Righteousness of God - He Brought Us Out to Bring Us In - The Next Generation

       To understand Paul’s meaning of the Righteousness of God it would do us well to look back at the foundation of his concepts.1  Since he had been raised a Hebrew of the Hebrews (Philippians 3:5), his foundational concepts about righteousness are going to be tied to this background.  For example, Paul seems to draw upon this heritage since throughout Romans he often shows the contrasts and connections between the Law and righteousness, Romans 2:26, 3:31, 4:13, 8:4, 9:31, 10:4-5.  So it would do us well to look back at why this connection is so pronounced.

       In the first part of Deuteronomy, Moses is preparing the next generation of Israelites to enter into the Promised Land.  Their parents and grandparents have all died off and now they are the generation that is allowed to enter into the inheritance.  But before they enter, Moses restates much of the foundational truths of the law that had been given during the days of wandering.  His reason in doing this is because the generation in front of Moses either did not see God’s hand of deliverance in Egypt or they were too young to understand what it all meant.   So Moses reminds them of God’s greatness and His holiness.  He tells them, for instance, that God is jealous (Deuteronomy 6:15) and He will not share His glory with anyone or anything, so He expects their complete obedience. 

       These “children” were what could be called “second generation” believers, because, they had not actually seen great wonders and they were believing God based upon what they had been told.  Moses knowing this tries to explain how a believing generation can influence the next generation toward believing in a God whom them only know through limited experience.  He states in Deuteronomy 6:20-25:

“And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded you?Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand: And the Lord shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes: And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.”

       Moses tells this “second generation” to remind themselves, in detail, of what God has done in the past.  For instance, he tells them to explain that it was God Who delivered from Egypt through His great power.  But then notice a phrase in verse 25; “It shall be our righteousness…”  The children of Israel were being instructed to allow their righteousness to be displayed by the doing of the “statutes” God had commanded them.  This truth is timeless but the Jewish mind often based it’s concept of their righteousness upon a misapplication of this concept.2  You see, they believed that Moses was commanding obedience to become righteous, instead of seeing that obedience comes from being righteous. 

       God had called Israel to be a separated people and He, by His actions, made them such, (Leviticus 20:26).  Israel was not righteous until God made them righteous.  Then once He made them "righteous," He expected them to obey the law and to be seen as through their obedience to the law. Thus we must grasp that the righteousness of any people is based upon the righteousness of God and not their own actions.  He is holy and through His holiness we can be made holy, 1 Peter 2:9.  Deuteronomy 6:23 says it best by way of an almost allegorical illustration, “…he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in…”  God brought them out of sin (Egypt) that they might live in victory (Palestine).  He makes righteous so that living righteousness is possible,

       However, when Paul writes Romans, there is still a huge disconnect as the Jews were still believing that their works were making them righteous, instead of their righteousness coming from God (Romans 6) and obedience displaying righteousness following that gift.  Their obedience to the law became a source of pride and that is what God was trying to break - their pride!  He is the jealous God of Deuteronomy 6:15 and will not share His glory with anyone or anything - including obedience to the law.   They were servants of sin, Romans 6:20, even when they were obeyers of the law because the law does not make you righteous.3

       So today, we must see the contrast - our righteousness is given by a righteous God and that righteousness of God, which is His character, and our ONLY source of righteousness!   In conclusion, there are two possible responses to viewing the righteousness of God.  First, there are those who have taken this concept of the Righteousness of God to teach the false doctrine of Calvinism.4  They contest that because God is so righteous, we cannot make decisions on our own accord, which is not biblical.  Second, there is the more biblically sound response that God’s righteousness is imparted at salvation and it should encourage God’s people to share their faith with a lost and dying world, because God wants to bring out so He can bring in.5 

1. Frank Thielman, “God’s Righteousness As God’s Fairness in Romans 1:17: An Ancient Perspective on a Significant Phrase,” Journal of Evangelical Theological Society, March 2011. https://www.galaxie.com/article/jets54-1-04 (Links to an external site.), Accessed October 3, 2018.
2. Philip Stafford Moxom, “Personal Righteousness,” Bibliotheca Sacra, January 1900. https://www.galaxie.com/article/bsac057-225-03 (Links to an external site.), Accessed October 3, 2018.
3. Nicolas Dobson, “Paul’s Use Of Δικαιοσυνη Θεου And The New Perspective Interpretation,” Journal of Ministry and Theology, Fall 2015. https://www.galaxie.com/article/jmat19-2-06 (Links to an external site.), Accessed October 1, 2018.
4. B.G. Felce, “The Ground of Justification,” Tyndale Bulletin, Winter 1956. https://www.galaxie.com/article/tynbul02-1-03 (Links to an external site.), Accessed October 3, 2018.
5. David Cloud, “God’s Law and Evangelism,” Sowing and Reaping, May 2, 2017. https://www.wayoflife.org/reports/gods_law_and_evangelism.html (Links to an external site.), Accessed October 3, 2018.

