Monday, March 28, 2011
THERE'S JUST SOMETHING ABOUT JESUS!
"One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple." Psalm 27:4 Two weeks ago I wrote that David's heart desire was to be able to gaze at the beauty of God. The supreme manifestation of God’s beauty is seen in the person of Jesus Christ. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:6, “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.” The beauty of Jesus has nothing to do with how He smelled or looked or the sound of His voice or the strength of His arms or the color of His hair or the way He dressed. Jesus is beautiful because He has a glory, an excellence, a spiritual supreme beauty-that can be self-evidently true. That is to say, when you see Him there is a direct and personal apprehension of the beauty that you see. It’s like seeing the sun and knowing that it is light, or tasting honey and knowing that it is sweet. There is a direct apprehension and attraction once you see Jesus that affects your thinking, your will, and your feelings. It goes deep and does something to your very soul and changes your life. We see this illustrated in the story of the conversions of some of His disciples in John 1:35-49. “The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him say this (Obviously seeing him as well), and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" He said to them, "Come and you will see." So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter).The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Nathaniel said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" Nathaniel said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." Nathaniel answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" There is just something about Jesus! His beauty is such that when these men saw him, they left their lives and followed him, and passionately told others about what they had seen. John writes exuberantly of his experience with Jesus in John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” When it comes to the beauty of Christ, who can adequately describe glory and beauty that is infinite and is therefore beyond description? There is no one like Christ in this regard. Spurgeon said it well: “Hope not, my brethren, that the preacher can grapple with such a subject. I am overcome by it. In my meditations I have felt lost in its lengths and breadths. My joy is great in my theme, and yet I am conscious of a pressure upon my brain and heart, for I am as a little child wandering among the stars. I stumble among sublimities, I sink amid glories. I can only point with my finger to that which I see, but cannot describe. May the Holy Spirit himself take of the things of Christ and show them unto you.” What makes Jesus Christ so precious, so beautiful, and so glorious is what Jonathan Edwards calls in his profound sermon series The Excellence of Christ, “an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies.” Christ's attributes work together in harmony and there is a glory in Christ that exceeds any of His individual characteristics. It is like a rainbow in which the individual colors are beautiful, but their combination heightens the sense of beauty. The effect of seeing these excellencies is described by Edwards in this way: “The excellency of Christ is such, that the discovery of it is exceedingly contenting and satisfying to the soul. The carnal soul imagines that earthly things are excellent-one thinks riches most excellent, another has the highest esteem of honor, and to another carnal pleasure appears the most excellent. But the soul cannot find contentment in any of these things, because it soon finds an end to their excellency. Worldly men imagine that there is true excellency and true happiness in those things which they are pursuing. They think that if they could but obtain them, they would be happy. But when they obtain them, and cannot find happiness, they look for happiness in something else, and are still upon the pursuit. But Christ Jesus has true excellency, and so great excellency, that when they come to see him they look no further, but the mind rests there. It sees a transcendent glory and an ineffable sweetness in Jesus! It sees that until now it has been pursuing shadows, but that now it has found the substance. It sees that before it had been seeking happiness in the stream, but that now it has found the ocean.” How do we see those excellencies of His beauty? The Apostle Paul describes this path to discovery in 2 Corinthians 4:6, "For God, who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” It is actually very simple. If I want to see the beauty of nature I go looking for it. I visit the ocean, the mountains, the forests, the deserts, and places where I can see the beauty of God's creative handiwork. If I want to see the beauty of Jesus, I can see the preciousness of Jesus through the portraits of Christ given to us in God’s word. I gaze at Jesus' beauty by reading the Word and hearing it proclaimed. It is like paying a regular visit to Yosemite or Kauai. Go to the scriptures and you will will see Jesus. This portrayal, accompanied by God’s shining in our hearts, appears to us what really is-“the glory of God in the face of Jesus.” Or to put it another way the beauty of Jesus Christ. God shows us that Jesus is beautiful through the word and the work of God opening our blind eyes to see His beauty. John Owen was the greatest Puritan thinker of the 17th century. He outlived all eleven of his children. The last thing he prepared for publication was called Meditations on the Glory of Christ. It was his dying testimony and his way of preparing for the unspeakably great moment of meeting the Lord face to face. It is a 160-page exposition of John 17:24, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory.” In it he gave five ways we can behold the glory and beauty of His mercy: 1. Fix it in mind that this glory of Christ in the divine constitution of His person is the best, most noble, useful, beneficial object that we can have in our thoughts and affections. 2. Diligently study the Scripture and the revelations that are made of this glory of Christ in them. 3. Having attained the light of the knowledge of the glory of Christ from the Scripture, or by the dispensation of the truth in the preaching of the gospel, meditates frequently upon it. 4. Let your occasional thoughts of Christ be many, and multiplied every day. 5. See to it that all thoughts concerning Christ and His glory are accompanied with admiration, adoration, and thanksgiving. Oh reader, God invites us to do just what David desires:One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD . He has created the longings and satisfies the longings of our soul (Jeremiah 31:33). David says in Psalm 27:8 and we with him receive an astonishing invitation from God, " You have said, 'Seek my face.' My heart says to you, 'Your face, LORD, do I seek.” God invites us to seek His face, to dwell, to see, to gaze, and reflect upon His beauty. How does that affect you? This is God’s desire for you: “SEEK MY FACE”! Some of you perhaps are not accustomed to receiving an invitation to anything. You rarely get invited to lunch after church, to birthday parties, to weddings, or to share your opinion on an important topic. Also, some of you are notorious for turning down invitations (like me!) but this is one you don’t want to miss. This is the greatest invitation to the greatest experience of all! God wants you and me to seek His face! So this week my dear friend, God has sent you a Spirit inspired personal invitation. "Seek My face." He invites you to come see His beauty and when you do you will discover anew that "THERE IS JUST SOMETHING ABOUT JESUS!" Seeing to see His beauty, Pastor Bill
Monday, March 21, 2011
FAILURE 1A
I have heard many sermons and have read many books on success but I have virtually never heard anyone speak or write on failure. So this week I felt I would write on it because I feel very equipped and qualified to write on such a subject. I would consider myself one has has earned a PHD in failure.
