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Gospels and Acts Scripture

The Living Bread from Heaven (John 6)

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John 6:1-15

1After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number.11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

  • Where we pick up the story, Christ has already been rejected in Judea.
  • He is now in Galillee and will be rejected here.
  • He has already performed many signs and wonders. Belief is unacceptable.
  • A crowd gathers and Christ commands Philip to get them something to eat.
  • Philip performs a calculation that it will take about a year’s salary to feed them.
  • Christ provides not according to human calculation but by His own power. A lesson that His Apostles ought to know by now.
  • He feeds the multitude and they are excited.
  • The people correctly perceive that Christ is the Prophet that Moses foretold in Deut 18.
  • They incorrectly perceive the mission of that Prophet and Messiah.
  • They desire to make Him their King.
  • They expect, by their understanding, that the Messiah will kick out the Romans and usher in a golden age.
  • They are ready to make Christ their King by force according to their expectation that Christ will be a political conqueror and usher in goodness and plenty for their physical lives.
  • Christ withdraws, as He does so often, because He refuses to be the kind of Messiah that men expect and will only be the kind of Messiah that they need.

John 6:16-21

16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened.20 But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

    • Much could be said here.
    • I want you to hear this portion so we don’t lose the flow of the account.
    • It’s enough to note that Christ and His disciples were now in Capernaum the next day.

John 6:22-27

22 On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

    • The people noticed Christ was no longer in the place where they had their bellies filled.
    • They went to Capernaum seeking Jesus.
    • Notice that Christ has thousands of followers Who are excited about them.
    • One might think He’s going to do everything in His power to keep them as followers.
    • Instead He rebukes them.
    • He identifies that their motivation for following Him is that He gave them bread to fill their stomachs.
    • He instructs them that they’re seeking the wrong thing from Him.
    • Christ is in their midst to give them eternal life and they only want enough food to make it through the day.
    • He’s calling them to faith and repentance.
    • Do they understand Him?
    • No.

 

John 6:28-34

28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

    • There appears to be eagerness to follow Christ and “do the works of God.”
    • Christ answers them that it is not their works that is critical.
    • It is the work of God that they need.
    • The work of God is that they would believe in Christ Whom the Father sent.
    • Do they understand?
    • No. They challenge him for a sign. They challenge Him to show more works.
    • The heart of idolatry is always more interested in the effects of a living God.
    • What the heart of idolatry does not desire is to truly worship the living God.
    • They call Christ’s attention to the provision of Manna in the desert.
    • Interestingly, they are on to something here because Christ’s provision here is John 6 is much like the provision of manna in the desert.
    • But the thing they miss is that they’re always interested in stopping at the sign.
    • They cannot perceive what the manna pointed to.
    • They cannot perceive what Christ’s provision of bread pointed to.
    • Christ is the true bread of heaven.
    • Everything important is standing in front of them.
    • Everything that manna and bread signified is fulfilled in their midst.
    • Do they understand?
    • No. They want the sign. They want bread.

 

John 6:35-42

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

    • Christ now tells them plainly what the bread has signified.
    • It has pointed to Him.
    • He has come in power and majesty.
    • He has plainly performed signs and wonders before their eyes to testify of His authority.
    • He has come down from heaven to give eternal life.
    • He has come to satisfy their hunger forever by His provision.
    • He has come to satisfy their thirst forever by His provision.
    • All who come to Him in faith will possess eternal life through His provision.
    • Yet it is not of man’s own doing that they will come to Him.
    • As we’ve already seen, the fleshly mind is in slavery to sin.
    • It can only perceive earthly things. It can only perceive concerns of itself and the world.
    • The Father must give people to Christ that they might come to Him.
    • Supernatural work is needed for the people to come to Christ.
    • And as surely as they come, the Son receives and holds on to all of them.
    • None shall be lost.
    • All who come to Him will be raised again with Him on the last day.
    • Do the Jews understand?
    • Do they perceive?
    • No.
    • Why?
    • Because the Father has not given them to the Son.
    • They are still stumbling in the blindness of sin in Adam.
    • So blind are they that they grumble before the living God as their forefathers grumbled in the desert.
    • They rebuke and ridicule Christ for saying that He is the bread come down from heaven.
    • Again, all their understanding is wrapped up in earthly things. This man is not bread.
    • This man is not from heaven.
    • We saw Him grow up in Nazareth.

 

John 6:43-52

43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

  • Notice Christ’s response.
  • He is pointing out the blindness I just underlined.
  • He knows very well they cannot perceive spiritual things.
  • He rebukes them for grumbling and again points out that the reason they are unable to perceive is that Father draws them to Christ.
  • Christ did not come to be understood according to the world’s understanding.
  • The world is captive to sin and its thinking is hostile to the mind of God.
  • God, by the power that created the world, needs to drag men into the Kingdom for they will never do so in their sinful state.
  • God, in His power, needs to conquer the sin that reigns men’s thinking that they may perceive Christ as the One sent by the Father.
  • And all who come by the Father’s power will be saved by the Son.
  • Christ reminds the people that they are just like their forefathers who could only perceive physical food in the desert.
  • The food fed them for the day but they all perished outside of the Promised land.
  • They perished because they never combined the food they received with the eyes of faith to look upon the Provider of that food.
  • Here, again, the true spiritual food that will give them eternal life is in their midst and they refuse to believe upon Him.
  • Christ tells them that He’s given His Body up for spiritual life.
  • His flesh will be that which provides the power for salvation.
  • All who look to His flesh, His sacrifice, for provision, will possess eternal life.
  • Do the Jews understand?
  • Do they perceive?
  • No.
  • They accuse Christ of cannibalism.
  • All they can understand is flesh.
  • All they can understand is bread.
  • How can a man give his flesh to eat?
  • He cannot according to the thinking of the world.

 

John 6:53-59

53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.

    • Christ is not content to leave them unoffended.
    • He speaks again clearly of spiritual things they cannot perceive.
    • He does so in a way that confirms to the fleshly mind the worst possible thing.
    • All they can hear is flesh, blood, bread, drink.
    • Christ is offering Himself.
    • He is laying forth the mission of the Messiah to save by His body and blood.
    • All who look to Him will be saved.
    • The Passover is at hand and Christ is clearly alluding to the Passover flesh that signifies Him.
    • These same people will soon eat the flesh of a lamb that is a mere shadow of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
    • Yet, they will not perceive the sign as pointing to Him.
    • Every sign is a brute object to them and they cannot perceive when the glory which it signifies is standing in their very midst.
    • Very God of very God!
    • Veiled in human flesh.
    • Come down from heaven.
    • God in a Tabernacle among them.
    • The Bread of Life sent from heaven.
    • The true Manna.
    • The Serpent lifted on a pole.
    • The Lamb of God.
    • The True Prophet.
    • The True Priest.
    • The True King.
    • Completely lost on the mind of men in slavery to sin and death.
    • O, how much we need the Father to draw us!

John 6:60-71

60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.

  • Imagine Christ giving a Church growth seminar.
  • 5000 eager disciples and that’s only counting the men.
  • Give a powerful sermon about the nature of the Gospel.
  • Offend everyone so much that only a dozen are left.
  • But Christ is well aware of what He’s doing.
  • He’s said it before and He says again that only those that the Father draws can come to Him.
  • He wants disciples Who seek Him for the provision He has come to give.
  • He’s not a coach.
  • He’s not here for your best life now.
  • His words are exclusive and ugly to the sight of men.
  • He turns now to His inner circle.
  • It’s like He’s saying: “How do you like them apples?”
  • Do you want to leave too?
  • Imagine the gall?
  • These men have left their professions for Him.
  • He had called them to be fishers of men and now most of the followers are gone.
  • “Do you want to leave as well?”
  • Take the moment in for a second. It had to give the Apostles pause.
  • This is not success as the world measures it.
  • Peter doesn’t really say: “Of course we don’t want to leave.”
  • In his reply is the hint that this didn’t sit well with anyone.
  • The Holy God makes men uncomfortable.
  • But, Beloved, Peter’s reply is exactly what Christ was after!
  • “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
  • This is hard Jesus!
  • I don’t think I understand all of this stuff.
  • You’re a hard man to follow sometimes.
  • But to Whom shall we go?!
  • We believe!
  • We believe you are the Holy One sent from God!
  • We believe that you have words of eternal life.
  • Where else is there to go?!
  • Sure, the world is more comfortable.
  • It doesn’t challenge us.
  • It doesn’t require that we give up our ambitions.
  • It doesn’t require that we depend on anyone but ourselves.
  • It doesn’t require that we be ridiculed and mocked for following some stupid Carpenter who is barely educated and talks about men eating His flesh.
  • But if we think like that then we’ll have bread for today and hunger again.
  • Lord, YOU ALONE HAVE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE!
  • I don’t understand you Lord but I KNOW YOU.
  • I’ll trust you in what I don’t understand and follow you to the bitter end.
  • I’ll believe the promise of eternal life because I’ve come to believe that Your Word can be trusted.

