The heart of Christianity is seeing, enjoying, and showing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
The mechanics of this truth work like this: When we see the Glory of God in the face of Jesus by the means of the Word of God and the grace of the enabling enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, as a result we are graced by God to enjoy or appreciate Christ for all of His supreme worth. (God is most glorified when we are most satisfied with Him). As a result we become instruments of making His glory shown and known to the nations.
Paul describes this in Colossians 1:27,“To them( those who have not seen and savored the glory of God) God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” What an incredible truth! More than any temple of wood and stone. More than any elaborate cathedral, God has chosen to display His presence and glory radiantly through you and me! Mike Mason says, “This is the heart of the Gospel: seeing and being the glory of God in human form.”
No wonder the Apostle Paul spoke with such wonder, amazement, and awe when he spoke in 2 Corinthians 4:7,“But this precious treasure--this light and power that now shine within us--is held in perishable containers, that is, in our weak bodies. So everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and is not our own.” NLT
Or Jesus who said, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)
So if the essence of Christianity is seeing and savoring the glory of God, and if by this means we show His glory, then one of the primary ways that God is glorified through us is by forgiveness.“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:31-32).
Forgiveness builds bridges between people. It restores and heals broken relationships. It eases the pained conscience. It frees us from guilt. It sets us free. Ernest Hemingway, in his short story, “The Capital of the World”, tells the story about a father and his teenage son who lived in Spain. Their relationship became strained, eventually shattered, and his son ran away from home. The father began a long journey in search of the lost and rebellious son, finally putting an ad in the Madrid newspaper as a last resort. His son’s name was Paco, a very common name in Spain. The ads simply read: “Dear Paco, meet me in front of the Madrid newspaper office tomorrow at noon. All is forgiven, I love you.” As Hemingway writes, the next day at noon there were 800 sons named Paco who were all seeking forgiveness.
Oh how many Paco’s there are in the world seeking forgiveness from someone else! Yet how many Paco’s are there seeking a “peculiar” forgiveness, our deepest need, from the Father in heaven. For receiving human forgiveness, heals our relationships with our fellow man, but receiving God’s forgiveness, heals our relationship with Him. When we know the Father in heaven’s mercy and forgiveness, we become free to know Him and glorify Him and bring His message of forgiveness to the estranged Paco’s of the world.
The highest forgiveness there is then, is the forgiveness that comes from God alone: a “peculiar” forgiveness. John Maxwell says, “The two great marks of a Christian are that they are giving and forgiving people. Show me a person who walks with God and I will show you a person who has a giving heart and is forgiving of others” God has called us to be forgiving people, because He is a forgiving God.
To be continued...
Friday, April 27, 2007
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SIN? Part 4
"For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." (Romans 8:13)
I have been writing that the battle against sin in our life is of such primary importance. It is not a trivial, light, and unimportant battle. It is mortal combat and what is at stake is our soul. If you don't believe this in the way you think, feel, and live your life, then your position is very precarious. The enemy has lulled you into sleep or into a peacetime mentality, as if nothing serious is at stake. Therefore, we must not be complacent about sin. We must fight the good fight of faith and battle against the unbelief of sin. (1 Timothy 6:12). We must take seriously the warnings of Christ and scripture about sin and its consequences. Part of the way God preserves His people is through the warning passages of scriptures.
Jonathan Edwards soberly writes,
"Many think because they suppose themselves converted, and so safe, that they have nothing to do with the awful things that God has threatened to the wicked, they do not hear it for themselves, but only for others. But it was not thus with the apostle(Paul), who was certainly safe from hell, and as far from a damnable state, as any of us. (Yet) He looked upon at himself as still nearly concerned in God's threatening so f eternal damnation, notwithstanding all his hope, and all his eminent holiness, and therefore gave great diligence, that he might avoid eternal damnation. For he considered that eternal misery was as certainly connectted with a wicked (sinful) life as it ever was, and that i8t was absolutely necessary that he should still keep under his body, and bring it into subjection, in order that he might not be damned, because indulging the lusts of the body and being damned were more surely connected together...God has revealed these threatenings and this connection, not only to deter wicked men , but also Godly men, from sin. And though God will keep men that are converted from damnation, yet this is the means by which He will keep men from it, by their own caution to avoid damnation, and by His threatenings of damnation if we live a wicked life." Jonathan Edwards from his sermon The Character of Paul An Example to Christians
We must fight sin on a daily basis. Alexander Whyte helps us to understand what we must do daily in this battle of sin and yet what Christ has done and can only do in our battle:
“So bent is the great Apostle on our full salvation from all our sins that their mere crucifixion does not satisfy him. Nothing will satisfy him short of their full mortification. For crucifixion after all is only crucifixion. But mortification is more. Mortification is death. Mortification is absolute death. It is a complete and final and everlasting death. A crucified man may continue to live for hours and even for days after he has been nailed to his cross. But after he is dead, he is forever dead. And so it is with a sin. A sin may continue to live, and as a matter of fact is does continue to live for days and weeks and months and years after it has been crucified. But, when once it is dead, it is forever dead. Nailing a sin to its cross; denying it all its former freedom of action and all its former food and keeping it nailed on its cross, so that it cannot rob or murder anymore – that is its crucifixion. But all the time so to crucify a sin is not yet to mortify it, as Paul himself knew to his cost. For, if ever any man’s sins were crucified, it was the Apostle’s sins. But at the same time if ever any man’s sins were still alive and unmortified, to his unspeakable wretchedness, it was Paul’s sins. … while every saint’s self-crucifixion is his own immediate and ever-urgent duty, at the same time the full and final mortification of all crucified sin is the proper work of Almighty God alone.”
