For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Hebrews 4:12-13

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:12-13

I continue my study of Hebrews, and in the text today - Hebrews 4:12-13 - the author pivots from an exhortation to seek God's rest - lest you fall into disobedience (v11) - to a reminder that while we may think we are not disobedient, we should be very careful to both understand our fallen nature and a holy, able and perfect God who sees everything.  Here are my observations using the Sword Bible Study Method.  

• What do we learn from the text about God?: Because the Word is God (John 1:1), we should see God as living and active (v12).  God (and the Word) is also all knowing/omniscient - He is able to discern thoughts and intentions (v12) - and our thoughts and intentions often drive us into sin even though we may feel as if we don't sin (Matthew 5:21-22, 28, and 1 John 3:15). The Word also exposes sin - see Romans 7:7.  He will hold us accountable either in this life but certainly upon death. 
• What do we learn from the text about people?: All sin and all short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).  We often deceive ourselves that we don't sin (1 John 1:8), because we believe we can hide sin (v13) - yet this is this foolish as God sees it all....including sins of commission and those of omission!
• Is there anything from the text God wants us to obey (SPEC: Sins to avoid, Promises to claim, Examples to follow, Commands to obey?): Avoid any claim to be without sin! Claim the promise that God not only forgives, but He also saves and sanctifies us - giving us victory over sin and death.  Follow the example of Paul (Romans 7) who recognized his struggle with sin and this drove him into the arms of Christ. Repent and be saved!

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an awesome God who loves and saves - thank You Jesus!  I know the need for Jesus and I am grateful for my salvation and the mercies that never cease and are new every morning.  I am not deserving.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others. Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her."

John 7:53-8:11

And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." John 8:7

I continue my study of John and today I focus on John 7:53-8:11, which is text that many New Testament scholars argue should not be in the Bible as it was added later after John's original writing.  Here are my observations using the Sword Bible Study Method. My observations do not account for whether this text should be in the Bible or not - on this question please see this post from John Piper on DesiringGod.com.

• What do we learn from the text about God?: While others went to their own house (7:53), Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives for the evening (8:1). Once again early in the morning He goes to the temple to teach the people - proclaiming the Word of God is a priority for all believers.  The scribes and the Pharisees put God to the test (sin) - seeking for Him to condemn an adulterous woman and to stone her to death (the judgement/sentence per Deuteronomy 22:22 Leviticus 20:10) - and Jesus responds by turning the tables exposing the scribes and the Pharisees as equally sinful, as we know from scripture elsewhere that since the Fall (Genesis 3), all humanity is sinful and in need of a savior (Old Testament, New Testament). After Jesus challenges the scribes and the Pharisees (v9), He is alone with the adulterous woman and forgives her, saves her from eternal condemnation, and commands her to "sin no more" (v11).  Know we know that because she is still human of course she will still sin but what Jesus has done is freed her from her sin and given her the power to defeat sin in her life, including her sin of adultery. This path of freedom is not linear progression - as there will be setbacks and dips in this process of sanctification.  But we should go back to John 7:37-39 where Jesus shares that "[w]hoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’"  Once God enters our heart and life and we continue to abide in Him (John 15:1-17) through daily study of God's Word and prayer, He will renew our mind and make us more like Him.  
• What do we learn from the text about people?: The scribes and the Pharisees bring an adulterous woman to Him to test Him (8:3-6) - we know that it is a sin to put God to the test (see also Deuteronomy 6:16, Matthew 4:7).  The sin here is that the scribes and the Pharisees sought to manipulate Jesus so that they could expose Him as a fraud - of course He is not a fraud and their efforts exposed them as frauds for their lack of faith and incomplete knowledge of God based on Old Testament prophecies of Jesus.  After Jesus challenges the scribes and the Pharisees and exposes their hypocrisy and own sin, "they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones" (v9). We are also reminded that all sin and need a savior. 
• Is there anything from the text God wants us to obey (SPEC: Sins to avoid, Promises to claim, Examples to follow, Commands to obey?): Avoid putting God to the test and judging/condemning others, claim the promise that Jesus forgives and saves just as He did for the adulterous woman.  Follow Jesus' example to show mercy to those who doubt and for others and their sin.  Love God and love others, including forgiving others as God forgives us.  