 

  • This, beloved, is what it looks like when the Father draws a man to the Son.
  • It’s not the quality of the man’s understanding.
  • It’s not the quality of the man’s works.
  • It is the power of the Father to draw men unto the Son by the power of His Word.
  • The man wakes up and is convinced he understands the world and reality.
  • Men are men.
  • Bread is bread.
  • Blood is blood.
  • Then, suddenly, out of the blue, the Word of God comes like a mighty conqueror.
  • It pierces the heart of men.
  • It wakes them up.
  • The world that seemed rightside up is now upside down.
  • The Savior who seems a rejected and despised failure is seen for what He truly is.
  • O, may you know the power of the saving hand of the Father to draw you to the Son.
  • May you fall down at His feet and cry: “I don’t understand it all but I’ve come to believe you are the Holy One sent from God. You alone have the words of eternal life. Save me! May I feed on your flesh. May I drink your blood. Give me the spiritual nourishment I have been lacking as I have been stumbling blindly through this world.”
  • Such a request, the Son is delighted to grant.
  • He will lay hold of you with such a strong Hand that none can pluck you out.
  • He will save you today and, on that glorious day of His return in Judgment, will raise you again on the last day!
  • Let us pray.
Categories
Gospels and Acts Scripture

Luke 11:14-28

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Luke 11:14-28

14 Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. 15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” 16 while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. 17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. 18 And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. 19 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; 22 but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. 23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

24 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, “˜I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

27 As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

As we continue in our series through the Book of Luke, Jesus has been travelling throughout the region of Galilee teaching the people and performing signs and wonders that testify to Himself.  His followers asked how to pray and, in Luke’s Gospel, the prayer ends at “”¦lead us not into temptation”¦” but Matthew’s Gospel reads:  “”¦lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.  For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”

On the heels of this teaching, Christ encounters a man who is under the power of the evil one.  Are we not commanded to confess Christ as Lord?  Yet this man is under the power of evil and cannot speak.  By Christ’s power, however, the man is freed and the people marvel.

But not all marvel.  There are those in the crowd who have continually hounded the Savior throughout His public ministry:  the religious leaders and skeptics.  Faced with the power of God in their midst, there were those whose religious understanding made it impossible for them to conceive that Christ was teaching the things of God because He taught contrary to the teaching of their Rabbis.  They reasoned that Christ truly had power but that power could not be from God because a man from God could not teach something contrary to their understanding of the Scriptures.  Instead of having their minds transformed by the power of God, their hearts were hardened and their foolish minds darkly reasoned that Jesus must be casting out demons by the power of the demonic realm.

The others who were blind to Christ’s power were the skeptics.  Notice, in verse 16, the text reads:  “others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.”

Do any of you find that just laughable?  Christ casts out a demon and the skeptics complain that they need a sign from heaven.  This is proof positive that no signs from Christ are sufficient to convince a foolish mind hostile to the things of God.

Christ rebukes their unbelief by pointing out something obvious:  a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.  Why, Christ asks, would Satan fight against his own kingdom?  Why would a ruler dispatch forces to destroy or defeat his own army?  It makes no sense and exposes their folly.  Thus, if Christ is casting out the kingdom of demons by the power of God then this is a demonstration that the Kingdom of God is among them.

The problem with the religious leaders and skeptics is that their minds are in bondage.  They can think.  They can reason.  Yet that thinking about spiritual things is imprisoned.  They are slaves to the way they view the world and all the power of Christ is interpreted through a distorted lens.

Yet, in a profound sense, this passage of Scripture is all about the remedy to bondage.  The Kingdom of God is in the midst of the people but they are not aware of what that power has been intended, from the beginning, to accomplish.

Christ, knowing the thoughts of the crowd, tells two parables:  the first is the parable of the Stronger Man and the second is the parable of the clean house.

In verses 21-22, Christ tells a short parable about a stronger man.  Simply put, when a strong man guards a house, the goods inside that house are safe.  Until, that is, a stronger man is able to overcome that strong man and plunder the goods.

The fascinating thing about parables is how subversive they are.  They are understandable and agreeable to common men on a certain level while a deeper meaning eludes them.  We all understand the idea that it’s good to have a strong warrior defend your castle.  You hire the best.  Yet, if a stronger foe defeats that warrior then your castle is in trouble.  The power that defends that stronghold has been overcome.

Yet, the people of Christ’s day were like many of us who measure the strength of God according to the kinds of strength that we naturally relate to.  We only think of power in its raw form and often desire it.  In a sense, this story would leave many of us with a wrong understanding that the Kingdom of God is just like political or military strength.  We’d be just like the Jews of Christ’s day who were waiting for a conquering Messiah who would free the Jews from the unclean Romans.  He would rally the Jews or use raw power to overcome the Romans and then all the good Jews would once again be a pure people in a pure land undefiled by all the evil people who were interlopers in their land.

The spiritual reality, however, is that it is all of mankind who is under bondage.  It is all of the Jews of Christ’s day and all of us who were in bondage to a strong ruler.  Sin and death have literally enslaved men since the sin of our first parents.  We assume that our thinking is right.  We assume that we see things and have common sense.  We assume that we do well and even please God.  Yet Romans 3:9-18 testifies of our true condition:

9 What then? Are we Jews any better off?  No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:  “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.  12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”  13 “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.”  “The venom of asps is under their lips.”  14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”  15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

The Scriptures must be talking about evil people but not me.  My feet aren’t swift to shed blood.  I’m not a gossip.  My mouth isn’t full of curses and bitterness.

I can’t see that in myself.  I know there are others that are sinful and evil but I thank God that I’m not like those sinners.  I thank God that I’m in the Church and have been taught self-government.  I thank God that I’m not a Muslim and worship a false god.  I thank God that I’m not a Democrat and support big government.

Nicodemus came to Christ in John 3 in the middle of the night and knew that Christ had power from God but he just couldn’t grasp the things that Christ was teaching.  Christ responded: “”¦truly, truly, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God”¦.”

Do you know how Nicodemus responded?

He responded, in so many words:  “I just can’t make any sense out of what you’re saying.”  In other words, Nicodemus couldn’t see.

Blindness.  Slavery.  Darkness.  Futility.

This is our condition apart from Christ.  The Kingdom of God exists all around men and they cannot perceive it.

Why?

Because men are slaves to sin.  Men are in darkness.  Their mouths cannot testify of God but are mute to the things of God.  The strong man has them locked up and guarded.  The kingdom of this world consists of those born in Adam who are hostile to the things of God.  They are under the dominion of sin and death.

In 1 Sam 17, Israel under King Saul had gathered for battle against the Philistines and the Philistines sent out their champion.  His name was Goliath.  He was a giant.  His height and the weight of his armor and weapons were terrible.  Measured by any standard, the man was born to be a warrior and he stood and challenged anyone to fight him.  He cursed God and defied any idea that there was anyone who could defeat him in battle.  The whole of Saul’s army, including the king himself, cowered in terror for days because they saw strength according to common sense.  You don’t challenge the heavyweight champion of the world to a fight to the death.

Then, one day, a young shepherd boy named David walked up to bring food from his home to his brothers.  He saw this giant come out that day and curse the living God and his response was not one of fear but of anger that any man, however big, could challenge those with the Lord on their side.  All thought him a fool.  All thought him naïve.  Yet that young boy left armor behind and walked out of the ranks armed only with a sling and some stones.