11. Be part of a larger and a smaller fellowship where you are exhorted often to beware of the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13). Perseverance in faith is a community project. We have no warrant to think we will make it to heaven if we neglect the appointed means of mutual encouragement and warning.
12. Fight your sinful impulses with all your might as a boxer fights. an opponent and as a marathon runner fights fatigue (1 Corinthians 9:27-1 2 Timothy 4:8).
13. Beware of "works of law," but let all your warfare be "the work of faith" (2 Thessalonians 1: 1 1). That is, let your fight against sin spring from your confidence in the superior pleasures of all God promises to be for you in Christ.
Declaring war on sin for Christ's glory and my soul satisfaction and joy,
Pastor Bill
I have been writing that the battle against sin in our life is of such primary importance. It is not a trivial, light, and unimportant battle. It is mortal combat and what is at stake is our soul. If you don't believe this in the way you think, feel, and live your life, then your position is very precarious. The enemy has lulled you into sleep or into a peacetime mentality, as if nothing serious is at stake. Therefore, we must not be complacent about sin. We must fight the good fight of faith and battle against the unbelief of sin. (1 Timothy 6:12). We must take seriously the warnings of Christ and scripture about sin and its consequences. Part of the way God preserves His people is through the warning passages of scriptures.
Jonathan Edwards soberly writes,
"Many think because they suppose themselves converted, and so safe, that they have nothing to do with the awful things that God has threatened to the wicked, they do not hear it for themselves, but only for others. But it was not thus with the apostle(Paul), who was certainly safe from hell, and as far from a damnable state, as any of us. (Yet) He looked upon at himself as still nearly concerned in God's threatening so f eternal damnation, notwithstanding all his hope, and all his eminent holiness, and therefore gave great diligence, that he might avoid eternal damnation. For he considered that eternal misery was as certainly connectted with a wicked (sinful) life as it ever was, and that i8t was absolutely necessary that he should still keep under his body, and bring it into subjection, in order that he might not be damned, because indulging the lusts of the body and being damned were more surely connected together...God has revealed these threatenings and this connection, not only to deter wicked men , but also Godly men, from sin. And though God will keep men that are converted from damnation, yet this is the means by which He will keep men from it, by their own caution to avoid damnation, and by His threatenings of damnation if we live a wicked life." Jonathan Edwards from his sermon The Character of Paul An Example to Christians
We must fight sin on a daily basis. Alexander Whyte helps us to understand what we must do daily in this battle of sin and yet what Christ has done and can only do in our battle:
“So bent is the great Apostle on our full salvation from all our sins that their mere crucifixion does not satisfy him. Nothing will satisfy him short of their full mortification. For crucifixion after all is only crucifixion. But mortification is more. Mortification is death. Mortification is absolute death. It is a complete and final and everlasting death. A crucified man may continue to live for hours and even for days after he has been nailed to his cross. But after he is dead, he is forever dead. And so it is with a sin. A sin may continue to live, and as a matter of fact is does continue to live for days and weeks and months and years after it has been crucified. But, when once it is dead, it is forever dead. Nailing a sin to its cross; denying it all its former freedom of action and all its former food and keeping it nailed on its cross, so that it cannot rob or murder anymore – that is its crucifixion. But all the time so to crucify a sin is not yet to mortify it, as Paul himself knew to his cost. For, if ever any man’s sins were crucified, it was the Apostle’s sins. But at the same time if ever any man’s sins were still alive and unmortified, to his unspeakable wretchedness, it was Paul’s sins. … while every saint’s self-crucifixion is his own immediate and ever-urgent duty, at the same time the full and final mortification of all crucified sin is the proper work of Almighty God alone.”
So how do we kill sin? How do we nail it to the cross? John Piper writes an excellent series of practical ways in which we can tactically battle against sin. This is taken from his book A Godward Life pages 187-189:
1. Take heart from the truth that the old sinful you is decisively already dead (Romans 6:6; Colossians 3:3; Galatians 5:24). By faith we are united to Christ so that his death was our death (Romans 6:5; 2 Corinthians 5-14).
This means three things:
(a) The mortal blow to our "old man" has been struck;
(b) the old self will not succeed in domination now;
and
(c) his final obliteration is certain.
2. Consciously reckon the old man dead; that is, believe the truth of Scripture about the old mans death in Christ and seek to live in that freedom (Romans 6: 11). Living out the reality that you are is the proof that you are. One clear illustration of becoming what you are is found in I Corinthians 5:7: "Clean out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened." It sounds strange, but salvation is a strange and wonderful thing: Clean out the old leaven of sin, because it is really already cleaned out. If you try to play logic games with this reality and say, "I don't need to fight sin because it is already cleaned out," you will prove only that you are not among the number who are cleansed.
3. Cultivate enmity with sin! You don't kill friends (Romans 8:13). You kill enemies. Ponder how sin killed your best Friend (Jesus), dishonors your Father, and aims to destroy you forever. Develop more hatred for sin.
4. Rebel against sin's coup. Refuse to be bullied by its deceits and manipulations. "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you obey its lusts" (Romans 6:12). Temptations to sin are all half-truths and half-lies at best. Paul calls their fruit "lusts of deceit" (Ephesians 4:22).
5. Declare radical allegiance to the other side-God-and consciously put all your mind, heart, and body at his disposal for righteousness and purity. "Present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your
members as instruments of righteousness to God" (Romans 6:13).
