DISCLAIMER: I’m exploring the gospel from a unique perspective and am aware that I might be way off from the truth as I explore, and if I am, please feel free to contact me at nldooley@timeforprovidence.com.
THOUGHT BUBBLE: If you read my previous post you’ll find something that even made me feel strange when writing it because no one other than God knows what the heck I was/am thinking and why, but explore this with me, and if what I write is unreasonable… scratch it. My goal is to learn as I go with the reader.
When I think about a world drowning in sin, I think about the story of Noah and the Ark because it was a world drown, in sin. But I see Noah and the Ark much more than yesterday’s story by how it connects to what’s coming to our world next, which is a world melted by intense heat (2 Peter 3). And if the Lord permits, we’ll explore that prophetic reality in writing eventually.
I’m going to approach our subject matter, a world drowning in sin, with a question derived from the gospel according to Luke chapter 22. The question I present is: Was there another way, a different way, than for Christ our Lord to go to the cross?
I think at first glance, the immediate answer is… no (Luke 22:42); “yet not My will, but Yours be done.”, Jesus said. But then again, if there wasn’t another way, then why would Jesus say that? I think there would be no reason for Jesus to have said that if Jesus’ will was the same as His Father’s will. And if my observation is reasonable, how was Jesus’ will different from that of His Father’s will?
Here is where I, as your author, feel strange writing what I’m thinking, but bear with me. What I’m thinking is, “If my education serves me right, the primal instincts of mankind are what compel us as humans to survive…” And then I map that thought to when Jesus was at the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus was a man no different than any other human man (other than of course being the Son of God and that’s not the point yet); Jesus experienced the will, primal instincts of man. And so I argue that the will of man is to survive by that of sacrifice or murder, meaning that while Jesus was under the curse of Mankind’s sin as the Lamb of God was also experiencing the instinct of Mankind’s sin to survive by requesting another way than the cross if there was another way.
An example might be like when Cain offered produce from the fruit of the ground and Abel offered a lamb from the firstborn of his flock (Genesis 4). Was there another way? The will of Mankind without faith in God is to survive, perhaps commit murder for sustainability apart from God; whereas Mankind’s faith in God with responsibility to survive, perhaps sacrifice self to believe God will save me to a new life with Him!
Now I’m not saying that Jesus was making request to be separated from God His Father, on the contrary; I think Jesus was expressing Himself as Adam—resembling the time when man was created in the image and likeness of God and placed in the garden with dominion—being expelled from the garden of Eden to survive, Adam listened to the voice of his wife and ate from the fruit that God commanded him not to eat from (“yet not My will…”). It sounds to me like Jesus is saying, “yet not the will of Adam, but Yours be done.”
I think Jesus experienced two natures, (1) the nature of Mankind and (2) the nature of God—God is love. The love of God overruled the sin of Mankind by the sacrifice of the Lamb. Jesus was compelled by the Spirit of God to the cross while simultaneously resisting the temptation of man to survive by offering these words, “…but Yours be done.” But Your will, Father, be done, not mine or any other will, but the Father’s will be done!
Jesus put the instinct or law of sin in Adam to death for the joy set before Him, enduring the cross for the salvation of the world. Looking at it another way, I think it’s safe to say that Jesus overcame the eternal consequence of man’s allegiance to do the devil’s will—even sweating blood—having suffered to provide our way of escape, the discipline of Holiness in Himself bought the world by His blood. I think the only other way would have been for God to destroy Mankind and start over with His Son, which sounds familiar, doesn’t it? (Moses).
I am concerned for the people of the world in denial about the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, because to suppress the truth of the gospel is to generate unrighteousness of the devil for an inevitable judgment. It doesn’t have to be that way!
There would be no way for me to discern the truth about Christ without believing that the Son of God in the flesh of Jesus followed the will of His Heavenly Father by the help of the Holy Spirit, dying on the cross. For God so loved the world… (finish it). It’s Mankind’s freedom to regress in the darkness of Satan or to progress in the Light of God. Had not Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead, my faith is in vain.
Do you remember when the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus after he was baptized, and then God spoke, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”? Jesus knew exactly why God called Him Son, and why God was pleased with Him. Mankind had no idea! But the mystery to Jesus Christ and the gospel is now revealed through faith in Him by the power of the Holy Spirit!
20 So you will walk in the way of good men And keep to the paths of the righteous.
Jhn 14:6 — Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
Wisdom teaches us that the way of good men is to follow Jesus, but how do we do that since Jesus is at the right hand of God? The help of the Holy Spirit will come if we ask God in faith, trusting that He will deliver the revelation of His will to us.
