Romans 3 (part 1)

I was reading Romans 3 on my lunch break today (trying to prepare a talk for LPC on Sunday) and I had one of those "I need to write this right NOW or I'll forget it" moments so I grabbed a napkin and started writing...

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Our sinfulness makes God look even more righteous. We prove Him right when we do wrong. So then why is He still angry at us??? We're making Him look good, right? He shouldn't be punishing us for making Him look good!
Nope. Sorry. He still has to be just.
This is the one argument you run up against all the time when you are talking about judgement with people. They'll tell you they "can't believe in a God who would damn someone to Hell" and "God is loving and forgiving. How can he send people to Hell?". The thing they don't understand (or choose to ignore) is that God is also just. He has to be just. If He bent or broke His rules He wouldn't be just anymore, and "he cannot disown himself" (2Tim 2:13).
And here is the beautiful mystery of the gospel. Here is what happens when God's justice and His love collide and combine in Christ's sacrifice on the cross. Here He can be perfectly just and punish all sin and yet He can love and forgive all sinners!
It is magnificent!
It is glorious!
It is so far beyond our human comprehension that it looks like foolishness!!!

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So this is what I'm digging in right now and I am loving it.
There'll prolly be more coming in the next few days.
These are just rough notes and thoughts.
Hopefully I'll get a cohesive summary up here when I'm done.
If I have time. :P

some thoughts on John

This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

1 John 5:6-12

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

The Pharisees challenged him, "Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid."

Jesus answered, "Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me."

John 8:12-18

Our friday morning bible study group has been reading through the Gospel of John at the same time that our Thursday night youth group has been going through 1 John. It's really been cool to see the connection of thought between both books. This week what has really been standing out to me is how confident we are supposed to be in the truth.

1 John talks often of the confidence we have before God.

We are to know our salvation and know the difference between light and dark, between the sons of God and the sons of the devil.

God is the truth and God's testimony is the only one that matters.

So then why am I afraid to say the truth? If I am in the Word and alligned with God's will, I should be able to see in black and white.

No matter how the world screams at me about shades of grey.

There is right. There is wrong.

And I have been shown how to tell the difference.