Tag: sin

Categories
Devotion

God is Good. All the Time.

God is Good. All the Time. –

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. – James 1:16-18

Hitler. Mussolini. Stalin. Hussein. Fill in the blank. All were government leaders. All were corrupt. But the main point I wish to express by their mention is this: They were tyrants. They abused their power, which reminds me of that saying, Absolute power corrupts…absolutely. Ruling with iron fists (and iron hearts) they didn’t even begin to consider the good of their people. Their ultimate goals were not pure, but self-serving. Whethere it was their racism, classism, attempts to secure a good legacy at any cost, or just priding in their control over the masses, it can be shown they were selfish, not sacrificial in their rule.

Many anti-Christs in our day would like for folks to not believe in God, particularly the true God as made known by the Scriptures. When they fail to persuade people of such, they proceed to paint a caricature of a god who is like the previously mentioned dictators. They make foolish remarks like, “If God’s so good, then why…” Fill in the blank with all the typical phrases. “…does He allow cancer? Why do children get abused?” So on, so forth, etc. ad nauseum. They contend that a good and loving Ruler wouldn’t permit such things.

The problem with such thinking is that it’s rooted in some idea that man is basically good. I believe it was John Locke who articulated the phrase tabula rasa which means “clean slate”. So the idea was that man is born innocent or neutral and at birth has a clean slate. Ideas have consequences, my friends. Based on this false assertion (that man is born with a clean slate) is the idea that, amongst other things:

1. If man lives perfectly, he can attain eternal life apart from anyone or anything else’s help. In turn, this leads to:

2. The idea of man’s work being measured by a scale at the end of time. So long as his good outweighs his bad, he’s “in”.

As I have mentioned elsewhere, though, such a view is patently false. Man is bent, from conception, toward sin, death, and with a hatred of God’s law. The importance of this basic doctrine is almost incalculable. It is precisely in light of this truth we may discern the inherent and absolute goodness of God. You see, God is not a tyant, nor a dictator. He is a good God. He alone is truly good and though He rules and reigns both sovereignly and supremely, He does so by virtue of His goodness, justice, mercy, and grace.

This is not to say he overlooks sin. No, He does not avoid exacting His justice for the penalty which sin brings. Let it be known: there is no sin that will go unpunished. Not one! Just as each and every person born of mere human parents is a transgressor by nature, so will each and every sin committed by those persons be known, accounted for, and paid in full.

You ask, “But, Josh, what of Christians? Are their sins not forgiven?” Certainly! But they are not simply written off. No! May it never be thought of in such a manner. Every sin ever committed by a true Christian is an affront to God’s holiness and purity. Because God is just, He cannot, nay, He will not cheat Himself. He doesn’t merely pretend that our sins didn’t occur. His justice demands payment.

Herein we find God’s goodness! Christ the Lord has made atonement for each of our sins and has satisfied God’s demand for justice to be served. Christ was accursed for us! That, brothers and sisters, is the epitome of Good. If the Christian can grasp this truth fully, then all things God sends his direction can be seen as ultimately flowing from the goodness of God.

Precisely because we believe God is inherenty good, we can be confident in forgiveness of sin. Because we believe God is good, we can boast of our infirmities, glory in our afflictions, and persevere under trial. Because we believe God is inherently good we can have assurance of salvation, despite our ongoing war with the flesh that still lingers.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord for He, in His goodness, has graciously, mercifully and certainly brought us from darkness into His glorious light! Think on this, Christian, and be not deceived; rather, bask in God’s goodness, whatever your humble circumstance.

 

[Reformers, Puritans, and a Geek]

Categories
Devotion

On Guard, Christian!

On Guard, Christian! –

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. – James 1:12-15

About two years ago, I had the privilege of meeting some of my Christian brothers whom I knew from a favorite online message board. On this same occasion there was a “Men’s Rally” being held at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Mississippi. It was wonderful to sit under the preaching and teaching of Dr. Sinclair Ferguson. Excepting the Lord’s Day gathering that followed that weekend, there were two sessions. Dr. Ferguson spent one session on the subject of trials and the other on temptation.

One particular Dr. Ferguson expressed concerning temptation will always stand out in my mind. I don’t remember if it was his own choice of words (I think), or if he was simply paraphrasing John Owen, but his thoughts were along these lines:

“Sometimes in our lives the desire to sin is present, but not the opportunity. At other times, the opportunity presents itself, but the desire is absent. Temptation is most present and at its strongest when the sperm of desire and the egg of opportunity meet.”

What a way to put it, and how true it is! Friends, it is when opportunity and desire grather one with another that we must up the ante eve more on our guard. “Stay dressed for action and keeps your lamps burning”, Christ says. When temptation comes, and it will, the Christian must be ready. Not only is an active alert, preparation necessary, but also, oddly enough, a resignation of the pilgrim’s trust in his own ability to fight; rather, he must, as William Gurnall has so aptly penned, “Take special care not to trust in the armour of God, but in the God of the armour.”

We are deceived if we think we will not face trial or temptation. Though it is true Jesus said to his disciples, “Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation”, we cannot take this to mean we won’t ever face such. From The Christian in Complete Armour we read:

“Now if this bold tempter watched Christ so closely, does it not seem likely he will scout you, too, hoping sooner or later to find your graces slumbering? What he misses now by your watchfulness he may gain later by your negligence.”

So, Christians let us rouse ourselves, be alert, and stay alert, and let us never forget the hideousness and heinousness of sin, that we might remain steadfast under trail and receive the crown of life. Amen. I leave you with one more quote from Gurnall with some food for thought:

Because the devil is a very subtle enemy, the saint must always be on his guard. Satan is called the old serpent. The serpent is subtle above other creatures; and an old serpent, above other serpents. If Satan was too crafty for man in his perfection, how much more dangerous to us now in our maimed condition – for we have never recovered from that first crack Adam’s fall gave to out understanding. And as we have lost knowledge, so Satan has gained more and more experience. Granted, he lost his heavenly wisdom as soon as he became a devil, but ever since, he has increased his craft. And while he does not have wisdom enough to do himself good, yet he has knowledge enough to do others harmd. God showed us where Satan’s strength lies when He promised to bruise the head of the serpent; with his head crushed, he will soon die.

 

[Reformers, Puritans, and a Geek]

I’m a Glutton…but at least I’m not a Drunkard!

Prov 23:20-21

Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty:
and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

I’ve been reflecting lately on the hypocrisy that many Evangelicals have toward alchohol consumption compared to overindulgence in eating. Manmade doctrine in many evangelical circles condemns any and all alchohol consumption while virtually ignoring or revelling in the sin of gluttony. The Scriptures link drunkenness and gluttony together as virtually identical sins.

What is sad about this issue is that those who preach complete abstinence are missing the whole point of the Scriptures concerning these things. They complete ignore Paul in Collosians 2:

20Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,

21(Touch not; taste not; handle not;

22Which all are to perish with the using; ) after the commandments and doctrines of men?

They turn alchohol into something that ought not to be touched where the Scriptures would only condemn its wanton overindulgence.

At the same time, however, about 30-40% (or more) of the American Church are gluttons reflecting the general population. It’s virtually a maxim of Churches to say that “…we sure know how to eat in this Church….” I’ve heard that statement from Independents, Presbyterians, and Baptists – all from the pastors of the Churches.

Like most things these days, everything is turned on its head. The majority of “Evangelicals” get bent out of shape if man consumes alchohol in moderation (something that God has given to man to bless him) but then revel in a sin that God has equated with drunkeness.

The blindspot on this issue is simply baffling.

Categories
Sacraments

Infant Baptism: The Difference between Roman Catholicism and Reformed Theology

What’s the difference between the RC view and the Reformed view of infant baptism?

Peace,

jm

Much in every way! The Roman Catholic view sees baptism first as an act of Grace that occurs “by the working of the works”. That is, the Sacrament itself, infuses Grace and effectively places the child in a state of grace before God. The grace infused, however, is conditional. The grace can be overthrown and killed in the individual by sin.

The Reformed view is that baptism is ministerial. That is, the minister announces what God has promised in His Word concerning the Covenant inclusion of children and it initiates the child into the covenant community. While the sign and seal of Baptism are not separate from what they signify (real union with Christ) they are not identical. That is to say that we do not believe that the minister is actually conferring union with Christ on the child by the “working of the works” but is announcing the promise of God. That promise is that what Baptism signifies (union with Christ) is promised to the child when he places trust in the Gospel. It is the same thing for an adult in fact. As surely as you see the water signifiying the washing of the filth of the flesh, so are your sins washed away if you believe in the Gospel. It is a visible sign and seal of God’s promise to us that we can look to when the enemy is so oft telling us we are not worthy of such Grace.

In RC baptism, you get in by the Church’s ability to infuse God’s saving grace and you stay in by cooperating with that grace lest you kill it and your “grace meter” goes to a point where justifying grace is killed.

In Reformed baptism, the minister declares the promise of God and seals God’s promises to the recipient. Grace, through faith, saves from beginning to end.

I have a problem with the term presumptive regeneration because presumption carries a connotation that I do not believe parents should have. When I presume something, it means I can take it for granted and little is expected on my part. I know that’s a semantic issue but words have consequences. I also don’t like the idea of presuming regeneration simply because I don’t know the hidden counsel of God. I look at it this way: my chilren are Christians and I treat them like that. I don’t treat them like they’re tiny pagans in my household with no different status than my pagan neighbors before God. They are holy because they are in my Covenant household. This gracious God says to me: “I’m not just promising to save you but your children as well.” A glorious thing indeed that those most dear to me in this world, beside my wife, are not my spiritual enemies.

I pray with them like little Christians with a seminal faith – faith as small as a mustard seed (thank you Rev. Winzer). I know that God has promised to save them if they call upon His name just as He has promised to save me under the same Covenant promise. I do not question their election any more than I question mine for my business is God’s precepts and not His hidden decree.

And so, contrary to my Roman Catholic upbringing, when my children sin, I do not raise them to worry that they’re in danger of hellfire as they have just killed the infused grace within them and need to have the Church dispense more saving grace in Penance. Rather, I discipline them as one who believes their sin has been punished in Christ. I train them to ask their Heavenly Father for forgiveness that they have offended Him in their sin, and I teach them to thank Christ for the salvation of sins found only in Him for those that believe in Him.

The difference between Roman Catholic Baptism and Reformed Baptism (aka Christian) is the difference between the doctrine of demons and a visible sign and seal of God’s Grace to His elect.

Autumn Color and the Death of the Amish Children

From my blog

Thou art good, and doest good…Ps 119:68

Colors converge toward copper here, passing red, not quite gold. Our chickens are deep golden-buff and scarlet-combed. Crimson-leaved blueberries and cayenne-orange mountain ash berries, saturated in mid-autumn sun, hang on, closer to life than dormancy.

Even in my pleasant garden, I am never unaware of perturbation. Intermittent sirens and helicopters herald the presence of sin and pain and need.

This week a small Amish community in Pennsylvania buried five schoolgirls, murdered despite the girls’ likely compliance with their killer’s demand that they pray for him to protect him from carrying out his horrific crime.

Today, as are all days, is a good day to be a Calvinist.

Only a Calvinist sees events like this in a light that comports with God’s own testimony: the absolute sovereignty of his perfect will. God’s sovereignty prevails over peace and over perturbation.

Does this make Calvinists callous? That is a testy and ignorant misconception. We grieve the grievous. We know the grievous could always be more grievous. We see restraint present in the world, despite sin. We understand the end of all things, including ourselves, is the glory of God. To God alone the glory.

Is God implacable? No; he is merciful. His law and his judgments are perfect and righteous (Ps 19:7; Ps 119:7). Our God is in the heavens, and he hath done whatsoever he pleased (Ps 115:3).

Did it please God to have a crazed reprobate kill five children? Behold the evidence. Yes, it did. It pleased him to have crazed reprobates kill his own son. Had it not, our sin would be unredeemed, and we would justly suffer in hell, just as surely as crazed reprobate killers of little girls.

A hard thing. But sin is sin, and death is death, and death does not always come packaged neatly wrapped in human poetic justice.

Our faith rests in him whose righteous judgments are perfect.

God is a righteous judge,
Yea, a God that hath indignation every day Ps 7:11.

I will give thanks unto Jehovah according to his righteousness,
And will sing praise to the name of Jehovah Most High Ps 7:17.

Categories
Devotion

The House of Mill: All Mirrors, No Windows

This is from my blog, Board Housewife & The Cat

I am still reading Dabney to the Cat. He takes it in through his senses. James and son John Stuart Mill would posit that I, if I formulate any ideas about their work, am experiencing “copies of single sensations.”

The Cat, whose ideation begins and ends with his own sensory learning, disbelieves Mill. The Cat learns everything in one take and finds insulting the idea of copies of his own uniquely perfect sensations.

The Cat does not think that I am as capable a learner as he. According to Mill, the Cat would be right. But the Cat would still be a lower animal in Mill’s scheme, because he cannot name his sensations, and I can. I will not read that part to the Cat.

According to Mill, my cumulative learning and experience, from hot stovetops to jurisprudence, is a bundle of habits. (But how would he account for my bad habits of not learning from experience? I have burned myself more than once.) I have received no a priori input, not even language. I have learned nothing but that to which my senses have had the happy or unhappy occasion to be exposed. I am a perfectly revelation-proof being.

So that is how Mill proposes to escape God! God will never make it past those nerve bundles. Mill has devised a scheme to enable man to make himself inaccessible to revelation.

Once man acquires an idea through his senses, he will “mark,” or “name” it, so that he can remember it, so that he may repeat it or not, depending on whether it was enjoyable or not. So man can define reality by naming what he likes. The logical corollary is, he may elect not to name anything he doesn’t like. Poof. All gone. No more unhappy thing.

I have encountered children who were unable to extrapolate because of brain damage. You could set up a simple arithmetic problem: put five oranges on a table, remove three, and show them that two were left. Then, if you put five apples on the table, you would have to start all over again. They had no idea what would happen if you removed three apples. Mill’s reasoning, notwithstanding his creditable intelligence, is similar. His scheme simply does not permit extrapolation. Each idea must be built on an identical chain of experiences. Since apprehension of God’s revelation of himself requires abstract thought, Mill’s refusal to abstract is another God-proofing mechanism.

Objective reality is necessarily elusive in Mill’s scheme. A rock, for instance, is a “permanent possibility of sensations.” We might as well vote on the meaning of that one.

Educators study John Stuart Mill today. (His work, according to Dabney, differed from his father’s by accentuating it at its most torqued.) They learn that the end of education is the individual’s happiness. Dabney notes this in his chapter on Mill: “Hence, it follows that moral education consists simply in establishing desirable associations between acts and consequences, by the frequent repetition of the right acts” (Robert L. Dabney, The Sensualistic Philosophy, Naphtali Press, 2003, p. 58.) But with no a priori information as to what “right” is, who can know what should be repeated? The senses, of course. Happy sensations are worth repeating.

Mill should not be accused of saying that men disregard the welfare of fellow men in favor of their own happiness. The bludgeoner does not have the right to bludgeon repeatedly because it makes him happy. Mill provides for moral categories of prudence and fortitude (duties to ourselves), and justice and benevolence (duties to our neighbors). However, some sort of unrevealed natural desire comes into play–there is, once again, no a priori revelation of what constitutes prudence or justice or benevolence. Men simply learn from experience what is pleasurable and what is painful. In a world without sin and sociopathy, this might even be thinkable. But we do not live in a world without sin and sociopathy. Nor, contrary to Mill’s premise, do we live in a world without revealed law.

Once again, the sensualist is lost in his own quagmire, attempting to God-proof himself. He has built a house of mirrors–surrounding himself with his own perceptions of the consequences of his own experiences–with no windows admitting the light of revelation.

…every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Ju 17:6; 21:25

For being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. Ro 10:3

Categories
Prophets

Holy, Holy, Holy – Isaiah 6:1-8

It’s with a bit of trepidation that I share the below.  Some will see the fingerprints of Dr. R.C. Sproul all over it.  I delivered the following message to Central Baptist Church, Okinawa, Japan on Sunday, Aug 6, 2006.  My prayer is that it helped awaken some to the Holiness of God.

 “Holy, Holy, Holy”

One of the problems that I have with modern Protestants is that I often want to tell them:  “Your God is too small.”  In fact, that is the title of a Book by J.B. Phillips.  Why do I say that?  I say that because most people have a small view of the power and Glory of God.  It’s bad enough that many Americans want to acknowledge a “higher power” as long as it doesn’t involve the name Jesus Christ.  It is worse to me that those who claim the title “Christian” make God out to be weak.  They make Him to be a kindly grandfather or cosmic Santa Claus who can’t get over how much He loves us human beings.  Some see him as powerless to thwart Satan in this world unless we help Him.  Others picture Him as powerless to act on human hearts without the permission of human commands.

Think of this common phrase:  “Jesus is waiting outside the door of your heart pleading to come in.”  What image comes to mind?  Does it make Jesus seem strong and powerful?  Does it make Him seem like King of Kings and Lord of Lords?  Does it match up with the picture of Him found in Scripture?  You see, we live with certain conceptions for so long that we start to accept them as Biblical.

The second Commandment prohibits the making of idols.  God forbids that any man should form anything and bow down to it.  God is the only one worthy of worship.  But idolatry begins in the mind.  There are all kinds of idols of the mind concerning God.  Islam, for instance, rejects the Son and Spirit as God and make God completely distant from men.  Though they do not bow down to statues exactly, but their god is no god at all but an idol of the mind.

I’m training my children to learn about God at an early age by teaching them answers to basic questions.  When I ask my son James, “What is God?”, his answer is, “God is a Spirit and doesn’t have a body like men.”  That’s a good answer for a four year old but a more thorough, but still brief, answer is:  “God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, And unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.”

That’s a great, short answer.  It obviously doesn’t tell us everything about God but it gives us a rich way of thinking about Him.  Each of those terms (infinite, eternal, wisdom, power, etc) are what some like to call the attributes of God.  God is all of those things and not just one of them.  You cannot merely say God is eternal but not wise.  You can’t say He is infinite but not powerful.

When you ask most people:  “What is God?”  They’ll say:  “God is love.”  That’s Biblical, right?  The New Testament does say that God is love but God also calls Himself Just, Jealous, Angry and a lot of other things throughout Scripture.  But LOVE is something we can get behind isn’t it?  If God is just Love then He’s cuddly.  He’s cute.  I can handle a God who is Love because then I can just make up whatever I want to think about what love is and say:  “That’s God.”  I once remember watching Oprah and some lady said:  “I don’t know if I believe in God.”  Oprah responded, “Do you believe in love?”  The lady said “Yes” to which Oprah responded “Then you believe in God.”  To most people “God is Love” has become “Love is God.”

Remember I said that some Christians can create idols in their own minds concerning God?  Well, the way that many speak of God as being love is so imbalanced and so completely ignores everything else that He is, that they twist and contort who God is to the point of creating an idol in their minds.

But Christians are not supposed to worship idols in their minds.  We want to know God as He is.  We want God to tell us who He is so that we might know better who we worship.

So we might better understand that God, we will be considering the Holiness of God.  Let us read Isaiah 6:1-8.

Isaiah 6

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said:

      ” Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!”

 4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 So I said:

      ” Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The LORD of hosts.”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said:

” Behold, this has touched your lips;
Your iniquity is taken away,
And your sin purged.”

8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:

” Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?”

Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

The passage opens with Isaiah reporting the year of this event.  It was the year that King Uzziah died.  Uzziah had reigned in Judah for 52 long years – two and a half generations.  Though significant in the history of the nation, more significant for Isaiah here is what happened.  Isaiah reports:  “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.”

In his vision, the first thing he reports seeing is the Lord sitting on a throne.  Kings sit on thrones.  This throne is not merely any throne, however, but one that is high and lifted up.  This conveys power.  This conveys majesty.

Isaiah notes that the train of the Lord’s robe literally fills the temple.  Throughout history, royalty have worn robes with long trains.  Very important kings would have many attendants that would carry the long trains of their robes.  The robes were a sign of power and of majesty.  The longer the train, the more powerful the king.  The Lord’s robe is so majestic that the train literally fills the temple.

Isaiah continues in verse 2:

Is 6:2 “Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.”

Did you catch how many wings the Seraphim have?

Six.

How many are actually used for flying?

Two.

An interesting design isn’t it?  God has created angels that fly around in His presence and they have six wings with only two used for flying.  The other four have a very definite purpose, however.

Notice what the angels are using them for:  two are covering their eyes and two are covering their feet.  God, in His mercy, created these beings to be protected in His presence.  They have wings to cover their eyes, for God is too majestic to look upon.  They have two wings to cover their feet as the Scriptures repeatedly connect holiness with uncovered feet.  Think of Moses at the burning bush.

What do these Seraphim do?

Is 6:3 And one cried to another and said:

      ” Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;

      The whole earth is full of His glory!”

When we use the English language to emphasize a point, we have different ways of doing so.  We can put something in bold letters.  We can underline the text.  We can add an adjective to say that my wife is the most beautiful woman in the whole world.

The Hebrew language also has those tools but it uses another tool when a Hebrew really wants to emphasize something.  If something is really going to be emphasized in the Hebrew it is repeated.  There is an amusing piece of Hebrew literature that refers to a “pit pit”.  This is a very, very, very deep pit.  If you fall into a pit then you’re in big trouble but if you fall into a “pit pit” you may never get yourself out.  It sounds very funny but using the term twice emphasizes it.  Christ, when making an important point, would sometimes say, “Amen, amen” before teaching something.  Paul in Galatians 1:8-9 repeats a curse twice for anyone who distorts the Gospel.

Repeating things twice in the Scripture for emphasis is relatively rare.  If everything was repeated twice to make extra emphasis then it would be hard to distinguish between all the really important things.

While repeating things twice in the Scriptures is rare, repeating things three times is so rare that it occurs only three times in the Scriptures.  This is one of them.

You see, the Scriptures do not just say God is Holy.  They do not say God is Holy, Holy.  The Scriptures teach us that God is HOLY, HOLY, HOLY.

The Scriptures don’t teach that God is love, love, love or mercy, mercy, mercy or kindness, kindness, kindness.  Those are all true of Him but nothing in Scripture is so underlined and emphasized as the fact that God is Holy, Holy, Holy.

Notice also the term that God is given here:  LORD of Hosts.  Some of you may have Bibles that show the difference in the Hebrew Word used here.  In verse 1, Isaiah sees the Lord on the throne but the spelling is L-o-r-d.  Here, in verse 3, the spelling is L-O-R-D.  Why?  Because they are two different Hebrew words.  The Hebrew word translated to Lord in verse 1 is Adonai while the Hebrew word translated to LORD in verse 3 is Yahweh.  Yahweh is God’s covenantal name given to Moses at the burning bush.  It is the name He uses when He commands that His name not be taken in vain in the 10 commandments.  The Hebrew people had so much reverence for the Covenant name of Yahweh that they would not speak it for fear of pronouncing it incorrectly.  When they would encounter this name in the Scriptures they would actually substitute the name Adonai.  We note the difference here because it is important to show the difference to which we let God’s name fall of our tongue with no reverence or even as a curse compared to our ancient forefathers who were very careful to respect His name.

This event that Isaiah describes is so powerful that the doorposts of the place he sees are shaken and the temple is filled with smoke.

So how does Isaiah react?  Does he start joking with God saying “Hey God how are you doing up there?”  Does he yawn and say “Man, this religious stuff is BORING!”

Not quite.  Isaiah’s response is:

Is 6:5

” Woe is me, for I am undone!

      Because I am a man of unclean lips,

      And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;

      For my eyes have seen the King,

      The LORD of hosts.”