6. Don't make any plans that open the door for sin’s entry. "Make no
provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts" (Romans 13:14). Don't prove your purity in a pornography shop or your commitment to simplicity at an upscale mall or your conquest over alcohol in a bar.
7. Know the spirit of the age and consciously resist conformity to it (Romans 12:2). As D. L. Moody said, "The ship belongs in the water of the world, but if the water gets in the ship, it sinks."
8. Develop mental habits that continually renew the mind in God-centeredness (Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 4:16). Fix attention daily on "the things of the Spirit" (Romans 8:5), "things that are above" (Colossians 3:2). Let your mind dwell on "whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, gracious, excellent, worthy of praise" (Philippians 4:8).
9. Admit failure and confess all known sin every day (I John 1:9). Ask God for forgiveness (Matthew 6:12).
10. Ask for the Spirit's help and power in all these things. "By the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body" (Romans 8:13). All that is good in us is a "fruit of the Spirit" (Galatians 5:22). He causes us to walk as we should (Ezekiel 36:27; Isaiah 26:12).
11. Be part of a larger and a smaller fellowship where you are exhorted often to beware of the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13). Perseverance in faith is a community project. We have no warrant to think we will make it to heaven if we neglect the appointed means of mutual encouragement and warning.
12. Fight your sinful impulses with all your might as a boxer fights. an opponent and as a marathon runner fights fatigue (1 Corinthians 9:27-1 2 Timothy 4:8).
13. Beware of "works of law," but let all your warfare be "the work of faith" (2 Thessalonians 1: 1 1). That is, let your fight against sin spring from your confidence in the superior pleasures of all God promises to be for you in Christ.
Declaring war on sin for Christ's glory and my soul satisfaction and joy,
Pastor Bill
Thursday, April 19, 2007
OUR SIN AND THE KILLINGS AT VIRGINIA TECH WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SIN Part 3
As we all reflect and mourn the evil, tragic killings at Virginia Tech, it reminds me of how indignant we can be(and rightfully so!) at evils committed toward others, yet how blase, indifferent, casual, and unemotional we are about the heinousness and gravity of our sins towards God.
The fact is that it was your sin, my sin, the victims of Virginia Techs sin, and the wicked killer's sin that put Jesus Christ on the cross to bear the judgment and wrath of God, to atone for our sins, to pay our unpayable debt, and to satisfy the holy justice of God for us in our place. Sin is a very grave and serious matter!
What is Jesus view of sin? In the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15, Jesus describes the son's sin like this:
"He squandered his property in reckless living. he squandered his property in reckless living... (and) devoured (it) with prostitutes" (Luke 15:13,30 ESV)
But when the prodigal repents he says,
"Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son"(Luke 15:21).
Sin is not just throwing your life away for foolish, harmful things. Sin is not simply bringing bad consequences upon yourself. Sin is an offense against heaven. All sin is against God more than anything else. That is the nature of sin. It is against God. It is an assault upon God. It is against God first, before it is against man.
Is it no wonder why Jesus could make statements like He does in Matthew 10:28?
"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."
Jesus teaches us to see sin as far more serious than we ever dreamed! People today even within the church are offended by eternal hell as a punishment for sin because they do not see sin as it really is. The reason that we don't see sin as it really is, is because we don't see God as He really is. The seriousness of sin arises out of what our sin says about God. Sin says other things are more precious and valuable and to be more desired than Him. Jeremiah 2:12-13 puts it this way:
"Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water."
Do you see what has happened here? Sin is ultimately turning away from God who is worthy of infinite and supreme worth and ultimate desires, and instead, preferring other things to Him. No wonder why Jeremiah uses such strong words as "be appalled" "be shocked" be utterly desolate"; because the seriousness of the crime warrants such a reaction from heaven. Oh that we would be appalled and outraged at the killings of Virginia Tech. Oh that we would begin to be appalled at the at the crime of our sins against God! Sin is an infinitely outrageous crime and is worthy of infinite punishment.
That is why we need to pay attention to Jesus words in Matthew 10:28, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Do you hear the intensity of Jesus words about hell? Is He overreacting to trivial offenses? I like the way John Piper put it:
"They are a witness to the infinite worth of God and to the outrageous dishonor of human sin"
Precious people physically perished at Virginia Tech on Monday. That is a tragedy. Let us grieve, comfort, and pray for the families and friends of those who were murdered that day. But oh how many souls are eternally perishing on a daily basis. That is the ultimate tragedy and the destiny of multitudes of people that would make the deaths and carnage of Virgina Tech, minuscule in comparison. Do we grieve, mourn, and get indignant about that biblical reality? Should we? Are we asleep? Do we care? Do we believe? What should be our appropriate response? Are we taking our sins way to lightly? Are we living as if Jesus Christ is our life, our treasure, our Redeemer, Lord, and Savior?
The battle against sin in our life is of such primary importance. The issue in our life is do we love, cherish, value our all sufficient redeemer. Jesus warns us about our sin but He also rescues us from our sin. Jesus points us to a cross where we find rescue from hell and grace to prefer Him to all the sins that we used to cherish. The challenge in our life is not just to stop sinning, but to prefer Christ above all things.
To be continued...
The fact is that it was your sin, my sin, the victims of Virginia Techs sin, and the wicked killer's sin that put Jesus Christ on the cross to bear the judgment and wrath of God, to atone for our sins, to pay our unpayable debt, and to satisfy the holy justice of God for us in our place. Sin is a very grave and serious matter!
