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Articles from Pastor Jon's Blog

Romans 9:27-29 2007-11-03 00:00:00 Romans 9 - Has God Rejected Israel? 8. (27-29) Isaiah (in Isaiah 10:23 and 1:9) declares God’s right to choose a remnant among Israel for salvation. Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved. For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.” And as Isaiah said before: “Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom , and we would have been made like Gomorrah."  a. The remnant will be saved: God has always dealt with a remnant.  “It was stupid to think that, since the whole nation had not entered the blessing, the promise of God had failed.  The promise had not been made to the whole nation and had never been intended to apply to the whole nation.” (Morris) b. “But if only a remnant will survive, at least a remnant will survive, and constitute ...

Romans 9:22-26 2007-11-02 00:00:00 Romans 9 - Has God Rejected Israel? 6. (22-24) Doesn’t God have the right to glorify Himself as He sees fit? What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? a. What if God: Again, the same principle from God’s dealing with Pharaoh is repeated.  If God chooses to glorify Himself through letting people go their own way and letting them righteously receive His wrath so as to make His power known, who can oppose Him? b. He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy: As well, if God desires to be more than fair with others, showing them His mercy, who can oppose Him? c. But also of the Gentiles: And if God wants to show mercy to the Gentiles as well as the Jews (of c ...

Romans 9:19-21 2007-11-01 00:00:00 Romans 9 - Has God Rejected Israel ? 5. (19-21) Does the sovereign right of God to choose relieve man of responsibility? You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? a. You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault?  For who has resisted His will?”  Paul imagines someone asking, “If it is all a matter of God’s choice, then how can God find fault with me?  How can anyone go against God’s choice?” b. Indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God?  Paul replies by showing how disrespectful such a question is; if God says He chooses, and if God also says that we are responsible before Him, who are we to question Him? c. Does not the potter ...

1 John 2:17 2007-10-31 00:00:00 1 John 2 - Hindrances to Fellowship with God 3. (17) The folly of worldliness. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. a. The folly of worldliness is clear: it invests our selves into that which cannot last, because the world is passing away.  As we saw with the example of the tower of Babel, the world never wins out against God, though by all appearances it does! i. The world is passing away. It is not a prayer, not a wish, and not a spiritual sounding desire.  It is a fact.  The world is passing away, and we must live our lives and think our thoughts aware of this fact! b. The life of Lot in Genesis chapters 13, 14, and 19 shows the true folly of worldliness. Lot attached himself to a true spiritual man, named Abraham.  Yet he was selfish and chose for himself what seemed the most lucrative, without considering the spiritual implications of what he was doing.  He became financially prospe ...

1 John:16 2007-10-30 00:00:00 1 John 2 - Hindrances to Fellowship with God 2. (16) The character of the world. For all that is in the world; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; is not of the Father but is of the world. a. The character of the world expresses itself through the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - and these lusts seek to draw our own flesh away into sin and worldliness. i. The idea behind the pride of life is someone who lives for superiority over others, mostly by impressing others through outward appearances - even if by deception. ii. To get an idea of how the world works, think of the commercials you most commonly remember.  Don’t they make a powerful appeal to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life?  The average beer commercial boldly appeals to all three! b. In listing these aspects of the world, John may have in mind the first pursuit of worldliness: Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3 ...

1 John:15 2007-10-29 00:00:00 1 John 2 - Hindrances to Fellowship with God C. An attack on our relationship with God: worldliness. 1. (15) The problem of worldliness. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. a. John has told us that if we walk in sin’s darkness, and claim to be in fellowship with God, we are lying (1 John 1:6).  Now, John will point out a specific area of sin that especially threatens our fellowship with God: worldliness, to love the world. b. The world, in the sense John means it here, is not the global earth; nor is it the mass of humanity (which God Himself loves, John  3:16).  Instead it is the community of sinful humanity which is united in rebellion against God. i. One of the first examples of this idea of the world in the Bible helps us to understand this point.  Genesis 11 speaks of human society’s united rebellion against God at the tower of Babel. At the tower of Babel, there w ...

Romans 9:17-18 2007-10-28 00:00:00 Romans 9 - Has God Rejected Israel? 4. (17-18) The example of Pharaoh. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. a. The Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up: God allowed the Pharaoh of Moses’ day to arise to power so that God could show the strength of His judgment against him, and thereby glorify Himself. b. Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens: Sometimes God will glorify Himself through showing mercy; sometimes God will glorify Himself through a man’s hardness. i. We should not think that God persuaded an unwilling, kind-hearted Pharaoh to be hard towards God and His people.  In hardening the heart of Pharaoh, God simply allowed his heart to pursue its natural inclination. c. We know that Pharaoh did har ...

Sunday Quotes 10.28.07 2007-10-28 00:00:00 "You and I talk about unlimited wealth, but there's no such thing; you can count it. We talk about boundless energy---which I don't feel that I have at the moment---but there's no such thing; you can measure a man's energy. We say an artist takes infinite pains with his picture. But he doesn't take infinite pains; he just does the best he can and then throws up his hands and says, 'It isn't right yet, but I'll have to let it go.' That's what we call infinite pains. "But that is a misuse of the words 'boundless,' 'unlimited' and 'infinite.' These words describe God---they don't describe anything but God. They do not describe space or time or matter or motion or energy; these words do not apply to creatures or sand or stars or anything that can be measured. ". . . . There is nothing boundless but God and nothing infinite but God. God is self-existent and absolute; everything else is contingent and relative. There is nothing very big and nothing very wis ...

