Neither Jonah nor I had anything to do with our respective botanical delights; he took pleasure in his gourd and I take pleasure in my Maple. Jonah's gourd was raised up quickly and it met a wormy demise. When it withered, he despaired of life because his comfort (derived from the shade-giving plant) was taken away. I mostly just really like our tree. I seldom sit in its shade, but I really love to look at it.
Two years ago, April 7, 2007, our part of the sunny South was hard-hit by a killer-freeze. Within two days our large Japanese Maple's leaves rattled like dry rustlers in a strong wind. It looked like the thing had died. In July it began to fight its way back, but with several very dead limbs. It was pitiful looking. It made me want to cry, but I didn't.
Last year the tree fought through. Springtime arrived and the 50-year-old tree leafed out, still showing much evidence of the previous year's trouble. In later March I had the opportunity of preaching to a Kingsport congregation whose pastor was away for the day. The weather forecast was an ominous one: a hard freeze within a day or two. Two years in a row, it would be. I distinctly remember asking that congregation on Sunday evening, if they had no pressing concerns of their own, to "pray for my tree." The hard freeze didn't happen and the tree seemed to flourish a little through the year. That was an answer to prayer.
Today is April 8, 2009. Sometime toward the end of last week the forecast for our area concerning last night was for another hard freeze, down in the lower twenties. Once more our Maple tree was in full leaf, tender and fragile. When I saw that forecast I began to pray for our tree, asking God to please surprise the meterological prognosticators and be merciful to us in this matter and let the freeze that was predicted pass us by.
Immediately I thought of Jonah and his gourd. I braced myself a little, but continued to pray about my tree. It is God's tree, after all. But I do like it. And then I thought about our ailing economy and the many people in our region whose livlihoods depend on the survival of their trees and vines and the many tender blooms already showing on them. So I began to include these factors in my praying, which had been rather one-tree-oriented for a while.
Last evening around 7:00 PM I checked the weather forecast. My eyes welled up and my heart breathed a smile and a sigh. The feared freeze just might not happen, it said. I just knew that my Lord had heard the prayer of my heart. I was deeply grateful this morning to look out the door when I let the dog out; everything is still green and unburnt by the threatened hard freeze that did not happen.
God is so kind to hear and answer a prayer about something as unnecessary as a Maple tree. I have no doubt that many people (believers and maybe even some unbelievers) were praying about their crops and orchards and gardens. This divine relenting concerning the hard freeze that seemed a sure thing only a couple days ago may seem like a simple coincidence to some. But it was an answer to my prayer! The living God heard my heart and He has encouraged me. It may sound like arrogance, to think that God sees and cares about the likes of me and my feelings about a fragile tree, but He does. I am so thankful this morning.
Every day God is good to us, even on days when our trees and crops freeze and die. But how happy we should be, how full of praise from our hearts, when His tender love for us is put on display by thriving crops and living blossoms that will soon bear fruit, Lord willing.
Had my tree frozen solid and had God not been willing to lift the freeze, would my heart have despaired? I don't know. Maybe for a few minutes I would have reminded myself of distressed Jonah. But I want a hopeful faith like that of Habbakuk:
"Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls — Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills" (3:17-19 NKJV).
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
You Won't Meet God at "The Shack"
A Casual Critique of a Potentially Hazardous Cultural Phenomenon
By Timothy Adkins (March 30, 2009)
Some months ago while wandering through the mall in our hometown, waiting on my daughter (seems I do that quite a lot—I’m sure I’ll miss it one day in the not too distant future), I was browsing the “Inspirational” aisle of a bookstore. I wasn’t looking for anything specific, just passing the time (as there usually isn’t much of value in that section of most bookstores, just so much superficial nonsense). An eager employee seized the opportunity to recommend “The Shack,” a recent title by William Paul Young that has taken some people and even some churches by storm. (As usual, I’m about a year behind the rest of the world.)
The bookstore guy sounded breathless from discovery. “It’s so good!” he said. He then half-apologized for disturbing my meandering and then informed me that anyone he found in that part of the store looking as if they might be open to a recommendation, he told them about “The Shack.” The intonations of his voice were those of a devotee; having been deeply moved, he wanted others to experience what he had.
I had heard about the book before. After that day several people, one and then another, asked if I had read it. I was told that churches were buying cases to give out. Startled to see a copy on a relative’s end-table, I noticed one of the blurbs from the front cover: a reviewer suggesting that “The Shack” could do for our generation what “The Pilgrim’s Progress” did for Bunyan’s. Appreciating the value of allegory to communicate spiritual truths, I thought, “Hmm.” But then I dismissed the matter again for another couple of weeks.
Friends mentioned it again, saying (although neither had read it, nor did they intend to) the book was dangerous and harmful to souls according to some voices they highly regarded. The very next day I dropped in at our town’s Library when someone from the circulation desk was putting out a copy of “The Shack.” I thought I would look at it. I decided to read it with as much openness as possible, determined to give the writer every benefit of the doubt. So I began; within a few days I finished. Along the way I scribbled notes and page numbers, hoping the content would improve and my concerns would be resolved as the book resolved some of the issues it raised. It only grew worse.
Having now read “The Shack,” I feel sure that its charm will fizzle, but not until many more books are sold, a movie is made, and a bunch of money along with it. Some will talk about it from now on, as if it dropped out of the sky on angel-wings. It didn’t. One thing is clear—those who applaud “The Shack” either do not understand the gospel or do not believe it. The book takes about eighty pages to introduce “God” and then proceeds to define Deity in terms completely at variance with the message of the Bible. There is some attempt to explain God, the Trinity. The result is a mangled mess, with some truths intermingled with much error.
The book is written as a sort of ‘true fiction’ (fiction as a vehicle for a true message). It is written in a mostly accessible style. The content unfolds along an emotional storyline, so readers become concerned about the characters involved in an unfolding tragedy that is the canvas for the book’s God-encounter. Certainly, allegory may be used to communicate good, even great things, as in Bunyan’s classic work about a sinner’s journey from utter lostness and condemnation to his ultimate entrance into the very presence of God, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But such is not the case with “The Shack.”
Regardless of its popularity, readable style, and captivating plot, “The Shack” simply lacks theological soundness. If only it were about fishing for lake trout or some other harmless thing. The sort of biblical integrity necessary to make it an enduring work is absent. Having read it for myself, I am saddened that many people will swallow, whole, the unsound message of “The Shack.” Instead of helping people find God, “The Shack” will ultimately promote idolatry. Instead of coming to know the true and living God as He declares Himself in Christ, Shack readers will re-imagine God as they wish Him/Her to be—outright idolatry.
“The Shack” is a collection of monumental doctrinal problems (if the Bible is our standard for true doctrine). Shack’s God is a Papa, is a Mama, is a big, lovable, snuggly Softie, as warm as marshmallow roasted over glowing campfire; the divine “It” morphs into whatever He/She needs to become so as to accommodate the person being dealt with—after all, Shack’s God is all about us. Absolute holiness and other divine attributes are studiously downplayed and the Bible doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone is entirely absent. Shack’s Jesus is a greasy-fingered, likable fellow who had to live by faith during His days on earth, a grievous perversion of the Kenosis (See Philippians 2:7)! Shack’s Holy Spirit is an ethereal, delicate, semi-humanized vapor of a personality with a Far-Eastern (Hindu), feminine flavor.
Shack’s Trinity is not biblically recognizable, with the eternal Persons of Deity subsisting without any authority within the Divine Self (See 1 Corinthians 11:3). An original circle of relationship, without need or purpose for authority, defines Shack’s God. Further, the Bible’s doctrine of election is caricatured as God choosing which of His children He will send to hell.
A glaring heresy staining “The Shack,” making it more fit for the fireplace than the bookshelf, is its unbiblical teaching of universal reconciliation. Shack’s Jesus scoffs at the idea that people need to become Christians in order to enter a right relationship with God. All people are already reconciled to Shack’s God through Shack’s Jesus, whatever their religious ideas might be—so true faith in the actual Son of God proclaimed in the biblical gospel is completely unnecessary. While not all have yet found the way to “relationship,” the implication is that, since all are already reconciled, all will eventually come to “relationship” because they are already, in fact, God’s children. In “The Shack,” God the Creator morphs into God the Father/God the Mother/God the Whatever, without any necessity for sinners to exercise faith in God the Son through the regenerating power of God the Spirit.
Shack’s God is always pleased with people because, being omniscient and knowing the fallibilities of mankind, He/She has no expectations of people and places no demands on their lives—the law of God (say, the Ten Commandments) amounts to rules designed by people to control other people. As to sovereignty, Shack’s God does not purpose the bad things that happen, but makes the best use of whatever does happen.
To preserve the notion of infinite Goodness, infinite knowledge and infinite power are removed from consideration. Shack’s God is Self-limiting, which is necessary to preserve the writer’s concept of human free will; he realizes that if God were infinitely infinite and unlimitedly so, His ultimate will would fully comprehend all things, good and bad, as part of His eternal decree. And we simply can’t have that, can we?
Is it any wonder that celebrities and cultural icons would love “The Shack?” It is New-Agey-Religion with God, Jesus, and the Spirit—without the seeming narrowness often associated with biblical Christianity. Narrowness like: “…there is one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,” and “…No one comes to the Father except through Me (Jesus),” and “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” Why let the Bible get in the way of a good time?
Any person with the slightest interest in the truth of the gospel or in the well-being of his own soul (or anyone else’s) should not waste time on “The Shack.” If you do read it, know what you’re getting into. It offers a lightweight (often blasphemous) take on God, making little of sin, and redefining the gospel as much as it redefines God. It denies every person’s need for salvation through faith in Jesus; in fact, salvation is re-conceptualized in this book as something other than a sinner being rescued from the condemnation, penalty, and power of his sin by the grace of God in Christ. The church of Jesus Christ (See Matthew 16:13-18) is seen as more of a problem than a blessing.
Shack’s God is no more God than my little strawberry blonde dog is God. Like the Baals, Dagon, Aaron’s Golden Calf, Pleasure, Accomplishment, beloved Bank Accounts, and other Earthly Delusions, Shack’s God is an imaginary, manageable god-concept molded by each individual. To receive and believe the message of “The Shack” is to embrace a false conception of God and to worship an idol, not the true and living God who has revealed Himself, His will, and His message of salvation in the Person and work of Jesus Christ, as set forth in the Scriptures and preached to mankind in the gospel. –TSA
By Timothy Adkins (March 30, 2009)
Some months ago while wandering through the mall in our hometown, waiting on my daughter (seems I do that quite a lot—I’m sure I’ll miss it one day in the not too distant future), I was browsing the “Inspirational” aisle of a bookstore. I wasn’t looking for anything specific, just passing the time (as there usually isn’t much of value in that section of most bookstores, just so much superficial nonsense). An eager employee seized the opportunity to recommend “The Shack,” a recent title by William Paul Young that has taken some people and even some churches by storm. (As usual, I’m about a year behind the rest of the world.)
The bookstore guy sounded breathless from discovery. “It’s so good!” he said. He then half-apologized for disturbing my meandering and then informed me that anyone he found in that part of the store looking as if they might be open to a recommendation, he told them about “The Shack.” The intonations of his voice were those of a devotee; having been deeply moved, he wanted others to experience what he had.
I had heard about the book before. After that day several people, one and then another, asked if I had read it. I was told that churches were buying cases to give out. Startled to see a copy on a relative’s end-table, I noticed one of the blurbs from the front cover: a reviewer suggesting that “The Shack” could do for our generation what “The Pilgrim’s Progress” did for Bunyan’s. Appreciating the value of allegory to communicate spiritual truths, I thought, “Hmm.” But then I dismissed the matter again for another couple of weeks.
Friends mentioned it again, saying (although neither had read it, nor did they intend to) the book was dangerous and harmful to souls according to some voices they highly regarded. The very next day I dropped in at our town’s Library when someone from the circulation desk was putting out a copy of “The Shack.” I thought I would look at it. I decided to read it with as much openness as possible, determined to give the writer every benefit of the doubt. So I began; within a few days I finished. Along the way I scribbled notes and page numbers, hoping the content would improve and my concerns would be resolved as the book resolved some of the issues it raised. It only grew worse.
Having now read “The Shack,” I feel sure that its charm will fizzle, but not until many more books are sold, a movie is made, and a bunch of money along with it. Some will talk about it from now on, as if it dropped out of the sky on angel-wings. It didn’t. One thing is clear—those who applaud “The Shack” either do not understand the gospel or do not believe it. The book takes about eighty pages to introduce “God” and then proceeds to define Deity in terms completely at variance with the message of the Bible. There is some attempt to explain God, the Trinity. The result is a mangled mess, with some truths intermingled with much error.
The book is written as a sort of ‘true fiction’ (fiction as a vehicle for a true message). It is written in a mostly accessible style. The content unfolds along an emotional storyline, so readers become concerned about the characters involved in an unfolding tragedy that is the canvas for the book’s God-encounter. Certainly, allegory may be used to communicate good, even great things, as in Bunyan’s classic work about a sinner’s journey from utter lostness and condemnation to his ultimate entrance into the very presence of God, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But such is not the case with “The Shack.”
Regardless of its popularity, readable style, and captivating plot, “The Shack” simply lacks theological soundness. If only it were about fishing for lake trout or some other harmless thing. The sort of biblical integrity necessary to make it an enduring work is absent. Having read it for myself, I am saddened that many people will swallow, whole, the unsound message of “The Shack.” Instead of helping people find God, “The Shack” will ultimately promote idolatry. Instead of coming to know the true and living God as He declares Himself in Christ, Shack readers will re-imagine God as they wish Him/Her to be—outright idolatry.
“The Shack” is a collection of monumental doctrinal problems (if the Bible is our standard for true doctrine). Shack’s God is a Papa, is a Mama, is a big, lovable, snuggly Softie, as warm as marshmallow roasted over glowing campfire; the divine “It” morphs into whatever He/She needs to become so as to accommodate the person being dealt with—after all, Shack’s God is all about us. Absolute holiness and other divine attributes are studiously downplayed and the Bible doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone is entirely absent. Shack’s Jesus is a greasy-fingered, likable fellow who had to live by faith during His days on earth, a grievous perversion of the Kenosis (See Philippians 2:7)! Shack’s Holy Spirit is an ethereal, delicate, semi-humanized vapor of a personality with a Far-Eastern (Hindu), feminine flavor.
Shack’s Trinity is not biblically recognizable, with the eternal Persons of Deity subsisting without any authority within the Divine Self (See 1 Corinthians 11:3). An original circle of relationship, without need or purpose for authority, defines Shack’s God. Further, the Bible’s doctrine of election is caricatured as God choosing which of His children He will send to hell.
A glaring heresy staining “The Shack,” making it more fit for the fireplace than the bookshelf, is its unbiblical teaching of universal reconciliation. Shack’s Jesus scoffs at the idea that people need to become Christians in order to enter a right relationship with God. All people are already reconciled to Shack’s God through Shack’s Jesus, whatever their religious ideas might be—so true faith in the actual Son of God proclaimed in the biblical gospel is completely unnecessary. While not all have yet found the way to “relationship,” the implication is that, since all are already reconciled, all will eventually come to “relationship” because they are already, in fact, God’s children. In “The Shack,” God the Creator morphs into God the Father/God the Mother/God the Whatever, without any necessity for sinners to exercise faith in God the Son through the regenerating power of God the Spirit.
Shack’s God is always pleased with people because, being omniscient and knowing the fallibilities of mankind, He/She has no expectations of people and places no demands on their lives—the law of God (say, the Ten Commandments) amounts to rules designed by people to control other people. As to sovereignty, Shack’s God does not purpose the bad things that happen, but makes the best use of whatever does happen.
To preserve the notion of infinite Goodness, infinite knowledge and infinite power are removed from consideration. Shack’s God is Self-limiting, which is necessary to preserve the writer’s concept of human free will; he realizes that if God were infinitely infinite and unlimitedly so, His ultimate will would fully comprehend all things, good and bad, as part of His eternal decree. And we simply can’t have that, can we?
Is it any wonder that celebrities and cultural icons would love “The Shack?” It is New-Agey-Religion with God, Jesus, and the Spirit—without the seeming narrowness often associated with biblical Christianity. Narrowness like: “…there is one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,” and “…No one comes to the Father except through Me (Jesus),” and “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” Why let the Bible get in the way of a good time?
Any person with the slightest interest in the truth of the gospel or in the well-being of his own soul (or anyone else’s) should not waste time on “The Shack.” If you do read it, know what you’re getting into. It offers a lightweight (often blasphemous) take on God, making little of sin, and redefining the gospel as much as it redefines God. It denies every person’s need for salvation through faith in Jesus; in fact, salvation is re-conceptualized in this book as something other than a sinner being rescued from the condemnation, penalty, and power of his sin by the grace of God in Christ. The church of Jesus Christ (See Matthew 16:13-18) is seen as more of a problem than a blessing.