If I could describe my life it would be in terms of failures, flops, stumbles, and fumbles. I have made big mistakes and I have done so many dumb things in my life I could write a book. I have failed willfully, foolishly, blindly, hilariously, well intentioned, pridefully, carelessly, shamefully, rebelliously, and I know that I am not alone and that every one of you has failed and will fail. It seems as inevitable as death and taxes as long as we are here on earth. Failure is something we all share in common and we all fail often. Not only that, we fail in many different ways. James 3:2 reminds us “We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.”
We fail in our words, deeds, thoughts, and attitudes. Because I am a man and not yet perfect I will continue to fail until the day I die. The only guarantee against my future failures is death. Here is what I have learned in more than anything else about failure. The issue in our lives isn't whether we fail but rather whether we profit from it. The issue isn't whether I fall down, it's do I stay down. We all know how to fall down, but do we know how to get back up? Will I be built up or destroyed by it? Failure either makes us or breaks us. In his profound book “the Screw tape letters” C.S. Lewis has the devil speaking to one of his apprentice demons named wormwood say, “Get Christians preoccupied with their failures. From there the battle is won.” Though we all have failure in common, we don’t all profit from it. Some fall down and stay down, others get up and as I have heard it said, "fail forward".
How can we successfully fail?
1. LEARN FROM IT Allow failure to be your teacher. The old saying is that the road to success is paved with failure. What’s important about a mistake is what you learn from it. I love what John Wooden used to say, “It’s what you learn after you know everything that matters.” You can't learn from mistakes you don't make. Jesus honored Peter’s decision to walk on water knowing that he would sink. But He allowed him to fail because it was key to his learning and growth. He learned dependence, trust, and reliance on God alone. I have heard Moses life described like this: The first 30 years Moses thought he was somebody, the next 30 years Moses learned he was a nobody, and the last thirty years he learned that God can take nobodies and make them into somebody’s for His glory! Proverbs 24:16, "for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again."
Let me tell you some of the things I’ve learned through failure: I can’t trust myself, only God; no room for pride, only humility; if I want what I deserve, I’ll get it, if I want what only God can give me, I’ll receive grace and mercy; I’ve learned mercy, compassion, and forgiveness towards others who fail.
2. LET FAILURE DRAW YOU CLOSER TO GOD Failure can be like Gordon MacDonald says, "one of those precious insightful moments when we see ourselves as we really are and see God as He really is". Remember the prodigal son and how it says, “he came to himself”? David fell like Saul, only in his failure he turned to God, repented, asked forgiveness, and was restored.
Psalm 51:1-13, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge...Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation."
Psalm 34:18, "The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 40:17, "Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay.
Psalm 50:15, "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."
3. FORGET YOUR FAILURES Paul says in Philippians 3:13, "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead."
I am learning to let my past failures become stepping stones instead of tombstones. There is a world of difference in failing lots of times verses saying “I’m a failure.’
Psalm 103:8-14 says to us, "The LORD is merciful and gracious,slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.He will not always chide,nor will he keep his anger forever.He does not deal with us according to our sins,nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust." If God says He’s forgotten it, you need to as well. John reminds us, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:9). Therefore, I can get back up off the floor with confidence practicing Micah 7:7-10, "But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication. Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, "Where is the LORD your God?"
4. KEEP ON RUNNING THE RACE "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." ( Hebrews 12:1)
5. LOOK AHEAD It has been said that you cannot walk backward into the future. Paul says , "But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14)."
6.LET GOD USE YOUR FAILURE FOR YOUR GOOD AND AS A LAUNCHPAD FOR HIS LIFE, MINISTRY, AND GLORY TO BE MANIFEST THROUGH YOU In this life God has committed Himself to working with failures, and in the process He brings glory to Himself and, by grace, accomplishes what is for the good of His children. God is for your success.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Philippians 1:6, "I am sure that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion." Romans 8:28-31 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Genesis 50:20, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."
