John Owen once wrote in his book On the Mortification of Sin in the Believers Life, "Be killing sin, before it kills you." Sin is the great destroyer of a life. Specifically, the sin of anger is a killer of our soul and life. Anger is a terrible enemy. Anger can have many faces: Rage, hatred, aggression, revenge, bitterness, cynicism, resentment, frustration,feeling that life is out of control and helplessness, tears, silence, picky criticism, it may strike out at persons that have nothing to do with its origin, it may strike out at a petty thing when inside it rages against a larger thing. It will often feel warranted by how wrongly it has been treated. After all, Jesus got angry (Mark 3:5), and Paul says, "Be angry and do not sin" (Ephesians 4:26).
I must confess that in my own life good anger is seldom in my life. Oh how I want to have good anger and not sinful anger. I have learned allot about my own sinful anger as a pastor. I have been angry at God for disappointing me, for not fulfilling my hopes and dreams, for seemingly not caring about me, for seemingly blessing those who are carnal or evil and giving much difficulty to the good, and for His plans for me. I have been angry at life for being hard, transient, short, constantly changing, fragile, I have been angry at people who have hurt me, lied to me, left my church for trite and trivial reasons, who have been dishonest with me, who have been ungrateful and disloyal, who spoken bad things or lies behind my back, who have erased themselves from my life with no closure whatsoever,who have used me or the church for what they could get and than thrown us away. In short, in my flesh, I have been very vulnerable to the heinous sin of unrighteous anger.
That's why James says, "Be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires" (James 1:19-20). And Paul says, "Men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling" (1 Timothy 2:8). "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you" (Ephesians 4:31).
Therefore, one of the greatest battles of life is the battle to "put away anger," not just control its expressions. To apply what John Owen said, "Kill anger, before it kills you." Let me show you some scriptures that I use to combat this deadly enemy of mine. I am grateful to John Piper who has convicted me and helped me greatly in this area.
1. Ponder the right of Christ to be angry, but how He endured the cross, as an example of long-suffering. Ponder how Christ has been so long suffering towards you in your sins against Him. "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps" (1 Peter 2:21).
2. Ponder how much you have been forgiven, and how much mercy you have been shown. "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32). John Newton wrote, "The 'wretch' who has been saved by grace believes and feels his own weakness and unworthiness, and lives upon the grace and pardoning love of his Lord. This gives him a habitual tenderness and gentleness Spirit. Humble under a sense of much forgiveness to himself, he finds it easy to forgive others."
3.Ponder your own sinfulness and take the beam out of your own eye. "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, `Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye" (Matthew 7:3-5).
4. Ponder how harbored anger gives place to the devil. You do not want to make room for him or invite him into your life. "Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil" (Ephesians 4:26-27).
5. Ponder the foolishness of the numerous detrimental effects of anger to you. Oh what folly! There are spiritual effects that harm my fellowship with Christ. There are mental effects such as depression, despair, hate, bitterness, resentment, and a victim self pitying mentality. There are physical effects. There are numerous relational effects. "Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones" (Proverbs 3:7-8).
6. Confess your sin of anger to some trusted friend, and, if possible, to the offender. This is a great healing act for your soul. "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed" (James 5:16).
7. Let your anger be the key to unlock the dungeons of pride and self-pity in your heart and replace them with love. "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
8. Remember that God is going to work all your frustrating circumstances for your good as you trust in His grace. God is even using the one who has hurt or wronged you for your good. "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces stead-fastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" (James 1:2-4).
9. Remember that God will vindicate your just cause and settle all accounts better than you could. Either your offender will pay in hell, or Christ has paid for him. Your payback would be either double jeopardy or an offense to the cross. "Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, `Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord' (Romans 12:19). "When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting [his cause] to him who judges justly" (1 Peter 2:23).
So let us all kill anger so that it doesn't kill us. For his name sake, for His glory, for the sake of others, and for our soul's satisfaction. I love God's patience toward me.I love it that God describes Himself as slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Oh, I want to be more like Him! Don't you my friend? May God have mercy on our easily angered hearts! May He forgive our many peeves and murmuring. I pray for us that we would be utterly and fully saturated with merciful, forgiving, long suffering, and contented grace. May we learn to submit to the place God has us and adopt to the pace He is working in our lives. May we show it to others as we desperately need it for ourselves.
Pastor Bill
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
HOW GOD CONVERTS THE LOST Part 4:God Uses Faithful Proclamers of the Gospel As the Means to Open the Eyes of Sinners!
“I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” Acts 26:18
I have been discussing this incredible account of Paul's commissioning by Jesus as an instruction to us on how God converts lost sinners. I mentioned that He uses people:ordinary clay pots sent out for a task; and oh what an extraordinary task it is: "To open their eyes so that they turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins"! We need to understand the fundamental problem in evangelism and conversion: The condition of lost people is Spiritual blindness!
This makes the call of evangelism seem so radical. God is calling you and sending you out to do an utterly impossible task! To open the eyes of blind, lost, hardened sinners. At first glance it seems as if He is sending us out into certain failure and defeat. Yet Christ says it with such certainty, “I send you to open their eyes”.God’s Himself has a remedy to man’s spiritual blindness-It is a sovereign and supernatural work Christ tells us in this text that He aims for this blindness to be healed and the deception broken. He aims to give sight. That's the goal of evangelism and missions. But we ask; "How can you and I open the eyes of the blind?" The answer of course is that in ourselves we can't.A work of God is needed in their lives to open their eyes and give them life so they can see and receive Christ as Savior and Lord and Treasure of their lives
This is what true biblical salvation is—having our eyes opened so that the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ shines into our hearts, and we see it and savor it and treasure it. This is a glorious and wondrous work of God alone
So how does God accomplish this amazing work of opening the eyes of the spiritually blind? He uses means. In Acts 26:18 says that Christ sends Paul to do it: "I send you to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God." “So the exact reversal of satanic blindness and spiritual darkness comes from Christ’s messengers.
God alone says to the dead and dark human heart: Let there be light! And there is light. God alone can raise the dead. God alone gives spiritual light. God alone makes Christ appear true and beautiful and desirable. But God wants us to be His agents. Paul talked about this in 1 Corinthians 3:6, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth”. Seed must be planted, cultivated, watered, and protected. But the miracle of life is God’s alone to give.
In the moment of our greatest sense of helplessness, we must remember that God sends messengers “to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God.” God does not look at the inner city, Europe, and Orange County, and wring His hands in defeat. He sends us to do what only he can do and He intends to do it. This is a very high and a very humbling calling. One night when Paul was discouraged about the seemingly close door to preach in pagan Corinth, God came to visit him with a word of great encouragement for evangelism in Acts 18:9-10, The Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, "Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people." Do you hear that? God says “I HAVE MANY WHO ARE PRESENTLY BLIND IN THAT PAGAN CITY WHO ARE MY ELECT. GO PAUL, PREACH THE GOSPEL AND I WILL OPEN THEIR EYES TO SEE AND WILL BRING IN MY ELECT.”
What did Paul do to bring them in? What are we to do that will cause people to see and be born again?” Tell them the good news of Christ. Proclaim the gospel. When you do that, God does a divine supernatural call, just the same as in the beginning of the world when his call to the light created the light. Just as when He called Lazarus to rise out of the tomb. He causes the human heart to see the truth and beauty and worth of Christ—the glory of Christ through the proclamation of the gospel. Christ will no longer be a stumbling block or foolishness. He will be to us "the power of God and the wisdom of God." And we will come to him and cleave to him and love him and trust him.
1 Peter 1:23, 25, “You have been born again . . . through the living and abiding word of God…This word is the good news that was preached to you.” James 1:18, “God brought us forth through the word of truth”.
People see and are born again through hearing that news, and never born again without it. “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? …Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:14-15, 17). The preaching of the gospel is God’s the work of missions for you. It is the means that God uses through each one of you to penetrate the kingdom of darkness and give sight to the spiritually blind.
