The first half of Ruth 2 is beautiful, expressing two simultaneous truths: 1) God is completely sovereign over our lives, and yet 2) we are completely accountable before him. Nothing we do, or decide, or pursue will in any way shape or unravel the perfect purposes of God. Yet, God has given us means of grace by which we come to greater understanding of his ways, greater dependence on his strength, and greater joy in his service.
Grace
Judah, Tamar, & the Messy Messianic Line
Genesis 38 is nothing less than scandalous. Although a passage of Scripture that talks openly about embarrassing sin might at first affront our cultured sensibilities, the reality is this is exactly the kind of Bible we would wish for! A Bible that is about real sinners, who make really big mistakes, and mess up in horribly embarrassing ways, just like us – who God nonetheless saves, and even uses, in his great plan of Redemption.
Delivered for Our Sins, Raised for Our Justification
Text: Romans 4:25 Introduction If what this verse says is true, is true, then the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just something we should be celebrating once a year, but every day. We are justified—declared guiltless before the perfect, holy God—because Jesus did not stay in the tomb but “was raised again.” Jesus’ resurrection is best-case scenario for the world we live in; and so the good news of the Christian gospel is that the best-case scenario for this world has actually come true. I. Jesus Was Delivered for Our Offenses Your initial response to that statement might be: