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A Sunday Night Note: A Warning Against Worldliness and Exhortation for Godliness
(original script written in 10/25/2015)
If your heart finds the earthly things more desirable than God, God can give it over to them and let you perish with them. But if being enlighened by the truth, you find God exceedingly desirable and you find pleasure in fellowshiping with Him, He shall dwell with you and you with Him forever.
For this is the mark of the natural and unsaved man: he is anxious about having more and more of the earthly things, not wanting that which will never fade away. He is blinded by his worldliness so that he cannot see the glory and majesty of the Maker of all things, being dead in sin and not wanting to dwell with the King of glory forever. And because he exchanged the eternal glory of God with the things of the perishable world, God gave him over to the lusts of his heart so that he may perish with the world (Romans 1:18-32). As it is written, "For all that is in the world - the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions - are not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away with its desires..." (1 John 2:16-17) The horror of this reality is this: he is brought to spiritual death by sin so that he will not desire the glory of God and that he may experience the second death, which is having one's portion in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15).
In contrast, this is the mark of the regenerated and saved man - one who is made alive in (...)
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The Folly of Seeking Satisfaction in Sin
(original draft written in 10/14/15)
"O God, You are my God;
early will I seek You;
my soul thirsts for You,
my flesh faints for You,
in a dry and thirsty land
with no water.
I have seen You in the sanctuary,
to see Your power and Your glory.
Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
my lips will praise You.
Thus will I bless You while I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
My soul will be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
and my mouth will praise You with joyful lips."
- Psalm 6:1-5, MEV
Last night, the company that I'm currently working with held the opening ceremony of its basketball tournament in our office. Although it is a call center's production area (and we're not suppose to be very noisy), there were screams of enthusiasm almost everywhere in the floor. The noises even got louder when a female mascot with a seductive look and costume showed up in front. I also heard a familiar voice from behind me crying out like a hungry beast after its prey.
That is the condition of an unregenerate man (a person who is not born of God; read 1 Corinthians 2:14 and ) in his lust - a flesh crying out for another flesh. And having this insatiable craving, he had to scream in order to express his desire. He had to shout it (...)
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Why Would a Loving God Condemn People to Hell?
The perfectly loving God doesn't just love mercy - He also loves justice and righteousness (Jeremiah 9:24). God already made a way for sinners to be forgiven and be redeemed from the curse of sin through the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross - and this is how the perfect mercy, perfect justice, and perfect righteousness of God are satisfied (Romans 5:8, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 3:13-14). People who are condemned to hell are rightly to be so because they rejected God's offer of reconciliation to them.
Try to think of it this way:
There was a just king who had to deal with rebels in his kingdom. But in his mercy, he reached out to them to offer them absolute amnesty, provided that they will swear loyalty to him once again. Not only that their crimes will altogether be forgotten, they will also be granted to have a free access to the king's hall where only the king's friends are allowed to enter. But in their hardened rebellion, they rejected the offer of the king. Isn't it just right for the king to condemn them to death?
Now, we are the ones who have sinned against God, despising His holy and perfect law through our disobedience (Romans 3:9-19, 23; James 2:10). What's even worse is that in our sin, we are running away from Him, stealing His benefits - the natural pleasures and material delights that He created in this world- in order to spend them on our sinful passions. And yet (...)
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(8/21/2015)
God, Who are You in this life of mine?
You are the very Source of it. You are the Creator of all things, and none of all that began to exist existed apart from Your wonderful and unimaginable power of creation. From the farthest stars in the heavens to the abysmal depths of the waters, from the craggy heights to the fruitful plains and deserted valleys - all these things are created by Your powerful Word. Even the clay from which You have fashioned this flesh was created by Your orders. Even the breath that made this artwork a living soul came from Your mouth. You are the very beginning of this life; by You it has started, from You has proceeded, and for You has existed.
You are the Designer of it. Even before all things in this world ever existed, You already have this life in Your mind. You already saw me before You have crafted me. You already knew who I will be and what my name will be. You already saw how I will be born, when will I learn my first steps, when will I first fall, and how I will rise up from my fall. You already knew my desires, my wishes, and my dreams. You already saw my waking moments and the times when I go to bed. You already saw my anxious thoughts, my fears, and everything that will be troubling my mind. You already saw my ups and downs - the days when I feel everything is alright, and the nights when I feel like I'm nothing but a hopeless and worthless dirt. Lord, You already saw it all (...)
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A brother in a Christian forum asked this topical question, "If you die right at this very moment, do you have assurance of going to heaven?"
By the following points, I have the assurance that I am saved:
In light of the Scriptures, I know that I am saved because I see in my life how the grace of God changes me from a life of sin to a life of righteousness (Ephesians 2:1-10).
In light of the Scriptures, I know that I am saved because I trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross which effectively pardons me of my sins (Romans 5:8-10; 1 John 1:7; 2:2).
In light of the Scriptures, I know that I am saved because I see in my life how the Holy Spirit, Who was promised by the Lord to His believers (John 14:15-17, 26), raises me to life from my death in sin and liberates me to a life of righteousness (Romans 8:5-11).
In light of the Scriptures, I know that I am saved because I see how the love of God which He revealed through Christ enables me to love Him and love other believers (1 John 4:7-12, 19-21).
And in light of the Scriptures, I know that I have the hope of final redemption (Romans 8:23) because I trust in His promise that He is able to finish the good work that He started in me (Philippians 1:6).