I say to you what Jesus said to Paul in Acts 26:18: "I send you to open their eyes." Don’t stop because you can’t. Of course you can’t. John Piper says, But the fact that you can’t make electricity or create light never stops you from flipping light switches. The fact that you can’t create fire in cylinders never stops you from turning the car key. The fact that you can’t create cell tissue never stops you from eating your meals. So don’t let the fact that you can’t cause the new birth stop you from telling the gospel. That is how people are born again—through the living and abiding word, the good news of Jesus Christ proclaimed by those He sends out.
That is what I am pray for you. Lord, fill us with a passion to open the eyes of the blind. Fill us with faith to believe that God saves sinners and that He desires to use us and His gospel as the means to save. Give us faith in the power of your gospel. O what great, eternal things God aims to do through you us as you go and tell about the truth of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Bill
I have been discussing this incredible account of Paul's commissioning by Jesus as an instruction to us on how God converts lost sinners. I mentioned that He uses people:ordinary clay pots sent out for a task; and oh what an extraordinary task it is: "To open their eyes so that they turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins"! We need to understand the fundamental problem in evangelism and conversion: The condition of lost people is Spiritual blindness!
This makes the call of evangelism seem so radical. God is calling you and sending you out to do an utterly impossible task! To open the eyes of blind, lost, hardened sinners. At first glance it seems as if He is sending us out into certain failure and defeat. Yet Christ says it with such certainty, “I send you to open their eyes”.God’s Himself has a remedy to man’s spiritual blindness-It is a sovereign and supernatural work Christ tells us in this text that He aims for this blindness to be healed and the deception broken. He aims to give sight. That's the goal of evangelism and missions. But we ask; "How can you and I open the eyes of the blind?" The answer of course is that in ourselves we can't.A work of God is needed in their lives to open their eyes and give them life so they can see and receive Christ as Savior and Lord and Treasure of their lives
This is what true biblical salvation is—having our eyes opened so that the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ shines into our hearts, and we see it and savor it and treasure it. This is a glorious and wondrous work of God alone
So how does God accomplish this amazing work of opening the eyes of the spiritually blind? He uses means. In Acts 26:18 says that Christ sends Paul to do it: "I send you to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God." “So the exact reversal of satanic blindness and spiritual darkness comes from Christ’s messengers.
God alone says to the dead and dark human heart: Let there be light! And there is light. God alone can raise the dead. God alone gives spiritual light. God alone makes Christ appear true and beautiful and desirable. But God wants us to be His agents. Paul talked about this in 1 Corinthians 3:6, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth”. Seed must be planted, cultivated, watered, and protected. But the miracle of life is God’s alone to give.
In the moment of our greatest sense of helplessness, we must remember that God sends messengers “to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God.” God does not look at the inner city, Europe, and Orange County, and wring His hands in defeat. He sends us to do what only he can do and He intends to do it. This is a very high and a very humbling calling. One night when Paul was discouraged about the seemingly close door to preach in pagan Corinth, God came to visit him with a word of great encouragement for evangelism in Acts 18:9-10, The Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, "Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people." Do you hear that? God says “I HAVE MANY WHO ARE PRESENTLY BLIND IN THAT PAGAN CITY WHO ARE MY ELECT. GO PAUL, PREACH THE GOSPEL AND I WILL OPEN THEIR EYES TO SEE AND WILL BRING IN MY ELECT.”
What did Paul do to bring them in? What are we to do that will cause people to see and be born again?” Tell them the good news of Christ. Proclaim the gospel. When you do that, God does a divine supernatural call, just the same as in the beginning of the world when his call to the light created the light. Just as when He called Lazarus to rise out of the tomb. He causes the human heart to see the truth and beauty and worth of Christ—the glory of Christ through the proclamation of the gospel. Christ will no longer be a stumbling block or foolishness. He will be to us "the power of God and the wisdom of God." And we will come to him and cleave to him and love him and trust him.
1 Peter 1:23, 25, “You have been born again . . . through the living and abiding word of God…This word is the good news that was preached to you.” James 1:18, “God brought us forth through the word of truth”.
People see and are born again through hearing that news, and never born again without it. “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? …Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:14-15, 17). The preaching of the gospel is God’s the work of missions for you. It is the means that God uses through each one of you to penetrate the kingdom of darkness and give sight to the spiritually blind.
I say to you what Jesus said to Paul in Acts 26:18: "I send you to open their eyes." Don’t stop because you can’t. Of course you can’t. John Piper says, But the fact that you can’t make electricity or create light never stops you from flipping light switches. The fact that you can’t create fire in cylinders never stops you from turning the car key. The fact that you can’t create cell tissue never stops you from eating your meals. So don’t let the fact that you can’t cause the new birth stop you from telling the gospel. That is how people are born again—through the living and abiding word, the good news of Jesus Christ proclaimed by those He sends out.
That is what I am pray for you. Lord, fill us with a passion to open the eyes of the blind. Fill us with faith to believe that God saves sinners and that He desires to use us and His gospel as the means to save. Give us faith in the power of your gospel. O what great, eternal things God aims to do through you us as you go and tell about the truth of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Bill
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
HOW GOD CONVERTS THE LOST Part 3:God Opens The Blind Eyes of Sinners!
I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.' Acts 26:17-18
I have been discussing this incredible account of Paul's commissioning by Jesus as an instruction to us on how God converts lost sinners. I mentioned that He uses people:ordinary clay pots sent out for a task; and oh what an extraordinary task it is: "To open their eyes so that they turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins"! We need to understand the fundamental problem in evangelism and conversion: The condition of lost people is Spiritual blindness!
1 John 3:6, "No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him." 3 John 1:11, "Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God." Probably the best description what Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 4:4, "The god of this age [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God."
This makes the call of evangelism seem so radical. God is calling you and sending you out to do an utterly impossible task! To open the eyes of blind, lost, hardened sinners. At first glance it seems as if He is sending us out into certain failure and defeat. Yet Christ says it with such certainty, “I send you to open their eyes”.
God’s Himself has a remedy to man’s spiritual blindness-It is a sovereign and supernatural work Christ tells us in this text that He aims for this blindness to be healed and the deception broken. He aims to give sight. That's the goal of evangelism and missions. But we ask; "How can you and I open the eyes of the blind?" The answer of course is that in ourselves we can't.
A work of God is needed in their lives to open their eyes and give them life so they can see and receive Christ as Savior and Lord and Treasure of their lives. Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon in 1734 on this called A Divine and Supernatural Light.He writes, "There is such thing as a spiritual and divine light, immediately imparted to the soul by God, of a different nature from any that is obtained by natural means."
2 Corinthians 4:6 says, "It is God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' who has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." It is God who created light in the beginning with an omnipotent, "Let there be light!" And it is God who now can open the eyes of the spiritually blind. The God who created light in the beginning does the same thing in the human heart. Only the light this time is not physical light, but “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Or as verse 4 calls it “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.” God does a divine supernatural call, just the same as in the beginning of the world when his call to the light created the light and it is powerful and effective. He causes the human heart to see the truth and beauty and worth of Christ—the glory of Christ.
Edwards says that God gives "a true sense of the divine excellency of the things revealed in the Word of God, and a conviction of the truth and the reality of them." There is "a real sense of the excellency of God, Jesus Christ, and the work of redemption, and the ways and works of God as revealed by the gospel...He that is spiritually enlightened truly apprehends and sees it, or has a sense of it. He doesn't merely believe rationally that God is glorious, but has a sense of the gloriousness of God in his heart.'
