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SIN
The Problem with it
The Consequences of it
The Cure for it
AUDIO FOR THIS SERMON CAN BE FOUND HERE
Scripture Readings: 1 Timothy 1:12-17 / Romans 5:12-21
1 THE PROBLEM: In 1988 – Dr. Karl Menninger, a renowned secular Psychiatrist wrote a bestselling book” “Whatever Became of sin?”
In it, he argued that the scientific community, including Psychologists and Psychiatrists have been abandoning the idea of moral responsibility by trying to locate all sorts of aberrant behaviors in things like genetics and environment.
Following Freud’s lead that guilt is at the bottom of most mental and emotional distress – the scientific community sought to eliminate guilt altogether.
This has been approached 2 main ways.
Greatly simplifying, Freud’s main approach was to teach his patients that guilt is a purely social construct. Since guilt is man-made, we simply help people realize that everything they do is natural to them, or conditioned upon their upbringing, and so not to feel guilty about any of it.
Others have tried to eliminate guilt for moral responsibility by investing everything in our being nothing more than highly evolved animals, and so our “sinful” desires are simply part of our genetic make-up.
This is why there has been so much attention given to the supposed genetic factors for everything from drunkenness to homosexuality.
If it’s all in your genes, moral questions simply cease to exist.
Menninger was arguing – as a secular mental-health professional no less, that guilt is real, moral responsibility is real – and we feel guilty because we actually sin and need some means to be forgiven and cleansed from our guilt.
He wasn’t a Christian, but he understood this truth.
The sad reality today is that even in the Church, this medical model of dealing with guilt has crept in more and more. And so we hear precious little of “sin” as though it has something to do with our moral responsibility before God and man, and just talk about our errors, mistakes or brokenness, and not the need to confess our sin, repent of it and look to the forgiveness of real cosmic crimes against God in the cleansing blood of Jesus.
When we think of sin – IF we think of sin – in today’s world, the thought that comes most often to mind is merely imperfection or error.
What does not strike most of us is that sin is first and foremost a personal affront to God.
When we fail to acknowledge our sins before Him, we begin to follow a thought pattern that treats sin lightly, and fails to account for sin being a personal affront to our Lord and Savior.
We treat it like the World does – as some sort of mere “legal” matter.
But sin is not first and foremost a legal matter.
Sin, above all other things, is a personal offense to our God’s holy nature.
We offend Him when we sin – personally.
And that issue needs to be addressed.
It might be helpful here to give a definition of sin from the Biblical descriptions of it.
1 John 5:17a – “All wrongdoing is sin,”
Westminster Larger Cat. Question 24 – What is sin? Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, any law of God, given as a rule to the reasonable creature.
Martin Bucer: “Sin is the Scriptural name for our going astray by forsaking the only God, who is man’s highest good, in order to pursue unsubstantial and ruinous phantoms of the good.”
SIN IS: Any violation of God’s will, or of His created order, and the corruption that follows because of it.
To let sin go, is to ignore Him – to treat Him as though He does not matter.
As though our slaps to His holy face are inconsequential.
As though our denials of who and what He is by failing to display His glory – mean nothing.
As though the cross, means little.
That Jesus died for nothing, after all – sin is such a little deal, we don’t even need to make amends when we commit it against Him.
I heard it argued a while back that it seems odd that God would bring such judgment upon the human race simply for stealing an apple.
Of course that thought completely misses the picture.
The taking of the forbidden fruit in Eden was not in and of itself merely an act of disobedience – which is the 1st definition of sin – though it was – even if considered by some to be a minor one.
The real issue is that Adam was trying to dethrone God by eating the forbidden fruit. He was trying to be like God himself.
What made Adam’s sin, and consequently all of ours so heinous, is that in them, in each one of them, from the smallest to the greatest we are saying to God “you have no right to rule me, and I will make myself the rule of all right and wrong – I AM GOD for me. I displace your authority, with my own.
As Morgan Freeman put it when asked about playing God in the movie Bruce Almighty: “I am God. So it’s easy to play him. They say God is in all things. So if God is in me, then I am in God. Therefore, I am God. God does not exist without me.”
It is as R. C. Sproul is wont to say: “Cosmic Treason.” NOT, some mere infraction or error.
This is the 1st aspect of sin – in that it is located in our ACTS.
But the Bible paints sin as going deeper. As the older theologians used to say, “We aren’t sinners, because we sin, we sin, because we are sinners!”
In other words, we commit sinful acts in opposition to God’s laws and the nature with which we were created, but we are also constitutionally sinners as a result of being joined to Adam.
We have Sin as ACTS of disobedience or neglect, and
We have Sin as CONDTION – what the Bible terms “iniquity” – inner warpedness.
We are infected with this plague of self-government. And every place it shows itself, it is one more place we are attempting to remove God from His rightful throne, and install ourselves there.
Now the finer points of this reality get teased out throughout the Bible, but in no place better than in the healing miracles of Jesus.
We’ll explore those in a moment, but let me add the 3rd way the Bible speaks of sin and sinners to clarify a common misunderstanding.
- Ours sinful ACTS – Isaiah 53:5–6 “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds 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.”
- Our sinful CONDITION – inherited from Adam – Ephesians 2:3c “and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
- Our sinful STATUS – Condemned as sinners – 1 Timothy 1:15 “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”
In salvation:
- Our sinful ACTS are forgiven: Colossians 1:13–14 “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
- Our sinful CONDITION is impacted (as we’ll see below) but not yet fully changed: 1 Timothy 1:15 “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” I AM, not I WAS!
- Our sinful STATUS is radically different: Galatians 3:26 “for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”
Some have thought because our acts have been forgiven, and our status changed from enemies to sons, that we also no longer identify in any way as “sinners”.
What they forget is that our CONDITION, while greatly impacted, is not yet fully changed. This is why Paul writes as he does in 1 Timothy 1:15
What is still needed is the resurrection: 1 Corinthians 15:42–45 “So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”
True, all believers are even NOW, “sons of God” – and yet we still possess a sinful nature which we must own, that causes us to be both saints and sinners at the same time. Denying our sinfulness and condition as still sinners, who still commit acts of sin, fails to account for our real situation and brings confusion.
This brings us back to our main consideration for this morning – what has sin done, and what has God done about it in Jesus Christ?
2 THE CONSEQUENCES: Why is sin so bad? A survey of Christ’s healing miracles helps us immensely here in grasping this.
Since all pain and suffering and disorder came into the world because of sin – we can use the healing miracles to give insight into the effects of sin in the soul as well as in the body.
When each is viewed as a type, as another way in which sin impacts us as God’s image-bearers, it really begins to open the fullness of our need of a Savior in graphic reality.
In each one, a display is made of how sin corrupts us in every way, and why we are then in such dire need of a true Savior, who can save us not only from the guilt of our sin, but from its effects and mastery in our lives, and one day, from its very presence.
FEVER: Sin is CONSTITUTIONAL: We have a good picture of this in Jesus twice healing someone of fever: Nobleman’s Son (John 4) – Peter’s Mother-in-Law (Mark 1)
What does sin in us do?
a – It affects all ages of men, and appears on the surface in greater and lesser degrees.
b – It impacts the whole being, and especially, how it brings on delirium and a loss of reality. Sin infects our thought process so as to no longer perceive reality from God’s perspective – it distorts all.
We cannot know God while under its unchallenged influence.
BLINDNESS: Jesus heals 2 men (Matt. 9 ) – 1 Man (Mark 8) – 1 Born Blind (John 9) – Bartimaeus (Mark 10)
Sin robs us the ability to see truth. Much like fever but even worse. So Jesus says in John 8 that those who follow Him are no longer in darkness. The implication being that those who do not follow Him are in darkness – are blind!
Paul notes in 2 Corinthians 4:3–4 “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
LEPROSY: 1 Man (Mark 1) – 10 at One Time (Luke 17)
Sin is both incurable, and fatal, it infects each man, and all men
And as everywhere in Scripture, Leprosy is represented as defiling the sufferer – making them unclean to God and man.
It separates in this way – from God, from Others, from Love, from Nature.
PARALYSIS: Withered Hand (Mark 3) – Centurion’s Servant (Matt. 8) – At Home (Mark 2)
Sin completely robs us capability to serve God Christ.
Isaiah 64:6a “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.”
IMPOTENCE: Weakness (38 yrs.) – At Bethesda (John 5) & Lameness
Sin does not always appear on the surface, Unapparent & Long Term
And because of it we cannot walk in holiness.
ISSUE OF BLOOD: Woman (12 yrs.) (Mark 5)
Sin is Internal & Chronic – again, uncleanness is emphasized.
Humanly incurable – she spent all her living on doctors.
DROPSY: – (Luke 14) Edema
Sin is Disfiguring. It distorts the image of God we were created in.
