American Loon

All Glory to God the Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ

From Westminster Shorter Catechism, questions 15 to 18: Q15: What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created? A15: The sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created, was their eating the forbidden fruit. Q16: Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression? A16: The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity; all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him, in his first transgression. Q17: Into what estate did the fall bring mankind? A17: The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery. Q18: Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell? A18: The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam’s first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called Original Sin; together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it. Today we will be going through verse 14 of the first chapter of John. His gospel starts out: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” John is introducing Jesus with a word or a term that both his Jewish and Gentile readers would have been familiar with. The Greek word translated “Word” in this passage is Logos, and it was common in both Greek philosophy and Jewish thought of that day. Having studied the scriptures and also hearing these same scriptures translated directly from the Greek, I have often thought that the English language is a poor means of conveying what the scripture actually said to people back in the day, that spoke the language. The definition of Logos: (Greek: “word,” “reason,” or “plan”) plural logoi, in ancient Greek philosophy and early Christian theology, the divine reason implicit in the cosmos, ordering it and giving it form and meaning. As an example, in the Old Testament the “word” of God is often personified as an instrument for the execution of God’s will (Psalm 33:6; 107:20; 119:89; 147:15-18). For his Jewish readers, by introducing Jesus as the “Word,” John is pointing them back to the Old Testament where the Logos or “Word” of God is associated with the personification of God’s revelation. And in Greek philosophy, the term Logos was used to describe the intermediate agency by which God created material things and communicated with them. In the Greek worldview, the Logos was thought of as a bridge between the transcendent God and the material universe. Therefore, for his Greek readers the use of the term Logos would have likely brought forth the idea of a mediating principle between God and the world. So, essentially, what John is doing by introducing Jesus as the Logos is drawing upon a familiar word and concept that both Jews and Gentiles of his day would have been familiar with and using that as the starting point from which he introduces them to Jesus Christ. In reading the scriptures, context is very important. To them 2000 years ago and to us today, reading something that was translated from Greek and Hebrew to Latin and then English. So John was giving the Greeks, which, for all intents and purposes are considered Gentiles, the Apostle was giving them the context to understand what Christ was. John, Chapter 1 verse 14: And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. Christ became flesh and lived among us as a man. Think about this, which comes from John MacArthur Devotionals: God’s Son learning through His experiences on earth. Before taking on a body, God had no personal experience of physical pain or of the effect of rubbing against needy persons. But God dwelt among us and touched us, and His time spent here allows Him to more fully identify with our pain. And we saw his Glory. The raising of the widow’s son, the feeding of the 5,000, the healing of a paralysed man, the stilling of the storm, the resurrection. John 21:25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written. John 5:19 Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. “Begotten from the Father” Jesus proclaimed that God was his father 54 times. He used the term “Son of Man 102 times, and the term “Son of God” was used 76 times (65 times by Jesus). John 8:19 So they were saying to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.” “Full of Grace and Truth” 1 Timothy 1:13-14 even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 4:7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 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. 1 Corinthians 1:4-6 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, And to finish out, John 8:12-20 12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” 13 So the Pharisees said to Him, “You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not true.” 14 Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I am not judging anyone. 16 But even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me. 17 Even in your law it has been written that the testimony of two men is true. 18 I am He who testifies about Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me.” 19 So they were saying to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.” 20 These words He spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come. I’d like you to think about how God has provided Grace to you in your life. Truly ponder on that and then give thanks to Him who has done such a wonderful thing to we who are weighed down by sin. Once you have pondered that, you will now have the context to understand what John chapter 1 verse 14 is saying. May the love of the Father, the tenderness of the Son, and the presence of the Spirit, gladden your heart and bring peace to your soul, this day and all days, Amen.