Just as God says to the creation "let there be light" so he speaks to blind sinners "let there be light" and "I give you sight" and sinners see the glory of God in the face of Jesus. Jesus prayed and acknowledged that God immediately gives such knowledge, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him "(Matthew 11:25-27). The Psalmist prayed for this in Psalm 119:18, "Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law." Jonathan Edwards writes, "Spiritual wisdom and grace is the highest and most excellent gift that God bestows upon any creature...this light... changes the nature of the soul" 2 Corinthians 3:16-18, "But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. "
Edwards comments, "This knowledge will wean from the world, and raise the inclination to heavenly things. It will turn the heart to God as the fountain of good, and to choose Him for their only portion. This light, and this only , will bring the soul to a saving knowledge of Christ."
And when we see him for who he really is, we receive him for who he is Savior and Lord. John 6:40, "Everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day." John 17:6-8, "I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. "
This is what true biblical salvation is—having our eyes opened so that the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ shines into our hearts, and we see it and savor it and treasure it. This is a glorious and wondrous work of God alone. "The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes!"
Sola Dei Gloria
Pastor Bill
I have been discussing this incredible account of Paul's commissioning by Jesus as an instruction to us on how God converts lost sinners. I mentioned that He uses people:ordinary clay pots sent out for a task; and oh what an extraordinary task it is: "To open their eyes so that they turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins"! We need to understand the fundamental problem in evangelism and conversion: The condition of lost people is Spiritual blindness!
1 John 3:6, "No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him." 3 John 1:11, "Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God." Probably the best description what Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 4:4, "The god of this age [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God."
This makes the call of evangelism seem so radical. God is calling you and sending you out to do an utterly impossible task! To open the eyes of blind, lost, hardened sinners. At first glance it seems as if He is sending us out into certain failure and defeat. Yet Christ says it with such certainty, “I send you to open their eyes”.
God’s Himself has a remedy to man’s spiritual blindness-It is a sovereign and supernatural work Christ tells us in this text that He aims for this blindness to be healed and the deception broken. He aims to give sight. That's the goal of evangelism and missions. But we ask; "How can you and I open the eyes of the blind?" The answer of course is that in ourselves we can't.
A work of God is needed in their lives to open their eyes and give them life so they can see and receive Christ as Savior and Lord and Treasure of their lives. Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon in 1734 on this called A Divine and Supernatural Light.He writes, "There is such thing as a spiritual and divine light, immediately imparted to the soul by God, of a different nature from any that is obtained by natural means."
2 Corinthians 4:6 says, "It is God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' who has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." It is God who created light in the beginning with an omnipotent, "Let there be light!" And it is God who now can open the eyes of the spiritually blind. The God who created light in the beginning does the same thing in the human heart. Only the light this time is not physical light, but “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Or as verse 4 calls it “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.” God does a divine supernatural call, just the same as in the beginning of the world when his call to the light created the light and it is powerful and effective. He causes the human heart to see the truth and beauty and worth of Christ—the glory of Christ.
Edwards says that God gives "a true sense of the divine excellency of the things revealed in the Word of God, and a conviction of the truth and the reality of them." There is "a real sense of the excellency of God, Jesus Christ, and the work of redemption, and the ways and works of God as revealed by the gospel...He that is spiritually enlightened truly apprehends and sees it, or has a sense of it. He doesn't merely believe rationally that God is glorious, but has a sense of the gloriousness of God in his heart.'
Just as God says to the creation "let there be light" so he speaks to blind sinners "let there be light" and "I give you sight" and sinners see the glory of God in the face of Jesus. Jesus prayed and acknowledged that God immediately gives such knowledge, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him "(Matthew 11:25-27). The Psalmist prayed for this in Psalm 119:18, "Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law." Jonathan Edwards writes, "Spiritual wisdom and grace is the highest and most excellent gift that God bestows upon any creature...this light... changes the nature of the soul" 2 Corinthians 3:16-18, "But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. "
Edwards comments, "This knowledge will wean from the world, and raise the inclination to heavenly things. It will turn the heart to God as the fountain of good, and to choose Him for their only portion. This light, and this only , will bring the soul to a saving knowledge of Christ."
