The Revelation of God's Righteousness
8/11 Reading Portions: 1 Samuel 1; Romans 1; Jeremiah 39; Psalms 13-14
Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
8/11 Reading Portions: 1 Samuel 1; Romans 1; Jeremiah 39; Psalms 13-14
Psalm 14:2
The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.
Romans 1:18
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
DEPRAVED
Too many Christians attempt to skirt around the sovereignty of God in salvation. Theologians have wrestled with the issue of man’s free will and God’s sovereignty since the third and fourth centuries. The doctrines concerning God’s sovereign will in election and condemnation, for most people by and large, are better left in heaven and in the heart and hands of almighty God where they belong. What we should surrender to is what He has revealed to us with regard to the redemption of fallen man’s soul. God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. “How?” you may ask. It is plain to every man (Rom 1:19) because…
His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So [all men] are without excuse. Romans 1:20
Because the souls of Adam and Eve were created in God’s own image (Gen 1:27), God’s invisible attributes are clearly perceived in the depths of every human being; and since Adam’s fall in disobedience, man will not understand or seek after God (Psa 14:2) because his unrighteousness suppresses the truth (Rom 1:18). Unless the heavenly Father reveals the truth of His Son to us (Matt 16:17), we will not understand (1 Cor 2:14), neither will we seek after God (Psa 14:2). Remember, as soon as Adam sinned, he and his wife covered their shame with fig leaves and attempted to hide from God in the trees (Gen 3:7-8). Why are many Christians adamantly convinced that their salvation was a result of their own freewill choice? It is because the grace of God is so overwhelmingly powerful to awaken us to His truth, to make us willing because we once were not, and to transform our lives out of darkness and into His marvelous light (1 Pet 2:9), that it seems to us like it came by our own, genuine decision. But the power of recreation is not from our fleshly resources and wherewithal inherited from fallen Adam; it comes from an almighty and sovereign God.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17
Hallelujah! What a righteous Savior!