the blood of one man for another; it was the life of God poured out to redeem the world. -- Oswald Chambers Obstacles are those frightening things you see when you take your eyes off the Lord. It is not more preaching that is needed, but more gospel in the lives of Christians. ? Unknown Accustom yourself gradually to carry Prayer into all your daily occupation -- speak, act, work in peace, as if you were in prayer, as indeed you ought to be. -- François Fénelon The character of the branches is determined by the vine. Yet certain Christians are seeking experiences as experiences. -- Watchman Nee <:))))><< ...

Romans 7:9 2007-05-27 00:00:00 Romans 7 - The Weakness of the Law Exposed The audio for Romans 7:1-12 is posted at Springfield Calvary. 4. (9) Paul?s state of innocence before he knew the law. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.a. I was alive once without the law: Children can be innocent before they know or understand what law requires. This is what Paul refers to when he says I was alive once without the law. i. ?He is not alive with the life that the New Testament writers so often speak about. He is alive in the sense that he has never been put to death as a result of confrontation with the law.? (Morris) ii. ?He was quite secure amid all his sin and sinfulness. He lived in the sense that the deathblow had not yet killed him. He sat secure in the house of his ignorance like a man living on a volcano and thought that all was well.? (Lenski) b. But when the commandment came, sin revived and I died: But when we do know the law, the law shows us our guilt an ...

Romans 7:8 2007-05-26 00:00:00 Romans 7 - The Weakness of the Law Exposed The audio for Romans 7:1-12 is posted at Springfield Calvary. 3. (8) Sin corrupts the commandment (law). But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.a. But sin, taking opportunity by the commandments: Paul describes the dynamic where the warning ?don?t do that? may become a call to action because of our sinful, rebellious hearts. It isn?t the fault of the commandment, but it is our fault. i. In his book Confessions, the great theologian of the ancient church Augustine described how this dynamic worked in his life as a young man: ?There was a pear tree near our vineyard, laden with fruit. One stormy night we rascally youths set out to rob it and carry our spoils away. We took off a huge load of pears - not to feast upon ourselves, but to throw them to the pigs, though we ate just enough to have the pleasure of forbidden fruit. They were nice pears, but it was ...

Romans 7:7 2007-05-25 00:00:00 Romans 7 - The Weakness of the Law Exposed The audio for Romans 7:1-12 is posted at Springfield Calvary. B. Our problem with God?s perfect law. 1. (7a) Paul asks: Is the law (equal to) sin? What shall we say then? Is the law sin?a. Is the law sin? If we follow his train of thought we can understand how someone could infer this. Paul insisted that we must die to the law if we will bear fruit to God. Someone must think, ?Surely there is something wrong with the law!? 2. (7b) No, the law is good because it reveals sin to us. Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ?You shall not covet.? a. I would not have known sin except through the law: The law is like an x-ray machine; it reveals plainly what might have always been there, but was hidden before. You can?t blame an x-ray for what it exposes. b. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ?You shall no ...

Standing Watch 2007-05-24 06:00:00 Hospital Waiting A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside. "Your son is here," she said to the old man. She had to repeat the words several times before the patient's eyes opened. Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement. The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night, the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man's hand and offering him words of love and strength. Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile. He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchangi ...

Romans 7:6 2007-05-24 00:00:00 Romans 7 - The Weakness of the Law Exposed The audio for Romans 7:1-12 is posted at Springfield Calvary. 4. (6) Delivered from the law. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.a. But now we have been delivered from the law: The theme of Romans 7:1-5 is summarized. Because we died with Jesus at Calvary, we are dead to the law and delivered from its dominion over us as a principle of justification or of sanctification. i. The law does not justify us; it does not make us right with God. The law does not sanctify us; it does not take us deeper with God and make us more holy before Him. b. So that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit: Our freedom is given not so we can stop serving God; but so that we can serve Him better, under the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. c. How well do you serve in the newness of the Spirit? ...

Romans 7:5 2007-05-23 00:00:00 Romans 7 - The Weakness of the Law Exposed The audio for Romans 7:1-12 is posted at Springfield Calvary. 3. (5) The problem with the law. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.a. When we were in the flesh: Under the law, we did not bear fruit to God. Instead we bore fruit to death, because the law aroused the passions of sins within us. b. Paul will explain this problem of the law more fully in Romans 7:7-14. But now we see his point - that we only come fully to the place of bearing fruit for God when we are free from the law. Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is taken from the New King Translation of the Bible<:))))><< ...

Practical Holiness by J.C. Ryle 2007-05-22 14:24:11 Iron Sharpens Iron blog has begun a series of posts from J.C. Ryle entitled Practical Holiness. Good reading. Good application as well. Check it out!<:))))><< ...

Romans 7:4 2007-05-22 00:00:00 The audio for Romans 7:1-12 is posted at Springfield Calvary. 2. (4) Our death with Jesus sets us free from the law. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another; to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.a. You also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ: In Romans 6:3-8, Paul carefully explained that we died with Jesus and we also rose with Him, although Paul there only spoke of our death to sin. Now he explains that we also died to the law. i. Some might think, ?Yes, we were saved by grace, but we must live by law to please God.? Here Paul makes it plain that believers are dead to the law as far as it represents a principle of living or a place of right standing before God. ii. ?Believers are through with the law. It is not for them an option as a way of salvation. They do not seek to be right with God by obeying some form of law, as the adherents of a ...

Romans 7:1-3 2007-05-21 00:00:00 Romans 7 - The Weakness of the Law Exposed A. Dead to the Law. 1. (1-3) The law has authority only over the living. Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.a. In Romans 6:14, Paul told us that sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. After the discussion in Romans 6:15-23 regarding practical implications of this, he now explains more completely how it is that we are no longer under the dominion of the law. b. That law has dominion over a man the: The ancient Greek wording here has no the bef ...

Sunday Quotes 05.20.07 2007-05-20 05:00:00 Whenever a man is ready to uncover his sins, God is always ready to cover them. -- Author Unknown "Do not be afraid. Do not be satisfied with mediocrity. Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." -- John Paul II, pope "We are not saved by faith plus works, but by a faith that works." - Unknown "In all cases, the church is to be judged by the Scripture, not the Scripture by the church." - John Wesley "I believe in order to understand." - Augustine "Never doubt in the darkness what God has shown you in the light." - Unknown <:))))><< ...

1 Thessalonians 4:12 2007-05-20 00:00:00 1 Thessalonians 4 - Confidence in the Coming of Jesus 3. (12) We should live a life that is an example, lacking nothing. That you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.   a. That you may walk properly toward those who are outside: When we combine the love of our brothers with work, we walk properly. People who are not yet Christians (those who are outside) will see our example and be influenced to become followers of Jesus. i. Hiebert on properly: ?Means, ?in good form, decorously, in an honorable manner, so as to cause no offense.? Believers can never be indifferent to the impact produced by their example.? b. And that you may lack nothing: Paul completes the thought he began in 1 Thessalonians 3:10 (that we may see your face and perfect what is lacking in your faith). If they followed his teaching and example, they would lack nothing and come to the place of genuine Christian maturity. Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is taken f ...