Shack’s God is no more God than my little strawberry blonde dog is God. Like the Baals, Dagon, Aaron’s Golden Calf, Pleasure, Accomplishment, beloved Bank Accounts, and other Earthly Delusions, Shack’s God is an imaginary, manageable god-concept molded by each individual. To receive and believe the message of “The Shack” is to embrace a false conception of God and to worship an idol, not the true and living God who has revealed Himself, His will, and His message of salvation in the Person and work of Jesus Christ, as set forth in the Scriptures and preached to mankind in the gospel. –TSA
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Man in the Iron Cage
The Character and Condition of an Apostate
In Bunyan’s classic allegory of Christian’s journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City, one of the most striking and horrifying sights is the man confined in the iron cage of despair. His hopeless, miserable, irrevocable condition is set before Christian to warn against the damning sins that lead to apostasy and, at last, to hell. Here one should learn to keep watch over his own soul and to make his calling and election sure, lest he prove reprobate, false, and deceived. While it is not possible for a true child of God to apostatize, it certainly is possible for one who thinks he is a true child of God to do so.
Apostasy is not a concept with which most modern evangelical Christians are at all familiar. In this day it seems that every profession of faith in Jesus is regarded genuine and soul-saving, as long as it is sincere. Sincerity and tears sway us into thinking that any person who professes to know and love Jesus actually does savingly know and love Him. Should such a sincere person turn out to be a hypocrite who ultimately turns away from Christ and the gospel in his heart, that person is still thought to be sure for heaven because of a twisted understanding of ‘eternal security.’
The apostate man in Bunyan, forever bound in the iron cage of despair until he is cast into everlasting flames, is certainly an allegorical man. It is one in ten thousand (if that many) who will ever admit to his own apostasy (or even understand it for what it is) as the man in Bunyan’s story. Most apostates equivocate, split doctrinal hairs, and continue to present themselves as true Christians, only believers with areas of struggle and difficulty; they are, in fact, aliens to the life of God, have never loved Jesus Christ, nor were they ever regenerated by the Spirit-power of saving grace. They heard the gospel declared in the Spirit’s power and experienced something spiritually real, and then trifled with it. They took holy truths into their hands and treated them as playthings. Their pretended love for Christ was always counterfeit; yet one more deception of themselves and others.
Many Christians have no concept that apostasy is real, even though it is evident all around us. Many whom the people of God have regarded as ‘carnal Christians’ are certainly apostates. They once thought themselves sure for heaven and made a good show of it; but secretly their hearts are so hardened against Christ that they cannot repent. These will never be saved. Hear the man describe himself and the sins that sealed his soul up to despair and eternal loss.
“I am now a man of despair, and am shut up in it, as in this iron cage. I cannot get out; Oh now I cannot!” “…I left off to watch and be sober: I laid the reins upon the neck of my lusts; I sinned against the light of the word, and the goodness of God; I have grieved the Spirit, and he is gone; I tempted the devil, and he is come to me; I have provoked God to anger, and he has left me: I have so hardened my heart, that I cannot repent.” “…I have crucified him to myself afresh; I have despised his person; I have despised his righteousness; I have counted his blood an unholy thing; I have done despite to the spirit of grace: therefore I have shut myself out of all the promises and there now remains to me nothing but threatenings, dreadful threatenings, faithful threatenings of certain judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour me as an adversary.”
The reason for any person’s apostasy is his own sin and wickedness of heart and willful rejection of the gospel and its promises. We must never blame divine sovereignty for anyone’s apostasy. It was out of the rich goodness of God that the apostate once perceived enlightenment through the preaching of the gospel. It was from God’s goodness that he tasted the powers of the age to come and received the clear light of the gospel and got a certain taste of the good Word of God.
What a testimony to the necessity of regenerating grace the apostate person is! No matter how many sweet favors are ours through the goodness of God, our wicked hearts would cast them all back into the face of God apart from regenerating grace! It is the wretched sin of the sinner that damns him and seals him up to lasting hopelessness. Be sure of this: every apostate, like a madman, drives headlong to hell trampling underfoot the eternal Son of God, regarding Jesus’ blood as worthless as dung.
While there may be sadness and despair in the heart of an apostate, there is never repentance. Repentance flees where there is no humility, no sorrow for sin, and no turning to Christ. Matters are so much the worse because of the tremendous privileges the apostate person enjoyed, but then ultimately despised and refused the Savior of men.
Christian asked the caged man why: “For what did you bring yourself into this condition?” His reply is chilling. “…For the lusts, pleasures, and profits of this world; in the enjoyment of which I did then promise myself much delight: but now every one of those things also bite me, and gnaw me like a burning worm.” Thinking of his own conversion and knowing the tenderness of Jesus, Christian wonders at the man; why he does not simply change his mind and turn? The man answers: “God hath denied me repentance. His word gives me no encouragement to believe; yea, himself hath shut me up in this iron cage: nor can all the men in the world let me out. Oh eternity! eternity! how shall I grapple with the misery that I must meet with in eternity?” How strange this is to the modern evangelical’s ears; but it represents a spiritual truth too quickly and too easily dismissed in this time by those who profess to be wise, yet who know nothing as they ought to know it.
This man in the iron cage had Bunyan’s knowledge of Scripture to fill his mouth with a true report of his soul’s condition. Most apostates walking about in this world continue to play out the scene, as if nothing is amiss and their hope of heaven remains sure. The reality is that there are far more people than we realize, people with whom we brush elbows day by day, who are sealed up in the sins they love. They cannot repent. Their coming misery is yet to be comprehended, for only eternity will measure their bloodguilt, they who have trampled underfoot God’s Darling Son and done despite to the Spirit of grace.
The apostate’s misery is a dreadful warning to every true saint. True saints keep watch over their souls; to live in disobedience to God’s Word while holding a Christian profession is to tempt God and to run the risk of personal apostasy. True saints live in love with Jesus and more and more despise their sins. True saints are aware that they could as easily have been deceived; they “make their calling and election sure” by a constant appeal to the unfailing promises of the gospel. They realize that they are only “accepted in the Beloved.” The redeemed take refuge in Jesus alone. To us His blood is most precious, because only by His cross do we have the sure hope of heaven. True saints trust not their own hearts, deceitful as they are; but they do trust the heart of their Savior who takes away their despair, replacing it with everlasting hope and joy for the journey. -TSA
In Bunyan’s classic allegory of Christian’s journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City, one of the most striking and horrifying sights is the man confined in the iron cage of despair. His hopeless, miserable, irrevocable condition is set before Christian to warn against the damning sins that lead to apostasy and, at last, to hell. Here one should learn to keep watch over his own soul and to make his calling and election sure, lest he prove reprobate, false, and deceived. While it is not possible for a true child of God to apostatize, it certainly is possible for one who thinks he is a true child of God to do so.
Apostasy is not a concept with which most modern evangelical Christians are at all familiar. In this day it seems that every profession of faith in Jesus is regarded genuine and soul-saving, as long as it is sincere. Sincerity and tears sway us into thinking that any person who professes to know and love Jesus actually does savingly know and love Him. Should such a sincere person turn out to be a hypocrite who ultimately turns away from Christ and the gospel in his heart, that person is still thought to be sure for heaven because of a twisted understanding of ‘eternal security.’
The apostate man in Bunyan, forever bound in the iron cage of despair until he is cast into everlasting flames, is certainly an allegorical man. It is one in ten thousand (if that many) who will ever admit to his own apostasy (or even understand it for what it is) as the man in Bunyan’s story. Most apostates equivocate, split doctrinal hairs, and continue to present themselves as true Christians, only believers with areas of struggle and difficulty; they are, in fact, aliens to the life of God, have never loved Jesus Christ, nor were they ever regenerated by the Spirit-power of saving grace. They heard the gospel declared in the Spirit’s power and experienced something spiritually real, and then trifled with it. They took holy truths into their hands and treated them as playthings. Their pretended love for Christ was always counterfeit; yet one more deception of themselves and others.
Many Christians have no concept that apostasy is real, even though it is evident all around us. Many whom the people of God have regarded as ‘carnal Christians’ are certainly apostates. They once thought themselves sure for heaven and made a good show of it; but secretly their hearts are so hardened against Christ that they cannot repent. These will never be saved. Hear the man describe himself and the sins that sealed his soul up to despair and eternal loss.
“I am now a man of despair, and am shut up in it, as in this iron cage. I cannot get out; Oh now I cannot!” “…I left off to watch and be sober: I laid the reins upon the neck of my lusts; I sinned against the light of the word, and the goodness of God; I have grieved the Spirit, and he is gone; I tempted the devil, and he is come to me; I have provoked God to anger, and he has left me: I have so hardened my heart, that I cannot repent.” “…I have crucified him to myself afresh; I have despised his person; I have despised his righteousness; I have counted his blood an unholy thing; I have done despite to the spirit of grace: therefore I have shut myself out of all the promises and there now remains to me nothing but threatenings, dreadful threatenings, faithful threatenings of certain judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour me as an adversary.”
The reason for any person’s apostasy is his own sin and wickedness of heart and willful rejection of the gospel and its promises. We must never blame divine sovereignty for anyone’s apostasy. It was out of the rich goodness of God that the apostate once perceived enlightenment through the preaching of the gospel. It was from God’s goodness that he tasted the powers of the age to come and received the clear light of the gospel and got a certain taste of the good Word of God.
What a testimony to the necessity of regenerating grace the apostate person is! No matter how many sweet favors are ours through the goodness of God, our wicked hearts would cast them all back into the face of God apart from regenerating grace! It is the wretched sin of the sinner that damns him and seals him up to lasting hopelessness. Be sure of this: every apostate, like a madman, drives headlong to hell trampling underfoot the eternal Son of God, regarding Jesus’ blood as worthless as dung.
While there may be sadness and despair in the heart of an apostate, there is never repentance. Repentance flees where there is no humility, no sorrow for sin, and no turning to Christ. Matters are so much the worse because of the tremendous privileges the apostate person enjoyed, but then ultimately despised and refused the Savior of men.
Christian asked the caged man why: “For what did you bring yourself into this condition?” His reply is chilling. “…For the lusts, pleasures, and profits of this world; in the enjoyment of which I did then promise myself much delight: but now every one of those things also bite me, and gnaw me like a burning worm.” Thinking of his own conversion and knowing the tenderness of Jesus, Christian wonders at the man; why he does not simply change his mind and turn? The man answers: “God hath denied me repentance. His word gives me no encouragement to believe; yea, himself hath shut me up in this iron cage: nor can all the men in the world let me out. Oh eternity! eternity! how shall I grapple with the misery that I must meet with in eternity?” How strange this is to the modern evangelical’s ears; but it represents a spiritual truth too quickly and too easily dismissed in this time by those who profess to be wise, yet who know nothing as they ought to know it.
This man in the iron cage had Bunyan’s knowledge of Scripture to fill his mouth with a true report of his soul’s condition. Most apostates walking about in this world continue to play out the scene, as if nothing is amiss and their hope of heaven remains sure. The reality is that there are far more people than we realize, people with whom we brush elbows day by day, who are sealed up in the sins they love. They cannot repent. Their coming misery is yet to be comprehended, for only eternity will measure their bloodguilt, they who have trampled underfoot God’s Darling Son and done despite to the Spirit of grace.
The apostate’s misery is a dreadful warning to every true saint. True saints keep watch over their souls; to live in disobedience to God’s Word while holding a Christian profession is to tempt God and to run the risk of personal apostasy. True saints live in love with Jesus and more and more despise their sins. True saints are aware that they could as easily have been deceived; they “make their calling and election sure” by a constant appeal to the unfailing promises of the gospel. They realize that they are only “accepted in the Beloved.” The redeemed take refuge in Jesus alone. To us His blood is most precious, because only by His cross do we have the sure hope of heaven. True saints trust not their own hearts, deceitful as they are; but they do trust the heart of their Savior who takes away their despair, replacing it with everlasting hope and joy for the journey. -TSA
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Where His Glory Dwells
“Lord, I have loved the habitation of Your house, and the place where Your glory dwells.” (Psalm 26:8)
“…He dwells between the cherubim…” (Psalm 99:1b)
“… you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22)
Soon after the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt, God gave to Moses instructions to build a portable worship structure, the Tent of Meeting (the Tabernacle). It was made of materials available to the Israelites as they traversed the desert, animal skins, desert wood, gold, silver, and such things. When they moved from place to place, they packed up the Tent and carried it to the next camp, as they were led by the movement of the glory cloud. This visible cloud of Yahweh’s presence was later called the Shekinah (‘residence’); this cloud of glory, residing above the Mercy Seat “between the cherubim,” evidenced His immediate presence with His people wherever they went (See Exodus 40:34-38).
The portable structure was called the Tent of Meeting because Yahweh met with His people there. He had delivered them from Egypt and brought them through the Red Sea on dry land, drowning their pursuers. God gave the Ten Commandments at Sinai and there Moses received instructions about how the people of God should go about worshipping the Lord. Israel could actually see evidence of the nearness of God when they saw the Shekinah descended upon the Tent, resting above the Mercy Seat behind the inner Veil.
The Mercy Seat was the pure gold, cherubim-covered propitiatory where the blood of reconciliation was sprinkled each year. It is written, “…the Lord of Hosts…dwells between the cherubim” (2 Samuel 6:2). There Yahweh communed with His people on the basis of Christ’s atonement, prefigured under prescribed forms. The sacrifices and religious services performed there prefigured Christ, and especially His actual working out redemption and reconciliation by His death at the cross many centuries later.
During the daytime, the glory cloud appeared overhead. Israel lived for forty years in the desert and that cloud of Yahweh’s presence protected them from the burning sun each day. At night when deserts become so miserably cold, the glory cloud became a fire over them: shade by day and heat by night. The Lord met Israel’s needs by being with them. As it was then, so it is now; He still meets the needs of His people by His nearness to us throughout life’s journeys.
The Temple was not yet built in the time of David. He desired to build a beautiful house for the glory of the Lord, but that task would fall to his son Solomon. David erected a Tabernacle, a Tent, to house “the ark of the covenant” (the golden box that held the tablets containing the covenant, the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s rod, and a pot of the Manna that sustained Israel for forty years in the desert). The Davidic Tabernacle may not have been quite like the one carried through the wilderness, but this Tent was certainly in David’s mind as he wrote many of the inspired Psalms. This Tent housing the Ark of the Covenant was the focal point of Yahweh worship during David’s reign.
As he wrote, “I have loved the habitation of Your house” and “the house of the Lord” and “the secret place of His tent,” David surely thought of the place where Yahweh was loved and worshipped. He loved the Tent because it was the place of Yahweh’s near presence, where the Ark and its Mercy Seat were. Forgiveness of sins and peace with God were so eloquently declared at this place. The glory of Yahweh dwelt there.
So, where is God’s house now? Where does the glory of the Lord dwell at the present time? At a church building on the corner, down the street? Where does God now evidence His glorious presence? Which place is ‘the’ place? Which house does the Lord God Almighty now inhabit? The answer of the New Testament is clear. The house of God is not a place; it is a people.
The habitation of God, where His glory now dwells, is the blood-bought church of the Lord Jesus. Jesus came and fulfilled all of the Old Testament types and shadows by His life and death and resurrection; the house of God that was established in earthly Jerusalem was one of those figures, a picture of a far greater reality, one that would fill heaven and earth in the end. In Christ all who believe the gospel are now built together into God’s household. The house of God is a family headquartered in heaven, in the very throne room of God Himself.
Whenever born again members of Christ’s redeemed church meet together as one people, whether a handful of saints or a massive congregation, there is the glorious habitation of God. This is God’s house. There the glory now dwells.
How amazing and how humbling it should be for each redeemed child of God to realize that, since the work of Christ was finished on the cross, the living God has been pleased for His glory to dwell in the gathered churches of the redeemed. Individually, we are indwelt by God’s Spirit. But in an astounding display of love, our God is now pleased for His glory to uniquely ‘reside’ upon and within the assemblies of the redeemed—in local, visible expressions of the one household of faith.
When the people of God gather together in true churches for worship, instruction, and fellowship, something wonderful occurs. When the living Christ brings together His redeemed people to make of them worshipping assemblies, the glory of God dwells among them. And it is especially so when they are gathered in one place, in one accord. He lives among them and causes His Name to be exalted before their eyes and before the eyes of some who, as yet, know Him not. He makes the united worship of His people to multiply; here is a case of something amounting to so much more than the total of its parts—multiplication, not addition. Five loaves and two small fish; multiplication!
