In J.I. Packer’s excellent little book “God’s Plans for You” he opens Ch. 6 “How God Leads Us” like this: “Evangelicals differ from most Roman Catholics and liberals in that they are constantly uptight about guidance. No other concern commands more interest or arouses more anxiety among them nowadays than discovering the will of God.”
Packer then goes on to quote Joseph Bayly in a 1968 monograph: “If there is a serious concern among Christian students today, it is for guidance. Holiness may have been the passion of another generation’s Christian young men and women. Or soul-winning. Or evangelizing the world.… But not today. Today the theme is getting to know the will of God.” Packer, J. I. 2001. God’s Plans for You. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
It is my experience that Packer and Bayly are both right. This is a huge issue. And maybe, just maybe, more than it ought to, or need to be.
In that regard then, I’d like us to briefly consider the events of Acts 15 and the Council at Jerusalem.
The setting is clear. vs. 1 says that some men from Judea, had gone to the largely Gentile church in Antioch telling the new Believers that unless they were circumcised in conformity to the Mosaic law, they couldn’t be saved.”
Naturally, this created quite the concern. Not simply due to the practical realities, but what impact this had on the Gospel. Paul and Barnabas vigorously confronted the issue. The text says there was “no small dissension and debate.” A right proper brouhaha broke out. With the result that Paul and Barnabas were sent to Jerusalem to put the matter before the apostles and elders there.
This is where what went on in the Council becomes interesting and I believe instructive to us.
Let’s recap the Council. It has a lot to say about the natural progression of spiritual maturity.
So, how did this group proceed to ascertain the Lord’s mind and leading on what was before them?
1 – (v 6) The apostles and elders got together to consider it.
2 – (vss 7-9) Peter stands up and appeals to his being led to preach to the Gentiles, but does not see even his extraordinary vision as definitive. What he does appeal to is the providential outpouring of the Spirit that attended his ministry at Cornelius’ house.
3 – (vss 10-11) Peter argues theologically and with reason. He especially notes the unbearable burden of salvation by obeying the Law, and then appeals to the Gospel of grace they’ve all been preaching.
4 – (v 12) Paul and Barnabas reinforce the nature of God’s providential work among the Gentiles.
5 – (vss 13-21) First, James reasons from Peter’s and Paul’s activity, and then, how this confirms or fulfills the Old Testament prophecies. His appeal to Scripture is important. He then adds that the Word will still have its impact on Believers.
6 – (vss 25 & 28) They write a group letter to the Antiochene church. The letter appeals to 3 things. a. Their arriving at consensus after discussion & debate; b. Examination of God’s providential acts; c. The verification of the Scriptures. This is termed as seeming “good to the Holy Spirit and to us.”
Now hold on to your hat. Because what is missing here is as important, maybe even more so, that what is included.
What is missing?
No vision. Here is this most important issue, striking at the very heart of the Gospel itself, and no one among the apostles, prophets and elders – gets a vision to settle the matter. No one.
No “leading”. No one just stood up and said “I feel led.” And the whole group then saying “o well then, if you feel led – let’s…”
There was no supernatural sign. No attesting miracle or anything of the like from anyone EVEN THE MOST EMINENT APOSTLES. No one said: “God told me” as definitive.
Note then, how as the church matures, calling upon God given reason informed by the Scriptures, with the counsel of others operating similarly, and confirmed in providence becomes the norm above immediate impressions or revelations.
This is vitally important. Let me repeat it.
Calling upon God – given reason informed by the Scriptures – with the counsel of others – and confirmation in providence – THIS becomes the norm over immediate impression or revelations.
Note also that the Bible does not record a litany of individuals being “led” supernaturally in personal matters – but only where there is something pivotal regarding redemptive history for the Church. It simply is not the Biblical pattern. Where key events in the Redemptive history and progress of the Church at large are at stake, yes, visions like Peter’s on the roof in Joppa occured. But here, we’re told how that event was central to opening Gospel mission to the Gentiles. It wasn’t an every day occurrence, nor was it repeated.
Note how such leadings decline the more the Word is ingested and people reason in wisdom out of God’s Word, in conference with God’s people, and in concert with providential markers. These grow fewer and fewer as the narrative of Acts proceeds.
And note too how impulses are never to be given the force of a MANDATE. To do so, puts them on par with Scripture and creates new sins which the Bible knows nothing about. For if someone fails to do what is mandated by God, such failure can be nothing other than sin, but one not applicable to any other but yourself. An entirely new category of sin is created. The individual “God told me” but I did not obey – which is not applicable to the Church at large.
Note lastly: The more a relationship matures, the less directives are needed, and the more communication shifts to fellowship.
The better I know my boss’s goals and desires, the less I have to ask for specifics, and the more I can carry out his business freely.
The better a child knows the ways and desires of the parent and matures in terms of what is good versus what is bad or harmful, the less rules are needed, and the more the child lives on the principles. We move from precept to principle as we mature. It is this way in sanctification, and this way in growing in the Spirit.
Things like God’s manifestations on Sinai are for the immature and again at pivotal moments. Once things are spoken there, the less He speaks in the same way. Once the Law was given, the Israelites did not need to go to Mt. Sinai every morning for fresh revelations. They had what He had written.
The pillar of cloud and fire disappear once they come into the promised land. They are no less led, but know that their mandate is to conquer – they are no longer wandering. Such leading signs are indicative of immaturity, earlier stages in growth and wandering, not maturity and entering into what God has sent us to do.
The supernatural manna ceases as soon as they enter the promised land, and now they are to cultivate food and feed themselves. They are no less dependent upon God, but have entered into a more mature relationship which assumes they be about God’s business, rather than looking for new leadings.
As Deuteronomy 29:29 reminds us: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
Does the Spirit prompt and guide? Surely. But first and foremost through His Word, then in Providence, God given propensities, wise counsel, etc. Believers are not doomed to live constantly trying to divine God’s secret will for their individual circumstances. We are so much freer than that.
There is so much more to say, but I’ll leave it here for now. Give yourself to what God has revealed already, and trust Him in what He hasn’t.
It has been my experience, that I most often find out I’ve been “led” in the aftermath of something when it has come to pass – not before. It just might be that way most often period. After all, we walk by faith, not by sight. Needing a leading, is needing some form of sight.
Proverbs is a loving Father, doing his best to educate his son in the way of the World in light of the reality of God, sin, and human frailty. As such, Solomon spends a lot of time dealing with the issue of temptation. He knows well from experience how the allure of sinful things can draw us off from following God and His Word. Nothing’s changed.
Context is important here.
As a Father speaking to his son, perhaps in his teen years, Solomon knows full well two things are at play; first, raging hormones.
We are complex creatures. As such we do not just have minds and bodies, but those two are bound together in such a way that each impacts the other. Our physiology often impacts our psychology. In the extreme we see this in alcohol and drug use (Solomon will deal with alcohol more than once). But even something more benign like caffeine can make one anxious or jittery.
In my mother’s latter years, she came to me complaining that she could not sleep in her own bed because she became so anxious and fretful – but could not attach the anxiety to a specific matter. She prayed and sought the Lord and could not overcome. It grew worse. She saw it as a lack of faith issue. Not trusting the Lord enough.
One day, looking over her medications, and doing a little research online, I suspected the root cause may have been interactions between 2 certain meds. Calling the Dr. we switched out the one, and overnight her crippling anxiety eased wonderfully. Her problem wasn’t unbelief, it was chemically induced.
Teenagers, boys or girls are undergoing immense changes physiologically which have psychological and spiritual implications. Solomon got that.