What is Jesus view of sin? In the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15, Jesus describes the son's sin like this:
"He squandered his property in reckless living. he squandered his property in reckless living... (and) devoured (it) with prostitutes" (Luke 15:13,30 ESV)
But when the prodigal repents he says,
"Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son"(Luke 15:21).
Sin is not just throwing your life away for foolish, harmful things. Sin is not simply bringing bad consequences upon yourself. Sin is an offense against heaven. All sin is against God more than anything else. That is the nature of sin. It is against God. It is an assault upon God. It is against God first, before it is against man.
Is it no wonder why Jesus could make statements like He does in Matthew 10:28?
"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."
Jesus teaches us to see sin as far more serious than we ever dreamed! People today even within the church are offended by eternal hell as a punishment for sin because they do not see sin as it really is. The reason that we don't see sin as it really is, is because we don't see God as He really is. The seriousness of sin arises out of what our sin says about God. Sin says other things are more precious and valuable and to be more desired than Him. Jeremiah 2:12-13 puts it this way:
"Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water."
Do you see what has happened here? Sin is ultimately turning away from God who is worthy of infinite and supreme worth and ultimate desires, and instead, preferring other things to Him. No wonder why Jeremiah uses such strong words as "be appalled" "be shocked" be utterly desolate"; because the seriousness of the crime warrants such a reaction from heaven. Oh that we would be appalled and outraged at the killings of Virginia Tech. Oh that we would begin to be appalled at the at the crime of our sins against God! Sin is an infinitely outrageous crime and is worthy of infinite punishment.
That is why we need to pay attention to Jesus words in Matthew 10:28, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Do you hear the intensity of Jesus words about hell? Is He overreacting to trivial offenses? I like the way John Piper put it:
"They are a witness to the infinite worth of God and to the outrageous dishonor of human sin"
Precious people physically perished at Virginia Tech on Monday. That is a tragedy. Let us grieve, comfort, and pray for the families and friends of those who were murdered that day. But oh how many souls are eternally perishing on a daily basis. That is the ultimate tragedy and the destiny of multitudes of people that would make the deaths and carnage of Virgina Tech, minuscule in comparison. Do we grieve, mourn, and get indignant about that biblical reality? Should we? Are we asleep? Do we care? Do we believe? What should be our appropriate response? Are we taking our sins way to lightly? Are we living as if Jesus Christ is our life, our treasure, our Redeemer, Lord, and Savior?
The battle against sin in our life is of such primary importance. The issue in our life is do we love, cherish, value our all sufficient redeemer. Jesus warns us about our sin but He also rescues us from our sin. Jesus points us to a cross where we find rescue from hell and grace to prefer Him to all the sins that we used to cherish. The challenge in our life is not just to stop sinning, but to prefer Christ above all things.
To be continued...
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SIN Part 2
We are at war! Every day we battle with being satisfied with all that God is for us in Christ or being satisfied with sin. It is not a trivial, light, and unimportant battle. It is mortal combat and what is at stake is our soul. If you don't believe this in the way you think, feel, and live your life, then your position is very precarious. The enemy has lulled you into sleep or into a peacetime mentality, as if nothing serious is at stake. Therefore, we must not be complacent about sin. We must fight it on a daily basis.
John Owen understood this wartime mentality as well as anyone in church history. He wrote a little 86-page book called On the Mortification of Sin in the Believers Life. "Mortify" means "kill" in 17th century English. Today it just means "embarrass" or "shame." Owen's whole book is an exposition of Romans 8:13, "for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.". His challenge before us on the basis of this passage was:
"Be killing sin or it will be killing you."
We have seen that our Lord demands that we take the gravity of sin seriously and proactively.
"If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell" (Matthew 5:28-29). It is as if Jesus said, "Do you want to enter into life? Do you want to live? Get violent. Stop making peace with ears and eyes and tongues and hands and feet that become instruments of sin and make war on your soul and destroy you. Cut them off, pluck them out, be ruthless and merciless to them"
Ed Welch quoted by John Piper said:
. . . there is a mean streak to authentic self-control. . . Self-control is not for the timid. When we want to grow in it, not only do we nurture an exuberance for Jesus Christ, we also demand of ourselves a hatred for sin. . . . The only possible attitude toward out-of-control desire is a declaration of all-out war. . . . There is something about war that sharpens the senses . . . You hear a twig snap or the rustling of leaves and you are in attack mode. Someone coughs and you are ready to pull the trigger. Even after days of little of no sleep, war keeps us vigilant.
There is a mean, violent streak in the true Christian life! But violence against whom, or what? Not other people. It's a violence against all the impulses in us that would be violent to other people. It's a violence against all the impulses in our own selves that would make peace with our own sin and settle in with a peacetime mentality. It's a violence against all lust in ourselves, and enslaving desires for food or caffeine or sugar or chocolate or alcohol or pornography or money or the praise of men and the approval of others or power or fame. It's violence against the impulses in our own soul toward racism and sluggish indifference to injustice and poverty and abortion.
Christianity is not a settle-in-and-live-at-peace-with-this-world-the-way-it-is kind of religion. Christianity is war. On our own sinful impulses.
We are commanded to constantly kill the sin that remains in our lives. "If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you Will live" (Romans 8:13). Dealing with sin is not an option. No matter what society says. No matter what the Christian culture says. When it comes to sin we are in mortal combat. Sin dies or we die!