There are two basic type of prophetic utterances in the Scriptures.  They are sometimes called the Oracles of Weem and the Oracles of Woe.  An Oracle of Weem is when a Prophet blesses a nation or a person.  Christ is pronouncing an Oracle of Weem (blessing) when He says:  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are you when they persecute you, etc.”  Those are nice.  If you’re the recipient of an Oracle of Weem then smile, the favor of God is upon you.  Those are bearings of good tidings.

Oracles of Woe are the exact opposite:  “Woe unto you Pharisees, hypocrites!”  That is a prophetic curse being called down, by God’s prophet, upon the heads of the people cursed.  God help any of us who hears an Oracle of Woe and it concerns us.  One of the other examples of the triple repetition in Revelation 8:13 when a bird calls out to the Earth:  “Woe!  Woe!  Woe!” to announce judgment.  The sound of that herald will be absolutely terrifying.

So what does Isaiah do when He sees the Lord on His throne?  He says:  “Woe is me!  For I am undone!”  What?  He is cursing himself!  The prophet is cursing himself for having seen the majesty of God.  God’s majesty has overwhelmed him so much that he is literally cursing himself for having seen it.

When Americans say:  “That guy has it together…” we mean that he’s got a lot of things going for him and is someone to be respected.  Isaiah says he is literally undone at the sight of God.  He is coming apart at the seams.

Why is this so bad?  I thought seeing God would be like seeing Santa Claus?  I’ve never been undone at the sight of Santa Claus.

Isaiah says he is undone because:  “I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;”

Isaiah recognizes that, as upright as he seemed in the community, he was unclean in the presence of a Holy God.  It is our mouths that speak falsehoods and repeatedly dishonor God.  James says that our tongues are a restless evil, full of poison that we both bless and curse God with.

Isaiah not only sees his own sin here but notes that he lives among a people that are as wicked as he is:  a people of unclean lips.  I wonder how we would stack up to the people of Judah and how unclean our lips are in comparison.  At least they were careful with the name of God.  We use God’s name as a curse word constantly in this society.

If you had a chance to only make 10 rules for society then what would they be?

How many of you would have made the very first four rules that honored God and His Holiness?  That’s the order that God gives to His rules.  If you were an Israelite and cursed the name of God then you had a lot more to worry about than dirty looks from Christians who said “I don’t appreciate that.”  Blasphemy was a capital crime and punishable by death.  THAT’S how serious God takes His holiness and His holy name.

By now I hope you are getting an idea at the difference between the pictures that the Bible uses to describe God and the idols we often fashion in our minds.  But you might be saying to me:  “Rich, that’s the Old Testament.  God was mean back then.  He was angry.  He mellowed out when Jesus came.  Now He’s cuddly.”

Well I could point out to you that God is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore.  God does not change.  Maybe it’s just the Father though and the Son is cool.  The Son wouldn’t scare a prophet would He?

Some atheists, in their lame attempt to justify their rebellion against God, have come up with an “evolutionary” explanation for religion.  They say that nature is a scary thing and primitive man had to have a way to escape that fear so they came up with a God that would protect them from all the disasters in nature that would befall them.  Well, I believe the reasons Atheists refuse to acknowledge God is because men are more afraid of God than they are of nature.  Let’s consider, for a moment, Mark 4:35-41:

Mark 4:35-41

35 On that day, when evening came, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.”

 36 Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him.

 37 And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up.

 38 Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

 39  And He got up and (AA)rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.

 40 And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? (AB)Do you still have no faith?”

 41 They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

Experienced fishermen are on the sea when a sudden storm descends upon that valley and makes the sea so violent that they fear for death.  They wake Jesus up and He rebukes the waves.  If you notice in the account, they are only afraid of the waves but after Jesus stills the waters by the power of His authority, they are very much afraid.  Afraid of what?  Afraid of HIM.  That’s what Holiness strikes in man:  fear.  This is but one of many examples where Christ’s Holiness frightens men.  When Peter is first called He tells Jesus to depart from him because Peter has just seen the power of God and realizes he is a sinner.

If any of you are hearing about Jesus’ holiness scaring people for the first time then let me really surprise you with something.  Turning to John 12:37-41 we read:

John 12:37-41

37 Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.

38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:

   “Lord, who has believed our message

      and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

 39For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:

 40″He has blinded their eyes

      and deadened their hearts,

   so they can neither see with their eyes,

      nor understand with their hearts,

      nor turn-and I would heal them.”

41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

John is quoting Isaiah right after the passage we’re looking at in Isaiah 6.  Remember, we have Isaiah groveling on the ground, stunned into cursing himself.  Who is it that He sees high and lifted up?  Whose train fills the temple?  Who is it that is Holy, Holy, Holy?

It is JESUS!  It is the Son of God before He had taken on flesh.  That is who Isaiah sees.

Do you understand why I have a problem with the picture of Jesus knocking on the door of sinner’s hearts pleading to come in?  THIS is the Biblical picture of the Son of God’s power and majesty.  The thought of Him pitiful and weak outside the door of a man’s heart is unbiblical and dishonors God.

But in all of this we forgot about poor Isaiah.  While we’ve been busy, Isaiah is still on the ground crushed by the fear of God’s Holiness.  Does God leave His servant in agony?  Of course not.  Our God is a merciful God.  This is the Son of God who Isaiah is standing in front of and the Son is the Redeemer.

Isaiah 6:6-7 reports

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said:

      ” Behold, this has touched your lips;
Your iniquity is taken away,
And your sin purged.”

The picture here is unexpected.  A hot coal is taken from the altar and touches the mouth of Isaiah.  We would expect this to be searing hot and cause a great deal of pain but the quick remedy provided by the angel takes away Isaiah’s iniquity.  It purges his sin.  With his iniquity taken away he can stand upright in the presence of God.  With his sin purged, he is brought back to his right mind and he is capable of thinking again.  Our iniquity must be taken away or heaven would not be a place of pleasure in the presence of God.  Sin cannot stand to be in the presence of a Holy God and a Holy God cannot bear to look at sin.  I think it might be the realization of God’s hatred toward sin that makes being in His presence so unbearable.  I think he exposes the ugliness of it and we are starkly aware of our condemnation before Him.  Is it any wonder that the Scriptures speak of unbelievers asking the mountains to cover them at the Judgment.  God’s Holiness is a terrible thing to look upon when your sin remains with you.

So with a purified heart, Isaiah hears God ask:

8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:

      ” Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?”

Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

In the presence of God, he hears God ask for a volunteer to go out for Him.  Isaiah immediately responds:  “Here I am!  Send me.”

“Here I am.”  Isaiah has not lost his identity.  His personality is not swallowed up into the majesty of God as some pagan ideas of God teach.  Even after seeing God as He is, he’s still a person.  He still has an identity.  He’s still Isaiah.  He answers:  “Here I am!”

“Send me.”  Isaiah is eager to serve His God.  He has seen the crushing majesty of God’s Holiness and had his sin forgiven.  His Savior, the mighty God, wants a volunteer.  Who wouldn’t answer yes having received such a gift of Grace?

Isaiah was only beginning his prophetic ministry and what a hope he now had.  Isaiah was privileged to serve His Savior for many years prophesying to a people who would not listen.  Tradition has it that Isaiah was eventually martyred by being sawn in two.  But this was a man who had seen Adonai.  This was a man who had seen Yahweh of Hosts.  He had seen Him high and lifted up.  He had even lived to report the event because his sin was purged.  And Isaiah was to go on to prophesy of this same Son of God He had seen on the throne in Isaiah 53:

Isa 53:4-9

4 Surely He has borne our griefs

And carried our sorrows;

Yet we esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

And by His stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray;

We have turned, every one, to his own way;

And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

Yet He opened not His mouth;

He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,

And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

So He opened not His mouth.

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,

And who will declare His generation?

For He was cut off from the land of the living;

For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.

9 And they made His grave with the wicked –

But with the rich at His death,

Because He had done no violence,

Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

The Son of God, come to Earth to be reviled and rejected, hated by men.

Can you understand all the more how much Christ emptied Himself to come on the Earth and to be abused and hated by men?  He who knew all Glory and Majesty in heaven came to Earth because sinful men would never be able to be in His presence without His atonement.  He was bruised for our iniquities and bore on Himself the sins which we deserve to bear.

This is the Gospel!

A Holy God.

No.  A Holy, Holy, Holy God in whose presence we would be unable to stand.

  Because we could not go to Him, He came to us.  Because we could not obey, He obeyed for us.  Because we only spoke unclean things, He always spoke the good, the beautiful, and the pure.  Because we could not pay for our transgressions and the sin was greater than we could bear, He died, He became sin for us.

THAT, beloved, is a God worthy of your worship!  That is a God who must be worshipped.  Praise Him that He makes us anew that we can come into His magnificent presence and proclaim:  “Here am I, Send me!”

Categories
Devotion

Saving Faith

Faith lives in a broken heart. He cried out with tears, “Lord, I believe.” True faith is always in a heart bruised for sin. They, therefore, whose hearts were never touched for sin, have no faith. If a physician should tell us there was a herb that would help us against all infections, but it always grows in a watery place; if we should see a herb like it in colour, leaf, smell, blossom, but growing upon a rock, we should conclude that it was the wrong herb. So saving faith always grows in a heart humbled for sin, in a weeping eye and a tearful conscience.

Categories
Gospels and Acts

Unclean!

Luke 17:11-19

Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.  Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.  And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God,  and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?   Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”  And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

And so we come to an event in Jesus’ ministry as He is on His way to Jerusalem.  Luke mentions, in passing that Jesus is passing between Galilee and Samaria.

Samaria was considered an unclean region for Jews.  They viewed the Samaritans as dogs, as unclean people.  The Samaritans were related to the Jews as the Northern Kingdom of Israel had existed there.  But the Northern Kingdom had passed away centuries before due to the idolatry of that nation.  The Samaritans had intermarried with the pagan nations and had only retained a perverted form of the religion of the Scriptures.  They worshipped in the high places in the North and not in Jerusalem as commanded nor did they offer sacrifices in Jerusalem.  And so, many Jews would walk completely around Samaria if they ever had to venture outside of Judea.  They would rather go days out of their way by foot then even touch the unclean soil of Samaria.

And so it is in passing that Luke mentions that Christ is passing near that region on His way to Jerusalem.

As Christ is entering a village He encounters ten lepers who stood afar off.

Why did they stand afar off? Why did Luke mention that Christ encountered them outside of the town? Let us turn to Leviticus Chapter 13.

I will not read the entirety of Leviticus 13 but it gives several different examples and rules for the Priests to use to determine whether not a person has leprosy. Leprosy is a term to refer to different types of skin diseases, the worst of which would cause hands, legs, nose, and other body parts to wither as the person became increasingly disfigured until they eventually died a horrific death. Whether a milder form of the disease, Leviticus 13 gives many examples of how to diagnose and the end result is the same in all cases for the leper. Let me read for you the concluding verses in Leviticus 13:45-46
Lev 13:45-46

Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry,’Unclean! Unclean!’  He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.

Have any of you ever had friends who have found a spot on the skin and gone to the doctor who grows concerned about it?  The person has to come back after a number of days to have a biopsy performed on the spot and even wait further as lab results reveal whether or not that person has cancer.  What concern we all have for the person as we wonder:  “Does my dear friend have cancer.”  What prayers might we lift up for that person as they undergo treatment and receive the blessings of modern medicine.  We may even embrace that friend and let them cry on our shoulder as they express their fear that the cancer might spread.