Romans 9:14-16 2007-10-27 00:00:00 Romans 9 - Has God Rejected Israel? 3. (14-16) Does God’s choosing one over another make God unrighteous? What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. a. Paul answers this question strongly: Certainly not!  God has clearly declared His right to give mercy to whomever He pleases in Exodus 33:19. b. I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy: Remember what mercy is.  Mercy is not getting what we do deserve.  God is never less than fair with anyone, but fully reserves the right to be more than fair with individuals as He chooses. i. Jesus spoke of this right of God in the parable of the landowner in Matthew 20:1-16. ii. We are in a dangerous place when we regard God’s mercy towards us as our right; if G ...

1 John 2:14b 2007-10-26 00:00:00 1 John 2 - Hindrances to Fellowship with God 6. (14b) Young men: They are strong and know spiritual victory. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one. a. Again, the repetition of the idea indicates emphasis; not only have the young men . . . overcome the wicked one, but they have done it through the strength that comes to them through the word of God - God’s word is our source of spiritual strength. i. Do you consider yourself one of the young men spiritually?  Then are you strong?  Are you putting your strength to some spiritual use?  Do you resent that your strength is tested and developed by God? b. The word of God abides in you: These young men, who had gained some measure of spiritual maturity, were known by the fact that God’s word lived in them.  The word of God had made itself at home in their hearts. Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is taken from the Ne ...

1 John 2:14a 2007-10-26 00:00:00 1 John 2 - Hindrances to Fellowship with God 5. (14a) Fathers: They have an experiential knowledge of Jesus Christ. I have written to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. a. The repetition of the same idea from 14a shows that it should be emphasized; the relationship with Jesus Christ that people at this stage of spiritual growth have is both true and deep. b. Sometimes we might think, “well, isn’t there more?  It’s fine for these fathers to know Jesus, but shouldn’t they go beyond?”  There is no beyond! i. Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, could say that he counted all his previous spiritual achievements as rubbish, compared to the surpassing greatness of just knowing Jesus.  That I may know Him is the powerful way Paul phrased it in Philippians 3:10. Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is taken from the New King James translation of the Bible.<:))))><< ...

1 John 2:13c 2007-10-25 00:00:00 1 John 2 - Hindrances to Fellowship with God 4. (13c) Little children: They know the Father. I write to you, little children, Because you have known the Father. a. In this first stage of spiritual growth, we sink our roots deep in the Fatherly love and care of God; we know Him as our caring Father, and see ourselves as His dependent children. i. “And do you not glory in him?  Little children when they begin to talk, and go to school, how proud they are of their father! Their father is the greatest man that ever lived: there never was the like of him.  You may talk to them of great statesmen, or great warriors, or great princes, but these are all nobodies: their father fills the whole horizon of their being.  Well, so it certainly is with us and our Father God.” (Spurgeon) b. John uses different words for little children in verses 12 and 13 (teknia and paidia, respectively).  Teknia has more of an emphasis on a child’s relationship of dependence on a p ...

1 John 2:13b 2007-10-24 00:00:00 1 John 2 - Hindrances to Fellowship with God 3. (13b) Young men: They have known spiritual victory. I write to you, young men, Because you have overcome the wicked one. a. As much as there are little children and fathers, so also there are young men.  These are men and women who are no longer little children, but still not yet fathers.  They are to be the “front-line” of God’s work among His people. b. They are engaged in battle with the wicked one.  We don’t send our little children out to war, and we don’t send our old men to the front lines.  The greatest effort, the greatest cost, and the greatest strength is expected of the young men. i. For this reason, many have sought to stay in spiritual childhood as long as possible.  This is wrong!  It’s like being a draft-dodger or a vagrant.  We expect children to not fight in wars, and to be supported by others, but we don’t expect it of adults. c. These young men have overcome th ...

1 John 2:13a 2007-10-23 00:00:00 1 John 2 - Hindrances to Fellowship with God 2. (13a) Fathers: They have an experiential knowledge of Jesus Christ. I write to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. a. Just as surely as there are little children, there are also fathers.  Men and women of deep, long spiritual standing.  The kind of walk with God that doesn’t come overnight. These are like great oak trees in the Lord, that have grown big and strong through the years. b. You have known Him: This is what spiritual maturity has its roots in; not so much in an intellectual knowledge (though that is a part of it), but more so in the depth of fellowship and relationship we have with Jesus.  There is no substitute for years and years of an experiential relationship with Jesus. Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is taken from the New King James translation of the Bible.<:))))><< ...

1 John 2:12 2007-10-22 00:00:00 1 John 2 - Hindrances to Fellowship with God B. John addresses his readers according to the measure of spiritual maturity. 1. (12) Little children: Their sins are forgiven. I write to you, little children, Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.a. We all begin the Christian life as little children; and for when we are in this state spiritually, it is enough for us to know and be amazed at the forgiveness of our sins and all it took for God to forgive us righteously in Jesus Christ. b. Do we really rest in, and rejoice in, the fact that your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake? If we don’t, then something is wrong.  Probably, we don’t see the badness of our sin and the greatness of His forgiveness.  When we see how great our sin is, and how great the cost was to gain us forgiveness, we are obsessed with gratitude at having been forgiven! c. But this forgiveness is the special joy of God’s little children, because God’s forgiveness doe ...