Heb 10:12 — but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD,
But if we ask God anything in unbelief … do you really think He doesn’t know whether you’re truly asking in faith or not? We are talking to the very Person that created us, designed us, and loves us. It’s foolish to think that God doesn’t know what we are experiencing and why. It’s foolish to think that God doesn’t know our limitations and desires. It’s foolish to think that we arrived at our event of providence to doubt the living God. We are drawn to actually have a conversation with our Creator, to truly experience a relationship with God as our Father in Christ our Lord, Jesus.
God knows what sins you’re living in, still committing, and will face all throughout your life.
But don’t doubt for a moment that Jesus didn’t pay for your life to be redeemed. The question is…
Will you accept the grace of God’s redemption that’s provided through faith in Jesus alone?
RESOURCE
[BP]
Proverbs 2 (NASB)—blueletterbible.org 1 My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, 2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; 3 For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; 4 If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God. 6 For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. 7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, 8 Guarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His godly ones. 9 Then you will discern righteousness and justice And equity and every good course. 10 For wisdom will enter your heart And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 11 Discretion will guard you, Understanding will watch over you, 12 To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things; 13 From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness; 14 Who delight in doing evil And rejoice in the perversity of evil; 15 Whose paths are crooked, And who are devious in their ways; 16 To deliver you from the strange woman, From the adulteress who flatters with her words; 17 That leaves the companion of her youth And forgets the covenant of her God; 18 For her house sinks down to death And her tracks lead to the dead; 19 None who go to her return again, Nor do they reach the paths of life. 20 So you will walk in the way of good men And keep to the paths of the righteous. 21 For the upright will live in the land And the blameless will remain in it; 22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land And the treacherous will be uprooted from it.
COMMENTARY
Matthew Henry (P2-V20) Commentary II. This wisdom will be of use to guide and direct us in that which is good (v. 20): That thou mayest walk in the way of good men. We must avoid the way of the evil man, and the strange woman, in order that we may walk in good ways; we must cease to do evil, in order that we may learn to do well. Note,
1. There is a way which is peculiarly the way of good men, the way in which good men, as such, and as far as they have really been such, have always walked.
2. It will be our wisdom to walk in that way, to ask for the good old way and walk therein, Jer. 6:16; Heb. 6:12; 12:1. And we must not only walk in that way awhile, but we must keep it, keep in it, and never turn aside out of it: The paths of the righteous are the paths of life, which all that are wise, having taken hold of, will keep their hold of. “That thou mayest imitate those excellent persons, the patriarchs and prophets (so bishop Patrick paraphrases it), and be preserved in the paths of those righteous men who followed after them.’ We must not only choose our way in general by the good examples of the saints, but must also take directions from them in the choice of our particular paths; observe the track, and go forth by the footsteps of the flock. Two reasons are here given why we should thus choose:-
11 If they say, “Come with us, Let us lie in wait for blood, Let us ambush the innocent without cause;
The flesh—our human flesh—in and of itself, is not sin, but is the representation of a decision made long long ago.
Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
We are born into this life innocent as infants, but there is an issue, we are not innocent. We are actually separated from that definition; because God is innocent, we are missing that component of true innocences, and are guilty as sin. But thankfully our God had a goal in mind whenever we broke covenant with Him long long ago.
Genesis 3:20 Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. 21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. 22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.
INNOCENT
In reading the above passage—The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them—from Genesis 3, what do you think God used to cloth Adam and his wife? The garments of skin that represent our flesh is innocent in and of itself because it functions exactly as a body is designed to function, unless we change its design—which is exactly what Adam and his wife attempted by making coverings using fig leaves. They realized that they were no longer innocent, but guilty, deserving of the death that God warned would happen. And so, now, here we are… dying; generation after generation experiences the significance of sin. We try and try to, literally, cover our own ass, by making up excuses to justify our wrong. But there is hope, God had a plan—Redemption!
Jesus is the innocent One, born without sin—meaning without the seed of Adam—from the virgin, Mary. Jesus was, is, and will always be, the plan for taking away the sin of the world (you and me), and redeeming us as reconciled to God. But how is this possible for human kind considering life has continued on as it has after Christ was crucified on the cross nearly 2000 years ago? It’s possible by believing that grace saves through faith, and we have a choice to believe that Jesus, is the grace, to our faith; that belief structure, intern, resurrects in us, a new creature—no longer bound by the guilt of sin in our soul. We are redeemed! Death will have its course until the day of Christ; faith in Jesus is our compass of confidence as we live through this death. And that is why we pray, Jesus, come. Amen
Revelation 22:20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.
Can you accept responsibility for sin?
Will you accept that you cannot pay off your sin with good deeds?
Do you accept the grace of God?