Goliath scoffed at the tiny foe before him and promised David that he would be food for the birds.  David did not walk.  David did not weave back and forth.  David ran straight ahead and would meet certain death if that stone from his sling missed its mark.  David defeated the strong man and the Philistines fled in terror.

And so, when David’s greater Son came to this earth, many probably thought it would be another tangible victory and his success would be measured in strength and power they could see.

Yet, Christ’s power was to be manifested where nobody would have expected.  Christ’s power, manifest during His public ministry, pointed to His power over the kingdom of this world.  Christ’s power testified of His humanity and that He was God come in flesh.  Yet nobody could see it.

Christ, seemingly powerless, submitted Himself to the power of death on a cross.  He died the life of a scoundrel.  He died the life of the accursed.  He died the life of a failure in the eyes of the world.

His disciples walked away disappointed because, no matter how many times He testified that the Messiah had come to die on a Cross, they could not understand.  The Romans were still in power.  The Man they thought would deliver them with power they could see lie dead and broken and in a tomb.  Jesus was not the Messiah.  So much for salvation from the Romans.

Oh, but Beloved, there was unimaginable power on display!

As Christ writhed in agony on the Cross, it was not the physical pain that was most intense but it was Christ bearing in His flesh the sins of all of His people.  Christ died and when He died, the sins of His people died with Him.  Not only so but in a way we could never expect, the power of sin was put to death on the Cross.  He did not merely pay for the sins of many but He defeated the power of sin on the Cross.

And then He was laid in a tomb.  And on the third day He rose from the dead.  Death tried to hold Him down.  Death held with all its might but behold the Man! Do you ever just think about Christ taking that first step out of the Tomb?  One small step for Man, one giant leap for all of mankind!  Death was defeated by an indestructible life.  Try as it may, Death fought with the Savior but the Stronger man overcame and plundered!

When you think of Christ’s work for you do you only reflect on his payment for your sins?  Do you struggle, thinking it’s all up to you, against the power of sin in your life?  Hear, Christian, reality as it truly is in Romans 6:  “3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

You were not looking for it because you could not see it.  You were not aware of your bondage because it was natural for you.  Yet Christ died and we who believe are baptized into that death and we who believe have risen again.  Believe upon Christ and see.  Believe, also, with your new eyes that Christ has put the power of sin to death and that your life is bound up in Him.  The mute man did not ask to speak for he could not speak.  Christ broke the power of Satan that muted his voice so that he could confess, believe, and obey.

Thus, it is that Christ says in verse  23:  “23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

There is no neutral ground with Christ.  You are either in the kingdom of sin and death and cannot see the Kingdom of God or you have been set free from its power by the Stronger Man.

Some say this is a false dilemma:  only unimaginative minds set up either-or scenarios.  “I’m neither for Christ nor against Christ.”  Some believe they speak well of Christ, affirming Him a good man and moral teacher, but there are many paths to God.  Some say that it is closed-minded to claim truth for one way and completely reject another.  Beloved, this is the philosophy of those under sin’s dominion.  If we are not for Christ it is because we are still in the clutches of sin and very much against Him.  If you take offense and reply “I don’t see it that way”, my simple response is:  “I’m quite aware that you don’t see.”

Christ then followed with a parable about the clean house in verses 24-26.  The main point here is not the nature of demons.  Christ’s point is that a man can come to taste the things of God but distorts that knowledge and limits its purpose to house cleaning.

Some of us may be that man.  We hear about the things of God and the only thing that strikes us about the Scriptures is our need to live a pure life.  We hear the preaching week in and week out and see it primarily as a recipe for clean living and self-government.  We see the good in Scripture and imitate the externals and reckon we are good men.  We read of sin in the Scriptures and see wickedness in everyone except ourselves.  We want prayer in schools, we want moral government, we want lower taxes, we want good neighbors, we want obedient children, and we want God to bless us for all the ways we’ve demonstrated our commitment.  We want power to subdue all the evil people and throw the bums out!  We want everything except a Crucified Savior who can deliver us from our bondage to sin.

And the power of sin deceives and appears, on the outside, to have left us.  We are a swept house.  Yet, all the time, the truth of the Word about our sin and bondage is bouncing off of us like rain on packed earth.  Nothing sinks in.  Notice in verse 24 that the demon says:  “I will return to my house from which I came.”

“I will return to my house.”  And when the power of sin comes back to manifest itself in the life of the “swept house”, it comes back more terrible than before.  The Pharisees were good men on the outside but when they continually rejected Christ, their swept houses were filled with the demonic power of sin and they became wicked beyond measure.  They despised the Savior and the things of God and plotted to kill Him whenever they got the chance.  We who would justify ourselves with our lives will trample the Son of God underfoot with the same vengeance.

The passage closes with an expression of excitement from the crowd.  A woman is so overcome by the excitement of the moment and the teaching of Christ that she yells out of the crowd:  Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!”

I imagine Christ paused for a moment before He gently replied that those who are truly blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.

It’s not as if He hadn’t said the same thing to His mother when she and the rest of the family summoned Him while He was teaching and He reminded the crowd that His mother and brothers are those who hear and obey.  He wasn’t denying the blessedness of His mother here but her blessedness, by her own confession, was that God looked upon her.  She heard the things of God and submitted.

Just like this woman who cried out, the things of God have a way of exciting us.  There are things that we see and experience that may cause us to yell “Praise God!”  All sorts of religious experience are sought to inflame our hearts with excitement.

Yet, notice that it is those who hear the Word of God, and because they can hear, obey.  Obedience and hearing go hand in hand.  If we cannot hear, we will not truly obey and will merely be swept houses.

I can leave worship this evening excited about the things of God and then, at the crack of dawn, rise to shave my face and go off to work.  The ecstasy of the moment of religious worship will fade as life has a way of bogging us down in its drudgery and day-to-day burdens.

Yet, we have to consider that, if we have truly heard the Word of God, it is because we have been given ears to hear.  If we have truly seen the Kingdom of God it is because we have been given eyes to see.  If that transformation has occurred it was not because of our obedience or enthusiasm for God but because there is a Stronger Man Who has overcome sin and death on the Cross.

Our excitement needs to be born out of a life that has been set free from the power of sin.  It is the recognition that God justifies sinners.  It is the realization that Christ came to plunder the House of the Strong Man and found us cowering under its dominion and dragged us out of its dungeon.  He washed us in our baptism and calls us His friends.  He clothed us in His righteousness and calls us His beloved bride.

Sinclair Ferguson tells of a physician who is a medical missionary in Thailand.  The physician sent him a picture of a man with a huge grin from ear to ear.  Both his arms were amputated by this physician due to complications from the leprosy that oppresses his body.  But do you know what this man said to the physician one day?  He said:  “I’m so thankful for my leprosy because I would have never met Jesus Christ without it.”

That’s true experience.

Are we thankful for the Christ who conquers sin and death or are we excited about the power that surrounds the Savior’s work?

Once, we could not see the horror of our sin and its bondage.  Once, we could not speak of the things of God but uttered only curses.  Unexpectedly, we saw our sin and, in our terror, wondered how we could escape the wrath it deserved.

But then we looked up and saw our Champion hanging on a Cross.  We saw Him die and lay in a Tomb.  We witnessed the Son of Man rise from the dead.  The Stronger Man emerged, wounded from the battle, but He was utterly victorious!

A muted mouth is unstopped.  We cry out with new voices:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?”  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ““ 1 Cor 15:54-57

Categories
Entertainment and Recreation

Mel’s Misplaced Passion (3 of 3)

They Said That?

* “It changed my perception of what it meant to follow Christ.”
* “”¦[it] is so wonderfully biblically congruent, I would encourage folks to not stumble over parts [that are disagreeable]”¦”
* “[it] showed the depth of Christ’s love.”

Wow. That must have been a powerful sermon for these pastors to respond so strongly! These are the responses that we should have more of when faithful preaching occurs! But there was no preaching there. These are the responses by respected pastors, such as Chuck Smith, Jr. of California, after they reviewed the Passion.