God knows all of your weaknesses, habits, character flaws, ineptitude, inability. He doesn’t go “oh man what am I going to do with Bill, he’s got this problem with his ____. "
Listen to what God can do it for you:
In Mark 10:27 we read, "Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."
Ephesians 3:20, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us."
God can take all of my sins, my failures, flops, and fumbles and use them all as the ingredients to achieve His glorious purposes in my life!
Remember the great failure of Peter who boasted that he would never deny Jesus and yet denied Him three times? In John 21 we get a beautiful picture of restoration and sending out:
John 21:15-19, "When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep…"Follow me!"
Human failure opens wide the door through which grace alone can enter. In the midst of shameful failure, Peter found forgiveness and restoration. God’s favor was not granted as a reward for faithfulness, but because of failure. Here is grace greater than all our sins. Romans 5:20 reminds us, "where sin abounds, grace super abounds." In short, you cannot out-sin or out-fail God’s grace!
I am convinced I am utterly unable to live the Christian life. Left to myself I will screw everything up. After 37 years my flesh is still flesh! But God is the God who takes nothing and speaks a universe into existence and takes our failures, turns them around, and brings His glory through them.
I am so encouraged by 2 Corinthians 4:7-11, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body."
God’s work cannot be accomplished by resolution, determination or self-effort—not even by a positive mental attitude. God’s work can only be done in God’s way—by our distrusting of ourselves and completely depending upon His enablement. The greatest truth you can know is what Jesus tells you in John 15:5 “Apart from me you can do nothing.”
Remember what God said to Paul, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." As a result Paul could say, "Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9,10)
Remember dear reader that God does not fail - "Be strong and of good courage, fear not, for the Lord thy God ... will not fail nor forsake you" (Deuteronomy 31:6).
God’s Word does not fail - "Not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed" (Joshua 23:14).
God's love and compassion do not fail - "It is of the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed, because His compassion's fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22,23)
So if you have fallen down, get up and join me as together we "fail forward".
Pastor Bill
If I could describe my life it would be in terms of failures, flops, stumbles, and fumbles. I have made big mistakes and I have done so many dumb things in my life I could write a book. I have failed willfully, foolishly, blindly, hilariously, well intentioned, pridefully, carelessly, shamefully, rebelliously, and I know that I am not alone and that every one of you has failed and will fail. It seems as inevitable as death and taxes as long as we are here on earth. Failure is something we all share in common and we all fail often. Not only that, we fail in many different ways. James 3:2 reminds us “We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.”
We fail in our words, deeds, thoughts, and attitudes. Because I am a man and not yet perfect I will continue to fail until the day I die. The only guarantee against my future failures is death. Here is what I have learned in more than anything else about failure. The issue in our lives isn't whether we fail but rather whether we profit from it. The issue isn't whether I fall down, it's do I stay down. We all know how to fall down, but do we know how to get back up? Will I be built up or destroyed by it? Failure either makes us or breaks us. In his profound book “the Screw tape letters” C.S. Lewis has the devil speaking to one of his apprentice demons named wormwood say, “Get Christians preoccupied with their failures. From there the battle is won.” Though we all have failure in common, we don’t all profit from it. Some fall down and stay down, others get up and as I have heard it said, "fail forward".
How can we successfully fail?
1. LEARN FROM IT Allow failure to be your teacher. The old saying is that the road to success is paved with failure. What’s important about a mistake is what you learn from it. I love what John Wooden used to say, “It’s what you learn after you know everything that matters.” You can't learn from mistakes you don't make. Jesus honored Peter’s decision to walk on water knowing that he would sink. But He allowed him to fail because it was key to his learning and growth. He learned dependence, trust, and reliance on God alone. I have heard Moses life described like this: The first 30 years Moses thought he was somebody, the next 30 years Moses learned he was a nobody, and the last thirty years he learned that God can take nobodies and make them into somebody’s for His glory! Proverbs 24:16, "for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again."
Let me tell you some of the things I’ve learned through failure: I can’t trust myself, only God; no room for pride, only humility; if I want what I deserve, I’ll get it, if I want what only God can give me, I’ll receive grace and mercy; I’ve learned mercy, compassion, and forgiveness towards others who fail.
2. LET FAILURE DRAW YOU CLOSER TO GOD Failure can be like Gordon MacDonald says, "one of those precious insightful moments when we see ourselves as we really are and see God as He really is". Remember the prodigal son and how it says, “he came to himself”? David fell like Saul, only in his failure he turned to God, repented, asked forgiveness, and was restored.
Psalm 51:1-13, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge...Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation."
Psalm 34:18, "The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 40:17, "Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay.
Psalm 50:15, "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."
3. FORGET YOUR FAILURES Paul says in Philippians 3:13, "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead."
I am learning to let my past failures become stepping stones instead of tombstones. There is a world of difference in failing lots of times verses saying “I’m a failure.’