HEARING AND SPEECH: / 1 Man (Mark 7)
Our inability to hear God anymore, and a complete inability to worship Him in any capacity.
INJURY: / Malchus (Luke 22)
Man was made brutal in the fall and inflicts wounds on others, visible and invisible.
DEMON POSSESSION: Matt. 4, 7, 8, 9, 12, 15 17
Man left to himself is prey to the evil spirits, the fallen angels and the Devil himself. So Paul says Ephesians 2:1–3 “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
DEATH: Jesus raised 3 from the dead in His earthly ministry – to show the truest and worst example of our condition in sin.
This is why cannot take sin lightly in any way.
Its treasonous rebellion against God and His right rule
Its manifest destruction of the bodies and souls of those made in His image
And its utter and just condemnation by our Holy God.
III. THE CURE: But then, as we have looked at all of these examples of what sin is and does – think then what a great Redeemer Christ is – and how great this salvation is that the Believer is a partaker of!
In Christ the delirium of our FEVER has been lifted that we might know God in Truth
BLINDNESS: Christ heals our blindness that we might behold the glory of God in His face
LEPROSY: The defiling and incurable leprosy of our souls is cleansed that we might have fellowship with God and His people once more.
PARALYSIS: We are set free to do the good works He prepared for us to walk in.
IMPOTENCE: He empowers us that we might walk before Him in holiness.
ISSUE OF BLOOD: He overcomes the internal raging infection which makes us unclean in all we do.
DROPSY: He removes the soul-dropsy and begins conforming us once more to the image of His own character that had been so distorted.
HEARING AND SPEECH: We can begin to hear His Word and praise His glory – bearing witness to His goodness and grace.
INJURY: He grants us a forgiving spirit to heal the wounds others have inflicted upon us.
DEMON POSSESSION: He frees us from the dreadful influence of the World and the Devil.
DEATH: And He raises us up from the dead! Ephesians 2:5 “even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—“
Oh what a redeemer Christ is!
What a wicked and destructive thing sin is – but what an amazing Savior we have who overcomes its every vestige.
LXII. The good Physician – John Newton
HOW lost was my condition, Till Jesus made me whole!
There is but one Physician Can cure a sin-sick soul!
Next door to death he found me, And snatch’d me from the grave,
To tell to all around me, His wond’rous pow’r to save.
The worst of all diseases Is light, compar’d with sin;
On ev’ry part it seizes, But rages most within:
’Tis palsy, plague, and fever, And madness, all combin’d;
And none but a believer The least relief can find.
From men great skill professing I thought a cure to gain;
But this prov’d more distressing, And added to my pain:
Some said that nothing ail’d me, Some gave me up for lost;
Thus ev’ry refuge fail’d me, And all my hopes were cross’d.
At length this great Physician, How matchless is his grace!
Accepted my petition, And undertook my case:
First gave me sight to view him, For sin my eyes had seal’d;
Then bid me look unto him; I look’d, and I was heal’d.
A dying, risen Jesus, Seen by the eye of faith,
At once from danger frees us, And saves the soul from death:
Come then to this Physician, His help he’ll freely give,
He makes no hard condition, ’Tis only—look and live.
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The second stanza of the poem below is one I’ve had inscribed on the flyleaf of my Bible for nearly 20 years. It wasn’t until today that I happened upon the entire text as recorded in Vol 3 of Newtons works containing the “Olney Hymns”. Newton prefaced this collection of his poems to be sung in worship with the following words: “If the Lord, whom I serve, has been pleased to favour me with that mediocrity of talent, which may qualify me for usefulness to the weak and the poor of his flock, without quite disgusting persons of superior discernment, I have reason to be satisfied.”
I will own being one of the weak and poor of Christ’s flock, who have found this useful. May you as well.
LXII. The good Physician
1 HOW lost was my condition,
Till Jesus made me whole!
There is but one Physician
Can cure a sin-sick soul!
Next door to death he found me,
And snatch’d me from the grave,
To tell to all around me,
His wond’rous pow’r to save.2 The worst of all diseases
Is light, compar’d with sin;
On ev’ry part it seizes,
But rages most within:
’Tis palsy, plague, and fever,
And madness, all combin’d;
And none but a believer
The least relief can find.3 From men great skill professing
I thought a cure to gain;
But this prov’d more distressing,
And added to my pain:
Some said that nothing ail’d me,
Some gave me up for lost;
Thus ev’ry refuge fail’d me,
And all my hopes were cross’d.4 At length this great Physician,
How matchless is his grace!
Accepted my petition,
And undertook my case:
First gave me sight to view him,
For sin my eyes had seal’d;
Then bid me look unto him;
I look’d, and I was heal’d.5 A dying, risen Jesus,
Seen by the eye of faith,
At once from danger frees us,
And saves the soul from death:
Come then to this Physician,
His help he’ll freely give,
He makes no hard condition,
’Tis only—look and live.
Newton, John & Richard Cecil. 1824. The Works of John Newton. . Vol. 3. London: Hamilton, Adams & Co. -
DIVINE PROVIDENCE
Psalm 138. Psalm 104. Daniel 4:33-37. Isa. 45:1-7. Romans 8:28.
THE AUDIO FOR THIS SERMON CAN BE FOUND HERE
One of the topics in this present request series I’ve been asked to address is the doctrine of Providence.
Since this is the theme for this year’s Sunday School, Ben thought it good, and so did I to give some foundation to what many of your children will be exploring this year.
This morning I want to look at 4 things:
The Doctrine of Providence Stated – 8:28
The Context in Which Providence Functions – 8:29
The Means by which it is Accomplished – 8:26-27
The Necessary Participation of the Believer – 8:12-18
- The Doctrine Stated – 8:28
The simplest and best statement of the Doctrine of Providence is in this text itself: Romans 8:28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
And how that is to be precisely understood has been noted by virtually every theologian throughout the centuries.
Charles Hodge: God’s works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions.
John Flavel: “The expression imports the universal interest and influence of providence in, and upon all the concerns and interests of the saints. It hath not only its hand in this or that, but in all that concerns them: it hath its eyes upon every tiling that relates to them throughout their lives, from first to last; not only great and more important, but the most minute and ordinary affairs of our lives are transacted and managed by it: it touches all things that touch us, whether more nearly or remotely.”
Wayne Grudem: We may define God’s providence as follows: God is continually involved with all created things in such a way that he (1) keeps them existing and maintaining the properties with which he created them; (2) cooperates with created things in every action, directing their distinctive properties to cause them to act as they do; and (3) directs them to fulfill his purposes.
Before we got too far – NOTE: The text does not say all things ARE good in and of themselves.
Positively: What is being said is that all things – BOTH good and bad, are so governed by God, as to be made to work for the good of those who are His own.
Negatively: There is no such thing as chance (accident), randomness or fate in a universe personally administrated by God.
So in this, we retain the reality that there really are both good AND bad things that happen to God’s people. God orchestrating them for our good does not negate the reality of truly bad and evil things.
Unfortunately, some have erred in this regard, and turn God’s providence into fatalism – since God is directing everything anyway, and since I have no say in it, therefore I am not responsible for my own actions.
Or, they lose the ability to call anything evil, since in their minds – God stands in exactly the same relationship to sinful actions by men and demons as He does to making the sun rise and the rain to fall.
So some get caught in a confusion that leaves them knowing some things are bad, but think they have to deny that in order to be theologically correct.
But the Bible NEVER excuses any person’s acts on the basis of God’s sovereign providence or control, nor does it deny the reality of evil.
The amazing wonder is, God rules in such a way that even the free actions of men are comprehended within His plan and ultimate purposes, but not so as to rob anyone of true moral responsibility.
To err here is to make a real hash of all sound theology and make God a puppet master or monster, or even the author of evil itself.
By the doctrine of God’s providence, what we are acknowledging is God’s actual and personal governance in everything which takes place within His universe. Nothing and no one, is exempt.
- The Context in Which Providence Functions – 8:29
Romans 8:29 “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
What we see here, is that there is orchestration in all events which impact Believers – a working together – not each individual part being the whole. One particular circumstance is not to be evaluated on its own, apart from other things.
This orchestration is aimed primarily at one thing: Conforming the Believer to the image of Christ!
So in this regard, we see Providence as multi-faceted, and we MUST NOT try attach a specific 1-to-1 reason for each and every circumstance.
This is essential in facing adverse circumstances of all kinds without getting driven crazy by: “If I only knew WHY this happened!”
Trying to do this has made many a soul almost mad in trying to figure it out.
We must go far beyond that in taking into account the myriad of reasons Scripture reveals for some things. For example:
Some events and circumstances can be seen to bless in immediately pleasing ways. The aesthetics of nature. Food tasting good. Beauty. Music. Wine and oil (Ps. 104) , crops that yield.
Some events and circumstances are used to challenge us in unpleasant ways – testing in temptation that we might grow in grace. To build faith – as trusting in God’s character and promises.