Defeating Temptation in My Life

My personal battle with temptation has two phases: LIFE and ESCAPE.  Phase one (LIFE) is about living LIFE to minimize any temptations in the first place.  I do this because I do not trust myself and I do not want to take God’s grace for granted (Romans 6).   Also this way I do not have to operate in escape mode very often.  Phase two (ESCAPE) is the immediate practical plan that I use to ESCAPE when a temptation is staring me in the face.  Each phase is based upon the truth that God wants me first to stay away from sin because of its power and second that God promised through Him I can defeat temptation.  I am convinced that so much of my effort in years past was spent upon the trying to survive the actual moment of temptation instead of in advance “pulling the teeth” of temptation’s power before it impact my life.

Phase ONE - LIFE

My daily LIFE should never be about focusing on sin, but on living in Christ.  If I am daily having to focus on my sin/temptation then my life is going to be filled with defeat and anxiety. (Philippians 4:6)  But if I can focus on my LIFE in Christ then I am free to serve my God and others.  My LIFE verse is:

Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

The “LIFE I now live” is my focal point for my daily walk so that I can keep from temptation.  I start everyday with mediating on Galatians 2:20 and by focusing on:

L - Love God’s Word

I - Intense Prayer

F - Forget My Failures

E - Employ Myself to Service

Love God’s Word - I have found that when I fail to love God’s Word daily I am more likely to fall into temptation.  Then I am forced to cry out to God to deliverance from temptation rather than living in victory away from temptation.  But if I love, memorize, and meditate on God’s Word then temptations are less likely to appear.  Psalm 119:97, 113, 163, and 165.

Intense prayer time - The less I pray the more I am tempted.  It is that plain and simple -  when I do not spend quality and quantity time in prayer every day, I am going to be hit by temptation and hit HARD!   Jesus made it clear through the “Lord’s Prayer” that temptation can be something we ask God to keep away from us.  I seek to “pray” the Lord’s Prayer daily, but not in a mindless quoting of it, but a mediating on a specific word or phrase as I pray it.

Forget my failures - I have found that every time I begin to focus on my past failures, my flesh begins to justify them, and it starts to justify the temptation to do them again now.  Because of this I try to put the past behind me as much as possible and move on.  Philippians 3:13 is my focal point here and I seek to quote it daily, especially when I feel weak spiritually.  I know that I will remember my sin of yesterday, but on a daily basis I want to forget my failures and move on.

Employ myself to service - I NEED TO KEEP BUSY!  I know, beyond a shadow of doubt, that when I just sit and do nothing, even mental laziness, that two things will happen, one, I physically begin to lose control and two, my flesh begins to control me.  I was called by God to serve, first my God (Matthew 6:33), then my family (1 Timothy 5:8), and lastly others outside my family (1 Peter 4:10).  But if I keep busy serving then I am less likely to be tempted.

Phase Two - ESCAPE

To be honest, whenever I am faced with temptation it is usually because I have failed to life the LIFE which I should be living and now I am living in ESCAPE or panic mode.  When temptation hits I do not have time to do much beside run for the door as Joseph did in Genesis 39.  My ESCAPE verse is:

1 Corinthians 10:12-13 “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

E - Escape

S - Shout

C - Convene

A - Admit

P - Plead

E - Enter

Escape - Whenever I am tempted I try to physically move myself from wherever I am at that time.  I have found that movement means a change in my mind because movement requires my mind to do something besides focus on the temptation.  (Genesis 39:12)

Shout - I immediately say out loud, “LORD HELP!”  This does two two things, first it shows my flesh that I mean business and that I am willing to humble myself by a vocal cry for help, and, second it shows the powers of darkness that help is on the way and they better run. (Psalm 55:17)

Convene - I try to get into the presence of someone, preferably another Christian, and in most cases my wife or family.  I have found that temptation is strongest when I am alone.  I have also found that if I am with other Christians I focus on them which helps me get my eyes off of myself and this helps defeat my temptation.  I remember the days of school fire drills and the gathering point to insure everyone was safe - that is the principal here.  (Matthew 18:20)

Admit - I need to admit that I need help.  I clearly was not able to keep from temptation, and so, I need to admit that I had to put my escape plan in place because I failed to live LIFE as God intended for me to do.  I must be willing to seek and accept help, but I cannot do that until I admit my condition and need. Galatians 6:1 may be directed for the mature to help the spiritually needy, but this principle also requires a needy person who is willing to admit they need help.  When I am being tempted I need help.