Second, he’s talking to a young man. And so he casts the character of temptation in general, in the form of a seductive woman. He is not saying women are somehow inherently temptresses to be thought of poorly. He is using this example to demonstrate how attractive sin always is, and how we each have our individual propensities toward particular sins, even at specific times and certain circumstances.
Hence my title: “What’s in your wallet.” Where do you locate your wealth? What is most alluring to you that you count gain? What tempts you most? For what you value or treasure most – that will be your “temptress.”
Is it fame? Reputation? Success? Family? Money? Social status? Peer opinion? Relationship? Safety? Being known and appreciated? Marriage? Obliteration of pain or failure? Accomplishment? Self-image?
What?
Irrespective of what it is that tempts you most, Solomon’s words to his son here are absolutely indispensible in overcoming temptation. Even temptation complicated by hormones, past experiences or individual propensities and circumstances. Solomon outlines his approach in vss. 1-4.
Proverbs 7:1–2 “My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you; keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;”
Here is the “secret” to obedience – that God’s Word is “treasured”, prized and delighted in – not because of the material only, but especially because of Who has written it to us.
We delight in Him and therefore want to know everything He has said.
And when that kind of love is at the bottom of it – we are never in the place of simply carrying out commands, we are indulging ourselves in our highest Love.
Only an entranced love can keep you from the seductions and wiles of the enemy. Nothing else will do.
The apple of the eye is the pupil. It represents both what we prize most – i.e. keep our eye on, but also what we protect most. We protect our eyes at all costs. So we need both to value and protect the Word of God.
2. Proverbs 7:3 “bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.”
The idea is that effort must be expended in order to keep these things of the Spirit embedded in the heart and mind. A mere surface acquaintance will not do. Due to the effects of the Fall on our human constitution, this takes work.
God’s commands must be kept and guarded from loss, and corruption. Loss in ignoring them or not retreating to His Word for them, but inventing our own and guarding in letting people redefine them, including ourselves. We must not either add to them nor subtract.
And how are we to do this? As above, like the reflexive response of batting anything away that comes near the eye. As though this is most sensitive and needs careful protection.
3. Proverbs 7:4 “Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call insight your intimate friend,”
Understanding ourselves, God’s Word and the nature of temptation will find us on our knees, calling out for wisdom and insight and deep intimacy with truth as God knows it. Nothing less than conscious, constant, deliberate dependence upon the indwelling Spirit of Christ as the very Spirit of wisdom Himself.
And in pursuing this – what does Solomon say will be the result? Proverbs 7:5 “to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.”
It is to seek Christ and the depths of His finished work on our behalf, and the gift of His Spirit. This Jesus Christ, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Col. 2:3)
“Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.” (Prov. 4:25-27)
When contemplating any course of action, it only makes sense to ask: “Where will this take me? What is the end of what I am contemplating?” In either word or deed.
But of course, this also begs the question of whether or not I am on my way to anywhere at all?
If one were to pursue a career as a lawyer – they would plot out a course that would take them there. The right undergraduate courses in college, and then Law School. Then setting their sights on passing the Bar, and then – only then – the practice of Law itself.
It is the same with anything in life. To be a teacher, a race car driver, an electrician – name it.
But, as the old saying goes, if you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it – too.
Setting a course in the natural is one thing – but how many actually contemplate setting a course toward Heaven?
Do we imagine we will just stumble in there someday? That “being” a Christian is the end game, the goal itself? Do we forget Jesus words: Matthew 7:13–14 (ESV) — “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
Nobody just wakes up in Heaven someday and says “whew! I made it.”
Why do so few find it? Why do so few enter in? Because so few are actually looking for it and seeking to enter in.
If you are aiming at entering heaven, keep your eyes on that destination, and make the decisions which coincide with going there. Keep looking for the door of that Great City. Keep your eyes fixed on what you intend to do and be there – and who you are longing to spend eternity with.
No one will get there by accident. Only those who inquire as to The Way – Jesus – and who order their lives to go there to be with Him and the Father.