I am sure some of you saw that coming. But is it not true what this article has been arguing for: the dangers of images readily supplanting the Word. In light of the centrality of the Word as found in the Bible consider these alarming quotes:

* “This film is equal to “˜a lifetime of sermons'” (Billy Graham, People, March 8, 2004).
* “The best outreach opportunity in 2000 years” (People).
* “In the church we’ve tried for a long time with words to bring into consciousness the reality of what Jesus went through. We have waxed eloquent in our sermons, but this film brings that reality to us in one sitting.” (Chuck Smith, Jr., “Pastor’s Panel”, www.worshipleader.com).

Yes, I am picking on this film. Why not? If the Reformed faith is to be relevant in today’s society, it needs to interact with fellow Christians and to address modern trends. Again, movies and television shows are not inherently evil as a medium of communication, but they can become sinful through wrong means and goals. Just as we avoid certain movies because of their excessive themes (nudity, language, etc.), so, too, movies that violate the second commandment should be avoided. This can be very controversial, but rather than rehash what was written earlier, hopefully, these quotes from Christianity Today, which recommends the movie even after admitting its clear and pronounced Roman Catholic motif, will be eye-opening:

* He [Gibson] also recounted a series of divine coincidences that led him to read the works of Anne Catherin Emmerich, a late-18th”¦Westphalian nun who had visions of the events of the Passion. Many of the details needed to fill out the Gospel accounts he drew from her book, Dolorous Passion of Our Lord”¦
* One reason for Gibson’s personal sense of salvation is the way this project rescued him from himself”¦
* These [medieval] practices [projecting oneself into the event] became the foundation for such widely practiced traditions as meditating on the Five Sorrowful Mysteries when saying the Rosary. The structure of Gibson’s film conforms exactly to the list of the Five Sorrowful Mysteries: The Agony of Jesus in the Garden, the Scourging of Jesus at the Pillar, the Crowning with Thorns, the Carrying the Cross, and the Crucifixion and Death of Jesus. And it reveals the way that this film is for Gibson a kind of prayer”¦
* In the foreword to The Passion, he [Gibson] writes that the film “is not meant as a historical documentary. “¦ I think of it as contemplative in the sense that one is compelled to remember “¦ in a spiritual way, which cannot be articulated, only experienced.”
* [Gibson]”I’ve been actually amazed at the way I would say the evangelical audience has””hands down””responded to this film more than any other Christian group.” [What makes it so amazing, he says, is that] “the film is so Marian.”

All quotes from www.christianitytoday.com/movies/special/passionofthechrist.html)

Gibson considers himself an old-fashioned pre-Vatican II Roman Catholic. Gibson calls Mary “a tremendous co-redemptrix and mediatrix [meaning she contributed to redemption through her suffering].” Thus, the movie has more about Mary than the Bible, as shown in an article by Romanus Cessario, a Dominican who teaches at St. John’s Seminary:

We see Mary’s maternal mediation enacted on film. Gibson portrays Mary placing “herself between her Son and mankind [remember the times that Mary looks directly at us!] in the reality of their wants, needs and sufferings [remember Peter at her feet]. She puts herself ‘in the middle,’ that is to say she acts as a mediatrix not as an outsider, but in her position as mother.” The words are from Pope John Paul II. Mel Gibson captures what the Pope writes in “Mother of the Redeemer” in a way that alone merits the film the title “Catholic.”

If we recognize that the Passion is related to the Church, then we also recognize that it is related to the reality of the Eucharistic conversion. There is a sense in which the whole film is about the Eucharist. The Bread of Life. (Bracketed comments also by Cessario; www.catholic.org, “Mel Gibson and Thomas Aquinas: How the Passion Works”)

The Roman Catholic has always depended heavily on images; some of the older living generation can still remember the mass being delivered in Latin! In contrast, the Protestant Church has traditionally relied upon Christ and His Word as the source of spiritual vitality in the Church and in the family. When many Evangelical leaders laud this film to the detriment of the preached Word, we can see clearly the sad state of the Protestant Church. There is no passion for the Word.

What It All Means

Coming full-circle, we as Reformed believers in the twenty-first century need to embrace Christ through the Word. The Second Commandment forbids images of the Godhead and man-made worship; it also demands a proper integration of the Word into our lives. The modern pressures upon the Churches and families are immense: all the books and conferences try to evangelize others and grow spiritually through every means””save one. We need to believe God when He says that preachers are a gift from Christ (Eph. 4:8-12). We need to believe God that His Word is sufficient for our spiritual growth. We need to consume the Bible through reading, listening and memorizing. These truths should not only be taught to our children but also enacted in our lives such that they see the Word impacting our living, reading and watching””our very lifestyle. This does not mean that the TV should be thrown out (or it might for some of us), but it does mean we should seriously pray and consider its impact on our family.

Emphasis on reading and writing, listening and learning through words and especially the Word of God will help guard our eye-gates and strengthen our resolve. For it is by faith in Christ by His Word that we have life (Jn. 6:63).

“For, All flesh is as grass, And all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower falleth: But the word of the Lord abideth for ever. And this is the word of good tidings which was preached unto you” (1 Peter 1:24). Amen.

Categories
Epistles Scripture

Justified by Faith (Galatians 2)

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Galatians 2

2:1 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. 3 But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. 4 Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— 5 to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. 6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. 7 On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8 (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), 9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

We’re continuing in our study through the Book of Galatians and come to Chapter 2. As a reminder, Paul is defending the Gospel of Grace against what he calls false brothers or troublemakers who have come to the Churches of Galatia to convince them that, in order to be saved, the Gentiles must not only believe in Jesus Christ but also must become circumcised and keep the Law of Moses. We learned last week that Paul not only calls this another Gospel but he condemns it as no Gospel at all and that he eternally condemned any man or angel that taught a Gospel contrary to the Gospel taught by Paul and the Apostles.

As we learned, this was not merely Paul’s Gospel but it was the Gospel that was taught by all of the Apostles. The Judaizers had been spreading rumors that Paul’s apostleship was not only inferior to the “pillars of the Church” – Peter, James, and John – but that he was teaching a Gospel contrary to theirs. The false teachers were dropping the names of these “pillars” to lend authority to their false doctrines.

As Paul continues in Galatians 2, he picks up where he left off in telling the “real story” of his Apostleship. He had taught as an Apostle for many years and then after seeing Peter only once before, he journeys to Jerusalem again after fourteen years and even brings a Gentile named Titus with him. When Paul and the other Apostles spoke to one another, they shared the exact same Gospel in common – salvation in Christ alone by grace alone through faith alone. It became immediately apparent to all the Apostles that Paul had received a commission directly from Jesus Christ to be the Apostle to the Gentiles even as Peter was the Apostle to the Jews. By this it means that Paul was the prime worker or the one whose teaching would establish the Gospel among the Gentiles even though other Apostles would also work among the Gentiles (and Peter had been the first to preach among them in Cornelius’ house). Paul brought Titus into the presence and fellowship of the Apostles and didn’t suggest, for a moment, that Titus be circumcised. It was only the Judaizers in the Jerusalem Church that ever suggested this thing.

You need to note Paul’s firm resolve in this: “ 5 to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. ” What fellowship does light have with darkness? None. You see, Paul could not permit, even for a moment, the idea that Titus was even just a little less united to Christ in His death and resurrection because of his uncircumcision. He had the same Spirit, the same Baptism, the same Lord and Savior. To add works to the Gospel is to destroy the grace of the Gospel. It is to destroy the necessity of the Cross and the necessity of Christ.

But notice, also, how Paul also criticizes the attitude that the Judaizers had about his apostleship and that he is less important than the others. Christ is the one who had given Paul his apostleship. It was good that Peter and James and John recognized Christ’s commission of Paul but they added no authority to his work by agreeing with it. Paul’s authority had come from God and God is no respecter of persons. Paul’s words have authority for us because He is the spokesperson for Christ through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

In order to shock the Galatians out of their respect for the Judaizers he has to take a drastic step here and show that even someone as respectable as Peter was not perfect and that Paul himself had to rebuke him for a huge sin in front of the whole Church. I’m not sure many of you realize how ugly this episode really was and why Paul had to embarrass Peter in front of the whole Church. The fact of the matter was, though, that it was a very public sin and public sin has to be rebuked publicly or it can cause massive destruction.