In conclusion, I have the blessed assurance because I have His promises - His holy word which is becoming a reality in my life!
"Truly, truly I say (...)
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Four Things About Jesus A Story of Miracles Reminded Me Of
I was reviewing my Sunday school lesson for September 20, 2015 and the passage that I was meditating on was Mark 5:21-43. To be honest, I was tempted to settle with simply teaching my young pupils that Jesus is the Miracle Maker. But as I was meditating on the passage, I was reminded of these four wonderful things about Jesus:
1. Jesus the hearer of prayers (vv. 22-24)
Just try to imagine the sight of a revered religious leader falling on his knees while pleading to a poor Man for help. That is exactly what it looked like when Jairus desperately plead to Jesus for help. This scene reveals two of our basic emotional needs: to have a listening ear and a helping hand. We all need that kind of friend who can listen to us in our distress and help us in our problems.
But there are times when even those who are closest to us do not have time to give us a listening ear. It maybe because they are busy, preoccupied with something else, or dealing with their own problems. Whatever their reasons maybe, these are the times when we feel like we are alone. We tend to think that nobody cares and nobody loves us anymore. We are hurt and become bitter with people around us.
The good news is that even when it seems like nobody cares and nobody listens, Jesus does. All we need to do is to fall at His feet and cry to Him, just like what Jairus did. We can call to Him, because He can hear us and help us especially in times of need.
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God's Saving Grace for the Infants
DISCLAIMER: This only applies to the case of those who died in infancy. In no way does this imply universalist soteriology. Remember that God in His sovereignty has an appointed time for the salvation of every individual believer (Acts 13:48) - and that includes the infants.
How does God redeem those who were stillborn, were miscarriaged, or died in infancy? Before we could answer this question, I think more appropriate questions should be asked first.
First question to be asked is "Why does the soul of man need salvation?" Because the Bible says man is a sinner (Romans 3:9-18, Ephesians 2:1-3). And because God his Creator is a perfectly just and spotlessly holy God, man deserves condemnation. Sin, no matter how small it might seem to our own eyes, is too great a deal to be ignored simply because it is a direct offense to God Himself; therefore, it is rightly that everyone who sins should be penalized in God's holy court. The bad news is that all have sinned and therefore, everyone deserves to be punished. The good news is that God has already provided the remedy through Christ.
The second question is "How can a soul be saved?" The Bible says that it is by grace through faith in Christ that a man is saved (Romans 3:22-26, Ephesians 2:4-9). It is essential to know that is the grace of God that brings salvation to sinners. Apart from His grace, man is utterly hopeless when it comes to salvation. (...)
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If You Hear His Voice, Do Not Harden Your Heart!
"Moreover, the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, so that he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses."
- Exodus 9:12, MEV
Why did God hardened Pharaoh's heart? Because he committed the only unforgivable sin - to resist and blaspheme (i.e. to be defiantly irreverent against) the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:29), in that after all the demonstration of God's wonder working power, he still chose to harden his heart. And because God knows that Pharaoh is adamantly not willing to repent, God gave him over to his heart's adamant defiance.
Throughout the Scriptures, we can find other references of God giving people over to their sinful ways because they harden their hearts even after God had called them to repentance for so many times (Psalm 81:10-12, Romans 1:21-24). There is even a record of Jesus condemning some towns to eternal damnation for being unrepentant even after all the demonstration of God's power that He showed them (Luke 10:11-14).
Like what C. S. Lewis once said, "There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done' and those to whom God says in the end, 'Thy will be done.'"
"Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: 'Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of temptation in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me and tried Me and saw My works (...)
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Two Major Misconceptions About Salvation in Today's Christianity
* "Salvation is not a license to sin. A true Christian will continue to do good work, as Christians are not only appointed by God to be saved but they are also appointed to do good works before the foundation of the world. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:8-10)."
- Pastor Ramil Corpuz
As an observer of Christianity, one of the problems that I saw in the postmodern church is the persistence of these two age-old heretical extremes:
- Pelagianism, which states that a person should work for his holiness in order to earn his salvation;
- Antinomianism, which states that since a person is saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, he doesn’t need to do good works anymore after salvation.
I personally have 2 problems with the first one. First, it makes salvation unattainable, as it is stated in the word of God that absolutely no one on earth does anything good (Romans 3:10-12). Second, it makes the salvation of God through Christ useless and pointless; because if it is true, then why did God have to send His Son to die on the cross? And also, why does Jesus have to send the Holy Spirit to dwell in and with His believers in order to (...)
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The Trinitarian nature of God (i.e., God existing in three equally Divine Persons, and yet being one God) just one of the incomprehensible teachings in Biblical orthodoxy - meaning, no human mind (which is just finite and therefore limited) can fully comprehend this teaching. As it is written in Deuteronomy 29:29 (quoting from MEV), "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may keep all the words of this law."
For sure we can use some illustrations to which the Trinity can be likened. One of the illustrations is the water. In its normal state, the water is liquid, in it's solidified state an ice, and it its gaseous state a vapor. These are not three different waters, but only one water in three different states. This illustrates how the Three Persons are distinct from each other and yet being of one "substance" (Divine). The only problem is that this can confuse us into believing the Sabellian heresy. This heresy states that Jesus is the Father during the OT times, the Son after being born in Bethlehem, and the Holy Spirit during the church age. But this is not what the Bible teaches
Another illustration is the sun. In this illustration, the Trinity is likened to the sun, its light, and it's heat. As long as the sun (...)
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