What a gift to individual believers a genuine gospel-believing church is! It is God’s habitation, His house, His family. This is where His glory now dwells, in those who join together in loving and serving Jesus the Christ. David loved the place where God’s glory formerly dwelt. That house was a house of figures and types. Do we love the new place where the glory of the Lord now dwells—the living churches of Jesus our Lord, where He walks among the golden lamp-stands and holds the messengers of His gospel in His right hand? –TSA
“…He dwells between the cherubim…” (Psalm 99:1b)
“… you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22)
Soon after the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt, God gave to Moses instructions to build a portable worship structure, the Tent of Meeting (the Tabernacle). It was made of materials available to the Israelites as they traversed the desert, animal skins, desert wood, gold, silver, and such things. When they moved from place to place, they packed up the Tent and carried it to the next camp, as they were led by the movement of the glory cloud. This visible cloud of Yahweh’s presence was later called the Shekinah (‘residence’); this cloud of glory, residing above the Mercy Seat “between the cherubim,” evidenced His immediate presence with His people wherever they went (See Exodus 40:34-38).
The portable structure was called the Tent of Meeting because Yahweh met with His people there. He had delivered them from Egypt and brought them through the Red Sea on dry land, drowning their pursuers. God gave the Ten Commandments at Sinai and there Moses received instructions about how the people of God should go about worshipping the Lord. Israel could actually see evidence of the nearness of God when they saw the Shekinah descended upon the Tent, resting above the Mercy Seat behind the inner Veil.
The Mercy Seat was the pure gold, cherubim-covered propitiatory where the blood of reconciliation was sprinkled each year. It is written, “…the Lord of Hosts…dwells between the cherubim” (2 Samuel 6:2). There Yahweh communed with His people on the basis of Christ’s atonement, prefigured under prescribed forms. The sacrifices and religious services performed there prefigured Christ, and especially His actual working out redemption and reconciliation by His death at the cross many centuries later.
During the daytime, the glory cloud appeared overhead. Israel lived for forty years in the desert and that cloud of Yahweh’s presence protected them from the burning sun each day. At night when deserts become so miserably cold, the glory cloud became a fire over them: shade by day and heat by night. The Lord met Israel’s needs by being with them. As it was then, so it is now; He still meets the needs of His people by His nearness to us throughout life’s journeys.
The Temple was not yet built in the time of David. He desired to build a beautiful house for the glory of the Lord, but that task would fall to his son Solomon. David erected a Tabernacle, a Tent, to house “the ark of the covenant” (the golden box that held the tablets containing the covenant, the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s rod, and a pot of the Manna that sustained Israel for forty years in the desert). The Davidic Tabernacle may not have been quite like the one carried through the wilderness, but this Tent was certainly in David’s mind as he wrote many of the inspired Psalms. This Tent housing the Ark of the Covenant was the focal point of Yahweh worship during David’s reign.
As he wrote, “I have loved the habitation of Your house” and “the house of the Lord” and “the secret place of His tent,” David surely thought of the place where Yahweh was loved and worshipped. He loved the Tent because it was the place of Yahweh’s near presence, where the Ark and its Mercy Seat were. Forgiveness of sins and peace with God were so eloquently declared at this place. The glory of Yahweh dwelt there.
So, where is God’s house now? Where does the glory of the Lord dwell at the present time? At a church building on the corner, down the street? Where does God now evidence His glorious presence? Which place is ‘the’ place? Which house does the Lord God Almighty now inhabit? The answer of the New Testament is clear. The house of God is not a place; it is a people.
The habitation of God, where His glory now dwells, is the blood-bought church of the Lord Jesus. Jesus came and fulfilled all of the Old Testament types and shadows by His life and death and resurrection; the house of God that was established in earthly Jerusalem was one of those figures, a picture of a far greater reality, one that would fill heaven and earth in the end. In Christ all who believe the gospel are now built together into God’s household. The house of God is a family headquartered in heaven, in the very throne room of God Himself.
Whenever born again members of Christ’s redeemed church meet together as one people, whether a handful of saints or a massive congregation, there is the glorious habitation of God. This is God’s house. There the glory now dwells.
How amazing and how humbling it should be for each redeemed child of God to realize that, since the work of Christ was finished on the cross, the living God has been pleased for His glory to dwell in the gathered churches of the redeemed. Individually, we are indwelt by God’s Spirit. But in an astounding display of love, our God is now pleased for His glory to uniquely ‘reside’ upon and within the assemblies of the redeemed—in local, visible expressions of the one household of faith.
When the people of God gather together in true churches for worship, instruction, and fellowship, something wonderful occurs. When the living Christ brings together His redeemed people to make of them worshipping assemblies, the glory of God dwells among them. And it is especially so when they are gathered in one place, in one accord. He lives among them and causes His Name to be exalted before their eyes and before the eyes of some who, as yet, know Him not. He makes the united worship of His people to multiply; here is a case of something amounting to so much more than the total of its parts—multiplication, not addition. Five loaves and two small fish; multiplication!
What a gift to individual believers a genuine gospel-believing church is! It is God’s habitation, His house, His family. This is where His glory now dwells, in those who join together in loving and serving Jesus the Christ. David loved the place where God’s glory formerly dwelt. That house was a house of figures and types. Do we love the new place where the glory of the Lord now dwells—the living churches of Jesus our Lord, where He walks among the golden lamp-stands and holds the messengers of His gospel in His right hand? –TSA
Friday, February 20, 2009
Five Lord's Day Evenings in March
For the five Lord's Day evenings in March, beginning Sunday, March 1st, Hope Gospel Church (the church planting project) will gather in public meetings for worship, instruction, and fellowship. The meetings begin each Sunday evening at 6:00 PM. The place will be the West Ridge Presbyterian Church facility on Jefferson Avenue in Mt. Carmel, just west of Kingsport, TN. Look for directional signs that read "HOPE." The theme of the ministry for these five Lord's Day evenings will be the Bible's doctrine of worship. Everyone is welcome! Bring your Bible and a friend. -TSA
If God Should Repay
No Thumbs, No Big Toes
Judges 1:5-7
After Joshua’s death, Israel was led by a series of leaders called judges; thus, we have the Book of Judges to tell their history. There was no permanent successor to Joshua and no monarchy at the time. For many years, as they settled into the Promised Land, Israel would wax and wane. They seemed to trust in the Lord for periods of time and to walk in His ways. But they would eventually forsake Him through various forms of idolatrous disobedience.
After some extended period of suffering because of sin (and it always seems to bring suffering in the end), the people would finally turn and cry to the Lord. Then, in mercy and love, He would raise up a deliverer to rescue Israel from the trial that had been sent upon them. After a time the cycle would replay itself with new details. The Judges were Israel’s deliverers.
When we think of a ‘king’ we probably imagine a glorious, robed, richly jeweled ruler over an impressive, expansive realm. But many ancient kings were more like regional strong-men who would lead their forces in ruthless raid campaigns on neighboring ‘kingdoms,’ and the rest of the time defend their own.
When the tribe of Judah began to possess the land promised to them by God’s covenant, they conquered one particular king known as Adoni-bezek, which means ‘the lord of Bezek.’ The Israelites had killed some ten thousand men in battle at Bezek, an ancient town in the region that became Judea. What a bloody mess it was, primitive warfare being as it was—nothing sterile about it! Everything was personal, eye to eye business. They pursued the “king” of Bezek who had retreated into the town. Pressing on, they thoroughly defeated the ‘Bezekian’ forces and when the head man attempted to slip away, he was captured.
Utterly defeated, Adoni-Bezek experienced one of the appalling cruelties of primitive warfare. He had often inflicted the very same cruelty on scores of other once-powerful men and now it would happen to him. Imagine a muscular figure approaching with a jagged hatchet—to cut off your thumbs and your big toes. Whack, scream! Again! Again! Again! I imagine that he slipped into an unconscious state for a time, only to revive to horror.
No more would Adoni-Bezek present a threat. Never again would he wield a sword. Thumb-less, he was incapable of gripping anything well. Big toes missing, the once proud ruler would never again confidently strut as vain men often do. He would struggle to walk at all. The lord of Bezek, once ruler of the place, was reduced to begging and scrounging about for scraps. Freshly humiliated, his haunting words drip bitter irony. The Scriptures tell us his thoughts.
“Then Adoni-Bezek fled, and they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and big toes. And Adoni-Bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to gather scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has repaid me." Then they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died” (Judges 1:6-7 NKJV).
What words! “…as I have done, so God has repaid me.” Adoni-Bezek had been successful in life. He conquered kingdoms and humiliated their most noble citizens, cutting off the thumbs and big toes of the kings of conquered realms. They were made to grovel under his regal table in the very depths of degradation. Instead of reclining at table as men, they would scramble like animals for scraps, every morsel tinged with gall, every swallow mingled with misery.
This was major payback. That is how Adoni-Bezek saw it. He considered this as God giving him his due. Because of his own unspeakable cruelty to those he had defeated and abased, now it was his turn—and God Almighty was seeing to it.
How do those words strike you, “…as I have done, so God has repaid me”? Are they not fearful to consider? If God should repay, what would become of us? Have we ever been cruel in success? Might He visit cruelty on us? Have we been thankless and proud in prosperity? Might He take His gifts and give them to someone more faithful and appreciative? Have we taken glory for ourselves when it belonged to the Lord? What if he poured out upon us the dishonor we deserve? What if God should repay? What if God should repay!
How long was the journey to Jerusalem? Was he caged like an animal or forced to walk the whole way barefooted on wounded feet, stumbling and falling and bleeding as he went? How long did he live in Jerusalem after arriving there, months, years, decades? The City of Peace held no peace for him, just scraps and degradation; a humiliated mascot, an object of disgust. At last, he died. There was no funeral oration, no fond remembrance, no monument erected to honor his life. He just died, alone and humiliated to the end.
What if God should repay? If we ever reap a full harvest of what we have sown, what will that mean? Do we truly want our deserving or His grace? If grace ever comes, surely we will want to cease from cruelty! How could we who receive mercy give out malice? We want to deny pride and cease from ingratitude. We have nothing good that we did not receive from our loving Lord; let us thank Him. He is worthy to be honored! What are we but mere men of flesh and frailty? We merit no goodness from Him, but the very reverse. What love He shows when He saves and forgives the likes of us! O’ that we might live as if we actually recognized it!
Our Deliverer, Christ Jesus, not only defeated our enemy and rescued us from the condemnation of our sins; He also changes our hearts. When we trust in Him who first loved us, we who are forgiven a mountain of sin learn to love Jesus with a mountain of love. We receive soul peace and free forgiveness when we receive Him as our Savior and Lord, by faith.
David wrote, “Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to Your mercy remember me, for Your goodness' sake, O Lord” (Psalm 25:7 NKJV). We all have been such sinners. Every day God does not repay us according to what we deserve is another day of mercy. –TSA
Judges 1:5-7
After Joshua’s death, Israel was led by a series of leaders called judges; thus, we have the Book of Judges to tell their history. There was no permanent successor to Joshua and no monarchy at the time. For many years, as they settled into the Promised Land, Israel would wax and wane. They seemed to trust in the Lord for periods of time and to walk in His ways. But they would eventually forsake Him through various forms of idolatrous disobedience.
After some extended period of suffering because of sin (and it always seems to bring suffering in the end), the people would finally turn and cry to the Lord. Then, in mercy and love, He would raise up a deliverer to rescue Israel from the trial that had been sent upon them. After a time the cycle would replay itself with new details. The Judges were Israel’s deliverers.
When we think of a ‘king’ we probably imagine a glorious, robed, richly jeweled ruler over an impressive, expansive realm. But many ancient kings were more like regional strong-men who would lead their forces in ruthless raid campaigns on neighboring ‘kingdoms,’ and the rest of the time defend their own.
When the tribe of Judah began to possess the land promised to them by God’s covenant, they conquered one particular king known as Adoni-bezek, which means ‘the lord of Bezek.’ The Israelites had killed some ten thousand men in battle at Bezek, an ancient town in the region that became Judea. What a bloody mess it was, primitive warfare being as it was—nothing sterile about it! Everything was personal, eye to eye business. They pursued the “king” of Bezek who had retreated into the town. Pressing on, they thoroughly defeated the ‘Bezekian’ forces and when the head man attempted to slip away, he was captured.
Utterly defeated, Adoni-Bezek experienced one of the appalling cruelties of primitive warfare. He had often inflicted the very same cruelty on scores of other once-powerful men and now it would happen to him. Imagine a muscular figure approaching with a jagged hatchet—to cut off your thumbs and your big toes. Whack, scream! Again! Again! Again! I imagine that he slipped into an unconscious state for a time, only to revive to horror.
No more would Adoni-Bezek present a threat. Never again would he wield a sword. Thumb-less, he was incapable of gripping anything well. Big toes missing, the once proud ruler would never again confidently strut as vain men often do. He would struggle to walk at all. The lord of Bezek, once ruler of the place, was reduced to begging and scrounging about for scraps. Freshly humiliated, his haunting words drip bitter irony. The Scriptures tell us his thoughts.
“Then Adoni-Bezek fled, and they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and big toes. And Adoni-Bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to gather scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has repaid me." Then they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died” (Judges 1:6-7 NKJV).
What words! “…as I have done, so God has repaid me.” Adoni-Bezek had been successful in life. He conquered kingdoms and humiliated their most noble citizens, cutting off the thumbs and big toes of the kings of conquered realms. They were made to grovel under his regal table in the very depths of degradation. Instead of reclining at table as men, they would scramble like animals for scraps, every morsel tinged with gall, every swallow mingled with misery.
This was major payback. That is how Adoni-Bezek saw it. He considered this as God giving him his due. Because of his own unspeakable cruelty to those he had defeated and abased, now it was his turn—and God Almighty was seeing to it.
How do those words strike you, “…as I have done, so God has repaid me”? Are they not fearful to consider? If God should repay, what would become of us? Have we ever been cruel in success? Might He visit cruelty on us? Have we been thankless and proud in prosperity? Might He take His gifts and give them to someone more faithful and appreciative? Have we taken glory for ourselves when it belonged to the Lord? What if he poured out upon us the dishonor we deserve? What if God should repay? What if God should repay!
How long was the journey to Jerusalem? Was he caged like an animal or forced to walk the whole way barefooted on wounded feet, stumbling and falling and bleeding as he went? How long did he live in Jerusalem after arriving there, months, years, decades? The City of Peace held no peace for him, just scraps and degradation; a humiliated mascot, an object of disgust. At last, he died. There was no funeral oration, no fond remembrance, no monument erected to honor his life. He just died, alone and humiliated to the end.
What if God should repay? If we ever reap a full harvest of what we have sown, what will that mean? Do we truly want our deserving or His grace? If grace ever comes, surely we will want to cease from cruelty! How could we who receive mercy give out malice? We want to deny pride and cease from ingratitude. We have nothing good that we did not receive from our loving Lord; let us thank Him. He is worthy to be honored! What are we but mere men of flesh and frailty? We merit no goodness from Him, but the very reverse. What love He shows when He saves and forgives the likes of us! O’ that we might live as if we actually recognized it!
Our Deliverer, Christ Jesus, not only defeated our enemy and rescued us from the condemnation of our sins; He also changes our hearts. When we trust in Him who first loved us, we who are forgiven a mountain of sin learn to love Jesus with a mountain of love. We receive soul peace and free forgiveness when we receive Him as our Savior and Lord, by faith.
David wrote, “Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to Your mercy remember me, for Your goodness' sake, O Lord” (Psalm 25:7 NKJV). We all have been such sinners. Every day God does not repay us according to what we deserve is another day of mercy. –TSA
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Heaven Closed
A Test of Faith, a Call to Humility
“When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:13-14 NKJV)
Do you ever have the sense that heaven has been “shut up” and that God has decided not to send refreshing times to you anytime soon? Have locusts eaten your productivity? Has disease or death brought sorrow to you or to those you love? So, what do these hard times signify? How should we ‘read’ God’s dealings with us in hard times, when it seems that, while others are experiencing good, enriching times, God has surrounded us with loneliness or trouble?
At the level of knowledge our faith may regard the unchanging love of Jesus as an irrefutable fact. But at the level of experience even true faith may find little comfort in His very real love when He has “shut up heaven and there is no rain.” When He has commanded locusts to ravage the spiritual or material economy, it is hard to ‘feel the love.’ When He has sent pestilence and everything seems ashen, dead, or dying, even the truest faith may struggle to peacefully rest in the love of Jesus.
The why of it all is, often, beyond any real understanding. Why does our Lord “shut up heaven?” Why locusts? Why pestilence? The Lord told Solomon that it was a matter of time. When God deems them appropriate, He still sends things like these among His people. “When I shut up heaven” does not mean “if I shut up heaven.” But what is God’s point? Just to prove that He can turn our little lives upside down? Merely to show His might and make us feel bewildered by an unpredictable life?