All Glory to God the Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ

From Westminster Shorter Catechism, questions 11 through 14: Q11: What are God’s works of providence? A11: God’s works of providence are, his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions. Q12: What special act of providence did God exercise toward man in the estate wherein he was created? A12: When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience; forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon the pain of death. Q13: Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created? A13: Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, by sinning against God. Q14: What is sin? A14: Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 Most of the time, when it comes to our day-to-day lives, we experience this in the form of Providence. But what is Providence, you might ask. In a dictionary, it is described as “The foreseeing care and guidance of God or nature over the creatures of the earth.” Pretty much as the scripture reads in Romans 8:28 minus the mention of nature. Nature, God’s created realm, not Mother Nature, which does not exist, is mentioned in Romans 8:22 “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.” Like what we saw in Iowa, straight line winds of over 100 miles an hour, that stretched for about 700 miles, through the midwest cropland. That is the groaning of nature, waiting for the return of Christ. But we were speaking of Providence, which has become a fascinating subject for me. It should be for all of us as it is the hand of God at work in our lives. To see it and really recognize what is going on, you need to read the scripture. How else would you come to know God and what He wants us to do with our lives? I have used this MacArthur quote more than once: “A Spirit filled life is a scripture saturated life.” Those of us creatures that do not spend time reading the bible, tend to call Providence good luck. We all have been habituated to saying “good luck” to people when they are about to do something. In fact it is a hard habit to break, especially when you have come to learn that there is no such thing as luck, but only God at work in our lives. From Scott Henry, written in 2014  One of the most profound and wondrous doctrines taught in Holy Writ is the Providence of God. It is a theological doctrine that is clearly taught on every page of the Bible, yet it is a teaching that is rejected by many church members, along with the multitudes outside of the church. We constantly hear people in the market place talking about “luck,” “coincidence,” “fate,” or things happening “by chance.” It is not uncommon to hear that sort of speech by those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. What you hopefully learned and unlearned so far: There is no Mother Nature, fate, chance, coincidence or luck. If you still want to hold on to those beliefs, I would ask that you would examine your faith in Christ. You can’t believe in Christ and luck, it does not work that way. 1 John 2:15-16 15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. I do understand that it is hard to change our ingrained speech patterns, but if you truly believe in Christ, the Holy Spirit is within you and what you thought so hard to change, is not so hard. Work yes, but as an example of speech patterns that were ingrained in a person’s life, I will give you one. I come from a blue collar world and spoke as a man among men who also spoke a similar way. We swore in the course of speaking in a way that most people breathe, we did it without thinking. Then, when I was convicted by the Holy Spirit, repented my sins to the Lord and I believe the saying goes, I came to Jesus. My speech cleaned up virtually overnight. I didn’t even notice at first, but bam, something I thought would take a very long time to accomplish was now a done deal. I would call that Providence. Another example so that you might learn to see it in your own lives. I used to be a flooring contractor, and as such, had tools that helped me in my job. I was given a Clark Edger because it had stopped working reliably for the company I was contracting through. Now these Edgers are fairly expensive machines, even old used ones. It is a heavy and powerful hand held sander that you used to sand flooring in preparation for putting in vinyl flooring and such. It had stopped working because it was probably 30 years old at the time and something in the off/on switch had failed. I took it when asked if I wanted it, because I needed a machine like that and I had a Father in Law that I was pretty sure could fix it. I brought it to him and he had it apart and fixed it about a half hour. Keep in mind, I was at this time not a true believer, oh sure, I called myself a Christian and went to church but I had not really “Come to Jesus” yet. All the same, I look back at this time and call what happened Providence, Part 1. God works in all of our lives whether we are true believers or not. That is called Common Grace. Psalm 145:9 “The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.” That happened around 26 years ago, and many things have changed in my life. I quit the flooring business around 1998 and started working in technology and the internet. I still had most of my flooring tools but had not used them in quite a while. Come 2018, God decided it was time for me to quit fooling around and I believe it was an Almighty 2X4 upside my head that got my attention, I found out I had ALS and to add shine to that particular apple, we also found