Life is short and precious, we are weak and fragile, and eternity is looooooong, very long. Beloved we must not settle with sin. We must see its gravity and it's consequences. Sin crucified our best friend. No wonder we should hate it and not make friends with it. Sin utterly dishonors our Father in heaven. It demeans His glory; it brings reproach to His character and attributes; it diminishes His supreme worth and raises the worth of lessor things. Sin aims to destroy you forever. That is why we must develop a Holy hatred towards sin.
Last time I ended by saying that "faith delivers us from hell and the faith that delivers us from hell is the faith that also delivers us from sin." Some people seem to think that grace comes for heaven but not for earth or that God's grace is for justification but not for sanctification.
John Piper puts it this way:
" The daily practice of killing sin in your life – is the result of being justified and the evidence that you are justified by faith alone apart from works of the law. If you are making war on your sin, and walking by the Spirit, then you know that you have been united with Christ by faith alone. And if you have been united to Christ, then his blood and righteousness provide the unshakable ground of your justification.
On the other hand, if you are living according to the flesh – if you are not making war on the flesh, and not making a practice out of killing sin in your life, then there is no compelling reason for thinking that you are united to Christ by faith or that you are therefore justified. In other words, putting to death the deeds of the body is not the way we get justified, it's one of the ways God shows that we are justified. And so Paul commands us to do it – be killing sin – because if we don't – if we don't make war on the flesh and put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit – if growth in grace and holiness mean nothing to us – then we show that we are probably false in our profession of faith, and that our church membership is a sham and our baptism is a fraud, and we are probably not Christians after all and never were....
"justification by faith alone apart from works does not and cannot lead a person to make peace with sin. Paul answers his own question in Romans 6:1, "How can we who died to sin still live in it?" We can't. If we died to sin by being united with Jesus in his death, we can't stay married to sin. The faith that unites us to Christ disunites from his competitors. The faith that makes peace with God makes war on our sin. If you are not at odds with sin, you are not at home with Jesus, not because being at odds with sin makes you at home with Jesus, but because being at home with Jesus makes you at odds with sin."
(http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2002/83_How_to_Kill_Sin_Part_1/)
The grace that brings us into heaven is the grace kills sin; the grace that saves is the grace that sanctifies; the grace that gives faith to believe is the grace that gives faith to keep on believing; the grace that brings saving faith is the same grace that brings obedient faith. It's all God and all grace working out and manifesting in our lives through the obedience that comes by faith.
Our battle is called by Paul "the good fight of faith"( 1Timothy 6:12). The battle against sin is ultimately the battle against unbelief. We believe that Christ has defeated sin at the cross. We believe that our sin has been borne by Him. We believe that His righteousness counts for us. We believe our standing before God is soley on the finished work of Christ and His imputed righteousness upon us. We believe that His grace is sufficient to cancel all our past sins. Therefore, we also believe that this same Jesus Christ who we trust as our mighty savior from our sin is also our mighty savior in dealing with our present sins not only to forgive but to conquer them. We believe that Christ gives victory over sin past, present, and future!
''For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace" (Romans 6:14)
Do you hear this beloved battling, struggling, Christian? Grace for you. Almighty grace! Amazing grace! Abundant grace! Sovereign grace! The kind of grace that can kill sin in your life. Killing sin in your life is all grace: past grace, canceling sin's guilt through the blood of Jesus; present grace, conquering sin's power through the spirit and being satisfied with all God is for us in Christ by the spirit; future, grace giving you new desires to desire what you ought to desire, so that you do what you ought to do more and more and more to your soul's delight and Christ's glory.
That is the battle. That is the fight. That is our war. May Christ become by faith our supreme desire, satisfaction, and joy. May He increase by faith and may sin decrease by faith.
To be continued...
John Owen understood this wartime mentality as well as anyone in church history. He wrote a little 86-page book called On the Mortification of Sin in the Believers Life. "Mortify" means "kill" in 17th century English. Today it just means "embarrass" or "shame." Owen's whole book is an exposition of Romans 8:13, "for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.". His challenge before us on the basis of this passage was:
"Be killing sin or it will be killing you."
We have seen that our Lord demands that we take the gravity of sin seriously and proactively.
"If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell" (Matthew 5:28-29). It is as if Jesus said, "Do you want to enter into life? Do you want to live? Get violent. Stop making peace with ears and eyes and tongues and hands and feet that become instruments of sin and make war on your soul and destroy you. Cut them off, pluck them out, be ruthless and merciless to them"
Ed Welch quoted by John Piper said:
. . . there is a mean streak to authentic self-control. . . Self-control is not for the timid. When we want to grow in it, not only do we nurture an exuberance for Jesus Christ, we also demand of ourselves a hatred for sin. . . . The only possible attitude toward out-of-control desire is a declaration of all-out war. . . . There is something about war that sharpens the senses . . . You hear a twig snap or the rustling of leaves and you are in attack mode. Someone coughs and you are ready to pull the trigger. Even after days of little of no sleep, war keeps us vigilant.
There is a mean, violent streak in the true Christian life! But violence against whom, or what? Not other people. It's a violence against all the impulses in us that would be violent to other people. It's a violence against all the impulses in our own selves that would make peace with our own sin and settle in with a peacetime mentality. It's a violence against all lust in ourselves, and enslaving desires for food or caffeine or sugar or chocolate or alcohol or pornography or money or the praise of men and the approval of others or power or fame. It's violence against the impulses in our own soul toward racism and sluggish indifference to injustice and poverty and abortion.
Christianity is not a settle-in-and-live-at-peace-with-this-world-the-way-it-is kind of religion. Christianity is war. On our own sinful impulses.
