May - Reading 20

Good evening. I'm sorry I'm so late with this posting. Today's Scriptures were:

Mark 14:66-72

Galatians 3:15-29

Psalm 113

2 Samuel 14-15

May God bless us all as we continue reading from His Word.

[ May 20, 2002, 09:17 PM: Message edited by: Clint Kritzer ]

 

Good evening once again -

Tonight in 2Samuel we read of the return of Absalom to Jerusalem. Joab uses a fabricated story on David in the form of a "play" with the old woman much like Nathan used a "fable" to get David to see his wrongs by analogy. Afterwards, David relents and allows Absalom's return. There is a bit of a miscongruency in Joab's morality play, however. The scene that the old woman portrays is one of battle whereas Absalom's murder of Amnon was a definite case of premeditation.
Absalom upon his return is described as a kingly figure but when he demands to see David (the king) he shows only defiance and no remorse. His character is finally revealed in his deceptive swayng of the Israelites that come to see David for judgement. At his first opportunity he assembles a band of loyals and David takes flight, leaving behind ten concubines. This action will allow more of Nathan's prophecy from chapter 12 to occur. Another point of note here is David's admirable behavior in his flight. He both sends the Ark back to Jerusalem knowing that God's presence must be among the people no matter who is king and he gives Ittai an "out" but the Gittite proclaims his loyalty for David.

We also read the most heartbreaking account of the Gospels, IMO, as accounted to us by Mark. Peter's denial is such an anguish inducing passage. Peter was a man of highs and lows. The same man who had all but screamed "YOU ARE THE CHRIST" now denies Him three times. Peter must have carried that to the grave with him.

In Galatians Paul continues to build upon his lesson of a justification by faith citing the example of Abraham's justification through his covenant with God. Paul states that the covenant promised Abraham in Genesis 17 was the "stop gap" until the Seed (Christ) would come and fulfill the law. In essence, through Christ we all become the children of Abraham and thus the heirs to the Kingdom.

May God bless you

- Clint

 

Sunday School lecture, 6/22/03 (continued)

Now I want to jump ahead a bit, using this picture, to show the difference in Justification and Sanctification and how so many theologians corrupt this picture and become legalists, false brothers.

Every element of this picture of Justification shows it to be an Act of God!, impossible to earn or deserve, and based solely on the Promise of God. Once the believer has attained this Justification, the Holy Spirit begins to inhabit the believer, what we often refer to as the “indwelling of the Holy Spirit,” or as Paul states in 2:20 “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me,” Paul, in fact, mentions the Holy Spirit a total of 17 times from chapter 3 to the end of the Book. Once the Holy Spirit fills the person, they are saved! Period. We have established that faith in Christ resulting from the call of the Holy Spirit Justifies us and that the Spirit is not going to occupy a person without faith (since sin can not exist in the presence of God). Faith in Christ allows this indwelling. Remember, before salvation (the rejoining of man to God) can occur, sin must be removed. Therefore, faith in Christ removes sin and allows God, the Spirit, access to the individual. In turn, the Justified man is worthy of Grace.

Paul then gives the example of Abraham, a pre-Law figure, to show that Abraham was blessed BEFORE circumcision, equating God’s blessing to Justification, an undeserved merit which even a man like Abraham was unworthy to receive. It is likely that Paul chose Abraham for this example (“Consider Abraham”) because it was this exact same figure to whom the Judaizers pointed. Paul shows that the picture of Justification is exactly the same for Abraham as for the Christian believer. God “proclaimed the Gospel” to Abraham, that is to say the life, teachings, death, resurrection, and Ascension of Christ. He did so in the phrase found in Genesis 12:3, “all nations will be blessed through you.” Therefore, Abraham had faith in the Gospel, which is Christ, and this brought him to a state of Justification.

We are now set for Sanctification. Sanctification is the act of being made holy. Sanctification is also an Act of God. There is nothing that man can do to make himself holy, he must rely on God, the indwelling Spirit to accomplish this. There is not one thing that man can do that will accomplish this goal except to surrender to the Spirit’s direction. This is, again, the role of free will.

It is at this point that so many other schools of theological thought derail and become legalistic. It is why Galatians is a cornerstone in Protestant Reformation theology and is indeed the basis for a large part of Baptist doctrine.

This surrender under the direction of the Holy Spirit is what Sanctifies us. The person is already saved, thus these works that we perform: baptism, Lord’s Supper, good deeds, giving money to the church, etc. are being done by one who is already saved. The acts do not save! They are acts of obedience to the indwelling Spirit, manifestations of the indwelling Spirit, what Paul will call “fruits” in chapter 5 and what James will call “works” in the next session of our quarterly. See figure 3



If Sister Joan is convicted by the indwelling Spirit that wearing only dresses is necessary for her own sanctification, then by all means, Sister Joan should wear only dresses! The line is crossed when Sister Joan tries to enforce her convictions on another by saying that she must also wear only dresses to receive God’s Grace. She has now begun to “boast” as Paul states in Ephesians 2:8-9 and in doing so has become legalistic. Joan wearing dresses does not make her worthy, Christ makes her worthy. Wearing dresses does not make her holy, following the guidance of the Spirit in her life makes her holy! This guidance of the Holy Spirit is the basis of what we as Baptists call “soul competency” and the failure to recognize this directive from the Spirit is why Paul called the Galatians “foolish.”

Legalism will always be a threat to the Christian Body because it is rooted in the flesh, that is to say, in man’s pride. The unjustified man, who does not respond to the call of the Spirit, will always seek to gain Justification apart from Christ, a human impossibility, just as it was under the Law. Legalism, attempted justification through works, is the world’s religion, not Christ’s.

 

The Scriptures for May 21 are:

Mark 15:1-15

Galatians 4:1-20

Psalm 114

2 Samuel 16-17

 

The Scriptures for May 21 are:

Mark 15:1-15

Galatians 4:1-20

Psalm 114

2 Samuel 16-17

 

The Scriptures for May 21 are:

Mark 15:1-15

Galatians 4:1-20

Psalm 114

2 Samuel 16-17

 

The Scriptures for May 21 are:

Mark 15:1-15

Galatians 4:1-20

Psalm 114

2 Samuel 16-17

 

The Scriptures for May 21 are:

Mark 15:1-15

Galatians 4:1-20

Psalm 114

2 Samuel 16-17