Posts with the tag “true-discipleship”

Reading: 1 Corinthians 2:14; John 3:3-8; Romans 8:7-8 Jesus told the crowd that his word found no lodging in them. This was not a failure of communication. It was evidence of spiritual death. The natural man, as Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 2, cannot receive the things of the Spirit because they are spiritually discerned. The fallen mind is hostile to God and cannot submit to his law. This is wh...  Read More

Reading: John 8:34-36; Galatians 5:1; Ezekiel 36:26-27 No amount of moral effort transforms a slave into a son. Religious pedigree cannot accomplish it. Church attendance cannot accomplish it. Willpower cannot accomplish it. Only the Son can set a captive free, and when he does, that freedom is permanent, rooted in his finished work and not in human performance. Ezekiel 36 describes God removing t...  Read More

Reading: Romans 6:15-23; Jeremiah 17:9The Jews in John 8 insisted they had never been enslaved, even while standing under Roman occupation and spiritual blindness. This is the nature of sin's bondage. It deceives its captives into believing they are free. Romans 6 makes clear that every person serves a master, either sin leading to death or obedience leading to righteousness. The unregenerate hear...  Read More

Reading: John 8:31-32; Psalm 1:1-3Jesus does not measure discipleship by a single moment of emotional response. He measures it by a lifetime of abiding in his word. To abide is to dwell, to remain, to make one's home in the teachings of Christ. Psalm 1 describes this person as one whose delight is in God's word, meditating on it day and night. True salvation produces a new appetite. The regenerate...  Read More