Nature of Sin

It has been a while since I have wrote a blog post... over 3 Years!!! I have seen the Lord in many ways and I would like to share what the Lord has been teaching me in his word. I have been reading through Hebrews for my daily study and I cannot get out of the first few chapters! It's too good! Today's exhortation from the word to my soul was:

"Take care, brothers (and sisters), lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from ethe living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." 

Hebrews 3:12-13

There are so many directions that this text can take a person. This morning the Lord spoke to me about the deceitfulness of sin. Sin is such a tricky thing. It promises you the world in an instant but we can never cash in on those promises. The empty promises of sin calls us and diverts our attention from what and who is truly satisfying. 

Sin, like our culture, says, "you need satisfaction right now!" And the more attention and pardon we give our sinful desires, the more we lose sight of the source of all satisfaction- the risen Christ. The urgency that sin lures us in with is the exact opposite of what hope calls us to do. Hope in Christ calls us to patiently and actively wait on him because we will be satisfied for all of eternity when he defeats evil for good. I am not saying that we are not to be happy now, but this place is temporary and transient. Our future hope affects the present (1 John 3:2). Our hearts can (presently) leap with joy knowing where we will be and what we'll experience in the future.

If we buy-in to sins lies, then, according to the verse 13, the result is that our hearts are hardened. Our hearts are hardened to what? His voice (v.15). Verse 15 quotes Psalm 95:7-8 which is about the Israelites in the wilderness. The Israelites in the wilderness disregarded the voice of the Lord because their hearts were hard towards Him. They did did not see the goodness in the Exodus because their hearts were hard. They did not see the goodness of the Lord because they were to busy complaining and not trusting the Lord, which is the definition of sin.

There is so much more to say about sin leading to hard-heartedness but the more important question to answer at this point is 'What if our heart is already hard?' or 'How do we soften our heart?' This is where the glorious gospel exercises its dominance over sin! The gospel is that Jesus exchanged our heart of stone for a heart of flesh. 1 John 1:9 says, "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." The cleansing work of Jesus is synonymous with softening our heart. Only Jesus can soften your heart by cleansing you and peeling off the hard and crusty build-up that has been accumulated by the sin. Run your hard heart under the faucet of grace that flows with the unlimited precious blood of Jesus for those who trust in him. Remember Jesus said to Peter, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me" (John 13:8). Trust in Christ and find satisfaction in Him because, with his promises, unlike sin's, you can take it to the bank!

Spoiled...

After being at the Gospel Coalition and seeing speaker after speaker, I realized how spoiled we are at Bethlehem Baptist Church. Pastor John Piper (Pipes as I like to call him) is such an amazing gift from God to the Church (universal). We are so spoiled to sit under expository preaching week-in and week-out. There is no "hovering over the text" with John Piper. We, Bethlehem, have a man inviting us to look through the telescope and marvel at the wonder of God's glory in his word. What grace God has given to us by sending another sinner that is faithful to His Word!

Preventable Deaths

Did you know that every minute there are 24 children in the world die from preventable diseases such as diarrhea?


That is shocking!

And if one sins...

And if one sins, we have before the Father, an advocate- Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. (my translation)

Why does John call him the Righteous One? How fitting would it have been if he said the Lamb of God or another name that was used before? My take is that it qualifies him to be the wrath-bearer for our sins. The assurance that we have in him as our advocate is based on the righteous life that he lived. What grace it is to have the Righteous One as our advocate!

The Preacher of Peace

Ephesians 2:17 says that "He preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near." Who is he? Scroll up a few verses and see that the preacher of peace is none other than Christ himself. King Jesus Christ, who has all authority in heaven and on earth, went out of his way to preach to us who were hostile to him. But verse 14 says that he broke down that dividing wall to waive the banner of peace. He could have pressed his thumb on our heads and squashed us like bugs but God, being rich in mercy, made us fellow citizen of heaven.

Praise God for peace with him.

Happy Birthday to me!

I praise God for another year in my life. 26 years old is closer to the big 3-0 than 25. There are years that you don't feel older but I felt 26. I praise God for what he did for me in my 25th year in Christ. I love Jesus more than I did than when I was 24 going to 25. He is a fountain of blessing and pouring out an abundant stream of grace. Everyday there is new grace for me to partake in and I am indebted to Christ for that. How do you repay someone that you owe an eternal amount? You can't! To Christ, I raise my cup and ask for more grace and more blessing because he graciously reward those who seek him. For my 26th year, I will seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness that all of "these" things may be added to me. What are these these things? God knows... and he gives gifts that are good and perfect.

God has blessed me so far with friends out here. It was a good birthday! Here are some shots that I took of the God's blessing in my life:

Johnny and Angie, graciously made me a Pizookie!

listened to Thabiti on "racial" harmony

Back for the next semester

I am excited for this coming semester. I had a great break in California and gained 10 pounds. I wish I was able to hang out with more people but I was glad to hang out with many of you. Thanks for a great time in Cali and please pray that God will continue to reveal himself to me. Pray that I would be faithful in studying God's word and balance it by not making it a textbook. Pray that I would be changed by the knowledge that he gives me through his word. See you guys in May.