Hard things do happen and Jesus Christ not only knows about them, He governs them as to their degree and scope and dimension. He gives, He withholds; blessing and cursing are His to command. The sun is His; by it He can gently warm or fiercely parch the earth. The rain is His; He may sweetly water the soil with pelting droplets or overwhelm it with torrents. “The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm.” He is the King of kings; the entire creation belongs to Him. It is His world and nothing ever just happens. Jesus is Lord of all. Down to the least detail, everything is under His power and all things fall out according to His ultimate purpose.
Now this can be a tremendous comfort to one who trusts the Lord, to know that our God is God and that nothing can happen or does happen apart from His will. And this applies to big things as well as little stuff—from the whole vast universe to our tiny lives. But during those times when He has shut up heaven and we don’t understand anything, His sovereignty can be acutely sobering and even bewildering. What a test of faith hard providences are! And what a summons that we should humble ourselves!
In light of God’s words to Solomon, we are not arrogant to think that God intends to speak to us through difficult providences. And the sooner we rightly respond, the sooner He may relent and open heaven for us and send those spiritually refreshing times again. It is a humility thing. Worldly people won’t get it; redeemed people will.
Occasionally, we think we are independent; but we can’t even breathe unless God grants it. If we are breathing and living, existing in this world, a mighty and loving God means for it to be so. And how precious a thought this should be to any discouraged believer in Jesus. But what is the meaning of our troubles; what is the purpose of this life? How do we make sense of it, especially when the God who loves us sends such hard things into our lives? We will never make sense of anything until we see our own life in reference to God, His glory, and His will.
Christ loves all who are His; if you are His by the grace of adoption, it is sure that He loves you. From eternity He loved you with an everlasting love. But this is not something we always feel. Sometimes we just know. Often, we must wait until later to feel a sense of His love. This is exactly what faith must do in those awful, dry times, when the heavens have been shut up and locusts have come and the very life has gone out of life—we must deeply trust in Him who changes everything, yet who changes not.
Meanwhile, do we simply tell our hearts, “It’s what we know that counts, not what we feel. Feelings are not on the same plane as facts. Facts are real. Figures are real. Feelings are too changeable, too temporary; they’re just not as real as the rest of what we call reality. So, get real, snap out of it, and live by what you know!” If we take that approach we would drain life of its essence. Love and hate, liberty and bondage, joy and misery, justice and injustice, kindness and cruelty—none of these are important if they are unreal. These all concern thoughts, ideas, emotions—and they all are monumental! Indeed, the coming Judgment at the Last Day will be greatly concerned with such things.
One is thought quaint if he truly thinks God actually touches this world and has anything to do with everyday life—the weather (floods, tornadoes, tsunamis), bug infestations (fleas, mosquitoes), deadly epidemics (Bubonic plague, HIV-AIDS). Why would God concern Himself with such things since they only involve fortune and poverty and life and death?
The Lord says, “When I shut up heaven…” Locusts show up at His “command” and pestilence goes where He “sends.” Unbelievers imagine a random universe existing of itself, but the Scriptures tell us of God who is sovereign over the details—all of them. If He is God at all, He is God over the details. After all, big things are just a bunch little things taken together.
Is it really arrogant of us, in times of stress and hardship, to think that our faith might be in the process of some testing? Do we delude ourselves to think that God would try us? If we are truly Christ’s we delude ourselves to think that He could leave us alone and never intervene. We are, after all, not our own—He bought us with a price. Our Master does intrude. He does intervene.
When God sends hard times to wicked, worldly people it often comes as a punishment for their sins. But when hard times come into the lives of His redeemed people, we know that He intends to use those things to draw us to Himself, not to harm us or drive us away. When He shuts up heaven we are tested. How much trial and trouble and spiritual drought must come before we happily humble ourselves? What will it take for us to cease from pride and thoughts of our own sufficiency and for us to turn again to the Lord? What will motivate us to turn from our wicked ways?
If you have been tested, if you are being tested, turn your mind now to God’s promise. He resists proud hearts, but draws near to the humble person. If we belong to Christ, being called by His name, these words provide tremendous hope: “…if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin…”
The humility we must have is a self-imposed thing that causes us to pour forth prayer—we speak from our hearts to our God and make our desires known to Him. The prayers prayed by one who has humbled himself show a desire, not for more stuff, but for more of God and more of His grace. That sort of serious humility makes us glad to repent, to think and then live differently—to think God’s thoughts after Him, and then, by grace, to live righteously.
He promises to hear us. What a thought, that the God of heaven would actually bend an ear and listen to you and me! And forgive our sin. And make the place we live a happy place! Is there any kindness we need more than His forgiveness and the peace that accompanies it? What promises! The Lord Christ who shuts up heaven can also open it. He can send times of refreshing and give great joy to those who have endured brazen, silent skies. O that we will humble ourselves, pray, and seek His face, and turn from our sinful ways—expecting our loving Christ to refresh us with a deeply felt sense of His love yet again. –TSA
“When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:13-14 NKJV)
Do you ever have the sense that heaven has been “shut up” and that God has decided not to send refreshing times to you anytime soon? Have locusts eaten your productivity? Has disease or death brought sorrow to you or to those you love? So, what do these hard times signify? How should we ‘read’ God’s dealings with us in hard times, when it seems that, while others are experiencing good, enriching times, God has surrounded us with loneliness or trouble?
At the level of knowledge our faith may regard the unchanging love of Jesus as an irrefutable fact. But at the level of experience even true faith may find little comfort in His very real love when He has “shut up heaven and there is no rain.” When He has commanded locusts to ravage the spiritual or material economy, it is hard to ‘feel the love.’ When He has sent pestilence and everything seems ashen, dead, or dying, even the truest faith may struggle to peacefully rest in the love of Jesus.
The why of it all is, often, beyond any real understanding. Why does our Lord “shut up heaven?” Why locusts? Why pestilence? The Lord told Solomon that it was a matter of time. When God deems them appropriate, He still sends things like these among His people. “When I shut up heaven” does not mean “if I shut up heaven.” But what is God’s point? Just to prove that He can turn our little lives upside down? Merely to show His might and make us feel bewildered by an unpredictable life?
Hard things do happen and Jesus Christ not only knows about them, He governs them as to their degree and scope and dimension. He gives, He withholds; blessing and cursing are His to command. The sun is His; by it He can gently warm or fiercely parch the earth. The rain is His; He may sweetly water the soil with pelting droplets or overwhelm it with torrents. “The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm.” He is the King of kings; the entire creation belongs to Him. It is His world and nothing ever just happens. Jesus is Lord of all. Down to the least detail, everything is under His power and all things fall out according to His ultimate purpose.
Now this can be a tremendous comfort to one who trusts the Lord, to know that our God is God and that nothing can happen or does happen apart from His will. And this applies to big things as well as little stuff—from the whole vast universe to our tiny lives. But during those times when He has shut up heaven and we don’t understand anything, His sovereignty can be acutely sobering and even bewildering. What a test of faith hard providences are! And what a summons that we should humble ourselves!
In light of God’s words to Solomon, we are not arrogant to think that God intends to speak to us through difficult providences. And the sooner we rightly respond, the sooner He may relent and open heaven for us and send those spiritually refreshing times again. It is a humility thing. Worldly people won’t get it; redeemed people will.
Occasionally, we think we are independent; but we can’t even breathe unless God grants it. If we are breathing and living, existing in this world, a mighty and loving God means for it to be so. And how precious a thought this should be to any discouraged believer in Jesus. But what is the meaning of our troubles; what is the purpose of this life? How do we make sense of it, especially when the God who loves us sends such hard things into our lives? We will never make sense of anything until we see our own life in reference to God, His glory, and His will.
Christ loves all who are His; if you are His by the grace of adoption, it is sure that He loves you. From eternity He loved you with an everlasting love. But this is not something we always feel. Sometimes we just know. Often, we must wait until later to feel a sense of His love. This is exactly what faith must do in those awful, dry times, when the heavens have been shut up and locusts have come and the very life has gone out of life—we must deeply trust in Him who changes everything, yet who changes not.
Meanwhile, do we simply tell our hearts, “It’s what we know that counts, not what we feel. Feelings are not on the same plane as facts. Facts are real. Figures are real. Feelings are too changeable, too temporary; they’re just not as real as the rest of what we call reality. So, get real, snap out of it, and live by what you know!” If we take that approach we would drain life of its essence. Love and hate, liberty and bondage, joy and misery, justice and injustice, kindness and cruelty—none of these are important if they are unreal. These all concern thoughts, ideas, emotions—and they all are monumental! Indeed, the coming Judgment at the Last Day will be greatly concerned with such things.
One is thought quaint if he truly thinks God actually touches this world and has anything to do with everyday life—the weather (floods, tornadoes, tsunamis), bug infestations (fleas, mosquitoes), deadly epidemics (Bubonic plague, HIV-AIDS). Why would God concern Himself with such things since they only involve fortune and poverty and life and death?
The Lord says, “When I shut up heaven…” Locusts show up at His “command” and pestilence goes where He “sends.” Unbelievers imagine a random universe existing of itself, but the Scriptures tell us of God who is sovereign over the details—all of them. If He is God at all, He is God over the details. After all, big things are just a bunch little things taken together.
Is it really arrogant of us, in times of stress and hardship, to think that our faith might be in the process of some testing? Do we delude ourselves to think that God would try us? If we are truly Christ’s we delude ourselves to think that He could leave us alone and never intervene. We are, after all, not our own—He bought us with a price. Our Master does intrude. He does intervene.
When God sends hard times to wicked, worldly people it often comes as a punishment for their sins. But when hard times come into the lives of His redeemed people, we know that He intends to use those things to draw us to Himself, not to harm us or drive us away. When He shuts up heaven we are tested. How much trial and trouble and spiritual drought must come before we happily humble ourselves? What will it take for us to cease from pride and thoughts of our own sufficiency and for us to turn again to the Lord? What will motivate us to turn from our wicked ways?
If you have been tested, if you are being tested, turn your mind now to God’s promise. He resists proud hearts, but draws near to the humble person. If we belong to Christ, being called by His name, these words provide tremendous hope: “…if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin…”
The humility we must have is a self-imposed thing that causes us to pour forth prayer—we speak from our hearts to our God and make our desires known to Him. The prayers prayed by one who has humbled himself show a desire, not for more stuff, but for more of God and more of His grace. That sort of serious humility makes us glad to repent, to think and then live differently—to think God’s thoughts after Him, and then, by grace, to live righteously.
He promises to hear us. What a thought, that the God of heaven would actually bend an ear and listen to you and me! And forgive our sin. And make the place we live a happy place! Is there any kindness we need more than His forgiveness and the peace that accompanies it? What promises! The Lord Christ who shuts up heaven can also open it. He can send times of refreshing and give great joy to those who have endured brazen, silent skies. O that we will humble ourselves, pray, and seek His face, and turn from our sinful ways—expecting our loving Christ to refresh us with a deeply felt sense of His love yet again. –TSA
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Repentance, Not Regret
“…bear fruits worthy of repentance…” (Matthew 3:8 NKJV)
Some would baptize old Lucifer hisseff if he showed up with a towel and a willingness to get wet. The Baptist confronted the Pharisees and Sadducees who professed that they had repented, as well. He refused to baptize them. Why not? He did not believe their repentance was real. Before John would consider baptizing them, they must first “bear fruits worthy of repentance.” Their lives must first provide credible evidence of genuine repentance.
What happens when a hypocrite ‘repents?’ The same thing that happened the last time he repented—nothing. No real change occurs because his professed repentance is only one more fleeting impression that vanishes as soon as it appears. Such repentance is repentance to be repented of.
He believes he is righteous while others are rather flawed. His thinking is straight; others are irrational or delusional. He knows the truth; others merely trifle with truisms. The Pharisee acknowledges himself sinful…but he is not nearly as flawed as those with whom he is forced to deal, day by day. Anyone who seriously challenges him just isn’t right; couldn’t be!
Indeed, we all deny the truth about ourselves at times. The truth can be a rather unflattering thing. Turns out that we are not the people we imagine ourselves to be. In our dreams we are reasonable with a good grasp on reality, fair and sober-minded. Our over-reactions are not really over-reactions at all; we can justify our behavior no matter how inappropriate; turns out that our reactions were precisely what the situations called for. Some people are simply unwilling to acknowledge the truth about us. Isn’t it strange?
Why does no one seem to believe a hypocrite’s repentance is real? Why do emotional apologies fall on deaf ears and meet with blank stares? Could it be that people recognize the same old song and dance? It may be a new situation, but the same tune and the same lyrics. They know that, if history can teach them anything, recent apologies mean no more than the earlier ones meant. Within minutes, hours, or at the most days, true colors will shine through again. The new repentance is but momentary sorrow; it will pass. Sorrow sometimes comes because harvest has begun. And who wouldn't feel sorrow when his evil seeds have produced evil fruit in abundance?
A hypocrite is surprised, and even angered, by the reluctance of others to believe that he is sincere. He believes others are sincere. He gives them the benefit of the doubt. He is quick to show sympathy and is understanding. He holds no grudges, but freely forgives. His conscience is clear, although seared black as night. Without malice, he is simply amazed at the pettiness, the pathetic smallness, of people: so exacting, demanding, unforgiving, and unfair.
Repentance and regret are not the same. Temporarily replacing anger with remorse is a hypocrite’s repentance. Saying, “I’m sorry” with tears is just his way of saying, “I’m sorry I lost control over my situation; I want it back.” Repentance is not an emotional event. Real repentance, the kind the gospel speaks about, is a spiritual grace that transforms a person at his very core. As a result, his thinking and his behavior change.
The ‘change of mind’ that is true repentance produces new actions and right words, the things life is made of. Degrees of sorrow, regret, and remorse may accompany true repentance, but the fact that one feels such things does not prove true repentance; a hypocrite may feel all of these ever so deeply and remain a hypocrite. Repentance is known and shown by persistent, consistent, appropriate fruits. Otherwise, the professed repentance is not credible. Pharisees and Sadducees talk the talk, call you “Brother,” and pretend love for God; all hypocrites do. These prove nothing.
“Fruits worthy of repentance” consist of more than apologies and wordy justifications. For repentance to be taken seriously and regarded genuine, one’s life must consistently produce the right fruit. A man often-remorseful and, as often, returning to wallowing in the mire of his sins—face it; he is a hypocrite. He is not a struggling Christian, although many have, in charity, treated him so.
At some point it ceases to be charitable to recognize a hypocrite as a struggling Christian; he must know that the farce is no longer convincing. He is a stranger to God and to saving grace. That is the sober assessment of men who know and love God in truth. He may have passed himself off as “wheat” for a time, yet the evidence of his life declares him to be “chaff” destined for destruction by “unquenchable fire.” The seeming evidence suggesting that he is a genuine child of God has vanished. What remains is empty, meaningless “chaff.”
Instead of fearing eternal wrath and bowing low in brokenness over the sins that hold him captive and poison his soul, the hypocrite maintains that he is genuine, although misunderstood. Never mind the mountain of evidence to the contrary. It is the nature of self-righteous delusion. In such a condition, no one will repent; but only keep up appearances as long as possible. And when no longer possible, keep on trying—the only other option is to acknowledge the truth. But the truth would utterly devastate his religious and damning pride.
“Fruits worthy of repentance” are produced by the Holy Spirit: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). Who is kidding who? The hypocrite is only kidding himself, because he simply cannot bear the truth. Instead of producing the fruit of the Holy Spirit, he is, instead: ‘quietly cruel, mostly joyless, much troubled, often impatient, subtly unkind, conniving manipulation, consistently inconsistent, inappropriately coarse, and absent self-control.’ A self-serving life blurts out the truth, as plain as day.
Can we bear to face the truth? Or, must we twist it and torture it and turn it on its ear so that it becomes something else? Only the truth can really set anyone free. Hypocrisy ultimately fools only the hypocrite. –TSA
Some would baptize old Lucifer hisseff if he showed up with a towel and a willingness to get wet. The Baptist confronted the Pharisees and Sadducees who professed that they had repented, as well. He refused to baptize them. Why not? He did not believe their repentance was real. Before John would consider baptizing them, they must first “bear fruits worthy of repentance.” Their lives must first provide credible evidence of genuine repentance.
What happens when a hypocrite ‘repents?’ The same thing that happened the last time he repented—nothing. No real change occurs because his professed repentance is only one more fleeting impression that vanishes as soon as it appears. Such repentance is repentance to be repented of.