Where are you headed?
In this case, Siri can’t help you. Only Jesus can. For as He told us: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
Where was He going? To the Father. By way of the Cross.
What is the way so we can go too? Through Him. Only through Him.
Matt. 16:24: “Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
And by grace, He is still issuing that call today.
No, this isn’t a post about the 1962 hit by Anthony Newley. It is about the existential question the book of Proverbs begs us to consider in nearly every chapter. For the Bible has a LOT to say about being a fool. The first mention of which appears in vs. 7 of chapter 1: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Newley’s song, co-written with Leslie Bricusse, is a lament about the loneliness, emptiness and self-doubt that plagues a person who never risked the kind of vulnerability that loving another deeply requires.
Proverbs on the other hand, often appeals to the wretched condition of one who never trusted themselves to the revelation of God in His Word, and ends up too in loneliness, emptiness and self-doubt.
Even worse.
Newley’s song never gives an answer as to why he remained that way.
Proverbs does: “Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
In a nutshell, the Fool, is the one who takes the very notion of God lightly (the idea behind the word “despise” here), and takes true wisdom and instruction lightly. He or she does not know that one cannot understand the universe and the meaning of human life, apart from fearing the God who made it all.
If He is not in His rightful place in our thoughts, we can know nothing of the truth, only uncontextualized facts.
Fools do not want a sovereign God.
An untamable God.
A demanding God.
A holy God.
A judging God.
A God with absolute rights.
A God who is to be feared on any level.
One who imposes Himself in any aspect of life – and who cannot be quantified and harnessed to their own wills.
This is what makes a fool.
The Fool wants fantasy above reality.
I pray this is not you.
Flee to Him today.
Own the self-evident reality of this God. Believe the Gospel and be saved. For this God, so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that all who believe in Him would not die, lost as they are, but have everlasting life.
Only a fool, would refuse the obvious and heralded truth.
About 20 years ago, I had the joy of teaching some classes in a Christian school on Worldview. I really had fun. Along with my classes – which were mostly seniors – I got to speak in chapel from time to time to the entire student body. One of those times was especially memorable to me.
I chose as my topic for that chapel, how to “Cult-proof” yourself. Five things which if you stick to, will keep one from being sucked into actual cults (i.e. Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, Children of God, etc.); cultish or cult like Christian Churches or ministries; and all false religions to boot.
A pretty high claim I know. But I still stand by it.
What were those 5 things? The simple and so-called “Five Solas” of the Reformation. I didn’t invent them. But they have stood the test of time, and are as relevant now as ever. Maybe more so in an age of the wild proliferation of religious sects, and organizations like NXIVM, Scientology, Multi-level-marketing schemes, extreme breast-feeding (yes, it’s a real thing), separatists and Preppers, on and on.
1 – Sola Scriptura: Standing on the Word of God as the final authority in all matters of life and faith, especially in opposition to dreams, visions, experiences teachings and writings as located in one’s self, or another’s person or personality.
Sola Scriptura does not mean we ignore Church history, nor the teachers and preachers God has gifted His Church with throughout the ages. But it does mean we sift everything through the careful, systematic sieve of the Bible’s teaching. That we and those we listen to are held to the scrutiny of sound principles of Biblical interpretation. Requiring that doctrines and teachings are neither contrary to “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 3) Note – already in place by the closing of the New Testament canon; nor invented out of whole cloth, privately interpreted or dependent upon wild or unique applications of obscure passages.
All those claiming to have some new or secret revelation are to be dismissed out of hand. “To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.” (Isa. 8:20)
It is in the Scriptures alone, that we find that we are saved by –
2 – Sola Gratia – grace alone.
Every false group, EVERY false group, no matter how seemingly orthodox, will make salvation and reconciliation to God, dependent in some way on receiving their unique teaching or brand and some form of human merit as prescribed by them. Performance in their eyes. Not the reception of free grace. Do this, don’t do that, in order to make yourself worthy as they imagine it.
Run! You can do NOTHING to make yourself worthy of salvation in the least bit. As Luther once said, we bring absolutely nothing to the table but the sin that makes our salvation necessary. Salvation has nothing to do with our worthiness, but of Christ’s. He saves the unworthy. Only the unworthy. When we inject any personal worthiness into the equation – we either say that Jesus’ righteousness imputed to us is not enough, or that we can somehow do something He couldn’t. It is a lie. Eph. 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
3 – Sola Fide – by Faith alone. The Bible also teaches us that salvation and right standing with God is received by faith alone, apart from any human effort. We always receive it as opposed to making it happen. We can never do enough. But every aberrant group will have you jumping through hoops – and never answering the question “how much is enough?”
As the passage just quoted says – “by grace you have been saved through faith.” Believing what God has said in His Word is true, and obeying the Gospel by believing and resting upon Christ and His finished work on our behalf. When those in John 6 asked Jesus what they must be doing to do the works of God – He answered: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
On the “mount of transfiguration”, the voice of the Father was heard as Jesus stood with Moses (representative of the Old Testament Law) and Elijah (representative of the Old Testament prophets), the text says: “He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” (Matt. 17:5) He is the fulfillment of all the Law and the Prophets, so that Paul can write: “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” Phil. 3:8-9.
4 – Solus Christus – We are saved by Christ alone. We are not saved by a doctrine, a creed, nor an association with any group or person other than being found in Christ by faith. He alone saves us from the wrath to come on all human sin.
He is the one who died in the place of sinners. He alone atoned for human sin. He alone was God incarnate. He alone fulfilled all the Law required. He alone fulfilled the Scriptures. He alone died, was buried, rose again and stands at the right hand of the Father on high. He alone has the power to forgive sins. He alone will come to mete out final judgment on those who remain in their rebellion against Him, and reward the saints who have put their trust in Him. He alone will raise us from the dead.
5 – Soli Deo Gloria – All of this is to the glory of God alone.
Nothing was more important to Christ Jesus than that the cosmos would come to honor, love and revere the Father as He did. So it is when teaching us to pray, the first thing on His mind is that we seek that His name be hallowed, be restored to its rightful place. God has done all things for His own glory.
And what is this glory? Is it some sort of divine ego trip? No! God can bless us with nothing greater than revelations of Himself – for He is the source of all goodness, beauty, justice, glory, sweetness, wonder, pleasure and holiness. He can give us nothing higher than Himself. And all He needs to be glorified, is to be revealed. And where is He best revealed? “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Cor. 4:6.
After the chapel where I shared this, a young man, dressed in all black, complete with a full-length leather coat and stegosaurus spiked hair came up to me, holding up his hand with the five fingers splayed said “Cool!” He had written one sola on each finger in permanent marker. Then, make up and all he said: “I’ll bet you sing hymns in your church, don’t you.” I said yes. And he said: “I wish they did at my church.” Then he turned and walked away. He was so hungry. But he was not being fed this kind of truth in his home Church.
We’ve been examining the Lord’s Prayer of Matthew 6, under the picture of tuning a six stringed instrument – the heart. And we’ve seen how these all resonate with one another so that the whole man is brought into harmony with God’s glorious nature, plans and purposes. Nothing is of greater use in this regard. It is the epitome of being “godly minded”. As Romans 8:6 tells us – “to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” This is the most wonderful means of setting the mind on the Spirit, leading to life and peace.
In this last installment – let me play off of the tuning metaphor just a bit more. For at the very beginning of the prayer are 2 words, that act (if you will) as the two prongs of the tuning fork to serve as our key reference point. 2 words of such power, grace and wonder, that sometimes, having prayed just these – one has prayed astonishingly: “Our Father.”
Our Father.
Can there be anything more amazing to the Believer (and make no mistake, these words can only be uttered in truth by one who has been born again by the power of the Spirit) than these two realities in framing prayer?
First, “Our.”
As you’ve no doubt noted, every pronoun but those specific to the Father in this prayer is in the plural. Our, Father, not just “my” Father. Give “us” this day. Forgive “us” our debts as “we” forgive. Lead “us” not into temptation. Deliver “us” from evil.
Prayer is never a wholly solitary thing, because we have been joined together with all those in Christ by faith into one body. We are a mystically unified whole. I cannot sin without it impacting the whole, nor can you. And I cannot pray or grow in Christ’s likeness without it impacting the whole. We are part of one another, and what affects and impacts us singly, reverberates throughout. It is why we pray with one another in mind: Romans 12:5 “so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”
When we pray these things beloved, we are entering into ministry to all our brothers and sisters in Christ. Never alone. This is a most sweet and wonderful reality. It will change all of your praying forever.
But secondly in this first word, is not only that we are one with each other in Christ – the “our” here includes Jesus Himself! Think on this for a moment. By virtue of the new birth, and the wonder of adoption into the family of God, Jesus teaches us to pray “Our Father” – His and mine. His and yours. His and ours. We pray as true children of the living God, with as much right of access and guaranteed as much a hearing as the very Son of God Himself.
Prayer isn’t some mere earthly religious activity – it is cosmic glory!
O that we could just soak in that for a while, but I must press to finish.
The second prong of the tuning fork then, as already hinted at is bound up in the word “Father.”
Our – Father.
There is no need to heap up multiple adjectives to try and butter up a distant deity. In Romans 8, Paul tells us that we have been given the Spirit of sonship. Romans 8:12–21 “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 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. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 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!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.”
When we pray, we come to a loving, gentle, kind, merciful, patient, perfect Father. Creator God indeed, but also our true Father.
As Sinclair Ferguson writes in his book “The Holy Spirit”: “The fact is that the Christian’s own spirit does display an awareness of sonship, as the rest of the New Testament makes clear (e.g. 1 Jn. 3:1ff.), amazing though this is. The problem is that this awareness is often weakened, and God’s children may even find themselves doubting their gracious status and privileges. What Paul is saying, however, is that even in the darkest hour there is a co-operative and affirmative testimony given by the Spirit. It is found in the very fact that, although he may be broken and bruised, tossed about with fears and doubts, the child of God nevertheless in his need cries out, ‘Father!’ as instinctively as a child who has fallen and been hurt calls out in similar language, ‘Daddy, help me!’ Assurance of sonship is not reserved for the highly sanctified Christian; it is the birthright of even the weakest and most oppressed believer. This is its glory.”
Our, Father.
This is the bedrock of all true prayer. Children coming to the one they know loves them best, who cannot err in judgement, who binds up all their wounds, who gave His own Son to die in their place that He might purchase them back from their slavery to sin, whose compassion and patience and love are beyond all knowing.
Just sit and meditate on those two words for a minute or two before seeking Him for anything else, and see if your heart is not melted, and if you are not assured that He already knows you deepest cares and concerns – and has designed to meet them with infallible wisdom and in perfect time.
If, as a true believer, the only thing you can gasp out is “Our Father” – you have prayed well, in that you have looked to Him and trusted Him with all, in true relationship – because of Christ.