Is your faith in Jesus Christ for redemption from sin? (new creature—transformed mind)
Proverbs 1 (NASB)—blueletterbible.org 1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: 2 To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding, 3 To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice and equity; 4 To give prudence to the naïve, To the youth knowledge and discretion, 5 A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel, 6 To understand a proverb and a figure, The words of the wise and their riddles. 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction. 8 Hear, my son, your father’s instruction And do not forsake your mother’s teaching; 9 Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head And ornaments about your neck. 10 My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent. 11 If they say, “Come with us, Let us lie in wait for blood, Let us ambush the innocent without cause; 12 Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, Even whole, as those who go down to the pit; 13 We will find all kinds of precious wealth, We will fill our houses with spoil; 14 Throw in your lot with us, We shall all have one purse,” 15 My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path, 16 For their feet run to evil And they hasten to shed blood. 17 Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net In the sight of any bird; 18 But they lie in wait for their own blood; They ambush their own lives. 19 So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; It takes away the life of its possessors. Wisdom Warns 20 Wisdom shouts in the street, She lifts her voice in the square; 21 At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings: 22 “How long, O naïve ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing And fools hate knowledge? 23 “Turn to my reproof, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you. 24 “Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention; 25 And you neglected all my counsel And did not want my reproof; 26 I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, 27 When your dread comes like a storm And your calamity comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. 28 “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but they will not find me, 29 Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD. 30 “They would not accept my counsel, They spurned all my reproof. 31 “So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way And be satiated with their own devices. 32 “For the waywardness of the naïve will kill them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them. 33 “But he who listens to me shall live securely And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”
2 Corinthians 5:16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Romans 12: 1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Titus 3:1 Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, 2 to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. 3 For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. 4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
COMMENTARY
Matthew Henry (P1-V11) Commentary Here Solomon gives another general rule to young people, in order to their finding out, and keeping in, the paths of wisdom, and that is to take heed of the snare of bad company. David’s psalms begin with this caution, and so do Solomon’s proverbs; for nothing is more destructive, both to a lively devotion and to a regular conversation (v. 10): “My son, whom I love, and have a tender concern for, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.’ This is good advice for parents to give their children when they send them abroad into the world; it is the same that St. Peter gave to his new converts, (Acts 2:40), Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Observe,
1. How industrious wicked people are to seduce others into the paths of the destroyer: they will entice. Sinners love company in sin; the angels that fell were tempters almost as soon as they were sinners. They do not threaten or argue, but entice with flattery and fair speech; with a bait they draw the unwary young man to the hook. But they mistake if they think that by bringing others to partake with them in their guilt, and to be bound, as it were, in the bond with them, they shall have the less to pay themselves; for they will have so much the more to answer for.
2. How cautious young people should be that they be not seduced by them: “Consent thou not; and then, though they entice thee, they cannot force thee. Do not say as they say, nor do as they do or would have thee to do; have no fellowship with them.’ To enforce this caution,
I. He represents the fallacious reasonings which sinners use in their enticements, and the arts of wheedling which they have for the beguiling of unstable souls. He specifies highwaymen, who do what they can to draw others into their gang, v. 11-14. See here what they would have the young man to do: “Come with us (v. 11); let us have thy company.’ At first they pretend to ask no more; but the courtship rises higher (v. 14): “Cast in thy lot among us; come in partner with us, join thy force to ours, and let us resolve to live and die together: thou shalt fare as we fare; and let us all have one purse, that what we get together we may spend merrily together,’ for that is it they aim at. Two unreasonable insatiable lusts they propose to themselves the gratification of, and therewith entice their pray into the snare:-
1. Their cruelty. They thirst after blood, and hate those that are innocent and never gave them any provocation, because by their honesty and industry they shame and condemn them: “Let us therefore lay wait for their blood, and lurk privily for them; they are conscious to themselves of no crime and consequently apprehensive of no danger, but travel unarmed; therefore we shall make the more easy prey of them. And, O how sweet it will be to swallow them up alive!’v. 12. These bloody men would do this as greedily as the hungry lion devours the lamb. If it be objected, “The remains of the murdered will betray the murderers;’ they answer, “No danger of that; we will swallow them whole as those that are buried.’ Who could imagine that human nature should degenerate so far that it should ever be a pleasure to one man to destroy another!
2. Their covetousness. They hope to get a good booty by it (v. 13): “We shall find all precious substance by following this trade. What though we venture our necks by it? we shall fill our houses with spoil.’ See here,
(1.) The idea they have of worldly wealth. They call it precious substance; whereas it is neither substance nor precious; it is a shadow; it is vanity, especially that which is got by robbery, Ps. 62:10. It is as that which is not, which will give a man no solid satisfaction. It is cheap, it is common, yet, in their account, it is precious, and therefore they will hazard their lives, and perhaps their souls, in pursuit of it. It is the ruining mistake of thousands that they over-value the wealth of this world and look on it as precious substance.
(2.) The abundance of it which they promise themselves: We shall fill our houses with it. Those who trade with sin promise themselves mighty bargains, and that it will turn to a vast account (All this will I give thee, says the tempter); but they only dream that they eat; the housefuls dwindle into scarcely a handful, like the grass on the house-tops.
"NOT WITH INK" 