He believes he is righteous while others are rather flawed. His thinking is straight; others are irrational or delusional. He knows the truth; others merely trifle with truisms. The Pharisee acknowledges himself sinful…but he is not nearly as flawed as those with whom he is forced to deal, day by day. Anyone who seriously challenges him just isn’t right; couldn’t be!
Indeed, we all deny the truth about ourselves at times. The truth can be a rather unflattering thing. Turns out that we are not the people we imagine ourselves to be. In our dreams we are reasonable with a good grasp on reality, fair and sober-minded. Our over-reactions are not really over-reactions at all; we can justify our behavior no matter how inappropriate; turns out that our reactions were precisely what the situations called for. Some people are simply unwilling to acknowledge the truth about us. Isn’t it strange?
Why does no one seem to believe a hypocrite’s repentance is real? Why do emotional apologies fall on deaf ears and meet with blank stares? Could it be that people recognize the same old song and dance? It may be a new situation, but the same tune and the same lyrics. They know that, if history can teach them anything, recent apologies mean no more than the earlier ones meant. Within minutes, hours, or at the most days, true colors will shine through again. The new repentance is but momentary sorrow; it will pass. Sorrow sometimes comes because harvest has begun. And who wouldn't feel sorrow when his evil seeds have produced evil fruit in abundance?
A hypocrite is surprised, and even angered, by the reluctance of others to believe that he is sincere. He believes others are sincere. He gives them the benefit of the doubt. He is quick to show sympathy and is understanding. He holds no grudges, but freely forgives. His conscience is clear, although seared black as night. Without malice, he is simply amazed at the pettiness, the pathetic smallness, of people: so exacting, demanding, unforgiving, and unfair.
Repentance and regret are not the same. Temporarily replacing anger with remorse is a hypocrite’s repentance. Saying, “I’m sorry” with tears is just his way of saying, “I’m sorry I lost control over my situation; I want it back.” Repentance is not an emotional event. Real repentance, the kind the gospel speaks about, is a spiritual grace that transforms a person at his very core. As a result, his thinking and his behavior change.
The ‘change of mind’ that is true repentance produces new actions and right words, the things life is made of. Degrees of sorrow, regret, and remorse may accompany true repentance, but the fact that one feels such things does not prove true repentance; a hypocrite may feel all of these ever so deeply and remain a hypocrite. Repentance is known and shown by persistent, consistent, appropriate fruits. Otherwise, the professed repentance is not credible. Pharisees and Sadducees talk the talk, call you “Brother,” and pretend love for God; all hypocrites do. These prove nothing.
“Fruits worthy of repentance” consist of more than apologies and wordy justifications. For repentance to be taken seriously and regarded genuine, one’s life must consistently produce the right fruit. A man often-remorseful and, as often, returning to wallowing in the mire of his sins—face it; he is a hypocrite. He is not a struggling Christian, although many have, in charity, treated him so.
At some point it ceases to be charitable to recognize a hypocrite as a struggling Christian; he must know that the farce is no longer convincing. He is a stranger to God and to saving grace. That is the sober assessment of men who know and love God in truth. He may have passed himself off as “wheat” for a time, yet the evidence of his life declares him to be “chaff” destined for destruction by “unquenchable fire.” The seeming evidence suggesting that he is a genuine child of God has vanished. What remains is empty, meaningless “chaff.”
Instead of fearing eternal wrath and bowing low in brokenness over the sins that hold him captive and poison his soul, the hypocrite maintains that he is genuine, although misunderstood. Never mind the mountain of evidence to the contrary. It is the nature of self-righteous delusion. In such a condition, no one will repent; but only keep up appearances as long as possible. And when no longer possible, keep on trying—the only other option is to acknowledge the truth. But the truth would utterly devastate his religious and damning pride.
“Fruits worthy of repentance” are produced by the Holy Spirit: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). Who is kidding who? The hypocrite is only kidding himself, because he simply cannot bear the truth. Instead of producing the fruit of the Holy Spirit, he is, instead: ‘quietly cruel, mostly joyless, much troubled, often impatient, subtly unkind, conniving manipulation, consistently inconsistent, inappropriately coarse, and absent self-control.’ A self-serving life blurts out the truth, as plain as day.
Can we bear to face the truth? Or, must we twist it and torture it and turn it on its ear so that it becomes something else? Only the truth can really set anyone free. Hypocrisy ultimately fools only the hypocrite. –TSA
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Remember...
We are rarely able to put ourselves into another person’s shoes. To feel what he feels and think as he thinks is not natural. It’s a wonder that any of us wonder why no one really understands when we are in trouble; we don’t try very hard to really understand when others go through trouble.
“Remember the prisoners as if chained with them — those who are mistreated — since you yourselves are in the body also.” (Hebrews 13:3 NKJV) Here, we are called to remember and to put ourselves into someone else’s skin. That requires us to think and to feel. Some prisoners suffer confinement and abuse for Christ and the gospel, not for evildoing. Instead of whining and complaining, they go on furthering His cause in the place where Providence has put them and they still find their joy in Christ. They deserve to be remembered—and remembered with great feeling.
Many who love and serve the Lord Jesus with all their hearts find themselves today in prisons of other kinds. Steel bars and guards and razor-wired walls are nowhere in sight, but they yet live in a confinement of circumstance and in too much maddening isolation. They are not the sort of martyrs whose memory we sing, but they love Christ with all their hearts and bear witness to His grace by their persevering faith. But it isn’t easy to walk in their shoes. How could we forget them? How could we fail to comfort the Lord’s loved ones who suffer in any prison? Ah, but we do. We do.
We have intentionally short memories when it comes to pain or trouble or solitude. We forget as soon as possible. The royal cupbearer forgot Joseph as he quickly put the dungeon experience behind him. We too forget Joseph, like we never knew him. And why not leave an unpleasant past unremembered? It was a bad time we want to forget forever. Weary times, possibly not so long ago, when we suffered things most unbearable and felt that no one cared or understood—who wants to remember such things or such times? But forgetting our unpleasant past means forgetting Joseph’s painful present.
And what about Joseph? We didn’t put him there. Ultimately it was God who purposed that he should be in that hard place, right? Are we to interfere with evident providence, to intervene?
We make a great mistake to think that since Joseph lived in a dungeon that God had judged him guilty. We err further to think that God intended for him to stay there forever. Was he not impressive enough to recall, when he spoke comfort and strength to our soul, bearing good news in hopeful words? Did not Joseph’s quality shine through, despite the peculiar setting? How do we forget a virtual diamond of a man?
We have known some people and have conveniently forgotten them, and possibly some “of whom the world was not worthy.” They once enriched us, but that was then. It is as if they died, or never lived. But they are very much alive, though forgotten. To remember them would require us to revisit an old dungeon from our past where we were afraid and cold and alone. We would just as soon never think of it again. It is so much easier to leave it all in the forgotten past. Joseph will somehow be noticed. Someday someone will do something. Meanwhile, we have plenty to keep us busy without taking on projects. He’ll be fine. He was well a couple of years ago.
Is there someone you must remember, whose life, whose existence, should be your great concern today? Do you think you can now feel what they feel? Would you try to get into their skin? Are they lonely, sick, grieved, or even hungry? Can you begin to imagine their relief to see your face and to feel kindness in the touch of your hand? To know you care enough to interrupt their trouble! Someone…yes, you! You remembered!
Dear one, we have forgotten long enough. It is time to remember and that is something we must do on purpose! Remember; then do something. Do it today! –TSA
“Remember the prisoners as if chained with them — those who are mistreated — since you yourselves are in the body also.” (Hebrews 13:3 NKJV) Here, we are called to remember and to put ourselves into someone else’s skin. That requires us to think and to feel. Some prisoners suffer confinement and abuse for Christ and the gospel, not for evildoing. Instead of whining and complaining, they go on furthering His cause in the place where Providence has put them and they still find their joy in Christ. They deserve to be remembered—and remembered with great feeling.
Many who love and serve the Lord Jesus with all their hearts find themselves today in prisons of other kinds. Steel bars and guards and razor-wired walls are nowhere in sight, but they yet live in a confinement of circumstance and in too much maddening isolation. They are not the sort of martyrs whose memory we sing, but they love Christ with all their hearts and bear witness to His grace by their persevering faith. But it isn’t easy to walk in their shoes. How could we forget them? How could we fail to comfort the Lord’s loved ones who suffer in any prison? Ah, but we do. We do.
We have intentionally short memories when it comes to pain or trouble or solitude. We forget as soon as possible. The royal cupbearer forgot Joseph as he quickly put the dungeon experience behind him. We too forget Joseph, like we never knew him. And why not leave an unpleasant past unremembered? It was a bad time we want to forget forever. Weary times, possibly not so long ago, when we suffered things most unbearable and felt that no one cared or understood—who wants to remember such things or such times? But forgetting our unpleasant past means forgetting Joseph’s painful present.
And what about Joseph? We didn’t put him there. Ultimately it was God who purposed that he should be in that hard place, right? Are we to interfere with evident providence, to intervene?
We make a great mistake to think that since Joseph lived in a dungeon that God had judged him guilty. We err further to think that God intended for him to stay there forever. Was he not impressive enough to recall, when he spoke comfort and strength to our soul, bearing good news in hopeful words? Did not Joseph’s quality shine through, despite the peculiar setting? How do we forget a virtual diamond of a man?
We have known some people and have conveniently forgotten them, and possibly some “of whom the world was not worthy.” They once enriched us, but that was then. It is as if they died, or never lived. But they are very much alive, though forgotten. To remember them would require us to revisit an old dungeon from our past where we were afraid and cold and alone. We would just as soon never think of it again. It is so much easier to leave it all in the forgotten past. Joseph will somehow be noticed. Someday someone will do something. Meanwhile, we have plenty to keep us busy without taking on projects. He’ll be fine. He was well a couple of years ago.
Is there someone you must remember, whose life, whose existence, should be your great concern today? Do you think you can now feel what they feel? Would you try to get into their skin? Are they lonely, sick, grieved, or even hungry? Can you begin to imagine their relief to see your face and to feel kindness in the touch of your hand? To know you care enough to interrupt their trouble! Someone…yes, you! You remembered!
Dear one, we have forgotten long enough. It is time to remember and that is something we must do on purpose! Remember; then do something. Do it today! –TSA
Friday, December 19, 2008
Gospel Tract Aims to Evangelize the Misled
A new gospel tract is now available, written to reach the sincere, but misled person who has sincerely but falsely professed to know Jesus as Savior. So many have been wrongly convinced that knowing Christ amounts to nothing more than praying a prayer and agreeing to a few gospel facts. This short article attempts to help the reader think more biblically about the gospel and much more honestly. For a free sample copy, just ask for "Sincerely Unsaved." -TSA
Friday, November 14, 2008
HOPE GOSPEL CHURCH
No such church yet exists in Kingsport, Tennessee. By God's grace and Spirit that can change. Hope Gospel Church is a church planting project for the greater Kingsport area.
If you live in northeast Tennessee or southwest Virginia and think you might be interested in being part of the foundations of a biblically-sound, gospel-focused, doctrines of grace assembly that loves Reformed Theology and practices credobaptism only...check out the website: http://www.hopefultoday.org/. If you relate well to what you find there, go to the contact page and send a get-acquainted-email. ---TSA
If you live in northeast Tennessee or southwest Virginia and think you might be interested in being part of the foundations of a biblically-sound, gospel-focused, doctrines of grace assembly that loves Reformed Theology and practices credobaptism only...check out the website: http://www.hopefultoday.org/. If you relate well to what you find there, go to the contact page and send a get-acquainted-email. ---TSA
Monday, August 25, 2008
New Gospel Tracts Now Available
For use in personal witnessing two new gospel tracts are now available. They are small in size with clear typeface, yet easily readable. Should you prefer them in larger print, they can be made available.
The first gospel presentation is entitled "Impossible Unless" and deals with the fact that no person can come to Christ unless they are effectually drawn to Him by the Father. It goes on to explain how by God's grace alone we may come to Christ and be saved, and that we must come to Him to be saved.
The second gospel presentation is entitled "Saving Faith" with the subtitle asking "Can your faith save you?" This calls upon the reader to examine his faith in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, whether or not he has received the gift of saving faith.
The price for these will be only as much as is required to cover our cost of production and for mailing them to you. Please inquire for more information.
The first gospel presentation is entitled "Impossible Unless" and deals with the fact that no person can come to Christ unless they are effectually drawn to Him by the Father. It goes on to explain how by God's grace alone we may come to Christ and be saved, and that we must come to Him to be saved.
The second gospel presentation is entitled "Saving Faith" with the subtitle asking "Can your faith save you?" This calls upon the reader to examine his faith in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, whether or not he has received the gift of saving faith.
The price for these will be only as much as is required to cover our cost of production and for mailing them to you. Please inquire for more information.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
In Case You're Interested
Single Level, 3 BR, 2 Bath home in Kingsport, TN---it's all on one level and close enough to everything! Shopping, city schools, parks, etc. nearby.
Eighteen hundred (1800 +) square feet plus. New outside storage building.
Under 140K, in a quiet, established neighborhood. Delightful back patio with growing shrubs, flowers, trees, etc. Hear the birds sing.
Inquire via email.
Eighteen hundred (1800 +) square feet plus. New outside storage building.
Under 140K, in a quiet, established neighborhood. Delightful back patio with growing shrubs, flowers, trees, etc. Hear the birds sing.
Inquire via email.
Friday, August 1, 2008
We Ought to Be Hopeful
We should already know it very well and we say that we do: the Word of God cannot fail! The Psalmist declares, “Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name” (Psalm 138:2). God Almighty, the everlasting God, the self-existing, self-determining, covenant-making, covenant-keeping God—He has staked all His eternal glory on the truthfulness of His Word. His Word is every bit as good as He is and that according to Him.
Personal anecdotes, yarns as some of the old folks used to call them, are not always very useful and can easily be more distracting than beneficial. I have generally shied away from telling many personal stories for that very reason. Here an exception is ventured.
As a boy I sold Bibles to my relatives and many of their friends for a school-related fund-raising effort. In addition to a new Bible of my very own, one of the prizes I received was a tiny lapel pin of my choice. They had several with different wording. I was not a Christian at the time; I was, instead, a routinely-blasphemous, somewhat God-fearing, fairly effective (although ungodly) Bible salesman. Not knowing much about God, even then I knew that the Bible taught that Jesus is God and already I knew that God could never fail and still be God. The lapel pin I chose reflected that: in little gold letters it said “Jesus Never Fails”.
A few years later I became a genuine believer and have now been a student of the Bible for more than 30 years. I am rather convinced that the truth expressed by my little lapel pin is stronger and truer than much of what passes for Bible preaching in our time. It is more than a corny saying—Jesus never, never, never fails! The Word of God cannot fail anymore than Jesus can. It cannot cease to be truth, nor can it fail to accomplish literally everything that God intends to accomplish by it.
A Relevant Portion of Scripture—Let It Sink In
Isaiah 55:6-11 NKJV
6 Seek the Lord while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the Lord,
And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord.
9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
10 "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
Whereas men often exact vengeance when wronged, the God of Israel assured them that He would not seek their harm despite their former sins. His thoughts are not like man’s thoughts, neither as to content nor to efficacy. His thoughts are of mercy when men’s thoughts dwell on wrath. His thoughts are not mere wishes, but actually come true. In both of these ways God’s thoughts are higher than ours. Isaiah 55:10-11 tell us of the effectiveness of God’s thoughts, expressed in His Word.
Often our thoughts and words come to nothing. God’s thoughts are all perfect and all that He speaks is definite and sure. Think of the rain falling down wetting the earth; of the snow blanketing the landscape to slowly nurture the earth with life-sustaining moisture. Never does the rain or snow make a U-turn and return to the cloud from which they came—God describes the effectiveness of His Word in such terms. His Word never fails to accomplish all that He intends for it to do. 100% successful every single time! Now that ought to make us hopeful as we proclaim His gospel in this world!
Why the Long Face?
Some Christians are greatly discouraged by the badness of this world. The world is bad and getting worse despite the amazing progress made on some fronts. Even in the days of the Apostle, days he referred to as “the last days,” he said “perilous times will come.” Well, such times came and have continued to worsen over the centuries; foul fruit weighs down the branches of the foul tree and the day of destruction comes. But the badness of the world is no impediment to our God doing what He has willed to do.
Some who are charged with the great task of preaching the gospel have a rather dim view of the gospel’s prospects in this time. Many preach on a regular basis, almost expecting that there will be little or no favorable response. And while the darkness of men’s hearts cannot be denied, nor the deadness of men’s spirits to the things of God, still, the inspired Scriptures give us reason to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ with hopeful hearts and expectant minds. How shall we doubt that God will accomplish His will by His Word proclaimed? If His Word cannot fail, it must succeed when it goes forth.