Psalm 103:8-14 says to us, "The LORD is merciful and gracious,slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.He will not always chide,nor will he keep his anger forever.He does not deal with us according to our sins,nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust." If God says He’s forgotten it, you need to as well. John reminds us, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:9). Therefore, I can get back up off the floor with confidence practicing Micah 7:7-10, "But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication. Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, "Where is the LORD your God?"
4. KEEP ON RUNNING THE RACE "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." ( Hebrews 12:1)
5. LOOK AHEAD It has been said that you cannot walk backward into the future. Paul says , "But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14)."
6.LET GOD USE YOUR FAILURE FOR YOUR GOOD AND AS A LAUNCHPAD FOR HIS LIFE, MINISTRY, AND GLORY TO BE MANIFEST THROUGH YOU In this life God has committed Himself to working with failures, and in the process He brings glory to Himself and, by grace, accomplishes what is for the good of His children. God is for your success.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Philippians 1:6, "I am sure that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion." Romans 8:28-31 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Genesis 50:20, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."
God knows all of your weaknesses, habits, character flaws, ineptitude, inability. He doesn’t go “oh man what am I going to do with Bill, he’s got this problem with his ____. "
Listen to what God can do it for you:
In Mark 10:27 we read, "Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."
Ephesians 3:20, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us."
God can take all of my sins, my failures, flops, and fumbles and use them all as the ingredients to achieve His glorious purposes in my life!
Remember the great failure of Peter who boasted that he would never deny Jesus and yet denied Him three times? In John 21 we get a beautiful picture of restoration and sending out:
John 21:15-19, "When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep…"Follow me!"
Human failure opens wide the door through which grace alone can enter. In the midst of shameful failure, Peter found forgiveness and restoration. God’s favor was not granted as a reward for faithfulness, but because of failure. Here is grace greater than all our sins. Romans 5:20 reminds us, "where sin abounds, grace super abounds." In short, you cannot out-sin or out-fail God’s grace!
I am convinced I am utterly unable to live the Christian life. Left to myself I will screw everything up. After 37 years my flesh is still flesh! But God is the God who takes nothing and speaks a universe into existence and takes our failures, turns them around, and brings His glory through them.
I am so encouraged by 2 Corinthians 4:7-11, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body."
God’s work cannot be accomplished by resolution, determination or self-effort—not even by a positive mental attitude. God’s work can only be done in God’s way—by our distrusting of ourselves and completely depending upon His enablement. The greatest truth you can know is what Jesus tells you in John 15:5 “Apart from me you can do nothing.”
Remember what God said to Paul, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." As a result Paul could say, "Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9,10)
Remember dear reader that God does not fail - "Be strong and of good courage, fear not, for the Lord thy God ... will not fail nor forsake you" (Deuteronomy 31:6).
God’s Word does not fail - "Not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed" (Joshua 23:14).
God's love and compassion do not fail - "It is of the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed, because His compassion's fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22,23)
So if you have fallen down, get up and join me as together we "fail forward".
Pastor Bill
Monday, March 14, 2011
THERE'S JUST SOMETHING ABOUT GOD!
“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD. Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to y you, ‘Your face, LORD, do I seek’."
Psalm 27:1-8
In 2005 and 2006 I spent eleven days right above Panama in the southernmost part of Costa Rica on the Osa Peninsula at a place called Cabo Matapalo. To get there you have to take a red eye flight on a very cramped and uncomfortable airplane. When you land in San Jose you then have to take an hour cab ride which is much like Mister Toad’s Wild Ride at Disneyland to get to another airport where you need to fly to get to Puerto Jimenez. From there you fly an hour of pure turbulence on a puddle-jumper prop plane. When you land in Puerto Jimenez, that is, if you survived the flight; you then take a forty five minute ride in a four wheel drive truck on a potholed, narrow, rugged road with numerous deep river crossings. Then you arrive at Matapalo and are utterly thrilled both to have survived the ordeal and to behold this place. What is it about Cabo Matapalo that makes people go through all of what I shared to get there? There must be something about Matapalo that made the pursuit worthwhile? There has to be a reason that I would be willing to go through all of that hassle. The answer is that Cabo Matapalo is right at the top of the most beautiful places that I’ve ever seen. The pleasant tropical weather, the density and beauty of the tropical rain forest, the uncluttered and secluded beaches, the incredible surfing, the warm 80 plus degree water, the variety of birds, monkeys, and wildlife, the solitude and quiet of only hearing the sounds of nature, are but a few of the things that attract me to this place and make me desire to go back again and again. To show you pictures, to try to describe it, will never impact you until you’ve actually been there and seen it yourself.
However, as wonderful as Matapalo is, there is nothing as breathtaking as God! What is it about God that makes him so enjoyable? What is it about God that makes our pursuit of Him a worthwhile endeavor? What is it about God that is so fascinating? What is it about God that causes people to turn from all worldly allurements and diversions to focus on knowing and seeing and experiencing Him? What is it about Him that brings in our soul emptiness for anything less than His companionship and presence? What is it that caused a man named Augustine, who indulged in every form of earthly pleasure to say “How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose!...You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure…Oh Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation.”
