The Logos . Net

  Phil 3:9 – And may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. The only righteousness that is acceptable to God is that which comes by faith in Christ. No matter how good or moral or upstanding we may have lived before, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and arrive at the cross in the same lost condition. It is there that we repent, throw ourselves on the mercy of God and receive the gift of salvation and the righteousness of God that comes by faith. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast (Eph 2:8-9). Faith in Christ is the only key by which we gain entrance into the kingdom, and then as we practice an ongoing and abiding faith, Christ sustains us. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written...

  1 Pet 1:7 – That the trial of YOUR faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. The thing that distinguishes a believer from a nonbeliever is the exercise of faith, OUR faith. The thing that keeps the believer secure and anchored in Christ is the ongoing exercise of faith, OUR faith. There is a misguided notion in modern day Christian teaching and theology that the Christian is kept secure by the “faith of Jesus” and that it is no longer dependent on the believer’s ongoing exercise of their own faith. The idea is that it’s “Jesus” faith that holds us and that we should just “trust” in that and not be too concerned about our own exercise of faith. Yet, as the title verse declares, it is the trial of OUR faith that, when proven, brings praise, honour and glory to Christ. It is not Jesus’ faith that is on trial here, it is OUR faith. Jesus’ faith does not n...

  Rom 10:9 – If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. There is great controversy within many Christian circles today about the term “Lordship” salvation. It is centered around the question of whether or not a Christian is required to submit to the “Lordship” of Jesus Christ as an essential element of eternal salvation. There are many today who teach and contend that submission to Jesus Christ as Lord, while good, is not required to secure one’s eternal destiny and that there is indeed a Lordship-“less?” path to heaven. Many that hold this view suggest that to subscribe to a Lordship requirement is to “add” to the Gospel and not rely on faith in Christ “alone” to save us. In this view, “belief” or “faith” only requires a mental agreement with the claims of Christ as savior and verbal consent that you are “trusting in Christ for salvation” to once and forever secure a future spot in heaven.  Th...

  1 Pet 3:12 – For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. This remarkable and pointed statement from the Apostle Peter, which is a direct quote from Psalm 34, comes immediately following a very detailed exhortation from Peter on how the Christian is to live their lives and walk out their faith. He does not mince words but makes it very clear that the protection, blessing and favor of the Lord will be directly tied to how well the Christian practices their faith and follows Him in righteousness, godliness and obedience. In the verse just preceding, addressing the brethren, he states: He must turn from evil and do good, he must seek peace and pursue it (1 Pet 3:11). This truth is not often talked about or effectively communicated in modern day Christian teaching and theology. Oftentimes we are given the idea that as long as we profess Christianity, we are basically exempt from this ...

  Ps 19:7 – The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. Gods law, which is His commands and precepts, has always been, and continues to be, absolutely perfect in every way. Even today, under the new covenant and in the age of grace. We might be tempted to think that Gods law under the old covenant was somehow flawed and deficient and that the new covenant was introduced to “correct” it’s problems, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact Jesus said: Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled (Matt 5:17-18). Jesus went on to strongly rebuke anyone who would break any of the commandments or teach others to do so. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be call...

  Deut 31:6 – Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Here is a wonderful promise from God taken from Deut chapter 31 and repeated in Hebrews 13, that when a person comes to faith in Christ and follows after Him, we never need to fear that He will abandon us or forsake His promised covenant with us. We will never be able to say, I have followed after God, I have devoted myself to him and his ways, but he forsook me and did not keep his promise. If for some reason, after we have come to Christ and committed ourselves to the pursuit of God, we have a sense of distance between ourselves and Him, we can be assured that the source of the problem rests with us, not with Him. It may be simply a lie of the devil, and we need to resist him and draw nigh unto God in full assurance of faith. It may be that we have become complacent in our devotion and have gotten our focus o...

  1 Cor 3:3 – For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? One thing that becomes pretty clear early on in the Apostle Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians is his frustration and concern with the fact that many there had not “grown up” in their Christianity and were stuck in a state of perpetual spiritual infancy.  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ (1 Cor 3:1). Many had made an initial profession of faith and commitment to the Lord, but had not really taken that commitment seriously enough by submitting themselves to the daily work of the Spirit in their lives to transform them and make them new. Or if they did initially submit to the work of the Spirit, somewhere they had veered off course and lost their way.  One of the primary goals of Paul’s first letter to the Church there was to alert them and warn them and t...

  Ps.127:1 – Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it. It’s been distressing lately to read and hear of so many once revered Christian leaders who have fallen in such a surprising and shameful manner. Oftentimes the details of their misdeeds are downright shocking and span years, and sometimes even decades before they are eventually exposed and brought out. As it states in Num 32:23 – You can be sure your sin will find you out! Many such ministers, who maybe once did truly good and useful things for the Lord, end up in complete shipwreck, bringing reproach to the name of Christ and go to their graves in disgrace. Like a house built on the sand, perhaps glorious and impressive from the outside, it all comes tumbling down to nothing. The questions that come to mind are: How could they go on for so long continuing to play the part with such glaring, un-dealt with sin in their lives? How could they delude themselves into thinking the Lord would just overlook th...

  Jn 8:12 – Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Jesus pretty plainly states here that those who follow him shall not walk in darkness. Not “should” not walk in darkness, *shall* not walk in darkness…it is not optional. This is the mark of a person who is truly following Christ, they are absolutely committed to putting off the deeds of darkness and walking in the light.  In Eph 5:8-9 the Apostle Paul says: For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: *walk as children of light:* For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. So this is the question anyone claiming Christianity needs to ask themselves: Is there any darkness in my life, any….at all? Am I dabbling in the deeds of darkness….ever, at any time? Is there any activity that I give myself to, even if it’s only periodically, that I know in my heart and cons...

  Luke 8:17 – For nothing is hidden that shall not become evident, nor anything secret that shall not be known and come to light. A Christian should never have anything that needs to be hidden in their lives, nothing. There should be no regular or even periodic activity in the believers life that they would be ashamed of if it was immediately brought into the light and made manifest before all. There should be no particular sinful behavior that a believer habitually “stumbles” into, even in moments of weakness or of stress. If there is, it must be seriously dealt with, rooted out and forsaken by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us. If a believer continues to return to specific sins, even if it’s only periodically, it simply means that they have not yet seriously dealt with it and forsaken it.  Prov 28:13 – He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth *and forsaketh them* shall have mercy. It is not enough to just confess our sins, they must also be ...

  Rom 7:18 – For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. There is a very popular viewpoint in Christian theology and teaching about the 7th chapter of Romans that the Apostle Paul was conveying, in the current tense, his own ongoing struggle with sin as a believer trying to follow Christ. It is commonly taught that he was lamenting his own failure to actively practice that which he knows to be right and his continual committing of that which he knows to be wrong, in other words, he had an ongoing sin problem. If you take Rom 7 by itself, it may seem like he is implying exactly that, but I believe that is a complete misunderstanding and misguided application of the text. You cannot escape the fact that chapter 7 is sandwiched between chapters 6 and 8 and must be understood in the context of those other chapters. Given that, I think the proper way to read and understand Rom 7 is...

  1 Jn 1:7 – But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. The Apostle John begins his first epistle with a very succinct and clear statement on the necessity of a Christian to “walk in the light”, following the example of Jesus and how He walked during His time on the earth.  1 Jn 1:5-7 – This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. The word used for “walk” specifically refers to how we conduct ourselves and the actions that we take in our day to day life: to live, deport oneself, follow, go, be occupied with, walk (about). John makes it very ...

  God is Love, so his actions are always motivated by that love, even in judgment. In Old Testament times, when he allowed wicked kings to rule over Israel and oppress them, it was for one reason, to humble them and bring them to repentance. When Israel repented and turned back to God, he relented and delivered them from the hands of their oppressors.  When God permits the ungodly to gain power and rule over us, bringing oppression, it is an act of judgment, motivated by his love, to humble us and bring us to repentance. If we, His people, fail to repent and turn back to him, then he will allow the oppression and misery to increase with the same goal in mind, to bring us to repentance and a turning back to him…all motivated by Love. Consider this familiar charge given to Gods people in 2nd Chronicles: If *my* people, which are *called by my name*, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, AND turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgiv...

  2 Pet 1:4 – Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Because of the fall of man under Adam, mankind is by nature subject to the corruption that is in the world through lust. When a person comes to Christ and becomes His disciple, they are freed from that bondage and given power through the Holy Spirit to escape that corruption and become partakers of the divine nature.  This is not just a figurative or “positional” escape, but a real one and must bear the fruit of a changed and transformed life in order to be valid. We do not just get stamped with a label and considered “escaped” irregardless of our behavior as Christians, but are given power by the Holy Spirit and expected to employ the tools given us to actually make that escape. In other words, it is not automatic. It takes a steadfast faith and patience in yielding to the prom...