Good Things Can Happen While Weeds Grow
The Lord Jesus spoke an agricultural parable: of wheat and tares (Matthew 13). Now tares were parasitic weeds resembling wheat in its early stages. Soon the field revealed the presence of these destructive weeds growing along with the wheat. Jesus represented the wheat (His people) and the tares (the children of the world) as growing together in the field (this world) until the time of the harvest (the end of the age: when the people of God are gathered to heaven and the unrepentant children of this world are gathered up and cast into hell). The Lord’s plain explanation of the parable is also found in Matthew 13.
The point is this. While the world progresses toward destruction, the people of God are guaranteed to make progress toward eternal life in its ultimate sense. Both can occur at the same time. Here Jesus gives us reason to proclaim the gospel with good hope of success—trusting the sovereign Lord of the universe to protect and preserve us as we live in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. We are assured that that His Word cannot possibly fail to accomplish literally everything that our Lord intends for it to accomplish. The march of the wicked on toward destruction continues, while the church of God marches on toward ultimate glory with Christ. And all the while souls are being added to the church.
What Kind of Success and for How Long?
What sort of success does God promise to His people? How long should the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and all of her gospel preachers expect fruit from the faithful proclamation of the word of the cross? Consider two Scriptures.
Matthew 28:18-20 NKJV
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.
The kind of success promised has to do with the salvation of souls. Disciples will be made through the faithful preaching of the gospel. The disciples will be taught to follow the Savior in everything. This is the success for which we look and over which we will rejoice greatly. For how long? Jesus tells us, “even to the end of the age.” Until the end of the age we can expect Jesus to be with us as we proclaim His gospel and make disciples. When the end of the age comes, Jesus will come and the success of the gospel will be shown as entirely successful—for by the gospel God saves “as many as were ordained unto eternal life” when they believe (Acts 13:48).
The second Scripture worth our notice, as we consider how truly hopeful we should be concerning the forward advance of the gospel, is found in 2 Peter 3. How long should we anticipate that God will prosper His Word in people’s hearts and bring them to faith in Jesus? In 2 Peter 3:15 the Apostle assures us that the reason Jesus has not already returned in His promised Second Coming is this: He still has people to save. He will come again as soon as He has finished the work of saving His people. Peter says that we are to remember that “the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation,” meaning that during this time when the Lord is tolerating the wickedness of evil men He is still saving people by His grace. Clearly, when His saving work is completed in its application Christ will come again, as promised.
Until Jesus comes again let us proclaim the saving grace of Jesus with every confidence in His power to transform lives for time and eternity. When “we preach Christ crucified” we ought to be hopeful, for the word of the cross is the power of God that brought salvationto us—and there are other sheep that He must bring. We ought to be hopeful!
Personal anecdotes, yarns as some of the old folks used to call them, are not always very useful and can easily be more distracting than beneficial. I have generally shied away from telling many personal stories for that very reason. Here an exception is ventured.
As a boy I sold Bibles to my relatives and many of their friends for a school-related fund-raising effort. In addition to a new Bible of my very own, one of the prizes I received was a tiny lapel pin of my choice. They had several with different wording. I was not a Christian at the time; I was, instead, a routinely-blasphemous, somewhat God-fearing, fairly effective (although ungodly) Bible salesman. Not knowing much about God, even then I knew that the Bible taught that Jesus is God and already I knew that God could never fail and still be God. The lapel pin I chose reflected that: in little gold letters it said “Jesus Never Fails”.
A few years later I became a genuine believer and have now been a student of the Bible for more than 30 years. I am rather convinced that the truth expressed by my little lapel pin is stronger and truer than much of what passes for Bible preaching in our time. It is more than a corny saying—Jesus never, never, never fails! The Word of God cannot fail anymore than Jesus can. It cannot cease to be truth, nor can it fail to accomplish literally everything that God intends to accomplish by it.
A Relevant Portion of Scripture—Let It Sink In
Isaiah 55:6-11 NKJV
6 Seek the Lord while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the Lord,
And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord.
9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
10 "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
Whereas men often exact vengeance when wronged, the God of Israel assured them that He would not seek their harm despite their former sins. His thoughts are not like man’s thoughts, neither as to content nor to efficacy. His thoughts are of mercy when men’s thoughts dwell on wrath. His thoughts are not mere wishes, but actually come true. In both of these ways God’s thoughts are higher than ours. Isaiah 55:10-11 tell us of the effectiveness of God’s thoughts, expressed in His Word.
Often our thoughts and words come to nothing. God’s thoughts are all perfect and all that He speaks is definite and sure. Think of the rain falling down wetting the earth; of the snow blanketing the landscape to slowly nurture the earth with life-sustaining moisture. Never does the rain or snow make a U-turn and return to the cloud from which they came—God describes the effectiveness of His Word in such terms. His Word never fails to accomplish all that He intends for it to do. 100% successful every single time! Now that ought to make us hopeful as we proclaim His gospel in this world!
Why the Long Face?
Some Christians are greatly discouraged by the badness of this world. The world is bad and getting worse despite the amazing progress made on some fronts. Even in the days of the Apostle, days he referred to as “the last days,” he said “perilous times will come.” Well, such times came and have continued to worsen over the centuries; foul fruit weighs down the branches of the foul tree and the day of destruction comes. But the badness of the world is no impediment to our God doing what He has willed to do.
Some who are charged with the great task of preaching the gospel have a rather dim view of the gospel’s prospects in this time. Many preach on a regular basis, almost expecting that there will be little or no favorable response. And while the darkness of men’s hearts cannot be denied, nor the deadness of men’s spirits to the things of God, still, the inspired Scriptures give us reason to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ with hopeful hearts and expectant minds. How shall we doubt that God will accomplish His will by His Word proclaimed? If His Word cannot fail, it must succeed when it goes forth.
Good Things Can Happen While Weeds Grow
The Lord Jesus spoke an agricultural parable: of wheat and tares (Matthew 13). Now tares were parasitic weeds resembling wheat in its early stages. Soon the field revealed the presence of these destructive weeds growing along with the wheat. Jesus represented the wheat (His people) and the tares (the children of the world) as growing together in the field (this world) until the time of the harvest (the end of the age: when the people of God are gathered to heaven and the unrepentant children of this world are gathered up and cast into hell). The Lord’s plain explanation of the parable is also found in Matthew 13.
The point is this. While the world progresses toward destruction, the people of God are guaranteed to make progress toward eternal life in its ultimate sense. Both can occur at the same time. Here Jesus gives us reason to proclaim the gospel with good hope of success—trusting the sovereign Lord of the universe to protect and preserve us as we live in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. We are assured that that His Word cannot possibly fail to accomplish literally everything that our Lord intends for it to accomplish. The march of the wicked on toward destruction continues, while the church of God marches on toward ultimate glory with Christ. And all the while souls are being added to the church.
What Kind of Success and for How Long?
What sort of success does God promise to His people? How long should the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and all of her gospel preachers expect fruit from the faithful proclamation of the word of the cross? Consider two Scriptures.
Matthew 28:18-20 NKJV
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.
The kind of success promised has to do with the salvation of souls. Disciples will be made through the faithful preaching of the gospel. The disciples will be taught to follow the Savior in everything. This is the success for which we look and over which we will rejoice greatly. For how long? Jesus tells us, “even to the end of the age.” Until the end of the age we can expect Jesus to be with us as we proclaim His gospel and make disciples. When the end of the age comes, Jesus will come and the success of the gospel will be shown as entirely successful—for by the gospel God saves “as many as were ordained unto eternal life” when they believe (Acts 13:48).
The second Scripture worth our notice, as we consider how truly hopeful we should be concerning the forward advance of the gospel, is found in 2 Peter 3. How long should we anticipate that God will prosper His Word in people’s hearts and bring them to faith in Jesus? In 2 Peter 3:15 the Apostle assures us that the reason Jesus has not already returned in His promised Second Coming is this: He still has people to save. He will come again as soon as He has finished the work of saving His people. Peter says that we are to remember that “the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation,” meaning that during this time when the Lord is tolerating the wickedness of evil men He is still saving people by His grace. Clearly, when His saving work is completed in its application Christ will come again, as promised.
Until Jesus comes again let us proclaim the saving grace of Jesus with every confidence in His power to transform lives for time and eternity. When “we preach Christ crucified” we ought to be hopeful, for the word of the cross is the power of God that brought salvationto us—and there are other sheep that He must bring. We ought to be hopeful!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Our Chief Entangling Sin, part 1
(The substance of the articles under this title is drawn from a sermon preached on July 6, 2008. Anyone wishing to hear the sermon online only needs to click the following link: http://www.box.net/signup/collablink/d_15226419/3cf71fc57826f Access is completely FREE.)
“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-3 NASB)
The writer uses the imagery of an Olympic athlete running in the ancient marathon: for the Christian the observing audience is that company of believers who have already finished their course in the victory of faith (Chapter 11): they are the “great cloud of witnesses.” As Christians running the race of life, we are told to “lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us.” Obviously, no runner who wants to win the race will carry unnecessary weight—every weight, every hindrance that can be laid aside will be laid aside. The laws of physics guarantee that the more weight one carries, the slower will he advance. Weights are set aside.
So the runner has laid aside every possible microgram of weight to make his speed and endurance more efficient, but he must also be sure that he wears no garments that might cause him to trip or that might interfere with the rhythmic, coordinated action of his legs and arms and the rest of the body. In addition to removing unnecessary weights—customary jewelry, bracelets or rings or anything else—an Olympian must also lay aside anything and everything that might entangle him or trip him.
This image is used by the writer of Hebrews to urge Christians to “lay aside” every weight that might slow their progress. Some of you have already done this many times; and some of us know that we need to ‘give up’ some things that are now part of our lives so that we might make better progress in the life God has called us to.
Then the writer urges his readers and hearers to “lay aside” “the sin which does so easily beset us” (KJV), to purposefully stop whatever they recognize as sin—and why? Because known sin is bound to entangle their feet and trip them up in their race. If they don’t lay it aside, they will sooner or later find themselves on their faces, bloodied and bruised and banged up because their feet became tangled by the dangling cords of known sin.
“The sin which so easily entangles us”—
How easily known sin entangles us! Granted, we all have sometime been tripped up because of some sin that we had not fully recognized for what it was at the time. But mostly what trips us up and causes us to become entangled and fall on our faces is known sin. That is what the writer of Hebrews is urging the Christians to beware and to “lay aside”…the sin they recognize to be sin and the sin they know, that if they continue to tolerate it, will eventually hurl them down, making their life a tangled, mangled mess, full of sorrow and heartbreak and shame. We have seen it happen to others, yet delude ourselves, thinking it won’t happen to us…thinking we can manage it and keep our sin under control.
Entangling sins are just that, sins–missing the mark, breaching the standard. We know “the mark;” the standard was written upon Adam’s conscience and, although now in a marred condition, it is still inscribed upon ours. Paul tells the first-century Roman church (2:19) that the Gentiles “which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves.” The standard of God’s righteousness was made clear when He issued the Ten Commandments by an audible voice at Mt. Sinai, amid thunder and lightning, inscribing them upon tablets of stone—the same law that had been inscribed upon man’s conscience at the creation! Indeed, we know the “mark” that we are missing.
Further, and so powerfully, our Lord Jesus made it perfectly clear that obedience to God and keeping His Word was a matter of the heart—guilt for murder is not avoided if we have hatred in our hearts and guilt for adultery is not avoided as long as we have lust in our hearts. The standard is not unclear; we have received much light. The peril addressed by the writer of Hebrews is dangerous toleration; dabbling with known sin.
“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-3 NASB)
The writer uses the imagery of an Olympic athlete running in the ancient marathon: for the Christian the observing audience is that company of believers who have already finished their course in the victory of faith (Chapter 11): they are the “great cloud of witnesses.” As Christians running the race of life, we are told to “lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us.” Obviously, no runner who wants to win the race will carry unnecessary weight—every weight, every hindrance that can be laid aside will be laid aside. The laws of physics guarantee that the more weight one carries, the slower will he advance. Weights are set aside.
So the runner has laid aside every possible microgram of weight to make his speed and endurance more efficient, but he must also be sure that he wears no garments that might cause him to trip or that might interfere with the rhythmic, coordinated action of his legs and arms and the rest of the body. In addition to removing unnecessary weights—customary jewelry, bracelets or rings or anything else—an Olympian must also lay aside anything and everything that might entangle him or trip him.
This image is used by the writer of Hebrews to urge Christians to “lay aside” every weight that might slow their progress. Some of you have already done this many times; and some of us know that we need to ‘give up’ some things that are now part of our lives so that we might make better progress in the life God has called us to.
Then the writer urges his readers and hearers to “lay aside” “the sin which does so easily beset us” (KJV), to purposefully stop whatever they recognize as sin—and why? Because known sin is bound to entangle their feet and trip them up in their race. If they don’t lay it aside, they will sooner or later find themselves on their faces, bloodied and bruised and banged up because their feet became tangled by the dangling cords of known sin.
“The sin which so easily entangles us”—
How easily known sin entangles us! Granted, we all have sometime been tripped up because of some sin that we had not fully recognized for what it was at the time. But mostly what trips us up and causes us to become entangled and fall on our faces is known sin. That is what the writer of Hebrews is urging the Christians to beware and to “lay aside”…the sin they recognize to be sin and the sin they know, that if they continue to tolerate it, will eventually hurl them down, making their life a tangled, mangled mess, full of sorrow and heartbreak and shame. We have seen it happen to others, yet delude ourselves, thinking it won’t happen to us…thinking we can manage it and keep our sin under control.
Entangling sins are just that, sins–missing the mark, breaching the standard. We know “the mark;” the standard was written upon Adam’s conscience and, although now in a marred condition, it is still inscribed upon ours. Paul tells the first-century Roman church (2:19) that the Gentiles “which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves.” The standard of God’s righteousness was made clear when He issued the Ten Commandments by an audible voice at Mt. Sinai, amid thunder and lightning, inscribing them upon tablets of stone—the same law that had been inscribed upon man’s conscience at the creation! Indeed, we know the “mark” that we are missing.
Further, and so powerfully, our Lord Jesus made it perfectly clear that obedience to God and keeping His Word was a matter of the heart—guilt for murder is not avoided if we have hatred in our hearts and guilt for adultery is not avoided as long as we have lust in our hearts. The standard is not unclear; we have received much light. The peril addressed by the writer of Hebrews is dangerous toleration; dabbling with known sin.
Our Chief Entangling Sin, part 2
“…let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus…” (Hebrews 12:1b-2a NASB)
Running the Race
Imagine that you are an Olympic distance runner and that your Christian life is the race. What are your “entangling sins?” What are the persistent sins that are like loops and loose cords dangling around your feet as you run life’s race? What are the sins that are virtually certain to trip you up and eventually to take you down—unless you intentionally lay them aside in obedience to Christ so that you can run well and finish well for the glory of God?
Each of us has some weakness. Everyone is different; yet everyone is much the same because we share a common, fallen nature. Every Christian has entangling sins and potentially entangling sins. Being honest about them is a must; we cannot think that we are the lone exception to a universal problem.
Galatians 5:19--6:3
In Galatians Paul teaches that the outworking of fallen human nature is evident by “the works of the flesh” (5:19-21), and that any who “do such things” (i.e., practice them as a way of life) “shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Then he describes what is produced in the lives of believers by the indwelling Holy Spirit, “the fruit of the Spirit” (5:22-23), and he speaks of our having “crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (NKJV) at the time of his salvation experience (5:24). He then speaks of the necessity that all who are born of the Spirit must live being led by the Holy Spirit.
True Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and have consciously “crucified the flesh” with determination to obey the mind of the Holy Spirit. But something else is also true for born again people: Galatians 6:1 speaks of the possibility that a brother or sister in Christ may be “overtaken in a fault.” While true Christians are not ruled by sin, as before Christ entered their lives as Savior and Lord, we can be “overtaken in a fault;” we can be ensnared by our remaining sin.
These things are written so that a falsely professing person might know that he is not actually saved; sin is still his true master—such a person must flee to Christ in gospel obedience or perish in his sins. As well, the Apostle would have genuine Christians to possess a good assurance of their salvation as they observe the fruit of the Spirit being produced in their lives. But it is very important to observe that Paul wants the brother or sister who has been “caught in any trespass” (NASB), who has been ensnared by some sin, to know that he or she is not a lost cause—real and full restoration is to be desired and sought through freshly obedient faith and renewed repentance.
Running the Race
Imagine that you are an Olympic distance runner and that your Christian life is the race. What are your “entangling sins?” What are the persistent sins that are like loops and loose cords dangling around your feet as you run life’s race? What are the sins that are virtually certain to trip you up and eventually to take you down—unless you intentionally lay them aside in obedience to Christ so that you can run well and finish well for the glory of God?