We are commanded to constantly kill the sin that remains in our lives. "If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you Will live" (Romans 8:13). Dealing with sin is not an option. No matter what society says. No matter what the Christian culture says. When it comes to sin we are in mortal combat. Sin dies or we die!
Life is short and precious, we are weak and fragile, and eternity is looooooong, very long. Beloved we must not settle with sin. We must see its gravity and it's consequences. Sin crucified our best friend. No wonder we should hate it and not make friends with it. Sin utterly dishonors our Father in heaven. It demeans His glory; it brings reproach to His character and attributes; it diminishes His supreme worth and raises the worth of lessor things. Sin aims to destroy you forever. That is why we must develop a Holy hatred towards sin.
Last time I ended by saying that "faith delivers us from hell and the faith that delivers us from hell is the faith that also delivers us from sin." Some people seem to think that grace comes for heaven but not for earth or that God's grace is for justification but not for sanctification.
John Piper puts it this way:
" The daily practice of killing sin in your life – is the result of being justified and the evidence that you are justified by faith alone apart from works of the law. If you are making war on your sin, and walking by the Spirit, then you know that you have been united with Christ by faith alone. And if you have been united to Christ, then his blood and righteousness provide the unshakable ground of your justification.
On the other hand, if you are living according to the flesh – if you are not making war on the flesh, and not making a practice out of killing sin in your life, then there is no compelling reason for thinking that you are united to Christ by faith or that you are therefore justified. In other words, putting to death the deeds of the body is not the way we get justified, it's one of the ways God shows that we are justified. And so Paul commands us to do it – be killing sin – because if we don't – if we don't make war on the flesh and put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit – if growth in grace and holiness mean nothing to us – then we show that we are probably false in our profession of faith, and that our church membership is a sham and our baptism is a fraud, and we are probably not Christians after all and never were....
"justification by faith alone apart from works does not and cannot lead a person to make peace with sin. Paul answers his own question in Romans 6:1, "How can we who died to sin still live in it?" We can't. If we died to sin by being united with Jesus in his death, we can't stay married to sin. The faith that unites us to Christ disunites from his competitors. The faith that makes peace with God makes war on our sin. If you are not at odds with sin, you are not at home with Jesus, not because being at odds with sin makes you at home with Jesus, but because being at home with Jesus makes you at odds with sin."
(http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2002/83_How_to_Kill_Sin_Part_1/)
The grace that brings us into heaven is the grace kills sin; the grace that saves is the grace that sanctifies; the grace that gives faith to believe is the grace that gives faith to keep on believing; the grace that brings saving faith is the same grace that brings obedient faith. It's all God and all grace working out and manifesting in our lives through the obedience that comes by faith.
Our battle is called by Paul "the good fight of faith"( 1Timothy 6:12). The battle against sin is ultimately the battle against unbelief. We believe that Christ has defeated sin at the cross. We believe that our sin has been borne by Him. We believe that His righteousness counts for us. We believe our standing before God is soley on the finished work of Christ and His imputed righteousness upon us. We believe that His grace is sufficient to cancel all our past sins. Therefore, we also believe that this same Jesus Christ who we trust as our mighty savior from our sin is also our mighty savior in dealing with our present sins not only to forgive but to conquer them. We believe that Christ gives victory over sin past, present, and future!
''For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace" (Romans 6:14)
Do you hear this beloved battling, struggling, Christian? Grace for you. Almighty grace! Amazing grace! Abundant grace! Sovereign grace! The kind of grace that can kill sin in your life. Killing sin in your life is all grace: past grace, canceling sin's guilt through the blood of Jesus; present grace, conquering sin's power through the spirit and being satisfied with all God is for us in Christ by the spirit; future, grace giving you new desires to desire what you ought to desire, so that you do what you ought to do more and more and more to your soul's delight and Christ's glory.
That is the battle. That is the fight. That is our war. May Christ become by faith our supreme desire, satisfaction, and joy. May He increase by faith and may sin decrease by faith.
To be continued...
Thursday, April 12, 2007
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SIN? Part 1
What is your attitude towards sin? Do you hate it? Do you consider yourself at war with it? Does it grieve you? Does it bother you when you sin? Do you daily confess your sins to God? Do you notice when you do sin in thought and deed? Is sin just actions to you or is it attitudes as well? Is sin doing wrong as well as failing to do the good? Is sin rooted in our wants and desires? Did our sin put Christ on the cross? Do you consider sin in your life the really bad ones like adultery, drunkenness, murder, etc.? What about fear? Worry? Anxiety? Pride? Despondency? Impatience? Are those sin?
Sin today is not PC in the Christian culture. It is rationalized, minimized, justified, blamed on others, circumstances, and genes, it is denied, and ignored. What I find is that many people just have the blase attitude towards it "Well I'm only human" or "nobody is perfect". Even worse is the belief that Jesus died on the cross for my sins so now I'm under grace so that it doesn't really matter if I sin or it's all covered by the blood. Christ died to get me to heaven not to bring me a new and holy life. The prevalent notion today is that sin, i.e. personal sin, is of minor moral significance. It is no big deal. No harm, no foul. If sin is sin, it is not a big SIN but a little sin.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer called this "cheap grace". He writes in his profound book The Cost of Discipleship,
"Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church...Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. "All for sin could not atone." Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin."
Jesus sees sin very differently than we do. it would be wise and lifesaving to pay attention to what He says! He makes a radical statement about sin in the Sermon on the Mount.