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an awesome God who loves and saves!  Thank You Jesus for how You loved me while still hostile and an enemy to You.  I am not deserving of such blessings.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Mark 2:13-17

And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:16-17

I continue my study of Mark, leaning on the Christ-Centered Exposition commentary series volume for Mark.  Today, I focus on a commentary-assisted review of Mark 2:16-17, which is the third division (Jesus Calls the Spiritually Unhealthy to Fellowship with Him) of the text 2:13-17 per commentary.  Excerpts from the third division per commentary:

• "The Pharisees were the pious Jews who rigorously followed the law of Moses and opposed Greek and Roman influence. Josephus claims they numbered about six thousand in Jesus’ day. While the Sadducees were mostly upper-class aristocrats and priests, the Pharisees appear to have been primarily middle-class laypeople, perhaps craftsmen and merchants. The Sadducees had greater political power, but the Pharisees had broader support among the people."
• "The most distinctive characteristic of the Pharisees was their strict adherence to the law of Moses, the Torah. They carefully obeyed not only the written law but also the oral law, a body of extrabiblical traditions that expanded and elaborated on the Old Testament law (e.g., “the tradition of the elders” in Mark 7:3). The Pharisees’ goals were to apply the Torah’s mandates to everyday life, and to “build a fence” around the Torah to guard against any possible violation."
• "Jesus condemned the Pharisees for raising their traditions to the level of Scripture and for focusing on the outward requirements of the law while ignoring matters of the heart. For their part the Pharisees denounced Jesus’ association with tax collectors and sinners, and they deplored the way He placed Himself above Sabbath regulations."
• "Jesus was much closer theologically to the Pharisees than to the Sadducees, sharing similar beliefs in the authority of Scripture, the resurrection, and the coming of the Messiah. Conflicts arose because He challenged them on their own turf, and He was a threat to their leadership and influence over the people. Today the term Pharisee is often equated with hypocrisy and legalism but not so in first-century Israel. The Pharisees were held in high esteem for their piety and devotion to the law. Indeed, the Pharisees’ fundamental goal was noble: to maintain a life of purity and obedience to God’s law."
• "Jesus criticized the Pharisees not for their goals of purity and obedience but for saying one thing but doing another, for raising their interpretations (mere “tradition of men”) to the level of God’s commands (cf. 7:8), and for becoming obsessed with externals while neglecting justice, mercy, and faith."
• "Jesus was a friend of sinners. He called the seemingly unlikely, reached out to the socially undesirable, and healed the spiritually unhealthy. He cared for them, He spent time with them, and He loved them."

In the text today, Jesus focuses on heart condition - why it matters what is in our heart.  We must seek for God to transform our hearts and minds from the inside out as it is often our thoughts that drive sin.  We are no better than anyone else and if we feel we are more superior or more righteous than someone else - this is of course arrogant and prideful.  Hate is another example - hate of our brother (even without action) is sinful - see 1 John 3:15. We must be humble and approach our time with others in humility.  One of the core reasons why we read and study the Bible daily is so that we can understand our own sin as scripture reveals sin - see Romans 7:7c.  This article from DesiringGod.com on the sins of omission is a good one for us to understand the gravity of our sin as identified from scripture. The article uses the story of Reuben and Gad from the Old Testament as well as the Great Commission for two great examples of how God seeks for us to be active in demonstrating and sharing our faith with others. 

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My Prayer: Father God You are an awesome God that is full of amazing grace and mercy for me - mercy that never ceases and is new every morning.  Thank You Jesus - I need this mercy as my sin continues...daily.  Please forgive me and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin. Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day. 

The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!”

Proverbs 22

The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!” Proverbs 22:13

I continue to lean on DesiringGod.com's Solid Joys daily devotion, which today looks at how all of us, believers included, twist reason to serve our evil and rebellious ways.  John Piper uses this devotion to convict believers hearts into seeing that and how we do this.  He first starts with the sluggard - which most of us might dismiss when characterizing ourselves - by parsing how readers of this Proverb might expect fear to be the primary emotion of the text but use of the sluggard implies laziness instead because the sluggard is rationalizing the circumstance of a lion in the streets to stay inside and avoid action and work.  Piper, seeking to apply this text then quickly moves to all believers by sharing that "we need to learn....that our heart exploits our mind to justify what we want. That is, our deepest desires precede the rational functioning of our minds and incline the mind to perceive and think in a way that will make the desires look right, even if they’re wrong."  Our efforts to warp reason so that we can continue in our sin is a powerful dynamic - Piper refers us to John 3:19 to help us see this message through other text.  Here, it's not that we twist circumstances to validate our action or inaction, its that we use darkness to hide our sin - if no one knows we can continue in our sin.  Convicting message indeed!