Each of us has some weakness. Everyone is different; yet everyone is much the same because we share a common, fallen nature. Every Christian has entangling sins and potentially entangling sins. Being honest about them is a must; we cannot think that we are the lone exception to a universal problem.
Galatians 5:19--6:3
In Galatians Paul teaches that the outworking of fallen human nature is evident by “the works of the flesh” (5:19-21), and that any who “do such things” (i.e., practice them as a way of life) “shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Then he describes what is produced in the lives of believers by the indwelling Holy Spirit, “the fruit of the Spirit” (5:22-23), and he speaks of our having “crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (NKJV) at the time of his salvation experience (5:24). He then speaks of the necessity that all who are born of the Spirit must live being led by the Holy Spirit.
True Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and have consciously “crucified the flesh” with determination to obey the mind of the Holy Spirit. But something else is also true for born again people: Galatians 6:1 speaks of the possibility that a brother or sister in Christ may be “overtaken in a fault.” While true Christians are not ruled by sin, as before Christ entered their lives as Savior and Lord, we can be “overtaken in a fault;” we can be ensnared by our remaining sin.
These things are written so that a falsely professing person might know that he is not actually saved; sin is still his true master—such a person must flee to Christ in gospel obedience or perish in his sins. As well, the Apostle would have genuine Christians to possess a good assurance of their salvation as they observe the fruit of the Spirit being produced in their lives. But it is very important to observe that Paul wants the brother or sister who has been “caught in any trespass” (NASB), who has been ensnared by some sin, to know that he or she is not a lost cause—real and full restoration is to be desired and sought through freshly obedient faith and renewed repentance.
Our Chief Entangling Sin, part 3
“…let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus…” (Hebrews 12:1b-2a NASB)
What is our “Chief Entangling Sin?”
What is the one sin that most tangles us up, trips us up, and causes us to stumble, if not utterly fall? We may be, at this very moment, thinking of one thing or another—a particular temptation that has been especially strong or some grievous error that has been repeated day by day—yet, as powerful as those things may be, that truly entangling sin to which we are powerfully tempted, as vile and wicked and evil as yielding would be…still, that thing we have in mind may not be our chief entangling sin.
It is my belief that all the sons of Adam have one chief besetting sin—it is the same for all. It is chief among our entangling sins because it keeps us under the power of many sins—it prevents us from recognizing faults and failings and wrongdoings as sins against God for which we need forgiveness and concerning which we must repent and change. Instead, this chief sin keeps us away from the truth and evermore occupied with appearances. Under its influence, we regard serious sins as nothing worse than blunders, boo-boos, mistakes, and errors.
I have intentionally refrained from identifying this great sin until now, but the time has come. It is PRIDE! The reason for the delay in its identification is simple: had it been mentioned much earlier, the whole time between then and now our proud hearts would have labored to exhaustion in order to excuse our sinful, self-indulgent, self-exalting pride—O’ may the Spirit of God make us understand what an awful evil pride is and what a snare it is to our souls!
When the Apostle John spoke of pride as the very soul of worldliness, it was ‘the capper’, the sin that punctuated and accentuated every other sin. Just as when Satan first tempted Eve, so it is now. The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes are, in a manner of speaking, rounded out by the sinful pride of life. “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate” (Genesis 3:6 NKJV). Observe the parallels between Eve’s temptation and the nature of worldliness; both have identical components.
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” 1 John 2:15-16 KJV
The Witness of Holy Scripture Concerning Pride…
“The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.” Psalm 10:4
“Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.” Psalm 138:6
“Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.” Proverbs 16:5
“God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” James 4:6b
“When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.” Proverbs 11:2
“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” Mark 7:21-23
What is our “Chief Entangling Sin?”
What is the one sin that most tangles us up, trips us up, and causes us to stumble, if not utterly fall? We may be, at this very moment, thinking of one thing or another—a particular temptation that has been especially strong or some grievous error that has been repeated day by day—yet, as powerful as those things may be, that truly entangling sin to which we are powerfully tempted, as vile and wicked and evil as yielding would be…still, that thing we have in mind may not be our chief entangling sin.
It is my belief that all the sons of Adam have one chief besetting sin—it is the same for all. It is chief among our entangling sins because it keeps us under the power of many sins—it prevents us from recognizing faults and failings and wrongdoings as sins against God for which we need forgiveness and concerning which we must repent and change. Instead, this chief sin keeps us away from the truth and evermore occupied with appearances. Under its influence, we regard serious sins as nothing worse than blunders, boo-boos, mistakes, and errors.
I have intentionally refrained from identifying this great sin until now, but the time has come. It is PRIDE! The reason for the delay in its identification is simple: had it been mentioned much earlier, the whole time between then and now our proud hearts would have labored to exhaustion in order to excuse our sinful, self-indulgent, self-exalting pride—O’ may the Spirit of God make us understand what an awful evil pride is and what a snare it is to our souls!
When the Apostle John spoke of pride as the very soul of worldliness, it was ‘the capper’, the sin that punctuated and accentuated every other sin. Just as when Satan first tempted Eve, so it is now. The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes are, in a manner of speaking, rounded out by the sinful pride of life. “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate” (Genesis 3:6 NKJV). Observe the parallels between Eve’s temptation and the nature of worldliness; both have identical components.
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” 1 John 2:15-16 KJV
The Witness of Holy Scripture Concerning Pride…
“The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.” Psalm 10:4
“Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.” Psalm 138:6
“Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.” Proverbs 16:5
“God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” James 4:6b
“When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.” Proverbs 11:2
“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” Mark 7:21-23
Our Chief Entangling Sin, conclusion
“…let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus…” (Hebrews 12:1b-2a NASB)
It is PRIDE—our chief entangling sin.
Such proud creatures we are—and sin has made us so. If we are not proud of anything else, we are proud to be humble. Our pride keeps us away from God and engrossed with the love of self. Pride denies the truth of His Word and exalts the boasting of our hearts.
Consider the power of pride, our chief entangling sin.
* Pride justifies the unjustifiable and excuses the inexcusable. It has kept some away from the Cross of Christ, lying and telling is that only others need forgiveness, only others need the crutch of Christ’s gospel.
* Pride locks us in a prison of denial and throws the prison key into the deep well of avoidance. Pride says sin is better to deny than to confess, and even better to stay away from people who insist on bringing up things like sin and selfishness and pride.
* Pride joyfully exalts self, filling our eyes with our most flattering reflection. Pride looks away when any possibility exists that sin might appear as ugly and ruinous as it truly is.
* Pride fills the heart with half-truths, deception, and lies; since the truth of the gospel alone can set a person free, pride keeps a man busy with this world so that “God is in none of his thoughts” (NKJV).
* Pride gives to sin new and false descriptions and writes its own press clippings; it calls itself confidence and professes that humility is one of its finest features.
* Pride fills the hearts of men with massive self-adoration and contempt for God—and what man needs Jesus Christ as his God and Savior (see Titus 2:15) when he has himself to worship?
Humility Commanded
“Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:5-7 NKJV).
Speaking to those who believe the gospel Peter commands his readers to humble themselves under God’s mighty hand. Pride can be restrained and defeated by the power of God’s grace in the believing heart, so he says, “be clothed with humility” and “humble yourselves.” If we were truly powerless over pride, then these commands would be senseless. By grace and the resolve of faith, we can “lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and … run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus…”
It is PRIDE—our chief entangling sin.
Such proud creatures we are—and sin has made us so. If we are not proud of anything else, we are proud to be humble. Our pride keeps us away from God and engrossed with the love of self. Pride denies the truth of His Word and exalts the boasting of our hearts.
Consider the power of pride, our chief entangling sin.
* Pride justifies the unjustifiable and excuses the inexcusable. It has kept some away from the Cross of Christ, lying and telling is that only others need forgiveness, only others need the crutch of Christ’s gospel.
* Pride locks us in a prison of denial and throws the prison key into the deep well of avoidance. Pride says sin is better to deny than to confess, and even better to stay away from people who insist on bringing up things like sin and selfishness and pride.
* Pride joyfully exalts self, filling our eyes with our most flattering reflection. Pride looks away when any possibility exists that sin might appear as ugly and ruinous as it truly is.
* Pride fills the heart with half-truths, deception, and lies; since the truth of the gospel alone can set a person free, pride keeps a man busy with this world so that “God is in none of his thoughts” (NKJV).
* Pride gives to sin new and false descriptions and writes its own press clippings; it calls itself confidence and professes that humility is one of its finest features.
* Pride fills the hearts of men with massive self-adoration and contempt for God—and what man needs Jesus Christ as his God and Savior (see Titus 2:15) when he has himself to worship?
Humility Commanded
“Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:5-7 NKJV).
Speaking to those who believe the gospel Peter commands his readers to humble themselves under God’s mighty hand. Pride can be restrained and defeated by the power of God’s grace in the believing heart, so he says, “be clothed with humility” and “humble yourselves.” If we were truly powerless over pride, then these commands would be senseless. By grace and the resolve of faith, we can “lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and … run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus…”
Sunday, June 29, 2008
The Exclusive Savior
The natural minds of fallen men simply and profoundly hate the truth about God. Some that frequent churches and attend religious services are no different—full of religion they despise the truth revealed in the Bible. The peerless character of the one, true, and living God is too holy and His intolerance of sin too exacting for the worldly person’s taste; indeed, the world delights to worship lesser, more manageable gods.
The truth about God Almighty is too hard to handle unless one has peace with Him on His terms. His terms are plainly stated in the gospel of Christ and nowhere else. His gospel is plain and narrow: “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). The Lord Jesus’ understanding of Himself was that He alone was (and is) the only “way” by which sinful people can be restored to real communion with God. The “way” to eternal life is that narrow according to Jesus. Either we put our trust in Him or we perish.
One Redeemer
Jesus is Lord, not a moral teacher. He did not come to show us how to be nice. He did not come to inform us that we too can become gods. Rather, He is the eternal God who became Man in order to redeem us. None was more compassionate, but He did not come to merely demonstrate compassion. He came to accomplish redemption, to purchase His people by His blood! “To save His people from their sins” by His spotless life and obedient death on the cross; to conquer death and darkness by His death and resurrection from the dead!
Some prominent celebrities, religious and secular, along with innumerable New-Age types lend their voices to condemn the biblical gospel as too narrow. They favor ‘another gospel,’ along with its anathema (see Galatians 1:6-10); one that tells of many ways to God and many doors through which ‘good people’ may enter heaven. Nationally-renowned religious heroes who once preached Jesus Christ and faith in His Name as the only way of salvation (see John 14:6) have begun to whistle ‘another gospel’ tune, becoming even more beloved and more highly-honored—apostate though they be. Sad and sickening, the shipwreck some have made concerning the faith!
More than a Local Savior
He is not merely “the way” for those who hear the gospel; Jesus is the only way for any person to be reconciled to God. Those who suggest that some who never hear will be ‘saved’ because they are ignorant of the gospel and that will render them unaccountable in the Judgment, they lie against the truth! If that were so, then the only guaranteed-successful evangelism program would be to leave everyone as ignorant as possible and never mention Jesus to anyone—but ignorance does nothing to diminish a sinner’s corruption of heart. Ignorance does not remove accountability and sin still fully deserves the righteous wrath of God, whether or not we ever hear the gospel. To hear the gospel is a mercy from God, for it is only by resting our soul’s hope in Jesus Christ that we are saved from the wrath due unto us for our sin (see Acts 4:12). It is by faith alone that we savingly embrace Jesus our Sin-bearer.
A Line of Nonsense
Just how numb are people’s minds; can people not tell when they are being fed a line of nonsense? Are we unable to discern light and darkness? Know the difference between truth and falsity? Can we not recognize the disparity between the gospel according to Oprah and the gospel according to Jesus?
When some people talk about Jesus and the gospel they engage in such intellectual dishonesty as would land them in jail if they used the same measure of truth in a court of law. For them Jesus and the gospel are subject to definition-at-will, which always results in misrepresentation and dishonesty. The ‘Jesus’ they describe is not the Christ revealed in Scripture, and yet they give the impression that their representation is consistent with the testimony of the Bible, when all they have correct is the spelling of His name. They display abysmal ignorance, profound incompetence, or incredible dishonesty. Their ‘Jesus’ is nothing more than a reflection of their own sentimental, religious feelings; and that has nothing to do with anything that matters.
What Matters
What the truth is matters. (Jesus is “the truth.”) Who God is matters. (Jesus is God.) Our true spiritual condition in our fallen nature, that matters. (We are spiritually dead and alienated from God by nature.) How we can be right with God and forgiven of our sins matters. (Putting our trust in Christ, we will be justified and forgiven.) Whether Jesus Himself thought there was more than one way for people to know God matters. (He didn’t.) Whether or not the Bible is the Word of God matters. (It is, fully and utterly.)
What Oprah thinks about these things matters not. Not only is she not an expert on Christianity, her understanding of the gospel message is comparable to that of an illiterate incompetent. Anyone who can read the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 6 (with even minimal comprehension) will know more than she does. She is wrong to say that she is a Christian who believes that there are many ways to God and heaven. A Christian by Jesus’ definition would believe Jesus to be who He says He is—not a way, but the one and only way by which a sinner can be reconciled to God. To reject Jesus’ claim as the exclusive Savior is to reject Jesus Himself.
The Exclusive Savior
Only Jesus Christ, crucified and raised from the dead, can save any sinner from spiritual death and unending hell. No amount of human reasoning can change this reality. Jesus alone can deliver us from the power and penalty of sin. There are no other saviors, no other ways to God and heaven. There is one Name by which we must be saved, one Person who can transform our lives for time and eternity. Only the Father can reveal Christ the Son to us (Matthew 16:18); only Christ the Lord can reconcile us to the Father (John 14:6). And only the Holy Spirit can make us spiritually alive (John 3:3-8), giving us eyes to see and hearts to believe. Do you know what it is to be saved by Jesus Christ, the one and only Savior?
Help from the Inspired Word
“Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:8-12 NKJV)
“When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” …” (Matthew 16:13-18 NKJV)
The truth about God Almighty is too hard to handle unless one has peace with Him on His terms. His terms are plainly stated in the gospel of Christ and nowhere else. His gospel is plain and narrow: “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). The Lord Jesus’ understanding of Himself was that He alone was (and is) the only “way” by which sinful people can be restored to real communion with God. The “way” to eternal life is that narrow according to Jesus. Either we put our trust in Him or we perish.
One Redeemer
Jesus is Lord, not a moral teacher. He did not come to show us how to be nice. He did not come to inform us that we too can become gods. Rather, He is the eternal God who became Man in order to redeem us. None was more compassionate, but He did not come to merely demonstrate compassion. He came to accomplish redemption, to purchase His people by His blood! “To save His people from their sins” by His spotless life and obedient death on the cross; to conquer death and darkness by His death and resurrection from the dead!
Some prominent celebrities, religious and secular, along with innumerable New-Age types lend their voices to condemn the biblical gospel as too narrow. They favor ‘another gospel,’ along with its anathema (see Galatians 1:6-10); one that tells of many ways to God and many doors through which ‘good people’ may enter heaven. Nationally-renowned religious heroes who once preached Jesus Christ and faith in His Name as the only way of salvation (see John 14:6) have begun to whistle ‘another gospel’ tune, becoming even more beloved and more highly-honored—apostate though they be. Sad and sickening, the shipwreck some have made concerning the faith!
More than a Local Savior
He is not merely “the way” for those who hear the gospel; Jesus is the only way for any person to be reconciled to God. Those who suggest that some who never hear will be ‘saved’ because they are ignorant of the gospel and that will render them unaccountable in the Judgment, they lie against the truth! If that were so, then the only guaranteed-successful evangelism program would be to leave everyone as ignorant as possible and never mention Jesus to anyone—but ignorance does nothing to diminish a sinner’s corruption of heart. Ignorance does not remove accountability and sin still fully deserves the righteous wrath of God, whether or not we ever hear the gospel. To hear the gospel is a mercy from God, for it is only by resting our soul’s hope in Jesus Christ that we are saved from the wrath due unto us for our sin (see Acts 4:12). It is by faith alone that we savingly embrace Jesus our Sin-bearer.
A Line of Nonsense
Just how numb are people’s minds; can people not tell when they are being fed a line of nonsense? Are we unable to discern light and darkness? Know the difference between truth and falsity? Can we not recognize the disparity between the gospel according to Oprah and the gospel according to Jesus?