There must be something about God that brings a pleasing pleasure, a longer-lasting joy, a fullness of joy, a turning from fruitless joys to finding the superior pleasure in God alone. There must be something that makes Him more appealing than what the world, the flesh, and sin have to offer. Do you feel like that this dear reader? Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't and when I don't, it grieves me.
King David felt that there was just something about God in Psalm 27:4. “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple”.
Throughout Psalm 27 David seems to be ransacking the Hebrew language for nouns to describe this desire for God's beauty: to dwell in the house of the Lord (v.4); to inquire in his temple (v.4); in His dwelling (v.5); the shelter of His tabernacle (5-6). This desire spoken in all these ways is centered in one thing, the main thing: to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, the incomparable, transcendent, all satisfying, awe inspiring beauty of God.
When I speak of the beauty of God, I am speaking of His glory. When I speak of His glory. I am speaking like David of the beauty of God unveiled. Augustine rightly insisted that God is beauty itself, referring to Him as “my Father, supremely good, beauty of all things beautiful.” Glory is the external manifestation of the internal excellencies of God. Glory is what you see and feel when God goes public with His beauty.
The wonderful thing about God is that He desires us to see His beauty. He wants us to not only see it, but cherish it, enjoy it. Jonathan Edwards shows that this is the root of worship.
“God glorifies Himself toward the creatures . . . in two ways:
1. By appearing to . . . their understanding.
2. In communicating Himself to their hearts, and in their rejoicing and delighting in, and enjoying, the manifestations which He makes of Himself. . . . God is glorified not only by His glory's being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. . . . When those who see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by understanding and in the heart.”
God is always manifesting His beauty in creation, in providence, in scripture, and preeminently in the face of Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:4). His purpose in radiating His beauty is designed to evoke breathtaking delight and incomparable joy. God’s beauty is what makes Him eminently desirable, attractive, and quickening to the soul that it was made for another world. God has pulled back the curtain on His glory. “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth” (Psalm 50:2). He has disclosed Himself on the platform of creation and redemption that we might stand awestruck in his presence, beholding the sweet symmetry of His attributes, pondering the unfathomable depths of His greatness, baffled by the wisdom of His deeds, and the limitless extent of His goodness and mercy and grace. This is His beauty and glory!
For David nearness to God in order to see Him in all his beauty and glory was the only experience that could truly satisfy him. Only God could satisfy a heart like David’s and David was a man after one thing: the beauty of God. This is what we were created and redeemed for! That is why Jonathan Edwards wrote: “God’s is glorified not only in His glory being seen, but by in His glory being rejoiced in.” God’s beauty satisfies the heart with joy and delight.when you see Him there is a direct and personal apprehension of the beauty that you see. It’s like seeing the sun and knowing that it is light, or tasting honey and knowing that it is sweet. There is a direct apprehension and attraction once you see Jesus that affects your thinking, your will, and your feelings, it goes deep and does something to your very soul. It changes your life.
Oh how I long for a fresh experience of seeing this beauty!!! I am praying for myself and for you that there would just be something about God that would strike our appetites, affections, desires, and priorities.
You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, LORD, do I seek’
Longing to think and feel that there is just something about God,
Pastor Bill
Psalm 27:1-8
In 2005 and 2006 I spent eleven days right above Panama in the southernmost part of Costa Rica on the Osa Peninsula at a place called Cabo Matapalo. To get there you have to take a red eye flight on a very cramped and uncomfortable airplane. When you land in San Jose you then have to take an hour cab ride which is much like Mister Toad’s Wild Ride at Disneyland to get to another airport where you need to fly to get to Puerto Jimenez. From there you fly an hour of pure turbulence on a puddle-jumper prop plane. When you land in Puerto Jimenez, that is, if you survived the flight; you then take a forty five minute ride in a four wheel drive truck on a potholed, narrow, rugged road with numerous deep river crossings. Then you arrive at Matapalo and are utterly thrilled both to have survived the ordeal and to behold this place. What is it about Cabo Matapalo that makes people go through all of what I shared to get there? There must be something about Matapalo that made the pursuit worthwhile? There has to be a reason that I would be willing to go through all of that hassle. The answer is that Cabo Matapalo is right at the top of the most beautiful places that I’ve ever seen. The pleasant tropical weather, the density and beauty of the tropical rain forest, the uncluttered and secluded beaches, the incredible surfing, the warm 80 plus degree water, the variety of birds, monkeys, and wildlife, the solitude and quiet of only hearing the sounds of nature, are but a few of the things that attract me to this place and make me desire to go back again and again. To show you pictures, to try to describe it, will never impact you until you’ve actually been there and seen it yourself.
However, as wonderful as Matapalo is, there is nothing as breathtaking as God! What is it about God that makes him so enjoyable? What is it about God that makes our pursuit of Him a worthwhile endeavor? What is it about God that is so fascinating? What is it about God that causes people to turn from all worldly allurements and diversions to focus on knowing and seeing and experiencing Him? What is it about Him that brings in our soul emptiness for anything less than His companionship and presence? What is it that caused a man named Augustine, who indulged in every form of earthly pleasure to say “How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose!...You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure…Oh Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation.”