Beloved, a leprous man could only be so lucky to merely get a diagnosis of cancer.  Consider Levticus 5:2-5

“…if a person touches any unclean thing, whether it is the carcass of an unclean beast, or the carcass of unclean livestock, or the carcass of unclean creeping things, and he is unaware of it, he also shall be unclean and guilty.  Or if he touches human uncleanness — whatever uncleanness with which a man may be defiled, and he is unaware of it — when he realizes it, then he shall be guilty.
‘Or if a person swears, speaking thoughtlessly with his lips to do evil or to do good, whatever it is that a man may pronounce by an oath, and he is unaware of it — when he realizes it, then he shall be guilty in any of these matters.
‘And it shall be, when he is guilty in any of these matters, that he shall confess that he has sinned in that thing;”

Do you understand the implications for leprosy?  A leper was considered human uncleanness.  You could not hug a leper who received a diagnosis from the priest.  You could not even touch him or her.  That was a sin.  If you did so, even by accident, you had to confess your sin and offer a sacrifice at the Temple.  I don’t mean to state the obvious here but lepers were human beings too.  They had mothers and fathers, they had wives and children at one point.  Then one morning they wake up and find a spot on their skin.  They try washing it but, over days and weeks the spot doesn’t seem to go away.  What fear they must have experienced as they walked to the priest.  Can you even imagine the horrible words of the priest as he says to a man or a woman:  YOU HAVE LEPROSY.  YOU ARE UNCLEAN.

Oh the horror of it.  I cannot weep with my wife.  I cannot hold my children.  I cannot embrace a friend and cry on his shoulder.  Even worse, according to the Law he must stay outside of town and every time a person comes near him he must yell out “Unclean!”  I cannot even imagine such a horrible condition.

And so it is with people in misery that the unclean gather together as lepers would into colonies and Christ meets ten of them on His way to Jerusalem.  We understand all the more now why in Luke 17:12, why the lepers are afar off.  We should also appreciate why in verse 13 there is anguish in their voice as they cry:  “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”

And Christ, the one who came to give Mercy, told them to present themselves to the priest.  A very strange command is it not?  Not so strange and I again commend to you the Study of God’s Word.  You see in Leviticus 14, it gives the instructions for the cleansing of healed lepers.  The ceremony is very elaborate and requires the sacrifice of doves and washings and, after a week, the leper may be pronounced clean by the Priest and rejoin his family.  This was unfortunately, very rare, and the OT only records a couple of miraculous healings of leprosy in the Old Testament.

So the lepers are obeying this command and, on their way, shortly after leaving, they realize they are cleansed.  Perhaps some of them had withered hands restored.  Christ’s healing was always so powerful in Scriptures that people knew, without a doubt, they had been healed.

What joy!  What a blessing!  I am cleansed!  Years of pain.  Years of private suffering.  Years of reproach calling out to passersby:  “Unclean!”  No more pain of seeing little children run from you afraid.  I will see my family again!  I’ll embrace my wife.  I will hold my child!

And so, as dutiful Jews, 9 of the 10 continue on their way to the Priest to obey the requirements of the Law and be pronounced clean.   But they don’t all continue on their way.

No.  One man,  A SAMARITAN, returns in a loud voice, glorifying God.  Not only that, He falls down at Jesus’ feet in worship of Him, thanking Him for healing Him.  He thanks Him for delivering Him from His leprosy.

But we have a problem here don’t we?  The problem is that this man has not undergone the cleansing rite specified by the Law.  Leviticus 14:9 makes it very clear that one must undergo the full ritual cleansing, wait a week, shave off all their hair all over their body and then they will be pronounced clean by the priest.  This man has not been pronounced clean and so, according to the Law, he is very much UNCLEAN.  Add to that, he is a Samaritan, a dog, a person from an unclean land.

THIS MAN IS TOUCHING JESUS!

Beloved, this is powerful stuff.  You see, a normal Jew could not touch an unclean thing and remain undefiled.  A normal person became unclean and had to undergo cleansing and repent of sin when they touched unclean things.  Unclean things made the ceremonially “clean” people unclean.  That’s the way of the Law.

But not Christ.  This is the power of the Messiah.  This is the power of the Son of God.  Christ was the truly CLEAN one.  He was the only Clean One in fact.  When Christ came forward and reached out His hand to touch the unclean thing, that thing did not have the POWER to corrupt the Son of God.  No.  Christ made that which was unclean, CLEAN.  He touched unclean dead bodies and they rose from the grave.  He touched women with discharges and they were cleansed.  All through the Gospels we see Light dispelling the darkness.  We see Christ, the clean one, the whole one, making that which was broken, that which was unclean, restored.

Christ looks down with compassion on this Samaritan man at His feet and receives the worship that is due Him for Christ is the Son of God.  Angels refused worship as being only worthy of God.  Christ receives the Worship from this man whom He has restored and then He marvels:

Luke 17:17-19
So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?  Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”  And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

What do you mean Jesus?  The nine are on their way to the Temple.  That’s what the LAW requires.  That’s what a Pharisee would have said.

Jesus remarks that only the foreigner, the only one who wasn’t a Jew, was the one who came back to Worship God.  The other’s missed the whole point.

You see beloved, Christ did not come to be a magic worker.  He didn’t just beam out powers to show off and to merely cure disease.  Sure Lazarus rose from the dead but, years later, he did die and they had a funeral all over for him.  Sure, it’s great that these men were free of their physical affliction here on this Earth but they too are now dead.

Ten Lepers had heard about Jesus and ran into Him that day.  They must have heard that He healed people.  Ten lepers called out to Jesus that day.  Ten lepers went on their way in obedience to His command.  Only one returned and worshipped God.  The other nine were healed in their body but missed the whole point of their healing.  Their healing attested to the Son of God.  Their healing attested to His authority over the Law itself.  In obeying the letter of the Law they missed the Spirit of the Law.

And so it was that Jesus said to the Samaritan:  “Your faith has made you well.”  All of the lepers had received healing but only one returned to express His faith in the Son of God.  Only one of them understood that the most important healing of all was the healing that Christ was to provide to reconcile mankind back to a Holy God.  And so Christ sent a true Worshipper of God on His way.  A man saved by faith in the Son of God.

Leprosy is a great picture of our fallen spiritual condition.  We were all once enemies of God.  We were the unclean ones.  Our first parents were born clean and then rebelled against the Lord of the Universe.  All of their descendants, including us, have been born unclean spiritual lepers.  Our souls are spiritually dark and decaying.  As the Pharisees were, we often look really good on the outside, but the inside is a cesspool of filth and sin.  As Romans 1:29-32 so accurately expresses about mankind:

Rom 1:29-32
…being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

And so at one time, in God’s presence, we were forced to draw our hands to our mouths and shout “UNCLEAN!”  And God had every right to leave us to die in the horrible state of sin.  It is we who had sinned against Him and not He against us.