Peter visited the Church at Antioch where Paul and Barnabas ministered and led the Church. Peter was eating with and having fellowship with the Gentile believers there until, one day, Judaizers from the Church at Jerusalem arrived. These love feasts were fellowship times in the early Church and it seems that the Lord’s Supper might even have been celebrated during these times. To participate in a love feast together was like saying: “We’re all part of one another – you and I have the same savior in Christ and are all adopted by the same Father.” Members would greet each other with a holy kiss of the affection that we’re supposed to share in Christ Jesus.

But then the Judaizers came along and Peter was afraid of their disapproval and so he withdrew from the Gentile believers. His hypocrisy was so great that he even tempted the great encourager, Barnabas, to withdraw from the Gentiles that he had labored among and loved.

Now, imagine for a moment that some men have come along that were saying that you have to believe in Jesus and be circumcised in order to be saved. You’re a Gentile that has been hanging out with the mighty Peter – he walked with Jesus and was a pillar in the Church. You see him withdraw from you and you see the great encourager, Barnabas, recoil from you as well. Don’t you think you’d begin to say to yourself: “Maybe if I was circumcised too then I could be like them. Maybe I’m not really serious enough about Jesus. I believe in him but, if I become circumcised like them, then I’ll really have fellowship with all of God’s saints. I have fellowship with the Gentile believers now but I want fellowship with Peter and Barnabas too….”

No! No! No! A thousand time No! This breaks my heart to think of what Peter did and I know, for a fact, that he appreciated Paul for rebuking him here. He had promised Christ three times that he would feed His lambs and care for His sheep and here he was, by his very actions, tearing down their faith!

Paul did the only thing that a man who loves Christ and loves the brethren would do. He openly rebuked Peter for his sin. Had he not done so then he might have caused some of the Gentiles to forsake Christ for they would have been forsaking the surety of their salvation that is built on nothing more than faith in Jesus Christ.

Paul uses this episode to remind Peter, all the brethren there, and us of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: “, I said to Cephas before them all, 14’If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?’ 15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

Peter knew this all too well. He knew that Christ had not come to round out the Law or to simply show us how to obey so that we could obey the Law like Him. This truth is expanded upon and repeated in Romans 3. Paul demonstrates, conclusively, that the keeping of the Law for salvation is impossible. Nobody, no one, not a person, not a soul has ever, is now, or will be justified by the Law. What does this mean? This means that, before God, we can never earn a reward from His hand by doing good, by obeying His word. If we stand on our own strength, before the Law, the only thing we can earn from Him is condemnation because the Law brings a curse to transgressors of the Law. You don’t get graded on a curve before God. You’re either perfect in keeping the Law or you are condemned as a lawbreaker. Peter, like James, like John, and like Paul were all saved by somebody else’s righteousness. They were saved by Christ’s righteousness. They were saved by His blood on the Cross and they were saved by His obedience to the Law. They were saved by faith in His work.

Hear me again though. They were not saved by faith but they were saved by faith in Christ’s work. Their faith was directed at something that had been accomplished by Christ. You see the truth is that we are saved by works but they are not our works but Christ’s perfect work accomplished for us by His life, death, and resurrection. Our faith is as a beggar coming with nothing in our hand and saying to Christ that we know we deserve nothing but are simply relying on the promise that Christ will save all who put their trust in His finished work.

Inevitably, when somebody starts preaching the Gospel clearly, without the addition of human works, a charge always arises from people that want to object and say that God does His part but we have to add our part to be saved: “17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin?” Do you understand what the objector to Paul is saying in verse 17 that he’s about to answer? People always want to say that God cannot call a person righteous unless they are really righteous. Some call this a “legal fiction” when we preach the true Gospel that Christ justifies the un-Godly.

You see the Gospel is not that God is saving you because you are righteous and good. No. Christ justifies the un-Godly. He justifies not because all sin has left you but because that sin has been paid for in Christ. Some say the difference between Christians and non-Christians is that Christians are transformed so that sin no longer abides in them but the Gospel says that we are both justified by God and still sinners. We cling to the Cross in faith and are saved by the Cross but we are saved while sin still remains in us. We are not saved, in the end, by God looking at how much good we’ve filled up in our heart or how much we’ve done for God’s Kingdom but are saved by falling at the feet of Christ to save us.

How can God do this? Because Christ has taken away the reproach of our sin. Because we are covered by Christ. Yes, we are being transformed by Christ. Yes He is putting to death the body of sin that remains but God is pleased to save you even though He knows what a wretched sinner you are. He is pleased to save you even though He knows you don’t deserve it. That’s right – you don’t deserve to be saved. That’s the Gospel – that God saves those who don’t deserve it! Stop trying to earn your salvation because in trying to earn it you’re not trusting in Christ’s righteousness that is alone the ground for your salvation.

Paul makes it very clear, though, that we aren’t just saved so that we can be covered by Christ and then sin all we want because we’ve got a “Get out of Hell Free” card. Absolutely not! As Paul says: “19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

This is the profound truth that those who do not pursue the Gospel of Christ by faith will never understand. The truth of the matter is that if you don’t cling to Christ by faith because you cannot keep the Law then you are not pursuing righteousness at all.

What are you saying Paul? Don’t you see the Jews trying really hard to be good people? Don’t you see them with the phylacteries on their foreheads with the list of all the commands of God? Don’t you see them attempting to obey every jot and tittle of God’s Law line by line?

Of course he knew that! He used to be one of them. But he concludes they aren’t pursuing righteousness at all because they’re trying to obey a sham. They’re obeying a fake. They’re obeying what they think the Law says. They’re obeying a list that is doable by man. But the Law of God is perfect and it condemns a man, it curses a man the very moment he breaks even the smallest part of it. Man isn’t content to believe this though so he lowers the bar to something he can do and then tells himself that God is pleased with this lower standard. After all, he’s a better person than his neighbor who doesn’t tithe his mint and cumin.

But the man who has been awakened by the Gospel sees the Law for what it is. He sees in it the perfect righteousness of God and it brings about the terror of judgment: “I can’t possibly be perfect. I can’t possibly obey with all my heart, soul, and mind.” The Law condemns us and makes us cry out: “Jesus, save me! Jesus, I know I’m condemned. Jesus, I know only you fulfilled the perfect righteousness of the Law!”

By laying hold of Christ’s feet in faith, the Christian is the only one on this earth that pursues righteousness because He is laying hold of the only One that could ever obey perfectly. The legalists of this world with all their “taste not and touch not” have all the appearance of righteousness but they are stone cold dead and are rotting flesh on the inside.

But the man who lays hold of Christ dies to the Law in Christ and is raised up in newness of life with Him. It is only after we have been freed from the burden and condemnation of the Law that we turn to our Savior and have new eyes to see Him no longer as the Judge but as our Righteousness and our very great Reward. We are now freed to obey out of love and out of gratitude for inheriting all righteousness. It is only with renewed hearts and minds that we begin to actually pursue the end of the Law which is love for each other that is an answer to the love that Christ has lavished upon us.

Indeed, as Paul notes very clearly, if we could have pursued righteousness at all apart from Christ then Christ died in vain. If all it took was for you and me to try harder at obeying the rules then Christ didn’t need to come. In fact, if God saves those who obey the best, if God justifies those who have earned it by their works, then Christ didn’t need to come for that. We didn’t need Christ to show us that God was serious about obedience. We needed Christ because we couldn’t be obedient. We needed Christ because by the deeds of the Law no flesh would ever be justified.

Are you convinced of this? Do you trust in the righteousness of Christ to save you? Do you seriously believe that God saves you not for anything He sees in you but only because you have fallen at the feet of Christ as a beggar?

Or are you holding on to the illusion that really the reason God saved you is because you’re better than the person across the street? Are you holding on to the illusion that God is weighing your good deeds against your bad deeds and sees that you’re doing your best? Are you holding on to the illusion that you dedicated yourself to God and that He’s only going to bless you as long as you continue to show Him how serious you are?

Rest Christian, rest. Take off the yoke of the Law and run to the Cross. Christ has accomplished all righteousness. Stop listening to the Judaizers of this world telling you that you aren’t going to be blessed until you sweat for God. Stop listening to their lies about grades of Christians. Look only to the Cross of Christ and what He accomplished perfectly in His life, death, and resurrection. Christ is present before you. Cry out to Him and say: “I am a lawbreaker and I deserve nothing from your Hand but I believe that You have accomplished all righteousness.”

Pursue Christ. Don’t let go of His feet until He blesses you. Believe the Gospel. Believe it and be saved!

Let us pray.

Categories
Epistles Scripture

Everything We Need (2 Peter 1:1-14)

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2 Peter 1:1-14

Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.

As we continue in our series through the Books of the Bible we come to the second Epistle of Peter. In the notes, you may have noticed that the passage we’ll be focusing on is 2 Peter 1:3-10. You may also notice that I tend to cover longer sections of Scripture and try to explain what the Apostle is telling us. There is a reason for that. Too often we like to use Scripture to find particular verses and then read those verses as if there is nothing else in that book surrounding those passages. We may even have memorized a short portion of Scripture but really have no idea what people were talking about when they wrote it.

Have you ever been in a conversation where you feel like somebody took a small part of what you said and then twisted it? I’m sure you were quite upset that people put words in your mouth by only choosing a small portion of what you said and then twisted its meaning. In the end, you don’t even recognize your own message in the way someone quoted you. Scripture is no different.

As we read this passage, one of the things that I’m certain that most people’s eyes will immediately focus upon are verses 5-7. I’m certain of it because there we find stuff that we’re told to do. After all, isn’t the Word supposed to be practical? Isn’t it supposed to give me a list of things that I need to do throughout the week?

I remember talking to a Pastor a few years ago because he was preaching on a particular passage and it seemed like no matter what passage he would cover, he had to come up with how that particular behavior was an example to all of us on how we should behave. It didn’t even matter if it was Paul journeying around in a particular country, he was going to find some example like: “”¦this means we should all be on a personal journey.” I remember thinking: Are you kidding me?

Before I joined the Church, I went over to his house to eat and we got along well so I asked him about it carefully. I remarked: “Well, soon we’ll be getting into Romans and the first 11 Chapters don’t really say anything about what we are supposed to do but it talks about what God has done in Christ Jesus.” He responded that he planned on giving a personal application to every portion as he went through it. I asked why and he said that he was taught in Seminary that you have to give an application, something for a person to “take home”, in every sermon. That really saddened me because he might have learned that from a professor but he didn’t learn that from the Scriptures.

I want you to notice something about verse 5. It begins like this: “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence”¦.” Now, we’re going to get back to this part again but did you catch the beginning? It said: “For this very reason”¦.” What reason, Peter? Well many of us would just ignore that part because we’re being told to do something now but Peter says “”¦for this very reason”¦” and so it only makes sense that if we’re supposed to do something for a reason then we ought to know what that reason is. Right?

Here’s the reason he gives earlier: “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”

Wow! What a reason. What a motivation! Let me unpack that a little bit. Notice something first about this motivation: what are we doing in those verses? Absolutely nothing. God is doing everything. We are recipients. Do you know what that’s called? It’s called the Gospel. The Good News is not that we’re getting things done for God but that, first of all, God has done wonderful things for us.

His divine power, the power that created heaven and earth, the power that said “Let there be light” and by the power of His Word it was so. That same divine power has given us everything pertaining to life and godliness. He has given us knowledge of Himself and called us by His glory and excellence. You and I were corpses rotting in the grave and God called us from death to life and made us alive so that we could hear Him. He made us alive so that we could see the beauty of the Cross.

Finally, He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. God has promised us. Now people break their promises all the time but not God. He has promised us to become partakers in the divine nature in Christ Jesus and that we are sure to escape death because we have placed our trust in Him. Do you know what? Your salvation was certain, the fact that you would reign in heaven as God’s adopted child was absolutely sure the moment God decided to save you. This is often spoken of as an inheritance in Scripture.

Do you remember what I told the children about an inheritance last week? An inheritance is not something you earn from your parents but it’s something that you simply receive. You didn’t choose your parents, you didn’t earn the money they made all their lives or the house they bought. They did all the work. They put all the toil into it so they could pass something on. We contribute nothing to the inheritance we receive from our ancestors and so it is with God.

Some of you may remember when I spoke about the Prodigal Son. He had spit on his father by claiming his inheritance early. Generations of work had gone into securing a large property that was passed from father to son over many, many centuries. The son demands his portion from his father wishing him dead and then goes out and spends it on a big party. Centuries of ancestral blessing are spent in a few weeks and the boy is destitute.

He’s working with pigs and then he comes to his senses. He’ll go back to his father and ask for forgiveness. His only desire now is to be a slave in His father’s house. He knows he doesn’t deserve anything more. This is exactly what the Pharisees expected too. Forgiveness could not be granted but the boy had to earn his way back. He would be expected to wait in the town as the people in the town came to heap shame upon the boy.

But then the oddest thing happened. The father saw the boy from far off and he ran to him. He ran to him before that boy could get to the town and receive the shame of the townspeople. He ran to him and fell on his neck weeping and kissing this scoundrel. The boy was coming to the Father expecting to earn his way back into the father’s favor but the father who had long loved the boy had overtaken him before his plan could be completed. He said “Father forgive me”¦” and before he could say “make me your slave”, the father squeezed the breath out of him. You see, beloved, God doesn’t permit slaves into His kingdom, He only permits sons. He only permits in those whom He adopts out of sheer grace. They deserve nothing from His Hand but He gives them a rich inheritance. He gives them a rich inheritance more lavish than the inheritance they squandered while they were living their own life. The only thing the son can do is receive that blessing.

Are your eyes wide open now? Do you understand now what that “reason” is that Peter was talking about in verse 5 when he says: “For this very reason”¦.” Why would the son that was just lavished with love by His father and given an inheritance desire to serve Him? Because he loves Him! He’s grateful for what God has done. There is no more condemnation. He knows he can’t earn what was just given so now He obeys the Father out of the sheer joy for how incredibly blessed he is.

So Peter goes on and tells us: “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.”

Do you see how you have a completely different way of looking at these verses now? You were probably ready to start working at these so you could work for God and receive a blessing you were missing out on. In fact, the most popular “Christian” books out there are constantly telling you that the reason you’re missing out on God’s blessing is because you’re not living up to your purpose. But Peter doesn’t motivate us by giving us a purpose. No! He motivates us by the promise of God and what He has done and so we respond by adding to the faith that we have in Him these virtues. Why? Because what child who loves their Father dearly, doesn’t want to delight in the things that He delights in?

And so as Christians, in the household of God, we take on character traits that reflect our Father and His Son who redeemed us: moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. Now it’s not as if we have to be perfect in one before we start maturing In the other. Rather, it’s that we’re maturing in all of these traits at the same time and should be striving for them. It’s also not that we’re striving by ourselves but it is the plan of God that He will ensure that He completes in you the work that He began in you. There is a sense, though, in how one character trait is necessary for another.

Our moral excellence is the sense in which we love and do the things that God loves. We do so because we don’t want to insult the One we love. My constant prayer is that I will love the things that God loves and to learn to hate my sin more every day. Why? Because the reason I sin is that I love my sin more than I love God and it’s the same reason you do too. So, as we mature, we become more excellent in our thoughts and behaviors.

Of course, we cannot know what God desires or who He is unless we gain knowledge of Him. How do we learn about God? By reading His Scriptures; by devouring it; by hanging by His every Word. Beloved, it is not spiritual or Godly to be ignorant of God’s Word. We have to know something about the people we love or they begin to wonder if we really love them. Imagine if I never spent any time getting to know my wife then she would begin to wonder if I really love her. Ask any woman whether they appreciate if you know her birthday or your anniversary and you’ll begin to realize how critical knowledge is to your relationships and growth.

Now I need to pick on the men here for a minute. It never ceases to amaze me how many men tell me how hard it is to understand the Bible with all the facts and stuff inside of it. It’s just too hard and they don’t have the time. They have a simple faith, they tell me. But then start talking to that same man about Sports. Watch out! I used to be embarrassed that I didn’t know all the endless statistics and details about baseball, football, or basketball from player’s names to who is winning to who is being drafted. These same men who say it’s too hard to study the Bible somehow find time to study and become knowledgeable about Sports. Do you know why? They LOVE Sports. Interesting isn’t it that we KNOW lots of stuff about the things we love. Men! It’s time to add knowledge to your moral excellence. This Saturday, 8 am, see you there!

