“ Knock knock.”
“Who’s there?” said the man within
“One little sin” came the reply
“Slip in” said the man
All hell walked in
— Reddit Andrews III in “Glory Road: The Journeys of 10 African Americans into Reformed Christianity
….what kind of an ungracious Pharisee was I? Looking back on my life, even that as a Christian I realise I had such a bad understanding of grace. I THANK GOD every day for that grace that was showed to me. What an incredible thing to be forgiven, and what a joy to keep on learning new depths of that forgiveness every day!
apolytrosis - redemption
hilasterion - propitiation
endeixis - demonstration
Romans 3:24 - 26
“…. redemption of sinners, a propitiation of God’s wrath and a demonstration of his justice” BST Romans - John Stott (1994)
- Is Spiritual - established by God though the Holy Spirit (1 John 4:13)
- Is Incarnational - because Jesus became a man, like us (1 Cor 6:17)
- Is Covenental - it has a legal basis (1 Cor 15:22)
- Is Vital - like a vine and its branches (John 15:1-17)
- Is Intimate - like a man and his wife (Eph 5: 31-32)
- And Is Corporate - the whole church is joined in Christ (1 Cor 12: 12-27)
It is from these connections that we receive all the blessings of salvation!
(from The Message of Salvation, Ryken, 2001)
“Surely he will have no respite from his craving; he cannot save himself by his treasure”
Yup - our money or our possessions can’t save us. Insight from Job 20v20…
Why worship God alone? Of course, God alone is worthy is my worship. God demands it of himself. In the past this has made me cringe a bit. Society tends to think of people demanding attention or ‘worship’ as being arrogant, or self centered. So to hear of God saying that he should have ALL our worship may seem arrogant. But God deserves it, for his own sake - but also for ours too. The evangelist Pete Woodcock wrote that God would be wicked and warped if he encouraged us to treat anything else as worthy of our worship…things that would fail to satisfy us. Jesus said that a father would not give his son a scorpion if he wanted bread. This is something similar. If God did not demand our worship he would be allowing / encouraging us to chase after things that would not satisfy our hunger. God is not like that. He is loving. It seems to me that to be hungry for God and his glory is the only thing that will satisfy me.