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is doing a work in me so that I can no longer be a slave to sin - thank You Jesus!  Help me be in action to not just do what You want me to do but also to expose my sin to me so that I can seek Your Spirit and assistance to remove impurities in my life.  I am undeserving of the sanctifying work You have already done in me - incredible blessings.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith. Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day. 

For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.

1 Samuel 14-15

For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. 1 Samuel 15:23

Day 87 of my chronological study of the Bible with The Daily Bible® - In Chronological Order (NIV®) (available by purchase through Amazon - author F. LaGard Smith) focuses on Saul's utter disregard for the Lord's instructions with regards to how Saul should attack and completely destroy (1 Samuel 15:3) the Amalekites - nothing is to be spared - none of the "men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys" are to be spared in the attack.  But we see in 1 Samuel 15:9 Saul's disobedience.  

Note Samuel's very harsh and blunt response in v23 - that "rebellion (disobedience) is like the sin of divination" (which is akin to idolatry according to John Piper here).  Saul's action is not simply flirting with sin as I posted here - but explicit sin of commission. 

We can then understand how the Lord and Samuel ultimately reject Saul as king.

We do see hints that may help illuminate why Saul behaved as he did.

His own insecurities (vs humility) led him to seek approval of men vs approval of God. We see Saul seeking either his own glory vs that of God in a few places: 1 Samuel 15:12 (set up monument for his own glory), 1 Samuel 15:24 (afraid of own men), and 1 Samuel 15:30 (seeking his own honor "before the elders of my people and before Israel"). 

Caution for all of us who blatantly disobey God.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is always with me, providing for all of my needs - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such blessings.  I continue to sin...daily.  Help me turn from my sin towards You and love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

“‘But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or foreigner, blasphemes the Lord and must be cut off from the people of Israel. Because they have despised the Lord’s word and broken his commands, they must surely be cut off; their guilt remains on them.’”

Leviticus 3-7,15,17

“‘But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or foreigner, blasphemes the Lord and must be cut off from the people of Israel. Because they have despised the Lord’s word and broken his commands, they must surely be cut off; their guilt remains on them.’” Leviticus 15:30-31

Day 51 of my chronological study of the Bible with The Daily Bible® - In Chronological Order (NIV®) (available by purchase through Amazon - author F. LaGard Smith) focuses on fellowship offerings (required and freewill) and unintentional vs intentional sin, the latter of which is related to sins of omission vs commission.

Of course we must start with the fact that, as I emphasized yesterday, we all sin, the wages of sin is death, and we all need a Savior.  Elsewhere in scripture, we find several examples of how our heart condition (vs explicit actions) or even just thoughts are sinful.

The Ten Commandments indicate that we are not to covet our neighbors house or anything that belongs to him - these are thoughts, regardless of whether we act on them.

Proverbs 26:25 highlights how deceptive our speaking can be - "Though their speech is charming, do not believe them, for seven abominations fill their hearts".

1 John 3:15 talks about murder in our heart: "Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him."

Matthew 5:21:28 says "[b]ut I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart". 

John Piper also has an excellent post on how "willful" sinning causes one to lose his/her salvation.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who has forgiven my sins and help me gain victory of sin and death!  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such a God.  I sin...daily.  Please forgive m Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself strength and wisdom.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Romans 6

But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. v17-18

In Romans 6:15-16, Paul challenges us to obey God and become slaves to righteousness.  We should desire to please God now that we have accepted Him into our heart and as a result of our renewing of our mind (see also post yesterday) we do not conform to the patterns of this world and knowingly sin just because we know God is full of grace and that we can expect grace in light of our sins of commission.  This would be pure arrogance - see also a post of mine from another blog.

God detests sin and we focus with great vigor a path to renew our minds and hearts to be "after God's heart". 

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Matthew 5:6

My Prayer: Heavenly Father, Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and is full of grace for me - You have transformed my heart and life to be more like You.  I know there is much work to do and I must finish the race - yet I am grateful for what You have done for me.  Thank You Jesus.  I am undeserving of the blessings You have poured out for me.  I sin daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.