out my wife had a brain tumor and seizures. We come to the present and I can no longer use any of my tools, as my hands have lost much of their feeling and all of their strength. Less of me, more of Him. But, I have a house that needs some attention. Our dining room has a beautiful maple wood floor. However, this house was a rental and had fallen on hard times and somebody had glued foam backed carpet to everything but the Kitchen. I had managed to sand off the living room floor before my hands got bad, but now, I got the tools, but ain’t got the ability to get the rest of the job done. Darin, one of the guys from church, is a teacher, but restores hardwood floors in the summer. He had been using his Clark Edger up until this year when it went pining for the fjords, it died and now he was looking for another Edger and these things, even old ones are pricey. Through my Brother in Law, who got me going to First Baptist Church and had a lot to do with my “Coming to Jesus”, he got Darin in touch with me. Darin was delighted to find out I had an Edger I was not using and wanted to know if he could borrow it for a couple of jobs. He came over to our house and we talked about restoring our dining room floor. I then told him no, he could not borrow my Edger, paused a bit for drama and to watch his face, then said here’s the deal. The Edger was his, even before he had walked into our house. Would he be willing to sand my floor whenever he had time and he was welcome to get that heavy dusty tool out of my life and into his. Yup, he said with a smile He came on a Friday, spent a good part of the day here and our floor looks brand new. Providence Part 2. Working in my life and Darin’s.               Now, you may be thinking that this was a long, not very interesting story of a somewhat lucky happenstance between 2 guys. Happens all the time. And if you are happy living in that world where luck and coincidence abound, Ma Nature throws a tantrum once in a while and men of science will soon develop a vaccine for COVID… Matthew 6:25-34 25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28 And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31 Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. My point is this, I truly believe in Providence, in my life, your life, all believers’ lives. Even non-believers benefit from Common Grace. We have a loving and merciful God. One that uses His sovereignty to work to His Glory and our greater good. Where His hand is working in our lives, so smoothly and almost unnoticeable that we are prone to say it is luck. Would you rely on getting to Heaven by just being lucky? These words that roll off our tongue so easily have been brought to us by satan. He is not called the great deceiver for nothing. I want you to look at your life and see where God is at work. Look for it, expect it, and thank the Lord for His Love, Mercy and Forgiveness. If your prayers are not being answered, are you asking things not of his will? Have you done something, a sin, and just left it at that? Not repented, not brought to God and say you are sorry, this kind of thing will get your prayers less listened to. We all still sin, that is what it is be of the line of Adam. Our sanctification is a process and continues until the day we go to Heaven to be with our Savior. Repent your daily sins and expect your daily bread and look for Providence in your life. I was planning to cover more of the gospel of John this week, but with Providence rolling around in my mind, when I went to get the Westminster Shorter Catechism questions, Providence was again there, smiling at me, with questions of Providence. He was knocking at the door, all I had to do was answer it. Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”

All Glory to God the Father and to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

From Westminster Shorter Catechism, questions 6 through 10: Q. 6. How many persons are there in the godhead? A. There are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. Q. 7. What are the decrees of God? A. The decrees of God are his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. Q. 8. How doth God execute his decrees? A. God executeth his decrees in the works of creation and providence. Q. 9. What is the work of creation? A. The work of creation is God’s making all things of nothing, by the word of his power, in the space of six days, and all very good. Q. 10. How did God create man? A. God created man male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness and holiness, with dominion over the creatures. When I was around 14, having grown up in a Missouri Synod Lutheran Church, we had confirmation classes every Saturday morning that I practically had to be dragged to. We did not use the Westminster Shorter Catechism, thankfully to my young and carnal mind, but something the Lutherans had created to bend our young and resistant teenage brains into loving Christ. The default standing of Man is to run from Christ. To count the bible as foolishness. We love our sin and want to hold on to it. Interestingly, John 1 verses 9 through 13 deals with this. Well frankly, the whole bible deals with this, but we will narrow our focus just a bit to keep our eye on the ball, as it were. John 1: 9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. With the Incarnation of Christ, and through the Sovereign power of God, every man has enough light to be responsible. God has planted his knowledge in man through general revelation of creation and conscience. This blessing of general revelation does not however produce salvation, but either leads to the complete Light of Jesus Christ or produces condemnation in those who reject such light. Condemnation that you see played out in many of our big cities just about every night this summer. The condemnation that you see in California where churches are are told they cannot meet, indefinitely, yet Planned Parenthood and abortions continue unabated. It is quite striking that demons have a better understanding of scripture than most people do. We find Jesus casting out demons in Matthew 8 verse 29: And they cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” They know who the Son of God is and that they are doomed to eternal torment. The coming of Jesus Christ was the fulfilment and embodiment of the light that God had placed in the heart of man. John 1: 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. We go back to the creation and know that the world was made through Him. I try to remember if this was ever made known to me in my small town Lutheran Church and while I have a pretty good memory, I don’t think so. I could be wrong, but verse by verse teaching was not in vogue back then in our part of the world. It doesn’t really matter as that was then and I was not a believer and this is now and I am. Christ was the agent of Creation (John 1:3) and we did not know Him (John 1:10). Even though we have a bit of Light installed in us, we do not know him. The Jews, brought out of Egypt, saw miracle after miracle, saw a burning cloud go before them (Exodus 40:34-38), water from a rock (Exodus 17:1-7), food on the ground every day (Exodus 16:4-5) and yet they did not know him. God in His Mercy sent His Son to save the world (John 3:16) and yet they did not know him. Consider us, with access to all the information that we have today, where we can look back into history and see how this story plays out, we for the most part do not know Christ. Why is that? When we were young, we drank milk, as we grew older, our liking for milk lessened as a drink of choice, but not in our churches. What am I talking about? Hebrews 5:13-14 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Do you like your church sermons light, full of good news and short? No uncomfortable pieces of scripture that deal with our sin, talk of hell and damnation, tell us we are accountable once we accept Christ and can no longer live as we once did? I know I did. Squirmed a bit in the pew when the preacher went a little long. I am not saying that you have to attend a church that goes on for 2 hours, but it does have to preach to the whole counsel of God. See this video by Grace to You Church and John MacArthur for what Essential Doctrines a church should have. The trouble is that would we even know if we are still a milk drinker at church? This is where scripture comes into play. When you start to read it, it may not all make sense. But, little by little, the more you read, the more you know. This is the Holy Spirit at work in you. You have less desire to sin. Yes, you have to work at this, put away those things that you know are causing you to sin. And pray to a Loving Father in Jesus’s name. He wants to hear from you. The Holy Spirit helps in this too. Romans 8:26-27 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. John 1: 11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. Who were His own? Mankind in general and the Jewish nation in specific. We are His creation. He owns us. Is that a shocking and uncomfortable thought to you? Put away your milk. So Christ came into His own, and they did not receive Him. Matthew 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. And because the Jews were by and large unwilling to recognize Him as the Christ, the Gentiles were included. We, the Gentiles have always been included, from the time of Abraham. Genesis 22:15-18 15 Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” God’s plan all along was one of blessing for all nations. Because of Israel’s witness to God’s power and love, Gentiles throughout the Old Testament were drawn to the God of Israel. They came to know God by the testimony of his people and the Word he revealed. Paul’s mission was to bring the Light to the Gentiles. He always started in a Jewish synagogue, and if and when they rejected him, he sought out the Gentiles. We all are creatures of God and those of us that have repented their sins and acknowledged Christ as their Savior, we are children of God. A free gift that costs everything is how I like to look at it. John 1: 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, Children of God. I hope you can fathom how awesome that is. Once you have received Him, believe His birth, death and resurrection, repent your sins and follow Christ, you are no longer just a creature made in God’s image, but now a child of God. John 1: 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. This verse says right here that our salvation comes from God. Think about that. Do you hold to the idea that you have some part to play in becoming a child of God? How? You, the clay, how do you affect or control the Potter (Jeremiah 18:1-12). Yes we have free will, right up to the point where God says “You are Mine.” And be thankful for that, because if we had a part to play in our salvation, we’d probably screw it up. If you have questions about any of this, please let me know, or better yet, seek the answers in your bible. Also look into the scriptural references provided in this bible study. Rom. 15:13 – May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.