When some people talk about Jesus and the gospel they engage in such intellectual dishonesty as would land them in jail if they used the same measure of truth in a court of law. For them Jesus and the gospel are subject to definition-at-will, which always results in misrepresentation and dishonesty. The ‘Jesus’ they describe is not the Christ revealed in Scripture, and yet they give the impression that their representation is consistent with the testimony of the Bible, when all they have correct is the spelling of His name. They display abysmal ignorance, profound incompetence, or incredible dishonesty. Their ‘Jesus’ is nothing more than a reflection of their own sentimental, religious feelings; and that has nothing to do with anything that matters.
What Matters
What the truth is matters. (Jesus is “the truth.”) Who God is matters. (Jesus is God.) Our true spiritual condition in our fallen nature, that matters. (We are spiritually dead and alienated from God by nature.) How we can be right with God and forgiven of our sins matters. (Putting our trust in Christ, we will be justified and forgiven.) Whether Jesus Himself thought there was more than one way for people to know God matters. (He didn’t.) Whether or not the Bible is the Word of God matters. (It is, fully and utterly.)
What Oprah thinks about these things matters not. Not only is she not an expert on Christianity, her understanding of the gospel message is comparable to that of an illiterate incompetent. Anyone who can read the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 6 (with even minimal comprehension) will know more than she does. She is wrong to say that she is a Christian who believes that there are many ways to God and heaven. A Christian by Jesus’ definition would believe Jesus to be who He says He is—not a way, but the one and only way by which a sinner can be reconciled to God. To reject Jesus’ claim as the exclusive Savior is to reject Jesus Himself.
The Exclusive Savior
Only Jesus Christ, crucified and raised from the dead, can save any sinner from spiritual death and unending hell. No amount of human reasoning can change this reality. Jesus alone can deliver us from the power and penalty of sin. There are no other saviors, no other ways to God and heaven. There is one Name by which we must be saved, one Person who can transform our lives for time and eternity. Only the Father can reveal Christ the Son to us (Matthew 16:18); only Christ the Lord can reconcile us to the Father (John 14:6). And only the Holy Spirit can make us spiritually alive (John 3:3-8), giving us eyes to see and hearts to believe. Do you know what it is to be saved by Jesus Christ, the one and only Savior?
Help from the Inspired Word
“Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:8-12 NKJV)
“When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” …” (Matthew 16:13-18 NKJV)
Thursday, June 26, 2008
What is Your Christian Testimony Worth?
A credible testimony of true and saving faith in Jesus Christ is a treasure to be earnestly desired, carefully secured, and tenaciously guarded. There are so many frauds and false brethren, that a well-established, credible gospel witness is worth something. Just how much is yours worth?
What are the components of a credible Christian witness? First, there is a public profession of faith formalized in one’s baptism. By our baptism we profess something. We declare to the church and to the world that we are Christ’s and that He is ours by grace alone through faith alone. We profess that grace has made a change in us and that we have begun to follow the Lamb as our Lord and Master. Second, there is discipleship. This is what builds the credibility of one’s profession of faith, that it is real and genuine and, truly, of the Lord’s doing; as the Lord’s brother said, “I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18).
Discipleship has been called “a long obedience in the same direction” (Eugene Peterson). Pastor A. N. Martin wrote a small booklet, “A Life of Principled Obedience,” addressing discipleship and the ongoing grace of sanctification in a believer’s life. Disciples discipline themselves for success. Disciples are scholars who hear and heed their mentor. If we know Jesus Christ in saving faith and repentance, then we have responded obediently to His gospel and have become His disciples. Without evident discipleship, there is also no evident saving grace.
So, the primary components of a credible testimony are, (1) our outward, public profession declared in our baptism and, (2) our discipleship lived-out day by day as we follow Christ and obey His Word. Every day that we conduct ourselves in the disciplines of God’s grace, the credibility of our Christian witness is more firmly established.
None of us are perfectly consistent in our following Christ; consistently inconsistent is more often the case. We all make missteps and mistakes and we all sin in ways every day, so all too often our discipleship does not shine. Some days are better than others and some days are just plain terrible when it comes to our faithful obedience to Christ, and those days end with shame and tears and in deep repentance. Still, the promise of our Lord makes us certain that He will hear and forgive and give us more grace heaped upon grace, helping us to find our way back to the path of obedient, determined discipleship.
How Are You Running?
Paul writes, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27 NKJV).
Very likely alluding to the ancient Olympic Games, the Apostle urged the Corinthian believers to live their lives in such a way that they might obtain the prize. But what was “the prize?” It was an imperishable garland, a conqueror’s crown. But what is it, after all? Nothing other than the smile of God; His approval of the way we conducted ourselves during the course of our lives.
Do you not long to hear your Savior say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23)? That, beloved ones, is “the prize” awaiting a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. But who among us is nearly as faithful as we should be? So, shall we despair of ever pleasing our perfect Lord because we are imperfect in this life? No, we are to believe the promises of the gospel. Our offerings of true, albeit imperfect, obedience presented to Christ in faith will be accepted because of His once-for-all, perfect obedience sanctifying our earnest, yet feeble and imperfect, attempts.
He is Watching & It Really Matters
Is it possible that the Lord Jesus who calls us to be His disciples would not take notice of our discipline, or the absence thereof? Paul knew that his Lord was watching every moment! He was sure that in order to win “the prize” he must run the race “according to the rules” (2 Timothy 2:5), according to the truth of the gospel.
Paul did not want to be “disqualified” after running so far for so long. Disqualified from what? He wanted to live with the sort of discipline that, on its merits, would prove that he was indeed a true child of God, a true disciple, a true Apostle. Many imposters had made their empty claims, but ultimately proved themselves false by the way they ran the race, not according to the truth of the gospel, but according to their own bogus set of rules. But Paul was the real deal. He was the genuine article. The grace that saved him was not impotent, cheap grace. It was sovereign grace, indeed.
Paul’s purpose was to succeed, to win, to receive that imperishable victor’s wreath that would proclaim throughout eternity that he had purposely lived for the glory of Christ Jesus. How do you think of your Christian life? Do you see it as a race that you must run with integrity and a race to be won? How much value do you place on running your life’s marathon “according to the rules” of the gospel, in “principled obedience” to Christ? Too many think of Christian life as a sprint when it is more like a marathon.
Shipwreck, Train-Wreck, a Tangled Mess
Paul wrote to the young pastor Timothy about numerous people who had “made shipwreck” concerning “the faith” (1 Timothy 1:18-20), mentioning two of them by name. A shipwreck was a terrible tragedy, especially in those days; with the loss of cargo, with great damage to the ship or the loss of it altogether, not to mention the loss of life that was often involved. To “make shipwreck” concerning the faith of the gospel was nothing short of tragic; it was to suffer great loss.
“Hymenaeus and Alexander” (v. 20) had apparently persistently spoken blasphemies against the Lord and the truth of the gospel. There was some hope that they might “learn not to blaspheme” and be recovered to the church, but because of their blasphemies they had been excommunicated from the church. The church made it clear that those two men were no longer in the communion of the saints; they were under the church’s discipline in hopes that they might repent and be restored. Their sinful blasphemy had resulted in their making shipwreck concerning the faith, and they stood to lose everything by being proved nothing more than false, lying professors of gospel faith; unsaved men.
If the Apostle lived in this day and time he might have used a different analogy to describe the mess some professing believers make of their lives because of cherished sin. I recall once seeing a train-wreck as a child. There were overturned train cars and loose coal strewn everywhere. Years later my brother bought a mint-green Chevrolet in near-mint condition (what a car!); within a couple months one night the car stalled at a railway crossing and along came the train. About a mile or so down the tracks someone with some sort of machinery peeled the crumpled wreckage off the front of the train; so much for mint condition. What a picture! What a mess we can make of our lives in a matter of minutes!
Whether a shipwreck, train-wreck, car-crash, or some other tragic picture of loss and ruin—let us, every one, beware the devastating power of cherished sin. O, the wretched tendency to blaspheme, to prefer our sin over our Savior! Let us all beware and redouble our resolve; a credible witness of faith in Christ can be spoiled in such a short time!
Don’t Care What Anyone Thinks
When someone is in the process of ruining his life and spoiling his Christian testimony, he is likely to think or even to say, “I don’t care what anyone thinks! It’s nobody’s business but my own.” Such an attitude only reveals the mighty power of sin’s grip.
To the suffering believers of the Christian Diaspora, Simon Peter wrote strange words; strange, in that he wanted them to care how their lives were perceived by people around them, even those unbelievers who persecuted them and called them evildoers. “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:11-12 NKJV).
The Tragedy of a Credible Testimony Forfeited
The forfeiture of a credible Christian witness by behavior that undermines that credibility—what a tragedy! What loss! What is our credible testimony of faith in Christ worth? Is cherished sin worth what it is going to cost? When our “good name” is destroyed because of persistent love of sin and refusal to obey God, will we care then? Indeed, the pleasures of sin are only “for a season.” And then what?
Are we, at this moment, determined to obey the Lord Jesus Christ with all of our hearts? If there is even one sliver of doubt, then let us beware. Truly, “sin crouches at the door,” patiently waiting for an opportunity to seize us and drag us off to some out of the way place, away from the gospel, away from the church, away from everything familiar, to rip and tear us limb from limb—bringing our whole life to utter ruin and leaving us to wallow in our own blood and to suffer unspeakable misery under guilt and shame. How Satan would delight to see any one of us forfeit our credible testimony; in exchange he would happily let us bear the infamy of a hypocrite to our grave.
Let us hear the Word of God and love it and live it, all by grace. Value your credible Christian witness. Desire it, secure it, guard it. If you have lost it, seek by God’s forgiveness and grace to recover it for His glory. May our Lord give us grace to run well and to finish strong! –TSA
Help from the Inspired Word
“This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another. "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:17-32 NKJV)
What are the components of a credible Christian witness? First, there is a public profession of faith formalized in one’s baptism. By our baptism we profess something. We declare to the church and to the world that we are Christ’s and that He is ours by grace alone through faith alone. We profess that grace has made a change in us and that we have begun to follow the Lamb as our Lord and Master. Second, there is discipleship. This is what builds the credibility of one’s profession of faith, that it is real and genuine and, truly, of the Lord’s doing; as the Lord’s brother said, “I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18).
Discipleship has been called “a long obedience in the same direction” (Eugene Peterson). Pastor A. N. Martin wrote a small booklet, “A Life of Principled Obedience,” addressing discipleship and the ongoing grace of sanctification in a believer’s life. Disciples discipline themselves for success. Disciples are scholars who hear and heed their mentor. If we know Jesus Christ in saving faith and repentance, then we have responded obediently to His gospel and have become His disciples. Without evident discipleship, there is also no evident saving grace.
So, the primary components of a credible testimony are, (1) our outward, public profession declared in our baptism and, (2) our discipleship lived-out day by day as we follow Christ and obey His Word. Every day that we conduct ourselves in the disciplines of God’s grace, the credibility of our Christian witness is more firmly established.
None of us are perfectly consistent in our following Christ; consistently inconsistent is more often the case. We all make missteps and mistakes and we all sin in ways every day, so all too often our discipleship does not shine. Some days are better than others and some days are just plain terrible when it comes to our faithful obedience to Christ, and those days end with shame and tears and in deep repentance. Still, the promise of our Lord makes us certain that He will hear and forgive and give us more grace heaped upon grace, helping us to find our way back to the path of obedient, determined discipleship.
How Are You Running?
Paul writes, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27 NKJV).
Very likely alluding to the ancient Olympic Games, the Apostle urged the Corinthian believers to live their lives in such a way that they might obtain the prize. But what was “the prize?” It was an imperishable garland, a conqueror’s crown. But what is it, after all? Nothing other than the smile of God; His approval of the way we conducted ourselves during the course of our lives.
Do you not long to hear your Savior say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23)? That, beloved ones, is “the prize” awaiting a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. But who among us is nearly as faithful as we should be? So, shall we despair of ever pleasing our perfect Lord because we are imperfect in this life? No, we are to believe the promises of the gospel. Our offerings of true, albeit imperfect, obedience presented to Christ in faith will be accepted because of His once-for-all, perfect obedience sanctifying our earnest, yet feeble and imperfect, attempts.
He is Watching & It Really Matters
Is it possible that the Lord Jesus who calls us to be His disciples would not take notice of our discipline, or the absence thereof? Paul knew that his Lord was watching every moment! He was sure that in order to win “the prize” he must run the race “according to the rules” (2 Timothy 2:5), according to the truth of the gospel.
Paul did not want to be “disqualified” after running so far for so long. Disqualified from what? He wanted to live with the sort of discipline that, on its merits, would prove that he was indeed a true child of God, a true disciple, a true Apostle. Many imposters had made their empty claims, but ultimately proved themselves false by the way they ran the race, not according to the truth of the gospel, but according to their own bogus set of rules. But Paul was the real deal. He was the genuine article. The grace that saved him was not impotent, cheap grace. It was sovereign grace, indeed.
Paul’s purpose was to succeed, to win, to receive that imperishable victor’s wreath that would proclaim throughout eternity that he had purposely lived for the glory of Christ Jesus. How do you think of your Christian life? Do you see it as a race that you must run with integrity and a race to be won? How much value do you place on running your life’s marathon “according to the rules” of the gospel, in “principled obedience” to Christ? Too many think of Christian life as a sprint when it is more like a marathon.
Shipwreck, Train-Wreck, a Tangled Mess
Paul wrote to the young pastor Timothy about numerous people who had “made shipwreck” concerning “the faith” (1 Timothy 1:18-20), mentioning two of them by name. A shipwreck was a terrible tragedy, especially in those days; with the loss of cargo, with great damage to the ship or the loss of it altogether, not to mention the loss of life that was often involved. To “make shipwreck” concerning the faith of the gospel was nothing short of tragic; it was to suffer great loss.
“Hymenaeus and Alexander” (v. 20) had apparently persistently spoken blasphemies against the Lord and the truth of the gospel. There was some hope that they might “learn not to blaspheme” and be recovered to the church, but because of their blasphemies they had been excommunicated from the church. The church made it clear that those two men were no longer in the communion of the saints; they were under the church’s discipline in hopes that they might repent and be restored. Their sinful blasphemy had resulted in their making shipwreck concerning the faith, and they stood to lose everything by being proved nothing more than false, lying professors of gospel faith; unsaved men.
If the Apostle lived in this day and time he might have used a different analogy to describe the mess some professing believers make of their lives because of cherished sin. I recall once seeing a train-wreck as a child. There were overturned train cars and loose coal strewn everywhere. Years later my brother bought a mint-green Chevrolet in near-mint condition (what a car!); within a couple months one night the car stalled at a railway crossing and along came the train. About a mile or so down the tracks someone with some sort of machinery peeled the crumpled wreckage off the front of the train; so much for mint condition. What a picture! What a mess we can make of our lives in a matter of minutes!
Whether a shipwreck, train-wreck, car-crash, or some other tragic picture of loss and ruin—let us, every one, beware the devastating power of cherished sin. O, the wretched tendency to blaspheme, to prefer our sin over our Savior! Let us all beware and redouble our resolve; a credible witness of faith in Christ can be spoiled in such a short time!
Don’t Care What Anyone Thinks
When someone is in the process of ruining his life and spoiling his Christian testimony, he is likely to think or even to say, “I don’t care what anyone thinks! It’s nobody’s business but my own.” Such an attitude only reveals the mighty power of sin’s grip.
To the suffering believers of the Christian Diaspora, Simon Peter wrote strange words; strange, in that he wanted them to care how their lives were perceived by people around them, even those unbelievers who persecuted them and called them evildoers. “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:11-12 NKJV).
The Tragedy of a Credible Testimony Forfeited
The forfeiture of a credible Christian witness by behavior that undermines that credibility—what a tragedy! What loss! What is our credible testimony of faith in Christ worth? Is cherished sin worth what it is going to cost? When our “good name” is destroyed because of persistent love of sin and refusal to obey God, will we care then? Indeed, the pleasures of sin are only “for a season.” And then what?
Are we, at this moment, determined to obey the Lord Jesus Christ with all of our hearts? If there is even one sliver of doubt, then let us beware. Truly, “sin crouches at the door,” patiently waiting for an opportunity to seize us and drag us off to some out of the way place, away from the gospel, away from the church, away from everything familiar, to rip and tear us limb from limb—bringing our whole life to utter ruin and leaving us to wallow in our own blood and to suffer unspeakable misery under guilt and shame. How Satan would delight to see any one of us forfeit our credible testimony; in exchange he would happily let us bear the infamy of a hypocrite to our grave.
Let us hear the Word of God and love it and live it, all by grace. Value your credible Christian witness. Desire it, secure it, guard it. If you have lost it, seek by God’s forgiveness and grace to recover it for His glory. May our Lord give us grace to run well and to finish strong! –TSA
Help from the Inspired Word
“This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another. "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:17-32 NKJV)
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