How are we to understand the very real warnings that Jesus gives in his teaching on forgiveness? How do we reconcile them with the truth that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone? Our salvation, which includes the forgiveness of our sins, does not and can not depend on us. This is good news. We know we can't save ourselves or maintain our own salvation by our works. If it were up to us, none of us would be saved. So, the point of Jesus' teaching in Matthew 6 and 18 cannot be that we must earn our forgiveness by forgiving. If that is not the meaning of those passages, then what is?
Despite the enormous challenges the reader faces when working through the book of Job, it is full of divinely inspired spiritual instruction for believers. The book of Job teaches us, in an unparalleled way, about God's sovereignty over all things, the reality of spiritual warfare, the hope of the consummation, the rationale for the suffering of the godly, the mysterious wisdom of God in creation and providence, the need to be careful about how we counsel friends who are suffering and the important place of prayer and worship in the life of the believer.
Every day, billions of people wake up and take for granted that the earth spins just right- that the “sun knows its time for setting” (vs 19). We whisk by the trees, the squirrels, and the grass on our way to solve the day’s many problems. All the while, we worry. We fret. We fear. We consult search engines and statistics, essentially asking, “Will I be ok?” As Christians, we want to trust God, but he feels far away. In reality, the evidence is so large it’s almost out of focus; it’s so familiar we forget it’s there. Psalm 104 cries out to us, slow down, step back, look, and listen.
Over the years we have trained ourselves to read the Bible in an unnatural way, so we’re going to have to break some bad habits.
It should sadden us to learn that the church of our day has neglected one of the greatest treasures God has given her to worship Him--namely, the Psalter. The living God has breathed out an entire book of truth for us to sing back to Him whenever we gather together in corporate worship. Perhaps such a neglect has occurred on account of antiquated translations, difficult accompanying tunes or simply because of a lack of familiarity with the Old Testament people, places, events and symbols. Regardless, the church is certainly no better for having passed over the numerous inspired songs in the Psalter.
SEARCH THE ALLIANCE
Join the Alliance
© Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals
