Roots by the River

Hope is one of the three survivors in 1 Corinthians 13:13. Let's look at Hope.   “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope . And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:1-5) “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” (Romans 8:24-25) “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13) ...

“But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36-37) “Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives.” (1 Peter 3:1) “But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips .” (Colossians 3:8) “But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister , ‘ Raca ,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘ You fool !’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” (Matthew 5:22) “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the ...

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4) “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:2) There are two promises based upon this delight. 1. He will give you the desires of your heart. 2. You will be like a tree planted by streams of water. The object of this delight is the Lord and His law. Psalm 119 has nine assurances of delighting in the Law of the LORD. In today's use 'delight' is used in some other enjoyment. It is used humanistically.

Here is God’s wonderful provision for salvation and its rejection in the same verse: "For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, 'In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.' But you were unwilling." (Isaiah 30:15) "The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts." (Revelation 9:20-21) People do not repent even though judgment happens on the earth. Here is a means to get people to repent: "Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his oppone...

One of the times that the apostles understood Jesus was in Mark 10:24-25. “The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10:24-25) They understood it by saying ‘Then who can be saved?’ That was the message Jesus wanted them to understand when he mentioned threading needles with camels. He responded, ‘With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.’ This is the message of the Gospel of grace. It is something of God not of man.   We see this in Romans 10:3-4, “Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.” (Romans 10:3-4) Righteousness is from God. Man cannot produce it. “How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” (Isaiah 64:6)

All of the verses quoted in the previous post are past tense sentences. Here are a few more. 1. “But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” (Romans 7:6) 2. “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” (Romans 8:9) 3. “Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations.” (Colossians 2:20) 4. “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3) 5. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me...And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passion...