Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction
Exodus 18:21
Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:
A Republic is representative government ruled by law (the Constitution). A democracy is direct government ruled by the majority (mob rule). A Republic recognizes the inalienable rights of individuals while democracies are only concerned with group wants or needs (the public good).
This is an important distinction, one which modern Americans have failed to understand. While the nation began as a republic, there are glaring signs that the nation is veering away from its republic roots, favoring majority rule and the rejection of the Constitution on issues from granting amnesty to illegal aliens to imposing unconstitutional dictates to churches.
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction
(1) Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? (2) You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. (3) You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
in their own vainglorious imaginations: they may not only vainly boast, but also verily believe that they have destroyed the foundations.
Psalms 11:3
Quando fundamenta disperdat Dominus universa labia dolosa?
If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
The foundations can never totally and finally, yet may they partially be destroyed.
If they destroy not the foundations, it is no thanks to them, seeing all the world will bear them witness they have done their best (that is, their worst), what their might and malice could perform. Secondly, in their own vainglorious imaginations: they may not only vainly boast, but also verily believe that they have destroyed the foundations.
Too many people are neglecting the common round of daily tasks, and idlers are imposing on Christian generosity.
2 Thessalonians 3:10
For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
Too many people are neglecting the common round of daily tasks, and idlers are imposing on Christian generosity. We are taught to be generous to those who are in lesser circumstances than we are but this “Christian charity” has been turned upside down by those who would live off the fruits of the labor of others.
It is to be remembered that in Genesis 3:19 we are admonished; “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
The sinners in Zion are afraid; Fearfulness has seized the hypocrites: “ Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?”
The sinners and hypocrites in Zion can be one of two things: The phrase can certainly apply to the land of Israel, Zion being a part of Jerusalem where the Temple was built. The prophet could be alluding to the fact that there are hypocrites among the people of Israel. It can also be dual and refer to the church, because God frequently symbolizes the church by using the name “Zion.” There can be, among those who are part of the church of God, sinners and hypocrites.
(13) Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. (14) You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.
We like to think of ourselves as rising to the occasion when a time of great crisis arises. We all hope to emulate what the heroes of faith did. But as great as they were, Jesus says here, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” It is very easy to think of the sacrifice implied in “lay[ing] down one’s life” as dying for another in one moment of time. Though that may occasionally occur, the context shows this sacrifice within the framework of friendship. Friendship occurs over months and years, not just in one moment in time.
In true friendships, because we are eager to help, we willingly spend ourselves ungrudgingly, without tallying the cost. Friends open their hearts and minds to each other without secrecy, which one would not do for a mere acquaintance. True friends allow the other to see right in and know them as they really are. Friends share what they have learned. Finally, and most importantly for this article, a friend trusts the one who believes in him, and risks that the other will never doubt his loyalty but look upon him with proven confidence.
Though the principle given by Christ is applicable to all friendships, He has one specific friendship as His primary focus: ours with Him, or more generally, ours with God. Proverbs 18:24 says, “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” That friend is Jesus of Nazareth, but He made it very clear that if we are His friends, we will show it in our obedience to His commands. But before we can obey, we must trust Him.
Take a moment to evaluate yourself. Are you as open and frank with Him as He is with us through His Word? Often our prayers are stiff and formal, not truly honest. Besides that, sometimes we become bored in His presence and soon have nothing to say to Him. Is it not true that we do not trust Him as fully as we should? That we are often quick to doubt Him? That we easily grow suspicious of Him? That we lose heart or fear that He has forgotten us? That He is not really trying or is unequal to the task of shepherding us into His Kingdom? Though He has never failed us, we are so quick to suspect and blame Him!
(3) The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ” Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God. (4) Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth; (5) The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
So it is obvious to me that the New Testament life was not going to succeed by imposing or encouraging a new set of laws even if they were sanctioned by someone who rose from the dead.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
The meaning of the verses look so clear it seems to be a loaded question. It means exactly what it says, but as with everything, some context will clarify some issues.
Paul is very explicit in chapter 6 that unrighteousness will not inherit the kingdom of God. He then gives some very explicit examples, which I am sure are representative and not a complete list, of the type of lifestyle or behavior typical of unrighteousness.
The good news is he says in vs 11
And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
You were like this and now you are not. How did they change? They appeared to be out of a very hedonistic community which seem to regard such actions as normal and every man for himself, anything goes. How could they possibly transform?
The question goes to the heart of becoming a believer. Since God first began nurturing his relationship with man, it was obvious that man could not keep a law no matter how good its intention was. The nature of mankind was against the law. This is well spoken about in both Galatians and Romans.
So it is obvious to me that the New Testament life was not going to succeed by imposing or encouraging a new set of laws even if they were sanctioned by someone who rose from the dead.
The only way a believer could live a righteous life especially coming out of such a hedonistic society was to have a complete change of heart or nature.
That is the gospel. Paul wrote as stated above
And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
What happened to them?
They were washed, they were sanctified, separated by God, for God. Accepting the blood of Jesus and the work of God to wash away their sins, their nature was changed. They were like that but no more.
Were they accepted even though they had a sordid (normal!) history? Absolutely!
Why accepted? Because their heart change gave them a different nature. They were no longer the same.
The question posed brings me to the issue of how many people view salvation. They have no faith in the power of the blood. They have no respect for the cross and its power.
All they see is what they feel or what they have done or what they are labelled. The focus is on them and what they feel powerless to change.
So the focus shifts to a fight for tolerance instead of faith in the blood. The church becomes challenged to be inclusive by those who are unwilling to exercise faith in the blood. The message of the cross is watered down so it becomes a symbol only instead the doorway to the power of God.
Paul wrote in chapter 1 of 1 Corinthians
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
So what does 1Cor 6:9–11 mean?
It means that the power of God is both necessary and sufficient to change a life no matter what their past. The change that ensues in a life makes one a new creation, able to inherit the kingdom of God.
Even though belief is a choice, choosing opens one to the power of God for change. One is not left with self motivation or will power to effect a change. It is God who makes the difference and it is entirely supernatural.