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell." (Matthew 5:27-29 ESV)
Jesus was dealing with the typical view that the Jews had of law and sin as dealing with actions and behaviors. Jesus reaffirms the "spirit" and essence of the law and sin with being rooted in desires and thoughts. We sin in our desires and wants. How many people are adulterers who have never committed the act, therefore, let themselves off the hook for adulterous thoughts and fantasies?
Jesus says something else that is even more sobering after He defines the root of sin. "If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell" (Matthew 5:29). He shows that sin kills. It kills the soul. It is such a deadly foe that ruthless, radical measures must be taken in our lives. In other wards, Jesus demands that we tenaciously, diligently, consistently, with such seriousness that we are willing to gouge out an eye! John Owen said it the best, most succinct way that I've ever heard it:
KILL SIN BEFORE IT KILLS YOU!
Perhaps we hear this and immediately disassociate ourselves from the teaching of Jesus because we are Christian's, saved, and if we hold to the doctrines of grace (as I do), believe that we are eternally secure.
John Piper puts it this way:
"Many professing Christians...have a view of salvation that disconnects them from real life, and that nullifies them from the threats of the Bible, and puts a sinning person who claims to be a Christian, beyond the reach of Biblical warnings.I believe that this view is comforting thousands who are on the broad road that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13). Jesus says if you don't fight lust, you won't go to heaven"
Sin kills. The stakes are high. Christianity is not a casual religion. The road to heaven is straight, difficult, and narrow, and few enter it says our Lord. that is why we must fight. "I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul"(1 Peter 2:11). "I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members" (Romans 7:23). "If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you Will live.... Put to death therefore what is earthly in you" (Romans 8:13; Colossians 3:5).
We are justified solely by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ to be sure (Romans 3:28;4:5; 5:1; Ephesians 2:8-9). All those who are justified will be glorified (Romans 8:30). no justified, regenerate, saved person will ever be lost. BUT, those who give themselves to impurity will be lost. Galatians 5:19-21 says, "Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. " Those who fail to fight against sin will perish (Matthew 5:30). Those who do not pursue holiness will not see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). those who do not surrender their lives to evil desires will succumb to the wrath of God (Colossians 3:6).
The faith that justifies is also the faith that sanctifies. the faith that trusts Jesus Christ as our crucified sin bearer and our righteousness before God is also the faith THAT keeps embracing Christ that way who becomes not only the means of our justification, but our sanctification as well. The faith that justifies is also the faith that sanctifies, period (James 2:14-26).
Faith delivers us from hell and the faith that delivers us from hell is the same faith that delivers us from sin.....
TO BE CONTINUED.
Sin today is not PC in the Christian culture. It is rationalized, minimized, justified, blamed on others, circumstances, and genes, it is denied, and ignored. What I find is that many people just have the blase attitude towards it "Well I'm only human" or "nobody is perfect". Even worse is the belief that Jesus died on the cross for my sins so now I'm under grace so that it doesn't really matter if I sin or it's all covered by the blood. Christ died to get me to heaven not to bring me a new and holy life. The prevalent notion today is that sin, i.e. personal sin, is of minor moral significance. It is no big deal. No harm, no foul. If sin is sin, it is not a big SIN but a little sin.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer called this "cheap grace". He writes in his profound book The Cost of Discipleship,
"Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church...Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. "All for sin could not atone." Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin."
Jesus sees sin very differently than we do. it would be wise and lifesaving to pay attention to what He says! He makes a radical statement about sin in the Sermon on the Mount.
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell." (Matthew 5:27-29 ESV)
Jesus was dealing with the typical view that the Jews had of law and sin as dealing with actions and behaviors. Jesus reaffirms the "spirit" and essence of the law and sin with being rooted in desires and thoughts. We sin in our desires and wants. How many people are adulterers who have never committed the act, therefore, let themselves off the hook for adulterous thoughts and fantasies?
Jesus says something else that is even more sobering after He defines the root of sin. "If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell" (Matthew 5:29). He shows that sin kills. It kills the soul. It is such a deadly foe that ruthless, radical measures must be taken in our lives. In other wards, Jesus demands that we tenaciously, diligently, consistently, with such seriousness that we are willing to gouge out an eye! John Owen said it the best, most succinct way that I've ever heard it:
KILL SIN BEFORE IT KILLS YOU!
Perhaps we hear this and immediately disassociate ourselves from the teaching of Jesus because we are Christian's, saved, and if we hold to the doctrines of grace (as I do), believe that we are eternally secure.
John Piper puts it this way:
"Many professing Christians...have a view of salvation that disconnects them from real life, and that nullifies them from the threats of the Bible, and puts a sinning person who claims to be a Christian, beyond the reach of Biblical warnings.I believe that this view is comforting thousands who are on the broad road that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13). Jesus says if you don't fight lust, you won't go to heaven"
Sin kills. The stakes are high. Christianity is not a casual religion. The road to heaven is straight, difficult, and narrow, and few enter it says our Lord. that is why we must fight. "I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul"(1 Peter 2:11). "I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members" (Romans 7:23). "If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you Will live.... Put to death therefore what is earthly in you" (Romans 8:13; Colossians 3:5).
We are justified solely by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ to be sure (Romans 3:28;4:5; 5:1; Ephesians 2:8-9). All those who are justified will be glorified (Romans 8:30). no justified, regenerate, saved person will ever be lost. BUT, those who give themselves to impurity will be lost. Galatians 5:19-21 says, "Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. " Those who fail to fight against sin will perish (Matthew 5:30). Those who do not pursue holiness will not see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). those who do not surrender their lives to evil desires will succumb to the wrath of God (Colossians 3:6).