There must be something about God that brings a pleasing pleasure, a longer-lasting joy, a fullness of joy, a turning from fruitless joys to finding the superior pleasure in God alone. There must be something that makes Him more appealing than what the world, the flesh, and sin have to offer. Do you feel like that this dear reader? Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't and when I don't, it grieves me.
King David felt that there was just something about God in Psalm 27:4. “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple”.
Throughout Psalm 27 David seems to be ransacking the Hebrew language for nouns to describe this desire for God's beauty: to dwell in the house of the Lord (v.4); to inquire in his temple (v.4); in His dwelling (v.5); the shelter of His tabernacle (5-6). This desire spoken in all these ways is centered in one thing, the main thing: to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, the incomparable, transcendent, all satisfying, awe inspiring beauty of God.
When I speak of the beauty of God, I am speaking of His glory. When I speak of His glory. I am speaking like David of the beauty of God unveiled. Augustine rightly insisted that God is beauty itself, referring to Him as “my Father, supremely good, beauty of all things beautiful.” Glory is the external manifestation of the internal excellencies of God. Glory is what you see and feel when God goes public with His beauty.
The wonderful thing about God is that He desires us to see His beauty. He wants us to not only see it, but cherish it, enjoy it. Jonathan Edwards shows that this is the root of worship.
“God glorifies Himself toward the creatures . . . in two ways:
1. By appearing to . . . their understanding.
2. In communicating Himself to their hearts, and in their rejoicing and delighting in, and enjoying, the manifestations which He makes of Himself. . . . God is glorified not only by His glory's being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. . . . When those who see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by understanding and in the heart.”
God is always manifesting His beauty in creation, in providence, in scripture, and preeminently in the face of Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:4). His purpose in radiating His beauty is designed to evoke breathtaking delight and incomparable joy. God’s beauty is what makes Him eminently desirable, attractive, and quickening to the soul that it was made for another world. God has pulled back the curtain on His glory. “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth” (Psalm 50:2). He has disclosed Himself on the platform of creation and redemption that we might stand awestruck in his presence, beholding the sweet symmetry of His attributes, pondering the unfathomable depths of His greatness, baffled by the wisdom of His deeds, and the limitless extent of His goodness and mercy and grace. This is His beauty and glory!
For David nearness to God in order to see Him in all his beauty and glory was the only experience that could truly satisfy him. Only God could satisfy a heart like David’s and David was a man after one thing: the beauty of God. This is what we were created and redeemed for! That is why Jonathan Edwards wrote: “God’s is glorified not only in His glory being seen, but by in His glory being rejoiced in.” God’s beauty satisfies the heart with joy and delight.when you see Him there is a direct and personal apprehension of the beauty that you see. It’s like seeing the sun and knowing that it is light, or tasting honey and knowing that it is sweet. There is a direct apprehension and attraction once you see Jesus that affects your thinking, your will, and your feelings, it goes deep and does something to your very soul. It changes your life.
Oh how I long for a fresh experience of seeing this beauty!!! I am praying for myself and for you that there would just be something about God that would strike our appetites, affections, desires, and priorities.
You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, LORD, do I seek’
Longing to think and feel that there is just something about God,
Pastor Bill
Monday, March 7, 2011
THOUGHTS ON THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST AND MY SINFULNESS
“To the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:5).
In his book Disappointment with God Phillip Yancey says, “What we think about God and believe about God matters-really matters-as much as anything in life matters.” I would add, what we think about Justification by Faith matters- really matters-as much as anything in life matters.
Some days I forget to live on the rock-solid truth of what happened for us when Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again from the dead. It grieves me that in this life we will always be sinful and imperfect. Therefore, in ourselves we will always be guilty. Some days I feel so guilty that even when I have confessed my sins I find myself in the darkness of discouragement and depression. I ask myself: Does God still love me? Am I going to heaven? Am I a Christian? Am I saved?
This why I must constantly remind myself of the reality of justification by faith. It is one of the most foundational and the most important things we do in what Paul describes as "the good fight of faith" (1 Timothy 6:12).
The biblical truth of justification says that my rescue from sin and God’s wrath is a legal rescue completely outside of myself. I am legally absolved of guilt and credited with a righteousness that I don’t have. That is, I am declared righteous in the courtroom of heaven, where God sits as judge, and where I, without justification, would stand condemned by his law. That’s what the word “justify” means: not make just, but declare just.
We are sinners and do not have a righteousness of our own. That’s why we are guilty and destined for eternal punishment. This is the deepest root of all our misery, shame, and sorrow. God’s gift of justification on the basis of Christ’s blood and righteousness severs this root of misery.
To make a way for us to be saved, God sent Christ to live a perfect divine-human life, and die an obedient death. In this way Christ became both the substitute punishment for our sins (Matthew 26:28; 1 Corinthians 15:3; 1 Peter 3:18) and the substitute performer of our righteousness (Romans 5:19; 10:4; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:9). Therefore, in the courtroom of God, my guilt for sin is removed by Christ’s blood (“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses” (Ephesians 1:7); and my title to heaven is provided by Christ’s obedience (“By the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). I am declared just—freed from the punishment of sin and now possessing a title to heaven. This is what the Bible means by justification.