Plead - I plead the power of Jesus’ shed blood for my sins.  Usually I will internally pray and ask God to apply Jesus’ blood to my situation and ask for His help to defeat not just the temptation, but the fact that I had failed to live the LIFE I should have been.  I may also ask someone, like my wife, to pray with me at this point and together we plead for this power to be applied. (1 John 1:7)

Enter - Once the temptation is over and I have escaped, it is time to re-enter the LIFE I was supposed to be living.  I try to get back into that as soon as I can.  If I sit and allow myself to either pout about the temptation or to sit and feel overwhelming guilt for my failure, then I will be hindered from getting back into the LIFE God wants for me to live right.  In other words, I get over it and move on! (Philippians 3:14)

Billy Graham Role Model or Villain?

Can I make a point without being labeled a compromiser? To open I am an IFB preacher to the core who stands unashamedly for the KJV, a local soul winning church with standards, and sound doctrine, but, something has been bothering me:

Billy Graham has been vilified before and since his death. Some of this is justified as he did clearly compromise on his separation standards and it appears of his stance in some crucial doctrines....BUT.....he left a morally spotless legacy of being an honorable man, especially, when it came to being a father and husband. He NEVER was accused of infidelity or any such thing that was reported. There was NEVER a hint of financial misuse in his ministry or even an accusation of it that I recall. There was NEVER a hint of attack on his character by any of his "minions" that I can find. ALL of his children, and his wife, seemed to love and respect him. All of his children are at least walking in Christian beliefs, though maybe not doctrinally sound on every area to be honest. Yet his name is an absolute scourge, almost a villain, among IFB preachers....

HOWEVER....

How many Baptist preachers are exalted because they built big works, won thousands of souls, preached hard messages against sin, stood for personal dress standards, yet their personal lives were a DISASTER?  Some of these "exalted" men were accused again and again of adultery or even child molestation, yet they are still revered.  Some of them had ALL their children completely turn on God or at least fundamentalism, but of course, this is often explained away by the phrase "free will" not parental failure. (Which free will in children is true, by the way. Proverbs 22:6) Some of these preachers divorced and remarried two and three times, yet they are quoted again and again as experts on just about every subject in the Bible. Some of these men have books written about them, but all those close to them know that they knowingly covered up their own sin and sometimes the sins of others so that they could stay in the ministry. They were doctrinally sound yet sometimes morally empty in portions of their lives.

So in this I am confused?!?!

Now, I get that pastors are human and make mistakes.  I also understand that sound doctrine is CRUCIAL and that immoral events can be overcome.  But what about the pastoral qualification found in 1 Timothy 3:2 of being blameless?  Doesn't that mean anything today or is it just unsound doctrine that disqualifies men and allows us to attack-attack-attack?

I agree that Billy Graham compromised and I would NOT have him in my church to preach, but why is he more besmirched than some IFB who were clearly not blameless in their lives? I would not have certain of these IFB preachers in my pulpit either, but for a very different reason. Yet if I were to name those IFB preachers here I would be literally attacked for holding up Graham while attacking these "men of God."  Sound doctrine bears eternal consequence, but so does ignoring or even excusing the immoral behavior of "God's men."

Please know that this post is not asking for more attacking of the IFB men who failed, but, a request for more personal introspection of why we are over-exalting them in the first place. It should never be about the MEN of God, but the GOD of men!  Yes, Graham compromised, and yes, some IFB preachers failed, but God uses His Word and it will not return void. We ARE to honor pastors who preach truth but we are also to honor those who walk faithfully.  No preacher is above the God whom they serve!  Thus we must accept that there was a time when Billy Graham did clearly preach the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Christ, people genuinely were saved, and he did this without the scourge of a marred personal testimony.  He may not have been a IFB preacher doctrinally, but he was a proper role model in his home.