The faith that justifies is also the faith that sanctifies. the faith that trusts Jesus Christ as our crucified sin bearer and our righteousness before God is also the faith THAT keeps embracing Christ that way who becomes not only the means of our justification, but our sanctification as well. The faith that justifies is also the faith that sanctifies, period (James 2:14-26).
Faith delivers us from hell and the faith that delivers us from hell is the same faith that delivers us from sin.....
TO BE CONTINUED.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
THINKING WITH OUR MINDS WITH GOD'S HELP
“Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.”
2 Timothy 2:7
2 Timothy 2:7
One of the great challenges I find in pastoring today is the radical influence our culture has on people in regards to thinking. Now days I find that many people are easily deluded and undiscerning. John MacArhur put it this way, "Evangelicals have spiritual AIDS.” They do not fight off the spiritual disease of heresy, because their immune system or discernment is lacking." Others are way to comfortable in what they think and believe. They are stuck in what they no and think and believe and have no ongoing desire to keep learning and progressing. Others are just plain apathetic toward learning, distracted by the numerous diversions that allegedly improve our lives but in reality make us shallow, hollow, and empty. Finally, there are those who are just plain intellectually lazy in regards to critical thinking and analysis. Doug Groothuis says,
"Intellectual sloth is age-old. Both Socrates and Jesus combated it through their probing questions, dialogues, and debates. But cognitive apathy is strengthened in the contemporary world by several defining features of post modernity. This apathy is not only justified in the name of tolerance...but also encouraged by the endless diversion supplied by a culture of entertainment. ”
The infinite God has revealed Himself to us in His Word. When it comes to reading the bible there are things that are hard to understand. The apostle Peter tells us so. He says that in Paul's letters "are some things hard to understand."(2 Peter 3:16).Yes, there are many precious simple truths that do not take much thought and reflection, but yes there are also deeply profound truths that demand much thought and reflection. I believe that God wants us to have a mind and a heart for truth.
I understand how we can be towards the knowledge and understanding of God and His truth. God. Some have just cold knowledge and some have zeal without knowledge (Romans 10:2). True zeal is grounded in right thinking about God and right thinking about God is meant to stir red hot zeal towards God. John Piper once preached a sermon I love that described this that he called A Mind in Love With God.
The apostle Paul goes right against the grain of much contemporary way of thinking. He gives us a command: "Think over what I say". He is commanding us to think. Specifically, to engage our minds in the reading of scriptures. It’s a command for us to ponder the word we read and we hear. Think. Use your minds. Engage your mind. God's way of imparting to us insight is not to short-circuit the intellectual process.
But then he shows us that we are to think in a particular way: " ...for the Lord will give you understanding in everything." This next phrase warns us against intellectualism by wrongly presuming that we can think our way into right understanding without God’s help. So many people divide this up and believe that you are either the one or the other.
Some stress “think over what I say.” They emphasize the indispensable role of reason and thinking. They rely on and exalt their thinking and reasoning faculties. Unfortunately, they often minimize the supernatural role of God in making the mind able to see and embrace the truth.
But others stress the second half of the verse: “And the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” They emphasize the futility of thinking and reasoning and instead focus upon God’s illuminating work apart from reason.
But Paul will not be divided this way. He says: not either-or, but both-and. “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” The willingness of God to give us understanding is the ground of our thinking, not the substitute for our thinking. “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding.” There is no reason to think that a person who thinks without prayerful trust and dependency in God’s gift of understanding will get it. And there is no reason to think that a person who waits for God’s gift of understanding without thinking about his word will get it either.
Paul commands us to think about what he says. Use your mind. Engage your reasoning powers when you hear the word of God. Jesus warned what happens if we don’t and what blessing may come if we do. In the parable of the soils, he said concerning the seed sown on the path: “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.” Understanding with the mind is not optional. Our lives hang on it. And concerning the seed sown on good soil, he says, “This is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty” (Matthew 13:23).
It is true that, as Paul says in Romans 10:17, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” But Jesus says that hearing without understanding produces nothing. When we hear the word of God, Paul says, we must “think over” what we hear. Otherwise, we will fall under the indictment of Jesus: “Hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand” (Matthew 13:13). We are called to be not childish or immature in our thinking but to be "babes in evil but in thinking be mature" (1 Corinthians 14:20)
The writer of Proverbs exhorts us in Proverbs 2:1-5, “My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom ; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright.”
The writer says: You thought you were seeking, reading, studying, thinking, pondering, meditating till you were blue in the face and finally found it? Well you did because the lord gave it to you. That's how it works. You sought, you prayed, you thought, and GOD GAVE IT TO YOU!
"THINK over what I say, for the Lord will grant you understanding in everything" (2 Timothy 2:7). Think! Think! Think! Think! Think! God has ordained to give the gift of supernatural light through thinking. And the LORD WILL GIVE YOU UNDERSTANDING THROUGH YOUR THINKING. Pray for God to renew your mind (Romans 12:2); to incline your heart, to open your eyes, to give you wisdom, to not only know and see, but to understand and to savor. Depend upon His spirit to guide you into all truth and illuminate your mind to see and apprehend what is there.
"From Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory!" (Romans 11:36). God is the ground of all thinking and God is the goal of all thinking. Yes, it is the Lord who gives understanding. But he does it through our God-given thinking and the efforts we make, with prayer, to think hard about what the Bible says.
Desiring to think hard and deeply and utterly dependent upon the Spirit of the Lord to give me understanding,
Pastor Bill
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