We must remember that justification is by faith alone apart from works of the law. Paul said, “We hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. . . . To the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 3:28; 4:4-5). The best news in all the world to the “ungodly,” who grieve under the cloud of darkness, shame, condemnation, unforgiveness, and guilt, is the news that God, by faith alone, counts them as righteous because of Christ. This is the rock where we stand when the dark clouds gather and the storms of darkness, guilt, shame, and condemnation come. Justification is by grace alone (not mixed with our merit), through faith alone (not mixed with our works) on the basis of Christ alone (not mingling his righteousness with ours), to the glory of God alone (not ours).
The legal issue before God is settled. In the courtroom of heaven, we ungodly sinners are declared righteous by faith alone. Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us. We do not have a righteousness of our own when God accepts us; we never do. Our faith was not our righteousness. It was our desperate receiving of Christ and all that he is for us. We had not yet become righteous. Instead, with empty hands we received Christ whose faithful life of love perfectly fulfilled the law of God. By faith alone we were united to Christ. And all that he is was imputed to us, the ungodly. This is justification. This lays the axe to the root of our turning justification by faith into justification by performance. God accepts us on the basis of Christ’s righteousness, not ours period!
This means that right now at this moment God is 100% for you! John Piper puts it this way:
What the Bible teaches is that God becomes 100% irrevocably for us at the moment of justification, that is, the moment when we see Christ as a beautiful Savior and receive him as our substitute punishment and our substitute perfection. All of God’s wrath, all of the condemnation we deserve, was poured out on Jesus. All of God’s demands for perfect righteousness were fulfilled by Christ. The moment we see (by grace!) this Treasure and receive him in this way his death counts as our death and his condemnation as our condemnation and his righteousness as our righteousness, and God becomes 100% irrevocably for us forever in that instant.
Do you hear this? God 100 % irrevocably for you?! O what a difference it makes to be assured, in the discouraging darkness of our own imperfection, that we have a perfect righteousness outside ourselves, namely Christ’s. For you and me there is a perfect, objective, external righteousness imputed to us that is not our own but Christ’s.
I love what the great John Bunyan said about the moment he came to experience and understand this precious truth:
One day as I was passing into the field . . . this sentence fell upon my soul. Thy righteousness is in heaven. And . . . I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at God’s right hand; there, I say, was my righteousness; so that wherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could not say of me, he [lacks] my righteousness, for that was just before him. I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, “The same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8). Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed. I was loosed from my afflictions and irons; my temptations also fled away; so that from that time those dreadful scriptures of God [about the unforgivable sin] left off to trouble me; now went I also home rejoicing for the grace and love of God.”
Oh would you join Bunyan rejoicing that you see that your righteousness is outside yourself? It is in Jesus Christ! I pray that this will be your and my experience too. How? Here is where I start? I start with my despair. I mourn and grieve inside. I despair because I cannot find any answer in myself. I can find no hope, no assurance, no confidence within me and my feelings, thoughts, and self. I cease from all efforts to look inside myself for the rescue, forgiveness, assurance, and deliverance that I need. I do not allow my feelings of guilt, shame, God's disapproval, condemnation, to rule me and determine reality; I can only in desperation cast myself on Christ. I say to him, “You are my only hope. I have no righteousness in myself. I am overwhelmed with sin and guilt. I am under the wrath of God. My own conscience condemns me, and makes me miserable. I am perishing. Darkness is all about me. Jesus Christ, Son of David, Have mercy upon me a sinner. I trust you.”
Jesus has promised not to turn you away. “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37). By this act of faith God will unite you to Jesus. You will be “in him,” and in Him you will be now and forever loved, forgiven, and righteous in God's eye. He is for 100% for you (Romans 8:31). God will hold onto you (Jude 24). He will finish what He started in you (Phillippians 1:9). You will make it. That is his promise: “Those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30). The glory is coming, you will be with Jesus in perfect sinless bodies forever and ever.
Resting in the finished work of Christ for me,
Pastor Bill
In his book Disappointment with God Phillip Yancey says, “What we think about God and believe about God matters-really matters-as much as anything in life matters.” I would add, what we think about Justification by Faith matters- really matters-as much as anything in life matters.
Some days I forget to live on the rock-solid truth of what happened for us when Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again from the dead. It grieves me that in this life we will always be sinful and imperfect. Therefore, in ourselves we will always be guilty. Some days I feel so guilty that even when I have confessed my sins I find myself in the darkness of discouragement and depression. I ask myself: Does God still love me? Am I going to heaven? Am I a Christian? Am I saved?
This why I must constantly remind myself of the reality of justification by faith. It is one of the most foundational and the most important things we do in what Paul describes as "the good fight of faith" (1 Timothy 6:12).