Does doctrinal purity override all personal moral qualifications? No! But these two things should be in conjunction not exclusively one or the other?  Graham did compromise, which is not sound, but we should still recognize that he left a legacy in his home and "ministry" that we IFB preachers could learn from too.

God's Word or Man's Word?

I believe that the Bible is God's Word for many reasons. It was inspired by God, but, written down by men.

Here is one example of why I believe that based in logic and reason...man does not truly show the faults of the chosen and exalted among them.

As an example, I give you Margaret Sanger, who started Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood in their documents refuse to show her as she truly was, a racist, a hater of the nuclear family, and biased against the handicapped.(1) They instead says she is "heroic" just "imperfect. They then proceed to show her supposed good points while excusing her "imperfections." They state that she her relationship with eugenics was "nuanced" because she used the word "voluntary" not mandatory. But this was only true because she had no authority to make it mandatory. She embraced eugenics fully and in 1921 published an article entitled, "The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda."(2) In this article she states, "...we are convinced that racial regeneration like individual regeneration, must come 'from within.'" She was clearly stating that racial imperfections needed to be purged willingly, not that racial diversity was good. She HATED minorities, but, according to her defenders that is just an "imperfection." That is just one example of how mankind writes about its heroes.

But God's Word is completely honest about humanity! In the Bible God shows men such as Abraham and David (Two of the greatest heroes of the faith) in all their failures as well as their successes. God held nothing back as we are told of Abraham's lies and David's adultery and murder. Why? Because God wants us to know that He uses imperfect people and thus, in my mind, this helps to validate that the Bible is God's Word not man's. Man hides the failures, while does not.

The Bible is not about exalting mankind but about showing the fragility of humanity and the impact that sin has upon us...even in our "heroes." If man alone wrote the Bible, why would the failures of the "heroes" be so pronounced and transparent? Mankind does not work that way, but God does.

For some, this is not enough to prove the validity of God's Word as divinely inspired, but, to me, it is just another proof that I have chosen to accept. One of many, I might add.

1.https://www.plannedparenthood.org/uploads/filer_public/b5/d4/b5d47c32-89f2-45d9-b28c-243cb85f3f55/sanger_fact_sheet_oct_2016.pdf

2.https://www.nyu.edu/projects/sanger/webedition/app/documents/show.php?sangerDoc=238946.xml

What does modern “Christianity” often look like?

When we look at modern "Christianity" we often see a very blurry picture when compared to the Word of God.  In a day when the unsaved world needs Christians to truly be different from the way of the world, the supposed Christian community are living a lifestyle that is a mirror image to the  philosophy and ideology of the secular world around them.  It is time for us to consider where we stand and where God wants us to stand

Though not all modern Christians appear as this article presents, it is safe to state that there are many who seem to have the following characteristics:

1. They reject that God’s Word can be absolute truth in favor of general truth.  They would state that each translation is equally as valid as every other translation, regardless of its textual foundation or translation method.  It does not matter which translation you use as long as you read one, because if its easy to understand and grasp then it is God’s Word.
2. They reject that a relationship with God MUST be based upon both spirt AND truth, because how you feel about God overrules the truths of certain absolute doctrine.  They would state that if you “feel” God and your style of worship makes you feel closer to God then it is valid worship regardless of doctrinal purity.  It does not matter what elements are a part of that worship, even if those elements were first used in paganism or are not biblically sound.
3. They reject absolute truth is IN EVERY doctrine.  They would state that only certain “key” doctrines are necessary and any others are either unimportant or secondary.  It means that if a person/church believes in the “key” doctrines then rejection or disunity on secondary doctrines should be ignored.
4. They reject the biblical definition of holiness is necessary.  They would state that if people are “coming to Christ” then God must be in that.  It means that even if the people being added to that group are not leaving behind their sinful life or thinking, all is well, because the people are “coming to Christ” and being “saved.”
5. They reject that the local church and the direct participation in that local church are necessary for Christian growth.  They would state that since they think that the church is also universal in nature, whatever aids in personal “growth” is from God and therefore good, even if that pulls them away from the local church.  It means that the measure of Christianity is not in our participation with others within the local church but in our level of personal comfort and joy.
6. They reject that Bible knowledge is not the measure of spirituality but the feeling of being close to God.  They would state that since God is a spirit, if our spirit feels close to Him then we are more close to Him.  It means that God places our personal “closeness” ahead of our Bible knowledge and they are not equal in nature.

Please note that none of these things above are found in Scripture but they are clearly found in much of modern Christianity.