And when we see him for who he really is, we receive him for who he is Savior and Lord. John 6:40, "Everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day." John 17:6-8, "I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. "
This is what true biblical salvation is—having our eyes opened so that the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ shines into our hearts, and we see it and savor it and treasure it. This is a glorious and wondrous work of God alone. "The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes!"
Sola Dei Gloria
Pastor Bill
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
HOW GOD CONVERTS THE LOST Part 2:The Blindness of the Lost
I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.' Acts 26:17-18
Last week I wrote on this incredible account of Paul's commissioning by Jesus as an instruction to us on how God converts lost sinners. I mentioned that He uses people:ordinary clay pots sent out for a task; and oh what an extraordinary task it is! The second thing Christ aims to accomplish in our witness is the opening of the eyes of unbelievers. “. . . To open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God." (Verse 18b).Now this is a radical call isn’t it? God is calling you and sending you out to do an utterly impossible task! Opening the eyes of the blind? Spiritually blind? At first glance it seems as if He is sending us out into certain failure and defeat. Yet Christ says it with such certainty, “I send you to open their eyes”.
We need to understand that fundamentally the condition of lost people is Spiritual blindness! Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 4:4, "The god of this age [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God." People who don’t believe in Christ are spiritually blind. That is why they don’t believe. Lostness is blindness to spiritual light, the light that really shines out from the gospel of Christ crucified and risen. 2 Corinthians 4:3: “Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing.”
We all know people like this. It is like trying to describe a sunset to a man who has been blind his entire life. No matter what you try to tell about your experience of a sunset, he just can't relate. He has no category or experience of light and color to appreciate what you are trelling him. At best, he could understand the facts of what you are trying to describe, but he has no ability to experience the facts nor savor the facts. After all, he is blind!
It is the same in sharing the gospel with lost and blind sinners. We pour out our heart to them and tell them about their sin and how Christ is the only person in the world who has died for sin and risen from the dead. We tell them about how beautiful and great is His love and wisdom and power and justice and meekness and humility and sovereignty. And they listen, and they hear the facts. They may even believe the facts of history. But they see no glory, no beauty, and no treasure. They can’t see Christ as supremely valuable; they see Him as offensive, foolish, boring, irrelevant, and worthless.
That is why this calling "I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins..." is no empty commission. The fact is that the eyes of the nations are blind and need to be opened; they need to turn from darkness to the light; they need to escape the power of Satan and come to God; and they need the forgiveness of sins. Conversion to Christ is at stake! Eternity is at stake! The souls of men and women are at stake!
To be continued...
Last week I wrote on this incredible account of Paul's commissioning by Jesus as an instruction to us on how God converts lost sinners. I mentioned that He uses people:ordinary clay pots sent out for a task; and oh what an extraordinary task it is! The second thing Christ aims to accomplish in our witness is the opening of the eyes of unbelievers. “. . . To open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God." (Verse 18b).Now this is a radical call isn’t it? God is calling you and sending you out to do an utterly impossible task! Opening the eyes of the blind? Spiritually blind? At first glance it seems as if He is sending us out into certain failure and defeat. Yet Christ says it with such certainty, “I send you to open their eyes”.
We need to understand that fundamentally the condition of lost people is Spiritual blindness! Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 4:4, "The god of this age [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God." People who don’t believe in Christ are spiritually blind. That is why they don’t believe. Lostness is blindness to spiritual light, the light that really shines out from the gospel of Christ crucified and risen. 2 Corinthians 4:3: “Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing.”
We all know people like this. It is like trying to describe a sunset to a man who has been blind his entire life. No matter what you try to tell about your experience of a sunset, he just can't relate. He has no category or experience of light and color to appreciate what you are trelling him. At best, he could understand the facts of what you are trying to describe, but he has no ability to experience the facts nor savor the facts. After all, he is blind!