Some events and circumstance help wean us away from loving this present life too much, and living without regard for the future promised After the resurrection.
Some events and circumstances reveal the fallenness and brokenness of this present world and the horrid results of sin.
Some events and circumstances are meant to be precursors to final judgment.
Some events and circumstances are designed to reveal hitherto undiscovered sin in the soul so it may be dealt with.
Some events and circumstances serve to strip away all self-confidence that we might rely wholly upon Christ.
Some events and circumstances are meant to reveal God’s care and intervention in the miraculous.
Some events and circumstances are meant to disabuse us of mistaken notions of God and His Word.
Voddie Baucham: “God wants me happy, and I don’t believe God would want me to stay in a marriage and be unhappy. Are you serious? ” “Let me see if I understand this correctly: Jesus Christ, the spotless, sinless Lamb of God, was crushed and killed for the glory of the Father, but you, He wouldn’t want unhappy.
Some events and circumstances are meant to have impact beyond a single actor (like myself) but upon all those connected to it. God used Moses to mold the nation of Israel, and He used the people of Israel to mold Moses. Both are true. Assigning all of God’s work to just one or the other misses the point.
And many events may be a mixture of any combination of these, and/or other purposes in the mind of God – BUT ALL AIMED AT OUR CONFORMITY TO CHRIST.
Looking for a specific lesson beyond this central purpose from an individual experience – may be truly futile.
The more general realities must take precedence.
3.The Means by which it is accomplished – 8:26-27
Romans 8:26–27 “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
How do all of these things work together for the Believer? They do so as the Holy Spirit, intercedes for us in always praying in accord with The Father’s will in our regard – even when we can only pray with the immediate facts at hand. When we do not know how to pray best in our circumstance.
What an amazing thing this is!
The Spirit’s prayers on our behalf is something mysterious to contemplate.
In reality, this is nothing other than a reference to the internal dialog of the Triune Godhead over the cares, concerns and needs of God’s people.
It is an amazing thing to imagine isn’t it? That the God who spoke the universe into existence gives so much attention to we lowly and often rebellious creatures – but it is true. And if the Bible didn’t affirm it, it would be almost unthinkable.
This is the extraordinary comfort and joy of the true Believer in Jesus Christ.
- The Necessary Participation of the Believer – 8:12-18
Romans 8:12–18 “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
The fact that God in His infinite and sovereign goodness, provides for us in all circumstances, does not mean we are somehow exempt from needing to enter into them purposefully in order to obtain their benefit.
There is something of the Believer’s responsibility in it, to take advantage of the circumstances in faith – with God’s purpose (conformity to Christ’s image and the display of His glory) as the background.
Look at the text.
- (12-13) We must be choosing to live for God’s spiritual ends in our circumstances, and not be bound to just the externals of the circumstances themselves.
To live as though things are just good or bad based upon how we feel about them is to live according to the flesh – and that is death!
It is NOT living the divine life He has given to us.
2. (13-14) We must not allow adverse or tempting circumstances to draw us back into sin – but use them as occasions to die to those sinful ways. The Spirit never leads anyone into sin. NEVER!
3. (15-17) We must look to the Father consciously in all of our various circumstances. Recognizing we are heirs with Christ and destined for glory.
4. (18) We must consciously compare our present distresses with the coming glory so that we are not mastered by them.
Yes, God makes the rain to fall and provides the sun to shine and thus grains and fruits and vegetables grow – but we must harvest them, prepare them and consume them to receive the benefit of the sovereign provision He makes.
And it is just so with His providence in our circumstances.
The question is – in the events of life, both good and bad –
Do I run to Christ?
Do I trust Christ?
Do I look to overcome sin?
Do I look to grow in grace and in the image of Christ’s character?
Am I considering the eternal state to come while wrestling with the present circumstances?
How can I use this to bless others?
A Warning: The problem of trying to “read” providence as omens and signs.
We can only really understand Providence AFTERWARDS, not before it unfolds.
PROVERB: Once there was a Chinese farmer who worked his poor farm together with his son and their horse.
When the horse ran off one day, neighbors came to say, “How unfortunate for you!”
The farmer replied, “Maybe yes, maybe no.”
When the horse returned, followed by a herd of wild horses, the neighbors gathered around and exclaimed, “What good luck for you!”
The farmer stayed calm and replied, “Maybe yes, maybe no.”
While trying to tame one of wild horses, the farmer’s son fell, and broke his leg. He had to rest up and couldn’t help with the farm chores. “How sad for you,” the neighbors cried.
“Maybe yes, maybe no,” said the farmer.
Shortly thereafter, a neighboring army threatened the farmer’s village. All the young men in the village were drafted to fight the invaders. Many died. But the farmer’s son had been left out of the fighting because of his broken leg. People said to the farmer, “What a good thing your son couldn’t fight!” “Maybe yes, maybe no,” was all the farmer said.
Just because you suddenly connected with an old flame on Facebook, is not God’s indication you should leave your spouse and go be with them.
We must go by Biblical principles, and not try to read providence like a crystal ball.
EXAMPLE: Luke 13:1–5 “There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
God in His glorious goodness, causes all things to work together for the good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
This is the wonder of the joy and security of the saints. It is part and parcel of His personal administration of everything within His creation.
But if you are not one of His today – this truth is not yours except in the sense that you experience what you do in order to drive you to Christ for salvation.
In contrast to the Believer’s assurance – the Apostle Paul outlines your condition in Ephesians 2:11–12 – the same condition we are ALL in until we come to Christ: “Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”
What a terrifying place to be. But let me add one word of providence on your behalf: Acts 17:24–27 “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us”
By His Providence, God has infused every moment and experience of your life, to bring you to the place where you will call upon Him to be saved from your sin – won’t you run to Him today?
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The subject of spiritual maturityought to beIS one in which every Christian has a vital interest. If God’s stated purpose for us in our redemption, is conformity to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). And if Eph. 4:15 exhorts us to “grow up every way into Him who is the head, into Christ.” And if 1 Peter 2:2 reminds us “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation” – there is no question that attention must be paid to this crucial aspect of our salvation.But what does that look like?Once again, John Newton in his sweet and masterful way, notes 3 key concepts for leading the heart and mind of the Believer in a mature stability in the ways of Christ.Enjoy this short letter to his friend.“WEAK, unskilful, and unfaithful, as I am in practice, the Lord has been pleased to give me some idea of what a Christian ought to be, and of what is actually attainable in the present life, by those whom he enables earnestly to aspire towards the prize of their high calling. They who are versed in mechanics can, from a knowledge of the combined powers of a complicated machine, make an exact calculation of what it is able to perform, and what resistance it can counteract; but who can compute the possible effects of that combination of principles and motives revealed in the Gospel, upon a heart duly impressed with a sense of their importance and glory? When I was lately at Mr. Cox’s Museum, while I was fixing my attention upon some curious movements, imagining that I saw the whole of the artist’s design, the person who showed it touched a little spring, and suddenly a thousand new and unexpected motions took place, and the whole piece seemed animated from the top to the bottom. I should have formed but a very imperfect judgment of it, had I seen no more than what I saw at first. I thought it might in some measure illustrate the vast difference that is observable amongst professors, even amongst those who are, it is to be hoped, sincere. There are persons who appear to have a true knowledge (in part) of the nature of the Gospel religion, but seem not to be apprised of its properties in their comprehension and extent. If they have attained to some hope of their acceptance, if they find at seasons some communion with God in the means of grace, if they are in measure delivered from the prevailing and corrupt customs of the world, they seem to be satisfied, as if they were possessed of all. These are indeed great things; sed meliora latent. The profession of too many, whose sincerity charity would be unwilling to impeach, is greatly blemished, notwithstanding their hopes and their occasional comforts, by the breakings forth of unsanctified tempers, and the indulgence of vain hopes, anxious cares, and selfish pursuits. Far, very far, am I from that unscriptural sentiment of sinless perfection in fallen man. To those who have a due sense of the spirituality and ground of the Divine precepts, and of what passes in their own hearts, there will never be wanting causes of humiliation and self-abasement on the account of sin; yet still there is a liberty and privilege attainable by the Gospel, beyond what is ordinarily thought of. Permit me to mention two or three particulars, in which those who have a holy ambition of aspiring to them shall not be altogether disappointed.1. A delight in the Lord’s all-sufficiency, to be satisfied in him as our present and eternal portion. This, in the sense in which I understand it, is not the effect of a present warm frame, but of a deeply rooted and abiding principle; the habitual exercise of which is to be estimated by the comparative indifference with which other things are regarded. The soul thus principled is not at leisure to take or to seek satisfaction in anything but what has a known subserviency to this leading taste. Either the Lord is present, and then he is to be rejoiced in; or else he is absent, and then he is to be sought and waited for. They are to be pitied, who, if they are at sometimes happy in the Lord, can at other times be happy without him, and rejoice in broken cisterns, when their spirits are at a distance from the Fountain of living waters. I do not plead for an absolute indifference to temporal blessings: he gives us all things richly to enjoy; and a capacity of relishing them is his gift likewise; but then the consideration of his love in bestowing should exceedingly enhance the value, and a regard to his will should regulate their use. Nor can they all supply the want of that which we can only receive immediately from himself. This principle likewise moderates that inordinate fear and sorrow to which we are liable upon the prospect or the occurrence of great trials, for which there is a sure support and resource provided in the all-sufficiency of infinite goodness and grace. What a privilege is this, to possess God in all things while we have them, and all things in God when they are taken from us.2. An acquiescence in the Lord’s will, founded in a persuasion of his wisdom, holiness, sovereignty, and goodness.—This is one of the greatest privileges and brightest ornaments of our profession. So far as we attain to this, we are secure from disappointment. Our own limited views and short-sighted purposes and desires, may be, and will be, often over-ruled; but then our main and leading desire, that the will of the Lord may be done, must be accomplished. How highly does it become us, both as creatures and as sinners, to submit to the appointments of our Maker! and how necessary is it to our peace! This great attainment is too often unthought of, and overlooked: we are prone to fix our attention upon the second causes and immediate instruments of events; forgetting that whatever befalls us is according to his purpose, and therefore must be right and seasonable in itself, and shall in the issue be productive of good. From hence arise impatience, resentment, and secret repinings, which are not only sinful, but tormenting: whereas, if all things are in his hand; if the very hairs of our head are numbered; if every event, great and small, is under the direction of his providence and purpose; and if he has a wise, holy, and gracious end in view, to which everything that happens is subordinate and subservient; then we have nothing to do, but with patience and humility to follow as he leads, and cheerfully to expect a happy issue. The path of present duty is marked out; and the concerns of the next and every succeeding hour are in his hands. How happy are they who can resign all to him, see his hand in every dispensation, and believe that he chooses better for them than they possibly could for themselves.3. A single eye to his glory, as the ultimate scope of all our undertakings.—The Lord can design nothing short of his own glory, nor should we. The constraining love of Christ has a direct and marvellous tendency, in proportion to the measure of faith, to mortify the corrupt principle Self, which for a season is the grand spring of our conduct, and by which we are too much biased after we know the Lord. But as grace prevails, self is renounced. We feel that we are not our own, that we are bought with a price; and that it is our duty, our honour, and our happiness, to be the servants of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. To devote soul and body, every talent, power, and faculty, to the service of his cause and will; to let our light shine (in our several situations) to the praise of his grace; to place our highest joy in the contemplation of his adorable perfections; to rejoice even in tribulations and distresses, in reproaches and infirmities, if thereby the power of Christ may rest upon us, and be magnified in us; to be content, yea glad, to be nothing, that he may be all in all; to obey him, in opposition to the threats or solicitations of men; to trust him, though all outward appearances seem against us; to rejoice in him, though we should (as will sooner or later be the case) have nothing else to rejoice in; to live above the world, and to have our conversation in heaven; to be like the angels, finding our own pleasure in performing his:—This, my lord, is the prize, the mark of our high calling, to which we are encouraged with a holy ambition continually to aspire. It is true, we shall still fall short; we shall find that, when we would do good, evil will be present with us. But the attempt is glorious, and shall not be wholly in vain. He that gives us thus to will, will enable us to perform with growing success, and teach us to profit even by our mistakes and imperfections.O blessed man! that thus fears the Lord; that delights in his word, and derives his principles, motives, maxims, and consolations, from that unfailing source of light and strength. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, whose leaf is always green, and fruit abundant. The wisdom that is above shall direct his plans, inspire his counsels; and the power of God shall guard him on every side, and prepare his way through every difficulty: he shall see mountains sink into plains, and streams spring up in the dry wilderness. The Lord’s enemies will be his; and they may be permitted to fight against him, but they shall not prevail, for the Lord is with him to deliver him. The conduct of such a one, though in a narrow and retired sphere of life, is of more real excellence and importance, than the most splendid actions of kings and conquerors, which fill the annals of history, Prov. 16:32. And if the God whom he serves is pleased to place him in a more public light, his labours and cares will be amply compensated, by the superior opportunities afforded him of manifesting the power and reality of true religion, and promoting the good of mankind.I hope I may say, that I desire to be thus entirely given up to the Lord; I am sure I must say, that what I have written is far from being my actual experience. Alas! I might be condemned out of my own mouth, were the Lord strict to mark what is amiss. But, O the comfort! we are not under the law, but under grace. The Gospel is a dispensation for sinners, and we have an Advocate with the Father. There is the unshaken ground of hope. A reconciled Father, a prevailing Advocate, a powerful Shepherd, a compassionate Friend, a Saviour who is able and willing to save to the uttermost. He knows our frame; he remembers that we are but dust; and has opened for us a new and blood-besprinkled way of access to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in every time of need.Newton, John, Richard Cecil. 1824. The works of the John Newton. . Vol. 1. London: Hamilton, Adams & Co. -
2 Samuel 21:1–6 (ESV) 1 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. 3 And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless the heritage of the LORD?” 4 The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “What do you say that I shall do for you?” 5 They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, 6 let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD.” And the king said, “I will give them.”
This largely ignored passage of Scripture coupled with another like: Proverbs 28:2 (ESV) “When a land transgresses, it has many rulers, but with a man of understanding and knowledge, its stability will long continue.” – ought to give us great pause.
Recently, MSNBC ran a video op-ed by Lawrence O’Donnell regarding the current Native American protests over the oil pipeline proposed to traverse the Dakota territory. YOU CAN VIEW IT HERE – it is only a tad over 4 minutes.
What O’Donnell reminds us of in this piece, is the abominable way in which much of American history is stained with Native American blood, as settlers and pioneers invaded lands that were not their own.
As I watched, and contemplated things like the way in which our forefathers (in many cases) thought nothing of dispossessing and sometimes slaughtering whole people groups to take the land they wanted, I grieved. This too, is part of our American heritage. One of which we ought to be nationally ashamed and repentant. As the piece goes on however, we are reminded of how those wrongs have never been dealt with in any satisfactory way.
Then I considered the way America was plunged into the darkness of antebellum slavery. And I rejoiced that that institution was broken apart. But I also trembled at how in the aftermath, we’ve enslaved a vast part of the African American people group through government sponsored programs that rob so many of them of the dignity of work. Producing a deliberately handicapped segment of society, caught in a cycle of poverty, ignorance and moral decay.
And, I thought of abortion. Over 50 million children slaughtered in their mother’s wombs, with hearty government approval and assistance. Of unjust wars, where we did not come to the aide of those victims of genocide and ethnic cleansing, except where it impacted our financial bottom line.
And yet I rejoiced at how we entered the fray against the rise of Nazism and other fascist movements.
All said, I do fear the reality of how our national sins, unrepented of, are not somehow outweighed by the good we’ve done. Though there has been much and unprecedented good.
God does not ignore unrepentant sin, because one does good too.
And America, is in the larger case, unrepentant for her sins.
The beginning signs of judgment abound. Unbridled sexual immorality, rampant secularism, personal autonomy to the exclusion of all other authority, and bloated government of such proportion as to be unsustainable.
We do not need a new leader in the Whitehouse.
We need mass conversion to Jesus Christ as Lord; praying and pleading Christians and; a Spirit informed grief that leads to national repentance.
Apart from these, make no mistake – America WILL fall.
Sooner, rather than later.
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.
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Image processed by CodeCarvings Piczard ### FREE Community Edition ### on 2016-02-10 10:47:04Z | http://piczard.com | http://codecarvings.com Among John Newton’s letters is the following one to an unnamed recipient. In it, Newton addresses what few of us admit to in public: That even as Christians, our prayer lives, our attention to Scripture, our love for Christ and our trust of Him in our trials – are things we treasure and know we derive the greatest benefit from – and yet fail at so miserably.
Once again, this spiritual giant of 18th century in clarity, sweetness, gentleness, and love for the souls of others – gives comfort for the unspoken maladies that afflict most, if not all of us.
Enjoy! It is very tasty.
Gal. 5:17, “Ye cannot do the things that ye would.”
This is an humbling but a just account of a Christian’s attainments in the present life, and is equally applicable to the strongest and to the weakest. The weakest need not say less, the strongest will hardly venture to say more. The Lord has given his people a desire and will aiming at great things; without this they would be unworthy the name of Christians; but they cannot do as they would: their best desires are weak and ineffectual; not absolutely so (for he who works in them to will, enables them in a measure to do likewise), but in comparison with the mark at which they aim. So that, while they have great cause to be thankful for the desire he has given them, and for the degree in which it is answered, they have equal reason to be ashamed and abased under a sense of their continual defects, and the evil mixtures which taint and debase their best endeavours. It would be easy to make out a long list of particulars which a believer would do if he could, but in which, from first to last, he finds a mortifying inability. Permit me to mention a few, which I need not transcribe from books, for they are always present to my mind.
PRAYER: He would willingly enjoy God in prayer. He knows that prayer is his duty; but, in his judgment, he considers it likewise as his greatest honour and privilege. In this light he can recommend it to others, and can tell them of the wonderful condescension of the great God, who humbles himself to behold the things that are in heaven, that he should stoop so much lower, to afford his gracious ear to the supplications of sinful worms upon earth. He can bid them expect a pleasure in waiting upon the Lord, different in kind and greater in degree than all that the world can afford. By prayer, he can say, You have liberty to cast all your cares upon him that careth for you. By one hour’s intimate access to the throne of grace, where the Lord causes his glory to pass before the soul that seeks him, you may acquire more true spiritual knowledge and comfort, than by a day or a week’s converse with the best of men, or the most studious perusal of many folios: and in this light he would consider it and improve it for himself. But, alas! how seldom can he do as he would! How often does he find this privilege a mere task, which he would be glad of a just excuse to omit? and the chief pleasure he derives from the performance, is to think that his task is finished: he has been drawing near to God with his lips, while his heart was far from him. Surely this is not doing as he would, when (to borrow the expression of an old woman here) he is dragged before God like a slave, and comes away like a thief.
READING SCRIPTURE: The like may be said of reading the Scripture. He believes it to be the word of God: he admires the wisdom and grace of the doctrines, the beauty of the precepts, the richness and suitableness of the promises; and therefore, with David, he accounts it preferable to thousands of gold and silver, and sweeter than honey or the honeycomb. Yet, while he thus thinks of it, and desires that it may dwell in him richly, and be his meditation night and day, he cannot do as he would. It will require some resolution to persist in reading a portion of it every day; and even then his heart is often less engaged than when reading a pamphlet. Here again his privilege frequently dwindles into a task. His appetite is vitiated, so that he has but little relish for the food of his soul.
LOVE OF CHRIST: He would willingly have abiding, admiring thoughts of the person and love of the Lord Jesus Christ. Glad he is, indeed, of those occasions which recall the Saviour to his mind; and with this view, notwithstanding all discouragements, he perseveres in attempting to pray and read, and waits upon the ordinances. Yet he cannot do as he would. Whatever claims he may have to the exercise of gratitude and sensibility towards his fellow-creatures, he must confess himself mournfully ungrateful and insensible towards his best Friend and Benefactor. Ah! what trifles are capable of shutting him out of our thoughts, of whom we say, He is the Beloved of our souls, who loved us, and gave himself for us, and whom we have deliberately chosen as our chief good and portion. What can make us amends for the loss we suffer here? Yet surely if we could, we would set him always before us; his love should be the delightful theme of our hearts
But though we aim at this good, evil is present with us; we find we are renewed but in part, and have still cause to plead the Lord’s promise, To take away the heart of stone, and give us a heart of flesh.
TRUSTING GOD IN TRIALS: He would willingly acquiesce in all the dispensations of Divine Providence. He believes that all events are under the direction of infinite wisdom and goodness, and shall surely issue in the glory of God and the good of those who fear him. He doubts not but the hairs of his head are all numbered; that the blessings of every kind which he possesses, were bestowed upon him, and are preserved to him, by the bounty and special favour of the Lord whom he serves;—that afflictions spring not out of the ground, but are fruits and tokens of Divine love, no less than his comforts; that there is a need-be, whenever for a season he is in heaviness. Of these principles he can no more doubt, than of what he sees with his eyes; and there are seasons when he thinks they will prove sufficient to reconcile him to the sharpest trials. But often, when he aims to apply them in an hour of present distress, he cannot do what he would. He feels a law in his members warring against the law in his mind; so that, in defiance of the clearest convictions, seeing as though he perceived not, he is ready to complain, murmur, and despond. Alas! how vain is man in his best estate! how much weakness and inconsistency even in those whose hearts are right with the Lord! and what reason have we to confess that we are unworthy, unprofitable servants!
It were easy to enlarge in this way, would paper and time permit. But, blessed be God, we are not under the law, but under grace. And even these distressing effects of the remnants of indwelling sin are over-ruled for good. By these experiences the believer is weaned more from self, and taught more highly to prize and more absolutely to rely on him, who is appointed unto us of God, Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption. The more vile we are in our own eyes, the more precious he will be to us; and a deep repeated sense of the evil of our hearts is necessary to preclude all boasting, and to make us willing to give the whole glory of our salvation where it is due. Again, a sense of these evils will (when hardly any thing else can do it) reconcile us to the thoughts of death; yea, make us desirous to depart, that we may sin no more, since we find depravity so deep-rooted in our nature, that (like the leprous house) the whole fabric must be taken down before we can be freed from its defilement. Then, and not till then, we shall be able to do the thing that we would: when we see Jesus, we shall be transformed into his image, and have done with sin and sorrow for ever.[1]
[1] Newton, John, Richard Cecil. 1824. The works of the John Newton. . Vol. 1. London: Hamilton, Adams & Co.
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In The School of Prayer with Jesus
Matthew 6:1-13
Matthew 26:36-44
7 Lessons
AUDIO FOR THIS SERMON CAN BE FOUND HERE
When a baby is born, it’s as fully human as it will ever be.
However, it is not yet all that a human is fully meant to be.
Its nature is to grow.
If it remains as a baby, something is dreadfully wrong.
But growth and maturity require a number of essential elements.
Sustenance.
Rest.
Continual cleaning to prevent infection and disease.
Physical exercise and the development of those capacities – hand to eye coordination, walking, etc.
Communication beyond merely crying – language.
Mental and intellectual development – learning.
Relationships. Babies cannot survive alone. Someone must sustain them.
And each of these essentials has its spiritual corollary.
When Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3 that he “must be born again” or he would not be able see the Kingdom of God – He draws us into the use of this parallel between physical and spiritual growth which the other NT writers employ and develop further.
A parallel intended by God in how He established creation.
GROWTH: Ephesians 4:11–16 “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
1 Peter 2:2 “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation”
2 Peter 3:17–18 “You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
What does that look like then?
Sustenance. Word of God
Rest. Faith, trust in God’s character
Cleansing. Daily forgiveness (Matt. 6)
Physicality. Walking in holiness
Communication. Worship & Edification – PRAYER!
Intellect. Knowledge of Christ (2 Peter)
Relationships. The Church
Today, I want to focus on the aspect of communication – PRAYER.
One of the interesting features of Jesus’ own incarnation, was that in His incarnate state – He too had to grow.
So we read in Luke 2:40 “And the child [Jesus] grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.”
If Jesus would demonstrate such growth, as our supreme example – how much more ought we to pursue the same?
Coupled with that then, is also the record in the Gospels both of Jesus’ teaching on the subject of prayer, and His own practice of prayer.
In Matt. 6, we have Jesus’ key teaching on prayer, and in Matt. 26 we have the key example He sets in His own prayer life.
Between these two, I want to make a number of observations central as to how we ought to think about and approach prayer in the Christian life.
When the Writer to the Hebrews is in the midst of opening up some of the immense privileges that belong to the Believer as a result of Christ’s work on our behalf, he writes: Hebrews 10:19–22 “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
And what is this entering “the holy places” and “drawing near” to God in full assurance and faith, other than prayer?
In teasing these out, I will confine myself almost exclusively to the 2 passages we had read – though you can see those ideas scattered throughout the Word.
1. Prayer is both assumed and commanded in Scripture. Matthew 6:1–4 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others.
1 5 “And when you pray”
16 “And when you fast”
As I’ve mentioned any number of times previously – these 3, Prayer, Alms and Fasting form 3 assumptions in the mind of Jesus regarding the normal Christian life.
In each case it is not: IF you pray, fast or give, but WHEN.
When this is coupled with a great number of other passages, we cannot escape the reality that prayer is an assumed central reality of the Christ life as given to us by God Himself. Not as a mere religious construct.
2. Prayer brings us into private, personal communion with God.
Matthew 6:5–6 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
This is the private aspect of prayer which is so essential.
“No public ordinances can make amends for the neglect of secret prayer; nor will the most diligent attendance upon them justify us in the neglect of those duties, which, by the command and appointment of God, we owe to society.” Newton, John, Richard Cecil. 1824. The works of the John Newton. . Vol. 1. London: Hamilton, Adams & Co.
Christian lives never grow dynamically beyond the level of time we spend alone with God.
That’s where we draw our life. That’s where we draw our vitality. If you want to constantly live in discouragement, and constantly live in panic, and constantly live going from crisis to crisis without stability in your life, continue to believe you can live without being alone with Him on a daily basis. And enjoy your crisis.
The only way you’ll come to the stability is to spend time with Him.
Just as exposure to the Sun leaves you with a tan, exposure to the presence of God in prayer leaves its mark on the soul and in the mind. It changes our spiritual complexion.
NOTE: The core of what true prayer is all about, is not to be found in protracted dialog, but in the pleasure of being in the presence of God, without fear of any kind because of Christ.
2 Corinthians 3:18 “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
3. Prayer is the submission of our will to His; not the imposition of our will upon His.
I take this both from Matthew 6:9–10 “Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
And Jesus’ living this out in Matthew 26 where 3 times on the night of His passion He prays: “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
Let me read you something by Thomas Aquinas: “It is clear that he does not pray who, far from uplifting himself to God, requires that God shall lower Himself to him, and who resorts to prayer, not to stir the man in us to will what God wills, but only to persuade God to will what the man in us wills.”
If you’re spending all your time in prayer convincing God, He’s doing the wrong thing, something’s amiss.
Because that isn’t what Jesus did. He said, “I will tell you what my natural will is, but the reality is, I’m willing to submit that to you. You do what You know is best.”
I’m convinced that the source of much, if not all, of the frustration in our prayer lives, is that we think that God just isn’t coming around to our way of thinking.
That’s precisely what prayer is designed to combat in us.
Prayer is designed to get our hands off the driver’s wheel, and to commit the course to His keeping.
It’s the humbling and surrendering of our wills, not trying to yank His around. That’s hard.
I’ll tell you, you’ll be able to find out very quickly for yourself where you are in your prayer life: just mark out what it is you’re petitioning for.
How much time are you spending saying, “God, do this,” more than saying, “God, do this in me, because I’m the one who needs to change.
Show me how to meet this situation for your glory.
Show me how to bear up under this temptation so that you might be exalted.
Teach me how to grow in wisdom during this thing so that I might magnify your name, so that I might be equipped to minister to others.”
Instead, we’re constantly saying, “God, make it stop. God, make them stop. God, change them.”
Isn’t that a big one? We’re always praying, “God, change them.” Very little of our prayer is, “God, change us.” And yet that’s the key, because it’s the submission of our will, not the twisting of His. But we miss this in prayer! And because we do, we walk around frustrated.
“I’ve been praying about this for six months, and God isn’t doing anything.” Oh yes He is! He’s teaching you how to submit. You’ve been walking around for six months saying, “God isn’t doing anything,” because you’re the one who hasn’t submitted yet. What He’s doing is breaking you.
That’s so hard to come to. And it’s so contrary to the way we approach prayer, because we want to just lift up hands on high and say the magic words, and have God change the situation to suit us. He says, “No, I’ve crafted the situation to change you. I don’t want to change the situation; I want to change you!”
4. We pray in order to obtain forgiveness. Matthew 6:11–12 “Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
We are to pray in order that we may obtain forgiveness. But what do I mean by that when I say “obtain forgiveness?”
We have a theological construct to deal with.
We understand that God, when He crucified Christ on our behalf, made an atonement for all of our sin, past, present, and future. Yet we don’t live in a state of the eternal past, present, and future. We live in space and time. We live in the midst of things that unfold sequentially. We live in the dynamic of a regular relationship.
In the dynamic of our ongoing relationship with Him, we can injure our intimacy with Him by virtue of our sins in the present. And those sins need to be dealt with.
5. We pray because in prayer is an act of worship.
We worship God when we look to Him for our needs in right relationship to Him.
This, I take from the overall circumstance in both passages, not a specific verse. Psalm 116:16–19 “O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. 17 I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD. 18 I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people, 19 in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!”
Seeking the Father in prayer gives worshipful honor as the One we go to with our needs and cast our cares upon.
He LOVES to be trusted!
Without faith it is impossible to please God. And nothing shows distrust of God more than prayerlessness.
Colossians 4:2 says, “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.”
The first reason why we grow dull in prayer is when we lack in bringing thanksgiving to Him for what He’s done. It never fails.
One of the reasons why prayer becomes such drudgery, such difficulty -why it’s only a laundry list- is because you’ve stopped giving thanks.
You’ve stopped being grateful for what He has done, and you’re only focusing on what you think He hasn’t done in response to some other prayer.
Nothing will kill a relationship quicker. It kills it on your side, not His. He’s standing there waiting. But you lose the joy of His presence. It’s in prayer that we express our thanksgiving – our gratitude for all that He’s done, for all that He’s doing, for all that He’s promised He’s going to do. Face to face!
But how often does our prayer, instead, revolve around a series of complaints dressed up as concerns? That’s really the attitude. “I’ve got a concern over this. I’ve got a concern over that.” And what you’re saying is, “God, you haven’t done this yet.”
I know nothing that’s more effective at guarding the soul against bitterness and hardness than cultivating a habit of thanksgiving in prayer. If that’s all you do when you go to prayer, you’ve prayed well. And I’ll tell you why, on the basis of His Word: so when you come and you pray, don’t pray like the heathen do with all these vain repetitions [Matthew 6:7]. Don’t pray with sweat coming off like God isn’t going to answer unless you sweat bullets. Pray with this confidence: that He knows your need better than you know it. And it’s in the “coming” that He delights. He’s already going to meet the need. Oh, that we knew that! If we just knew how tender His heart was toward our needs: that He’s never left a single thing undone for us! It’s only our dissatisfaction with His perfection. He brings us alive when our hearts are thankful. And how rare it is (I mean this is truly rare) to find someone who is truly contented in this life. But true contentment can only happen on our knees. And it can only happen in the posture of a thankful heart filled with gratitude. No other place. If prayer for you is like pulling teeth, I guarantee you’re not a very thankful individual. That’s always a problem.
6. We pray in order to deal with anxiety. Matthew 6:25 & 31-33 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?..31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Let me give you my own personal definition of anxiety: Anxiety is the powerless feeling we get when our pride is confronted with an impossibility.
We are anxious because we can’t change the impossible situation.
And it wounds our pride. We can’t handle that conflict.
The cure then, only comes in one place: humbling yourself before God. That’s what prayer does. It humbles us.
7. We pray that we might receive. In Matthew 7 [v.7], Jesus says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.”
I don’t understand the dynamic, but this I do know by the teaching of the Scripture: God has ordained to meet our needs, and to answer even our daily things, by virtue of prayer.
How He weaves together our petitions with His sovereign will, I don’t know.
I don’t think we can explain that, and I know I can’t. Let me jump over to somebody who’s far better than I’ll ever hope to be, that grand genius of another age, Robert Haldane. “This teaches us that God, by His providence, regulates all that takes place. There is nothing with which Christians should be more habitually impressed than that God is the disposer of all events. They should look to His will in the smallest concerns of life, as well as in affairs of the greatest moment. Even a prosperous journey is from the Lord. In this way they glorify God by acknowledging His providence in all things and have the greatest confidence and happiness in walking before Him. Here we also learn that while the will of God concerning any event is not ascertained, we have liberty to desire and pray for what we wish, provided our prayers and desires are conformed to His holiness. But will our prayers be agreeable to God if they be contrary to His decrees? Yes, provided they be offered in submission to Him and not opposed to any known command. For it is the revealed and not the secret will of God that must be the rule of our prayers. We also learn in this place that since all events depend upon the will of God, we ought to acquiesce in them however contrary they may be to our wishes. And likewise, that in those things in which the will of God is not apparent, we should always accompany our prayers and our desires with this condition: ‘if it be pleasing to God,’ and be ready to renounce our desires as soon as they appear not to be conformed to His will. Oh how sweet a thing, as one has well observed, were it for us to learn to make our burdens light by framing our hearts to the burden, and making our Lord’s will a law.”
What a mystery that is! But He designs to answer and to meet our needs, and to fill our requests, by prayer.
1. Prayer is both assumed and commanded in Scripture.
- Prayer brings us into private, personal communion with God.
- Prayer is the submission of our will to His; not the imposition of our will upon His.
- We pray in order to obtain forgiveness.
- We pray because in prayer is an act of worship.
- We pray in order to deal with anxiety.
- We pray that we might receive.
Prayer is the supreme privilege given to the Believer at the cost of Jesus’ death on the cross, and as a direct result of the power of His resurrection.
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When Realms Overlap
Electing Leaders from a Biblical Perspective
Deuteronomy 17:14-20
Romans 13:1-7
AUDIO FOR THIS SERMON CAN BE FOUND HERE
If you are anything at all like me – and you had better pray you are not – you feel a bit like – No matter who I pull the lever for this fall, it’s not all positive.
Given the unusual and highly charged nature of the upcoming Presidential election, I have been asked if I might explore what the Bible might have to say about how Christians are to participate in the process.
To do any justice to such a topic, the first thing we need to do is ask how – if at all – human government fits at all into God’s dealings with humanity and nations.
We can state easily, given any number of passages that God does indeed institute human authority structures – one of which is government in society. This is chiefly because God Himself is a God of order, and even within the triune Godhead itself, there is order among the equal persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
On the human side the story begins back in Genesis.
The very first arrangement we have is:
- Individual responsibility to obey God. So Adam is given both positive and negative responsibilities in the Garden, answerable to God. Eat of the trees, but not a certain tree. Subdue the earth.
- The home. Reinforced in the 5th Commandment – Children, obey your parents.
- In instituting a government for Israel – Deut. 17, which we will come back to.
- Responsibility to foreign governments – Which is clearly demonstrated in the accounts in the book of Daniel.
- Then we have those under Roman rule in Romans 13 – which extends to Christians and all human governments.
So we read: Romans 13:1–7 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
- Lastly, there is even a legitimate ecclesiastical government.
1 Thessalonians 5:12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,
1 Corinthians 16:15–16 Now I urge you, brothers—you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints— 16 be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer.
Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Now there is something we need to consider very carefully before we move on.
Given the statements God makes to Israel 1 Sam. 8:7 we learn: God’s PREFERRED means of governance over men is that each live in personal responsibility before Him.
1 Samuel 8:4–22 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 5 and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8 According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. 9 Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.” 10 So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. 11 He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. 15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16 He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” 19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” 21 And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. 22 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey their voice and make them a king.” Samuel then said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.”
It is when that willingness for each individual to be responsible before God fails, that God raises up more human government.
So when human government grows large and oppressive, the corrective is not to be found as much in a change of how human government works, but rather, a return to individual responsibility before God.
This is true both in the Church and in Society.
So we note Proverbs 28:2a “When a land transgresses, it has many rulers,”
Bloated government is a sure sign the populace has decided to walk in predominately sinful ways – people not taking personal responsibility to love one another as themselves. Thus everything must be more and more regulated – because people cannot be trusted to act with either common sense or common decency.
Part of God’s argument with Israel, AFTER they have come into the Promised Land is that they have not followed through in setting up a sound government and lawlessness was rampant: Judges 17:6 “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
When they finally DO ask for a King, God makes it clear that even this would not be necessary IF, they would individually walk with God in fidelity.
Since God provides for leadership, He also directs our participation in selecting good leadership.
We see it played out in the early Church as well as the OT:
Example 1: Acts 7 – Those who would handle the distribution of Church resources to the widows.
Example 2: Elders. Titus 1:5 This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—
Acts 14:21–23 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. 23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
“The simple verb χειροτονέω, to appoint, occurs Acts 14:23; 2 Cor. 8:19; and originally means to stretch out the hand for the purpose of giving a vote. Hence to elect by show of hands, and generally to appoint…In later ecclesiastical usage it signified ordain, as bishops or deacons.[1]”
That brings us back to how God makes similar provisions for Civil government as well: Deuteronomy 17:14–20
14 “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ 15 you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16 Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ 17 And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. 18 “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, 20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.”
Now America is NOT Israel. We are not a theocracy under the leadership of God’s representatives like the Prophets and Priests to keep the Kings in check.
Nevertheless, there are some clearly identifiable principles laid out for Israel to use in choosing their Kings. Principles as God’s people we do well to consider and adopt.
These principles spell out 2 things:
- The responsibility for those who CAN participate in the process – TO participate in the process. This is one way God has allowed us for instance to have a voice, even in the secular society of the United States.
- Those we choose, are to be chosen on the basis of certain criteria.
14-17 / Israel’s kings must be:
- One of the masses. Not an outsider. A connection with the plight and issues of the culture first hand, and sympathetic to its values. Not elites.
- Not given to war. Horses were acquired in order to fight. Israel’s Kings were not to try and exceed the earthly boundaries God had given. Imperialism and quickness to war are negatives. This does not decry a strong defense, but it DOES call for a very judicious use of force – especially when the nation’s security is not directly challenged.
And this is NOT to be done with the World’s methods in catering to its tastes and customs.
- The acquisition of many wives was a symbol to the nations of status and power and of political alliances.
God’s person is not to be as concerned with international status, as with doing what is best for the flourishing of those people he or she governs.
How we look TO the rest of the world is irrelevant, what we DO in it, is paramount.
Seeking the welfare of the populace as whole and not other interests.
Not aimed at legacy considerations.
Faithful.
Not given to seeking status or making ill-advised alliances.
We are not to seek the world’s symbols of status and power.
Of course, marital fidelity is included here.
One not governed by sexual urges and able to remain faithful to commitments.
- Not given to increasing personal wealth. The goal is to serve, not to get.
- Ideally, a man intimately acquainted with God’s Word. At the very least, subject to a moral code outside of themselves.
Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Neither the people NOR their leadership are to do only what is right in their own eyes.
Given the above, it is hard to imagine either of the 2 presumptive candidates we have before us presently, as fitting very well. I neither can, nor will decide that for you.
But we do need to ask: Can a vote for someone other than the 2 presumptive candidates be legitimate, or, as is often argued, will voting for a 3rd party simply take votes away from one of the two, guaranteeing the win of the other?
And this is where we hit head on, overlap between the Spiritual and the Natural spheres – and what direction is given to us.
If participation had no spiritual dimension to it, just voting for the lesser of 2 evils, or who appears to be the most practical candidate might take the day.
But because we are responsible before God, we must vote for those who come closest to the Biblical mandates for good governance, whether they are electable or not – and trust God in it.
In other words, we must act by faith, and not merely by fear or pragmatics.
If the whole world votes against our picks, we will at last have voted as God would have us, and in faith, relying on His sovereign hand in it.
The story isn’t over with this election, or the next or the one after that or all the ones after that until Christ returns.
I need to be able to stand before God and say – I cast my vote for those closest to your criteria, even when the whole world said I looked like a fool.
It is to adopt the motto of Athanasius when he stood for orthodox doctrine almost alone against the Emperor & many high and powerful churchmen in the 3rd century – “Athanasius Contra Mundum”
For a Christian – Choosing leadership – voting, is not a secular activity carried out in a secular context, it is a SPIRITUAL activity carried out in a secular context.
So our responsibility is:
- To participate.
- To research enough to know who comes closest to the Biblical criteria.
- To stand on that – Vote in faith – irrespective of whether or not it seems like our voice will be heard by the masses. For it will be heard by God.
Whether or not it seems to impact our immediate situation – we are called to do what is most honoring to God, ABOVE what common wisdom may indicate.
Let me give you just one last thing to think about before offering a summary.
Voting for a 3rd party, may well be a longer term strategy for breaking down the mere 2 party system, and moving beyond it. Not this election cycle, nor the next, maybe not for any number of election cycles, but eventually if enough people finally refuse to have just the 2 dominant parties foist their picks on them. Think of the number of times Wilberforce kept pushing legislation to outlaw slavery in Great Britain. It was decades of bucking the establishment that finally won the day. And if we are always voting only in terms of the what seems to be the present issues and outcomes, we will never change the larger picture for the better. We’ll just put band-aides on the cancers and hope for the best.
So, am I telling you WHO to vote for?
No.
I am telling you WHAT the Word of God says to vote for.
Vote for the one you believe best exemplifies the qualities God’s Word lays out, to continue in that course unflinchingly irrespective of the culture – and trust Him to sort it all out.
It may seem impractical or counter-intuitive.
It may seem as though it has no immediate impact.
It may be out of step.
But if it is in obedience to God, it WILL have its ramifications.
When we stand before the throne of God, the question will not be, did our candidate win? The question will be, did we discharge our obedience to God, irrespective of any pressure to do otherwise?
You beloved, will each have to take up your responsibility in examining the candidates – and out of that field, voting for the one you believe best fulfills God’s stated key qualities.
I do not pretend to know who that will be in your mind.
But I do ask you to do your homework, and to prayerfully consider it all before His throne – and not be governed by fear, perceived opportunity, pragmatism or hope. Hope in Him.
Not your candidate.
Do what is right before His eyes, rather than what seems expedient in the World – and trust Him.
Part of the incredible heritage that Christ has won for us, translating us into His Kingdom out of the kingdom of darkness, is freedom to participate in this world system, but to do so free from the fear, anxiety, the deep angst and fretfulness that binds so many.
For even if our voices are barely heard in the marketplace, or the voting booth, they are heard in the prayer closet. And by the One who rules the nations – and Who gave His Son that we might have eternal life.
[1] Vincent, Marvin Richardson. 1887. Word studies in the New Testament. . Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
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![1 Corinthians 1031 [fullscreen]](https://responsivereiding.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/1-corinthians-1031-fullscreen.png?w=1024&h=768)
Doing All to The Glory of God
1 Corinthians 10:31
(and selected texts)
AUDIO FOR THIS SERMON CAN BE FOUND HERE
No doubt, virtually all Christians are familiar with this verse out of Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians.
And it sounds good.
But the statement by itself begs several questions as we seek to understand exactly what it means and what its implications are.