But God is rich in Mercy.  God is rich in compassion.  He sent Christ to live for us in complete obedience and He sent Christ to die for us so that our sin, our filth, might be washed away.

And so, Christ is being proclaimed to you this day.  If you have never heard the call for the healing of your souls and you yet remain defiled in your sins then Christ is being lifted up before you in your midst.  Do you see the filth of your sin?  Do you smell the stench of a life that is causing your very soul to rot from the inside out?  Christ is before you.

“JESUS, MASTER, HAVE MERCY ON ME.”

He will cleanse you from your sins so that you may fall at His feet and worship Him.

Categories
Doctrines of Grace

Sola Fide Part II: A Very Casual Primer

The ignorance pervading the Church today is quite disconcerting in many areas. I'd have to say that the most crucial area would be in that of the doctrine of justification. Martin Luther said the teaching of Justification was the article by which the Church would stand or fall. Similar to the time of Martin Luther, multitudes are in the dark concerning the true nature and application of justification. Not only are there those who teach justification can somehow be earned by one's own merit and ability, but many also teach one must keep themselves justified by their own merit and ability. Such a notion is far from biblical, and is no doubt due to both ignorance and, more pertinently, passivity by Christ's church in letting such be taught without fear of reprisal.

My intention is not to overwhelm you with theological jargon that might possibly muddy the clarity of the biblical doctrine of justification, but to share with you the simplicity of the doctrine in a nutshell.

First, a definition from Easton's Bible Dictionary (emphasis mine):

justification a forensic term, opposed to condemnation. As regards its nature, it is the judicial act of God, by which he pardons all the sins of those who believe in Christ, and accounts, accepts, and treats them as righteous in the eye of the law, i.e., as conformed to all its demands. In addition to the pardon (q.v.) of sin, justification declares that all the claims of the law are satisfied in respect of the justified. It is the act of a judge and not of a sovereign. The law is not relaxed or set aside, but is declared to be fulfilled in the strictest sense; and so the person justified is declared to be entitled to all the advantages and rewards arising from perfect obedience to the law (Rom. 5:1-10). It proceeds on the imputing or crediting to the believer by God himself of the perfect righteousness, active and passive, of his Representative and Surety, Jesus Christ (Rom. 10:3-9). Justification is not the forgiveness of a man without righteousness, but a declaration that he possesses a righteousness which perfectly and for ever satisfies the law, namely, Christ's righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 4:6-8). The sole condition on which this righteousness is imputed or credited to the believer is faith in or on the Lord Jesus Christ.

In another article I wrote:

Man…was created perfect. Man was given a "test", if you will, to either pass or fail. Man failed by disobeying God's clear command, and Adam, being the representative for all mankind, plunged all mankind into sin. In doing so, all persons born of man are born dead in their sins, unable to please God and unwilling to do so as well. Therefore, all men (and women and children, etc.) are born naturally and radically separated from God, in darkness.

That is to say, that when Adam fell, his sinfulness was imputed to us all who are born of woman (which would be, you guessed it, everybody). To have something imputed to you is equal to having whatever it may be attributed to you. So, when Adam sinned, since he represented all mankind, all mankind has Adam's sinfulness reckoned to them. In Adam, we all are guilty of Adam's sin. This is by imputation. Justification is the opposite of the imputation of Adam's unrighteousness. It is the imputation of Christ's righteousness into those who have by faith believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. So, briefly and succinctly, let me summarize justification.

Man can only be right with God by fulfilling/obeying every aspect of God's holy law. God will accept only perfection. Thus, we have the problem. Since man is born dead in his sin, only gratifying the desires of flesh, and under its dominion, he can never do that which is pleasing to God (i.e. obey all of God's law and never disobey it). All of this is very bad news…

Christ's purpose for coming to earth was the secure the justification of all those who had believe and would believe. Man could not do it. This why when someone believes or teaches justification as being accomplished by anything in addition to faith, they err greatly. The details of man's inability will be discussed more elaborately when we have some articles discussing what are known as "The Doctrines of Grace." Since man, by nature, could never attain perfection, thus fully satisfying God's standard, he would need a substitute. This is exactly what Jesus did to "justify the ungodly."Again, my intention is not to impart expertise or detail on this doctrine, but to clarify its essence. There is much more to justification in its details, but not necessary by way of introduction to the doctrine itself. As time goes by, I hope to be linking to articles that articulate the deeper aspects of the doctrines I introduce much better than I'd ever be able to communicate.

For now, just remember that being "right" with God cannot be earned. Rather, being "right" with God is a gift from God, and secured by way of justification. This justification was not something that could be cultivated by the inherent ability of man, rather it was something that had to be purchased by the God Man, Jesus Christ, Who lived and obeyed the Law of God perfectly, then died on behalf of those who believe. In His death as the Ultimate, Perfect Sacrifice, He purchased the justification of His people, ensuring their redemption. In other words, man is not/ cannot be saved by anything he has or does, but only by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore, man cannot keep his salvation by meritorious works or deeds, nor by earning God's favor. It is all of grace that only God would receive credit for such a miraculous truth. I would just like to leave you with a few pertinent passages that deal with justification by faith:

For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.-Romans 3:28

In the preceding passage, Paul has just alluded to the fact that all men have sinned and fallen short of God's strandard. He then introduces this verse by declaring, "Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded." Thus, noting that no one can boast of themselves concerning their salvation.

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 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.-Galatians 2:15-16

Here Paul is sure to make it known that any who would boast of their ancestory or ethnicity would do so quite vainly. He makes it clear that all are on equal footing and that salvation, if obtained, is only done so by the faith which is a gift of God.

For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness-Romans 4:3-5

A beautiful illustration of Sola Fide. Notice the terminology "counted" or credited. He's clear to point out that a worker is worthy of his wages, but that one who receives money, yet didn't work…that's a gift!

That God would graciously give us His only Son, to secure us to the glory of His Name! What a precious inconceivable act of mercy! Soli Deo Gloria! To the Glory of God Alone!