It is the same in sharing the gospel with lost and blind sinners. We pour out our heart to them and tell them about their sin and how Christ is the only person in the world who has died for sin and risen from the dead. We tell them about how beautiful and great is His love and wisdom and power and justice and meekness and humility and sovereignty. And they listen, and they hear the facts. They may even believe the facts of history. But they see no glory, no beauty, and no treasure. They can’t see Christ as supremely valuable; they see Him as offensive, foolish, boring, irrelevant, and worthless.
That is why this calling "I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins..." is no empty commission. The fact is that the eyes of the nations are blind and need to be opened; they need to turn from darkness to the light; they need to escape the power of Satan and come to God; and they need the forgiveness of sins. Conversion to Christ is at stake! Eternity is at stake! The souls of men and women are at stake!
To be continued...
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
HOW GOD CONVERTS THE LOST Part 1:Through Flawed Saint's
I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.' Acts 26:17-18
"If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." 2 Corinthians 4:3-7
The Christian community throws around many words and sayings in regards to salvation like “Believer, born again, faith, repent, once saved always saved, backslider, give your life to Jesus, come forward and give Jesus a chance, accept Jesus, Christian, confess Jesus as Lord and Savior, or say the sinners prayer”. But what really constitutes a Christian? What makes for a true convert to Christ? Is becoming a Christian merely a decision? Is it like signing on the dotted line a sales agreement? Can a person think he is a Christian and be lost? What does it mean to be saved? Born again? What is does it mean to believe in Jesus Christ? What part does God play and what part does man play in the salvation process?
Today many biblical terms have lost their meaning in the light of 21st century misunderstandings. We live in a day surrounded by unconverted people outside the church and within the church who say and think that they believe in Jesus. Our responsibility is to pierce the hearts of those who are unconverted with biblical truth. How? In Acts 26, the apostle Paul is telling King Agrippa about his conversion and his call to the ministry. He reports the spectacular encounter with Christ he had on the Damascus Road (Read Acts 9). Then he reports the commission that Christ gave him. It’s the words of the commission that are so amazing and relevant for us.
Paul tells us tells us in verses 15-17 what Jesus told him: ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you.” Now listen carefully to what Jesus says he is sending Paul to do in his ministry. Verse 18: “I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” Here is what Christ aims to accomplish to save sinners through the means of the witness of His people. There are several things I see in this verse:
I. God sends ordinary men and women as His instruments- “I am sending you…"(verse 18a) God told Paul that He was sending him. When Paul thought about being sent by Jesus and the task of proclaiming the gospel he writes in 2 Corinthians 4:7, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” Paul describes himself as a jar of clay with a powerful treasure inside. He says we have “this treasure.” What is this "treasure"? He describes it in the verse before, 2 Corinthians 4:6, “The knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Or, 2 Corinthians 4:4, “The light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” In short: We have the gospel with its light-giving power.
Think about this statement: “We have this treasure in jars of clay.” Jars of clay are a reference to us. We are the jars of clay. That is, compared to the treasure that is within us, we are clay. This means that in the wisdom of God, He ordains that those who feel and are are weak, fickle, average, below average in your ability and worthiness to share the gospel treasure, you are blessed by God and living close to this truth. Paul wants us to realize that we all are clay pots when it comes to containing and sharing the gospel. It is so valuable and so powerful that any thought of its container being something special is foolish.
So what’s the point of being a clay pot? Back to 2 Corinthians 4:7: “We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” God’s aim is that His own power through the gospel be honored, not us. The glory of God shines brightest through the lives of flawed saints. This means that if you feel average or less than average in your sense of ability to tell the gospel, then you are the person God is looking for; a flawed, weak, clay pot, who simply shares the treasure of the gospel.
Paul makes a similar statement in 2 Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." Spurgeon said, "We give God much glory when we receive from Him much grace."
Consider Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 1:25-31, "For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."
It is of paramount importance to understand the very root of God's working out His purposes in converting lost sinners: The means of conversion is God sending out flawed saints carrying within themselves a gospel treasure to bring glory to God. John Piper writes, “God ordains that we gaze on His glory, dimly ministered in the lives of his flawed servants. He intends for us to consider their lives and peer through the imperfections of their faith and behold the beauty of their God.”