It seems to me there are 3 essential questions we need to try to address in this regard:
- What exactly IS the glory of God?
- What does it MEAN to glorify God?
- WHY is glorifying God so important?
- What IS the glory of God?:
I am going to give you my very reduced but I believe Biblically defensible definition of what the glory of God is: It is simply – GOD REVEALED SO THAT HE IS KNOWN FOR WHO AND WHAT HE IS.
Exodus 14:4 “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.”
Exodus 16:10 “And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.”
John 2:11 “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.”
John 17:1–5 “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”
From Adam Clarke’s Commentary: A general definition of this great First Cause, as far as human words dare attempt one, may be thus given: The eternal, independent, and self-existent Being: the Being whose purposes and actions spring from himself, without foreign motive or influence: he who is absolute in dominion; the most pure, the most simple, and most spiritual of all essences; infinitely benevolent, beneficent, true, and holy: the cause of all being, the upholder of all things; infinitely happy, because infinitely perfect; and eternally self-sufficient, needing nothing that he has made: illimitable in his immensity, inconceivable in his mode of existence, and indescribable in his essence; known fully only to himself, because an infinite mind can be fully apprehended only by itself. In a word, a Being who, from his infinite wisdom, cannot err or be deceived; and who, from his infinite goodness, can do nothing but what is eternally just, right, and kind. Reader, such is the God of the Bible; but how widely different from the God of most human creeds and apprehensions!
Glorifying God then isn’t making Him bigger or better than He actually is – it is letting others see Him for who He really already is.
God’s glory is wrapped up in:
Revealing His Person – His Character & attributes
Revealing His Mind – Through His Communications – Words
Revealing His Heart – Though His Plans and purposes
Example combining all three: Exodus 33:17–23 “And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” 18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”
Exodus 34:4–7 “So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. 5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
- (6) The Lord, The Lord
- Repetition as emphasis in Hebrew.
- He made everything.
- It all exists by Him and for Him.
- He writes the rules – it all revolves around His plan and purposes.
- Merciful Compassionate – Acting to relieve the suffering brought on by our own sin.
- Gracious Friendly – He smiles upon His own.
He delights in and is friendly toward humankind and specifically, the undeserving.
- Slow to anger Just like “makrothumia” – it takes a LOT to get Him riled up. He is not perpetually grumpy or ticked off.
- Abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness
Steadfast love: His love is not up and down, steady. Loyal & unfailing.
Faithfulness: He is truthful – keeps promises, trustworthy.
- Forgiving iniquity AND transgression AND sin.
Hebrew has 12 different words for SIN – each with its own nuance.
Sin is complex and we need a Savior who can deal with every aspect of it.
Here, The Lord opens up the 3 most common and root ideas regarding sin – and thus the completeness of His forgiveness.
INIQUITY: Twistedness – inner warped-ness.
TRANSGRESSION: Rebellion
SIN: Missing the mark
Romans 3:23 reminds us: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
We were made in His image, to bear that image. By sinning, we fall short of being able to make His character and attributes known. When we sin, we obscure that image.
In every place and in every WAY we fall short of the glory of God, the image in which we were made and were made to reflect.
- But who will no means clear the guilty.
Holy and Just – He cannot simply dismiss sin.
How is it then that anyone can be saved – if God will by no means clear the guilty?
ONLY – if we are made “not guilty” – only if we are justified.
This then HAS to bring us to the cross, where righteousness and peace kiss.
Remember WHERE it is the glory of God is most manifested in the OT times? In the Tabernacle/Temple – more specifically over THE MERCY SEAT.
Now God has pursued a number of means to make His glory known, or to reveal Himself.
Creation – Psalm 19:1–2 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
Immensity Infinitude Order Eternal Beauty Purpose
Word – God speaking. God revealing how He works and what His plans and purposes are. So the Bible reports:
What He did in Creation
How He deals with sin
What He made humankind for
How His Law reveals Him and our obscuring of Him
How He has dealt with the sin problem (the supreme revelation / glorification of His mercy and grace in Jesus Christ
Where everything is going
Manifestation – As we saw in the opening quotations.
Incarnation – Christ The EXPRESS image. Hebrews 1:1–3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature,
John 2:11 “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.”
John 17:1–5 “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”
US! Mankind created to bear His image – make Him known.
So that brings us to our 2nd question
- What does it MEAN (for us) to glorify God?
Simply to make Him known with as little distortion or veiling as possible. Obviously, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The human being, as made in God’s image, is more uniquely privileged to glorify God than the highest angels in Heaven.
For we alone were made especially to PERCEIVE Him for who and what He is, AND, to EXPERIENCE Him and enjoy Him in being the objects and recipients of MERCY and GRACE which are two hidden things in Him which He delights in to the highest degree.
We then can do this – can glorify Him a number of ways.
Let’s apply the passage we looked at earlier first, and then reduce it a bit.
- (6) The Lord, The Lord / Living consciously as under the authority of the One who made us for His purposes – and not for ourselves.
Not ruled by fate or Chance
Human governments
Circumstances
But by a sovereign, holy, loving Creator and God.
- Merciful / Being Compassionate & acting to relieve the suffering of other brought on by their own sin.
- Gracious / Displaying God’s friendly attitude toward humankind and others who – like we – are underserving, by our own attitude.
- Slow to anger / Being those whom it takes a LOT to get riled up. He is not perpetually grumpy or ticked off & neither are we to be.
- Abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness / Steadfast love: Not up and down, steady. In our relationship with Him and with others. Loyal & committed. Faithfulness: Truthful – keeps promises, trustworthy.
- Forgiving iniquity AND transgression AND sin / Being those who forgive easily and quickly, even when it is costly.
- But who will no means clear the guilty / Aware of our own accountability before God, seeking justice and equity in the society around us.
As we live in relationship like this with God, and then endeavor to employ and display those same attributes to those we interact with.
This plays out in the following 4 main ways:
DECLARATION – Communicating God’s Word: Teaching, Preaching & Conversation John 16:13–15 “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
WORSHIP – Psalm 86:12–13 “I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. 13 For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.”
VINDICATION – Joshua 7:19 “Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and give praise to him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.”
Israel’s defeat in the face of her enemies, makes it look like it is God who is not faithful to His promise. Clear God of the charge – establish His righteousness, let Him be seen as glorious by owning your sin.
In the Gospel, God is vindicated. Men show by their confession of sin that God is the good one and they are not. His righteousness is revealed. We justify Him, and by grace, he justifies us.
OBEDIENCE – 1 Corinthians 6:20 “for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
When we walk as people who belong to the Kingdom of Christ.
NOTE: God does not need to be apologized for, nor tamed to make Him easier for people to reckon with.
The more Jesus revealed the Father, the more some were offended at Him.
Giving God glory NEVER includes lying about Him or trying to give false testimony.
He is glorious enough as is – He never needs us to use our sanctified imaginations in making things into to miracles that aren’t or making His interventions seems more spectacular, etc.
He does not need our help in that way – He just needs to be known for who and what He really is and really does. Nothing less, and certainly nothing more.
This is why we must be extremely careful not to put either words in God’s mouth or attitudes in His heart.
We must be VERY sure that when we say “God said” it is GOD who “said”.
Anything else is the very opposite of glorifying Him – because it obscures the truth.
This is why preachers and teachers need to be so careful in exegeting God’s Word – for we do not want to make it say what it does not,
nor leave out anything it does say,
nor use it as a pretext to communicate what WE want to say,
nor bend it to serve our purposes,
Nor simply say what we FEEL about it.
What did God say through His writers, to the people He was speaking to at the time?
III. WHY is glorifying God so important?
BIBLICAL MANDATE – 1 Corinthians 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
IT IS WHAT WE WERE CREATED AND REDEEMED FOR – Ephesians 1:11–12 “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.”
1 Peter 2:9–10 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
Genesis 1:26–27 “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
IT IS GOD’S MEANS TO GOD’S END – Romans 8:29 “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”
Ephesians 3:14–19 “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
2 Corinthians 3:18 “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
This is why Paul locates the focus of His own preaching and ministry in this very thing: 1 Corinthians 2:1–2 “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
This singular aim – to preach Christ and Him crucified is to preach the love of God for the lost,
It is to preach the epitome of God’s self-revelation in the giving of mercy to the guilty and blessing to the undeserving. Mercy & Grace.
IT IS THE HIGHEST ACT OF LOVE – What can possibly be better in blessing others than exposing them to the fountain of all good?
To the very ultimate of all blessing and good – God Himself as revealed in His mercy and grace IN Christ Jesus?
- What exactly IS the glory of God? Who and what He is.
- What does it MEAN to glorify God? To make Him known for who and what He is.
- WHY is glorifying God so important?
He is worthy
It is why we were created
It is the highest act of love toward Him and other of which we are capable.
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