As we progress in the knowledge of the Lord and mature in what He delights in we begin to gain self-control. That is, that we are more able to withstand the onslaught of sin and temptation as Christ matures us and as we get to know more and more about how big He is and how small we are. We never have victory over sin but we do learn to gain more control over it.

Self-control is a process of discipline and those who discipline themselves in anything gain perseverance ““ they gain endurance. Again, this is not something we do on our own but it is of the Spirit who supplies it richly to us. It is just a matter of fact that discipline has a quality all its own in terms of giving us the ability to stand firm when things are rough and, as we discussed last week, we need perseverance for the sufferings of this world.

As we persevere in our faith, fixed upon the Cross of Christ, we become more Godly ““ that is, more God focused. We begin to focus more on His glory than our own. We’re willing to take the shame of the Cross because we realize we have no reason for pride.

You may recall that I talked about, two weeks ago, how men who lose the knowledge of God in their minds end up losing what makes men and women around them meaningful: that is, the image of God. As we become more Godly, we start to be more reverent and loving of our brothers and sisters around us who are created in the image of God and we have brotherly kindness for those in the Church. How can you not love a man or a woman whom Christ loved and gave Himself for? What kind of love do you have for what your Savior did for you if that love does not flow out of you towards those He loves?

And so, it is so natural, isn’t it, that love itself is expressed. For Paul says in Romans 13 that love is the end of the Law, that is that it is the goal of the Law. When we mature in love we begin to grow beyond all the “thou shall not’s” in the Law and grow into the mature character that loves God with all our heart, soul, and mind and loves our neighbor as itself.

But just remember this. If you start with trying to love God on your own strength before you’ve believed the Gospel, before you’ve fallen at the foot of the Cross, and before you’ve heard the news of your acceptance by God and His rich blessing then you won’t be able to do any of it. You’ll be trying to show love and brotherly kindness as a way to fix up your life. You’ll be trying to get those merit badges so you can show God how serious you are that He’ll have to take notice of you and bless you. But there is no blessing if we approach these things as if they’re something that slaves do. We can only express them as children of God. We have to be born again.

We have to have believed the Gospel that men couldn’t possibly earn anything from God’s hand because we had only earned wrath for our sin and so God sent His Son to do it for us. He endured the shame and rejection that we deserved, to give us the inheritance that He earned for us. So we come anew every day, as Peter tells us that he reminds us over and over: these are the wondrous things that God has done in the Gospel and so rejoice Christian. Be at peace. Receive the salvation promised by your Father and in your joy and love that answers back the love He has for you, be matured daily to become more excellent, more enraptured by His Word, more controlling of the sin that is being put to death in you, more enduring and able to withstand the onslaught of sin in the world, more Godly in your focus, more loving to those that bear His image, and more loving of the One who has loved you with an Everlasting love.

The Gospel is simply this: God has done what we couldn’t do. Amazing Grace! We receive simply with empty hands offering nothing in return and then the love we have for our Redeemer comes bubbling out of the spring He is filling up within us and the character of a transformed life shines forth to the world!

Let us pray.

Categories
Epistles Scripture

A Ready Hope (1 Peter 3:13-17)

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1 Peter 3:13-17

Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.

As we continue in our expositional series through the Books of the Bible, we come to the First Peter. Many times in the Epistles, the authors will tell their audience why they are writing the letter. When Peter begins, however, he doesn’t explain why he’s writing to the Saints scattered around Asia Minor. As the letter develops, though, it becomes much clearer that the Epistle was written to encourage believers in their faith and to persevere in it. I pray that you may find that encouragement, as well, today.

More than a mere nice encouragement, though, Peter is giving the encouragement to readers who are facing real trials and real persecution ““ including death ““ and he is giving them words that are supposed to give them hope and strength and the ability to stand firm in the midst of persecution. The word hope occurs five times in First Peter and occurs in the passage we just read from 1 Peter Chapter 3.

It is interesting, as you read through this book, that the need for this hope is set against the suffering that Christians not only experience but are bound to experience in this life. Christians endure suffering in a world that is not their own. They are strangers in the world and, because of this, they are rejected by it. They are scorned by the world and experience suffering because they bear Christ’s name.

From the first to the last portions of the letter, Peter instructs believers to be holy and to avoid evil He wants believers to understand that there is something more to suffering than merely putting up with it but, more importantly, he wants to remind people that suffering is an expected part of the Christian life. In business, it is illegal to perform what is called “bait and switch”, that is to say that you cannot lure people to your business promising them a car for $10,000 and then, when they’re ready to by, you reveal that the price is really $20,000. It’s illegal and we know why because it is dishonest. But the promise of the Christian life is that we will suffer. It’s not a matter of if we will suffer but whether we are prepared for it. One thing is for sure and that is that we should not be surprised by suffering. Also, if there was no hope beyond it then suffering would just be pointless.

Hope is what makes suffering worthwhile. The Apostle Paul compares the suffering in the creation to the pains of a woman in labor. Look, ladies, the only reason that labor is exciting is that there’s a baby at the end of it. Imagine if you just experienced the incredible pain of labor constantly and you had no expectation that it would never end and that there would be no joy, no baby, at the end of it. Probably the saddest stories I’ve heard are of women that go through labor to give birth to stillborn children. All that pain and, at the end, only grief.

So the question for you, Christian, is this: what hope is it that you are supposed to be ready to give a defense of? After all, the apostle Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit has given us each a command and it is this: “”¦always be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence”¦.” Well, I’m asking you Christian: what is your hope?

This is a really serious question because, when sorrow comes, when persecution comes and when suffering more painful than child labor comes along, what hope are you clinging to that will sustain you? It is very sad to me, indeed, but it does not surprise me to hear more and more of people whose faith is shipwrecked because of the death of a child or a loved one or some other horror that awaits in this wicked world. I’m saddened but the reason I’m not surprised is how weak and pitiful the message of hope that I hear out of the mouths of Christians these days. Beloved, our hope is powerful but you have to have that hope in your bloodstream or the house of your belief is built on sand. The waves of sorrow in this life will crash against that house and wash it all away. I truly believe that when great persecution begins against the Christian Church in the United States that many people’s houses will crumble because they do not hear enough of the glorious hope that has to be the bedrock of their souls to withstand the suffering that the world will bring. In fact, the very way many of us have been trained to express our hope to others shows how poor our hope really is. I believe our hope can be much stronger and that is the goal of this passage.

What do I mean? Have you ever heard somebody witness Christ this way: Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Have you ever been taught that a personal testimony is supposed to be something like: I used to beat up my wife and my kids but then I accepted Jesus into my heart and now I don’t do that anymore.

Is our hope really about how much our lives have been improved since Jesus came into our hearts? Is it really? I know you might want to say it is but please stop and think about it for a second. What happens when the storm of sin and misery comes and our life falls apart around us? Then how are we supposed to “testify” of the wonderful things that God has done? What if our hope is nothing more than how good our life is going and our joy and hope is that things will be just like today but only better? Americans are particularly prone to this because we have such happy lives with very little poverty and want. It’s easy to mistake our material happiness with real hope.

Also, let me ask you another question: just because Jesus makes you happy, what difference does that make to me? I have Muslim friends that tell me how fulfilled their life is since they began reading Muhammad. I have Mormon friends that are convinced that their heart is most happy because they prayed a prayer in the Book of Mormon and received a burning in the bosom. Buddhists will “testify” of the inner peace that comes from within when you meditate on the sound of “one hand clapping”.

So the question for the “shopper” of meaning in life is: which one should I choose for happiness and hope? After all, aren’t we told that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you’re sincere? Aren’t we told that we have to have faith in something?

Beloved, our hope is not that we have hope. Our hope is not that we have faith. Our hope is not that we once we were sad but now we’re glad. Our hope is much more meaningful. The hope that we’re commanded to share points to something beyond ourselves. Our hope makes a claim on men’s lives that they have to pay attention to. If Christianity is just something that made my life nice then that’s good for Rich Leino but what difference does that make to Steve Jones? Works for Rich, he might say. But, what if our hope was not in ourselves but was fixed upon something else?