God wills to do his work through the gospel, carried in flawed Christians, and the surpassing power will belong to him and not to us. Be encouraged, ordinary Christian. You are appointed, precisely in your ordinariness, for the greatest work in the world: proclaiming the greatest news in the world: the gospel of Jesus Christ.
To be continued...
"If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." 2 Corinthians 4:3-7
The Christian community throws around many words and sayings in regards to salvation like “Believer, born again, faith, repent, once saved always saved, backslider, give your life to Jesus, come forward and give Jesus a chance, accept Jesus, Christian, confess Jesus as Lord and Savior, or say the sinners prayer”. But what really constitutes a Christian? What makes for a true convert to Christ? Is becoming a Christian merely a decision? Is it like signing on the dotted line a sales agreement? Can a person think he is a Christian and be lost? What does it mean to be saved? Born again? What is does it mean to believe in Jesus Christ? What part does God play and what part does man play in the salvation process?
Today many biblical terms have lost their meaning in the light of 21st century misunderstandings. We live in a day surrounded by unconverted people outside the church and within the church who say and think that they believe in Jesus. Our responsibility is to pierce the hearts of those who are unconverted with biblical truth. How? In Acts 26, the apostle Paul is telling King Agrippa about his conversion and his call to the ministry. He reports the spectacular encounter with Christ he had on the Damascus Road (Read Acts 9). Then he reports the commission that Christ gave him. It’s the words of the commission that are so amazing and relevant for us.
Paul tells us tells us in verses 15-17 what Jesus told him: ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you.” Now listen carefully to what Jesus says he is sending Paul to do in his ministry. Verse 18: “I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” Here is what Christ aims to accomplish to save sinners through the means of the witness of His people. There are several things I see in this verse:
I. God sends ordinary men and women as His instruments- “I am sending you…"(verse 18a) God told Paul that He was sending him. When Paul thought about being sent by Jesus and the task of proclaiming the gospel he writes in 2 Corinthians 4:7, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” Paul describes himself as a jar of clay with a powerful treasure inside. He says we have “this treasure.” What is this "treasure"? He describes it in the verse before, 2 Corinthians 4:6, “The knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Or, 2 Corinthians 4:4, “The light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” In short: We have the gospel with its light-giving power.
Think about this statement: “We have this treasure in jars of clay.” Jars of clay are a reference to us. We are the jars of clay. That is, compared to the treasure that is within us, we are clay. This means that in the wisdom of God, He ordains that those who feel and are are weak, fickle, average, below average in your ability and worthiness to share the gospel treasure, you are blessed by God and living close to this truth. Paul wants us to realize that we all are clay pots when it comes to containing and sharing the gospel. It is so valuable and so powerful that any thought of its container being something special is foolish.
So what’s the point of being a clay pot? Back to 2 Corinthians 4:7: “We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” God’s aim is that His own power through the gospel be honored, not us. The glory of God shines brightest through the lives of flawed saints. This means that if you feel average or less than average in your sense of ability to tell the gospel, then you are the person God is looking for; a flawed, weak, clay pot, who simply shares the treasure of the gospel.
Paul makes a similar statement in 2 Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." Spurgeon said, "We give God much glory when we receive from Him much grace."
Consider Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 1:25-31, "For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."
It is of paramount importance to understand the very root of God's working out His purposes in converting lost sinners: The means of conversion is God sending out flawed saints carrying within themselves a gospel treasure to bring glory to God. John Piper writes, “God ordains that we gaze on His glory, dimly ministered in the lives of his flawed servants. He intends for us to consider their lives and peer through the imperfections of their faith and behold the beauty of their God.”
God wills to do his work through the gospel, carried in flawed Christians, and the surpassing power will belong to him and not to us. Be encouraged, ordinary Christian. You are appointed, precisely in your ordinariness, for the greatest work in the world: proclaiming the greatest news in the world: the gospel of Jesus Christ.
To be continued...
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