The biblical truth of justification says that my rescue from sin and God’s wrath is a legal rescue completely outside of myself. I am legally absolved of guilt and credited with a righteousness that I don’t have. That is, I am declared righteous in the courtroom of heaven, where God sits as judge, and where I, without justification, would stand condemned by his law. That’s what the word “justify” means: not make just, but declare just.
We are sinners and do not have a righteousness of our own. That’s why we are guilty and destined for eternal punishment. This is the deepest root of all our misery, shame, and sorrow. God’s gift of justification on the basis of Christ’s blood and righteousness severs this root of misery.
To make a way for us to be saved, God sent Christ to live a perfect divine-human life, and die an obedient death. In this way Christ became both the substitute punishment for our sins (Matthew 26:28; 1 Corinthians 15:3; 1 Peter 3:18) and the substitute performer of our righteousness (Romans 5:19; 10:4; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:9). Therefore, in the courtroom of God, my guilt for sin is removed by Christ’s blood (“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses” (Ephesians 1:7); and my title to heaven is provided by Christ’s obedience (“By the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). I am declared just—freed from the punishment of sin and now possessing a title to heaven. This is what the Bible means by justification.
We must remember that justification is by faith alone apart from works of the law. Paul said, “We hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. . . . To the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 3:28; 4:4-5). The best news in all the world to the “ungodly,” who grieve under the cloud of darkness, shame, condemnation, unforgiveness, and guilt, is the news that God, by faith alone, counts them as righteous because of Christ. This is the rock where we stand when the dark clouds gather and the storms of darkness, guilt, shame, and condemnation come. Justification is by grace alone (not mixed with our merit), through faith alone (not mixed with our works) on the basis of Christ alone (not mingling his righteousness with ours), to the glory of God alone (not ours).
The legal issue before God is settled. In the courtroom of heaven, we ungodly sinners are declared righteous by faith alone. Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us. We do not have a righteousness of our own when God accepts us; we never do. Our faith was not our righteousness. It was our desperate receiving of Christ and all that he is for us. We had not yet become righteous. Instead, with empty hands we received Christ whose faithful life of love perfectly fulfilled the law of God. By faith alone we were united to Christ. And all that he is was imputed to us, the ungodly. This is justification. This lays the axe to the root of our turning justification by faith into justification by performance. God accepts us on the basis of Christ’s righteousness, not ours period!
This means that right now at this moment God is 100% for you! John Piper puts it this way:
What the Bible teaches is that God becomes 100% irrevocably for us at the moment of justification, that is, the moment when we see Christ as a beautiful Savior and receive him as our substitute punishment and our substitute perfection. All of God’s wrath, all of the condemnation we deserve, was poured out on Jesus. All of God’s demands for perfect righteousness were fulfilled by Christ. The moment we see (by grace!) this Treasure and receive him in this way his death counts as our death and his condemnation as our condemnation and his righteousness as our righteousness, and God becomes 100% irrevocably for us forever in that instant.
Do you hear this? God 100 % irrevocably for you?! O what a difference it makes to be assured, in the discouraging darkness of our own imperfection, that we have a perfect righteousness outside ourselves, namely Christ’s. For you and me there is a perfect, objective, external righteousness imputed to us that is not our own but Christ’s.
I love what the great John Bunyan said about the moment he came to experience and understand this precious truth:
One day as I was passing into the field . . . this sentence fell upon my soul. Thy righteousness is in heaven. And . . . I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at God’s right hand; there, I say, was my righteousness; so that wherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could not say of me, he [lacks] my righteousness, for that was just before him. I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, “The same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8). Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed. I was loosed from my afflictions and irons; my temptations also fled away; so that from that time those dreadful scriptures of God [about the unforgivable sin] left off to trouble me; now went I also home rejoicing for the grace and love of God.”
Oh would you join Bunyan rejoicing that you see that your righteousness is outside yourself? It is in Jesus Christ! I pray that this will be your and my experience too. How? Here is where I start? I start with my despair. I mourn and grieve inside. I despair because I cannot find any answer in myself. I can find no hope, no assurance, no confidence within me and my feelings, thoughts, and self. I cease from all efforts to look inside myself for the rescue, forgiveness, assurance, and deliverance that I need. I do not allow my feelings of guilt, shame, God's disapproval, condemnation, to rule me and determine reality; I can only in desperation cast myself on Christ. I say to him, “You are my only hope. I have no righteousness in myself. I am overwhelmed with sin and guilt. I am under the wrath of God. My own conscience condemns me, and makes me miserable. I am perishing. Darkness is all about me. Jesus Christ, Son of David, Have mercy upon me a sinner. I trust you.”
Jesus has promised not to turn you away. “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37). By this act of faith God will unite you to Jesus. You will be “in him,” and in Him you will be now and forever loved, forgiven, and righteous in God's eye. He is for 100% for you (Romans 8:31). God will hold onto you (Jude 24). He will finish what He started in you (Phillippians 1:9). You will make it. That is his promise: “Those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30). The glory is coming, you will be with Jesus in perfect sinless bodies forever and ever.
Resting in the finished work of Christ for me,
Pastor Bill
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