But wait, Rich, this is what we’ve grown up with. You can’t be serious. I mean, come on, who doesn’t love stories of men who were heroin addicts and they prayed to God for deliverance and, Presto!, they never craved the drug again? What about the alcoholic that prayed to God and, Glory!, they instantly hated alcohol and never craved a drink again in their lives? We love those stories. We want to parade them out as our Gospel “superstars”. Look how powerful the Gospel is because they’re happy now and delivered from sin and misery!

What about those stories, though? What about the thousands of others that have prayed to God for instant delivery from addiction after becoming a Christian and the delivery isn’t instant? What about the man that struggles with the same sin regularly and cannot conquer it and cries out to God that he doesn’t want to sin that way anymore? I thought the Gospel was supposed to be about how happy I am so why isn’t this working for me?! Why do I still struggle with my sin? But the majority of Christians have left such men in their misery and passed them by and run to these “superstars” and say: “This is the Gospel. Happiness. Health. Victory.”

But, oh, what about the poor sinner? Nobody goes to the Scriptures any more and hears Paul crying out in agony:

Romans 7:18-24

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Paul had a Gospel answer to that question. Paul had a hope that didn’t point to himself. Paul didn’t answer that question by thinking of Peter or Elijah or some other hero who lived a good life and got good things that came. Paul, one of the greatest evangelists that ever lived, knew that his hope was fixed on something more firm. Remember, beloved, that Paul prayed three times to be delivered from an affliction of the flesh and the answer from the Lord was “my grace is sufficient for you.” Do we have a hope that can trust in that answer?

Years ago there was a prominent man that was brought to all the typical large Evangelical meetings. His testimony was all about how perfect his life was now. He had once been a practicing homosexual. He was miserable in that life but, one day, he “found Christ” and prayed that he would be delivered from his sin. Now he was a happy man with a beautiful wife and children. As usual, he was brought around like a display of what Christianity offers.

The only problem is that men make for bad objects of faith. Because they’re not God, they end up disappointing those that place their trust in their lives. The man ended up falling greatly, left his wife, and went back into his homosexual lifestyle. The Evangelical community didn’t have much use for him then. Their object of hope had failed so they had to find another superstar to place on a pedestal.

Why is it we need to hear from sports figures or from the Power Team how happy Christ makes them? Maybe, just maybe, some of that will rub off on us and we can be super-successful too. Maybe our hope is that we’ll get everything good in life.

But, beloved, this is not the hope that Peter is talking about. Life is not going to give you everything you want and when you go placing your hope in how you or others have been changed then you will always be disappointed and you will never have any real testimony to share.

Well, I’m tired of talking about what our hope isn’t and you’re probably tired of hearing it so let’s just get to it. This, and this alone, is our hope. This is what can stand the trial. This is what another man cannot ignore when you share. This is what should make you be able to withstand the shame and persecution of the world. This is what should set you apart and make you blameless before the world for your conduct:

1 Peter 1: 3-12

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven–things into which angels long to look.

I don’t mean to sound like a grade school teacher when I remind you of this but our hope is Christ. Our hope is Christ. Our hope is Christ. Our hope is not how we feel about what Christ has done. Our hope is what Christ has done. Our hope is in a God that saw us in our great need, our death in sin and misery, our hatred of Him. He saw us in our despair and sent His Son into the world.

Beloved, the prophets of old used to pore over the Word of God longing, longing, longing to understand the mystery that was going to be revealed. What is this Messiah being spoken of? Who is this? The Rabbis were absolutely baffled. This Messiah is sometimes referred to as a man and sometimes referred to as God. Oh, how they longed to see what has been revealed in Christ Jesus.

Glory! It has burst upon the scenes of human history. There is no mystery remaining. There is no more wondering about what Messiah would do. There is no more anticipation of the saving work of a gracious God. All has been fully revealed in the person and work of Christ Jesus.

Our hope is that a real man named Jesus Christ came as the Son of God come down from heaven ““ God and man. Fully God so that He could obey the demands of the Law that no man could obey and so God obeyed it for us. And He came as fully man so He could represent us as our Priest who took the wrath of God upon Himself.

You see, beloved, our feelings can change. Our circumstances can become painful. We can be experiencing human suffering on a level that would make the birth of a child seem easy by comparison. But Christ’s work has been accomplished. It is fact. He died a death on a Cross to put away the curse of sin and death for everyone who believes. By placing my faith in Him, I am united to Him in His death and resurrection and I know that my victory over the grave is assured.

And so I have hope. I have hope when things are going well around me. But when suffering has come, I’ve had the Cross of Christ to look to for hope. When Anna was born, she had suffered multiple strokes and was severely anemic. I watched as my helpless little child gasped for every breath. Life has a way of coming into laser sharp focus when you think you’re about to lose a child just moments after the unspeakable joy of their birth. But I knew then how Job could say: though He slay me will I trust in Him! I had faith in a God that, through the tears of horror, I knew was my great Savior and would trust Him no matter the outcome. Glory be to God that Anna is well but that result was not certain from the beginning and we have no guarantees in this life that more profound suffering might await. Are we firm in our hope to withstand it when it comes?

We also have the Cross of Christ to look to in order that we may be empowered to obey our Savior out of gratitude. That Cross ought to transform our lives in a way that makes us different from the world. We can put up with the shame for Christ’s sake and live a life that honors the Savior who purchased us.

And so, because of that life, someone is bound to ask you or me, what is it that makes your life different?

Please, please after all of this, I hope that your answer isn’t merely that Jesus makes you happy and He can make somebody else happy too. I pray that you will learn to testify of what Christ has done to save sinners. I pray that you will testify of His life, of His work, and of His sacrifice for sin. Don’t have them look to your life, but at the life of Christ. Then turn to the man who is asking and tell him of his need for a Savior that takes away sins and testify of Christ as the only remedy for their sin. That is a hope that can never fade away or tarnish. That is a hope that demands a response from everyone. That is a hope that can sustain. Our hope is either in Christ or it is worth nothing at all.

Let us pray.

Categories
Devotion

Shut Up, Fool!

Shut Up, Fool! –

Plato once said:

“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.”

And another has said:

“Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt”

Which was no doubt derived from one of the wisest of the wise, writing in Scripture:

“Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.” – Proverbs 27:28 

Which brings us to a related text:

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. – James 1:19,20

In a previous post, we disucssed Peter’s lil’ Foot-in-Mouth problem, and I also conceded my own problem with that dreaded foe. Isn’t it amazing how the same subject is addressed all throughout Scripture? I mean, it’s almost like all the books of the Bible have the same Author (hint, hint, ;) ). This same observation lets us know that diarrhea of the mouth is no small problem.

I think, though, we can deduce more than just foot-in-mouth issues with what James is addressing here. A cursory glance at the text tells us something about how presumption and impatience leads to unfounded anger. An immediate example which comes to mind can be derived from just perusing an internet message board…even a “Christian” one (gasp!). The misunderstandings that can ensue are boundless sometimes, it seems.

The instructions given by James need to be applied in most of our dealings, but especially are dealings with fellow believers. May we keep these words of James in mind while conversating, communicating, and discussing with those around us. I’ll leave you with a quote from another great Puritan, Richard Sibbes:

It would be a good contest amongst Christians, one to labour to give no offence, and the other to labour to take none. The best men are severe to themselves, tender over others.

 

 

[Reformers, Puritans, and a Geek]

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Devotion

Foot-in-Mouth

Foot-in-Mouth –

Matthew 16:15-23

15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. 21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

If ever there was a time to for one to reflect on something they’ve just learned, Peter’s situation here would’ve been just that. Instead, he immediately, it seems, forgot what he’d just confessed and a whole lotta stupid proceeded drivelingly forward from his mouth. Defintely a case that could be categorized as foot-in-mouth.

As easy as it is too look at poor lil’ Peter and single him out because his blunder has been recorded in the Holy Writ, I have to admit something. He reminds me of me. You see, one moment I’m confessing Christ and do everything to the glory of God, then BAM, it’s as if I’ve forgotten what I just confessed and I’m stickin’ my nose in the pig sty of sin.

Why, why, why!?!? Who will rescue me from this body of death? “Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ!” 

 

[Reformers, Puritans, and a Geek]