The Lord’s Prayer. It is no mere side-note that Jesus includes this section in His “sermon on the mount.” The entire sermon is built around the essentials, the foundations of The Kingdom. We could outline it one way like this:
1 – 5:1-12 / The Citizens of the Kingdom – Blessed
2 – 5:13-16 / The Role of the Citizens of the Kingdom in this present age – Salt and Light
3 – 5:17-48 / The Character of the Kingdom and its Citizens – The Righteousness of God (not their own)
4 – 6:1-24 / The Life of Service in the Kingdom – Living unto the Father, not men
Alms / Fasting / Prayer / Treasure in Heaven
5 – 6:25-34 / The Sufficiency of the Kingdom – Delivered from the anxiety of this present age
6 – 7: 1-5 / The Humility of the Kingdom – Uncritically, Brother with brother
7 – 7:6 / The Otherness of the Kingdom – Preciousness and Contrariness
8 – 7:7-12 / The Privilege of the Kingdom – Access to the Father
9 – 7:13, 14 / The Entrance to the Kingdom – The Narrow Way & Gate – Christ
10 – 7:15-27 / The Integrity of the Kingdom – Doers and Hearers
Prayer then is an integral and necessary part of living the Christian life as unto God – while in the World. We are to be people of compassion regarding the needs of those around us (alms); seeking the Lord in our being burdened over sin’s destructive impact, and exercising the self-control of The Spirit (fasting); and bringing the whole of our hearts and minds into harmony with the purposes and plans of God – prayer.
And in fleshing out a fully orbed prayer life, we consider the greatest of cosmic needs – the restoration of the Father’s name and dignity; the desire for His rule and reign in Christ over all to be manifest; His will to be done as the sweetest of all possible outcomes; utter dependency upon Him; continual cleansing from the defilements of sin so as to maintain the closest, unimpeded fellowship with Him and others in our own forgiveness; and seeking to be led only in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
It is this last petition we consider today: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
While some have read this as a guard against the possibility that He might lead us into sin if we do not pray so – that is certainly not the thought here. We know this due to passages like James 1:13 “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.”
What then is this petition about? It is about mistrust of self. Of recognizing that we are weak, and that we stumble so easily into sin, that we need His constant watchfulness and deliverance, or we will be given over to our sins in a moment. For as Proverbs 21:2 reminds us – “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes.”
Even Believers tend to trust our own impulses and judgments. We seldom are very thoughtful in examining our own motives and perspectives. We tend to always give ourselves the benefit of the doubt. The benefit we tend to deny others.
Unfortunately, in present day American Evangelicalism, the “God wants you to achieve your dreams” mentality has crept in so that He has almost become an assistant to us, and not we His servants. If I have a dream, a desire, an aspiration, it is automatically baptized as good and right, and it is only fitting that God should help me get there. Whether or not that dream is best for me, more – best for His Kingdom, plans and purposes – seems at best, incidental. What it might have to do with conforming me to the image of Christ is not even considered.
But here, at the end of this majestic and glorious way of praying, Christ enjoins us to stop and consider our weaknesses, shortsightedness and sin-impacted reasoning. To submit all to Him that we might walk only in what is in perfect harmony with His own righteousness. To come again to the foot of the Cross, boasting in nothing but His mercy and grace, and recognizing the tendency so aptly put in the 3rd stanza of Come Thou Fount:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;
Prone to leave the God I love:
Take my heart, oh, take and seal it
With Thy Spirit from above.
Rescued thus from sin and danger,
Purchased by the Savior’s blood,
May I walk on earth a stranger,
As a son and heir of God.
For we are never more in tune with our God, than when we live in the reality of: “Nothing in my hands I bring; simply to thy cross I cling.”
From: Matthew 6:12 “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” and 6:14–15 “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Forgiveness isn’t a simple matter.
No one who has ever been truly hurt by another or betrayed knows this well. Hurts remain. Sometimes they are but bruises which heal in time, and sometimes they are deep wounds which leave big, ugly scars. How do we forgive the unrepentant? DO we forgive the unrepentant? What do either of those look like? Does forgiveness remove all personal responsibility? Does forgiveness mean we just ignore the past? Does forgiveness mean we extend unexamined trust in the future?
Like I said, forgiveness isn’t a simple matter.
All that needs to be said about forgiveness isn’t unpacked in these few verses either. But what is here, we need to consider carefully. Because as Jesus’ words indicate, for the Believer, our experiences of forgiveness and of being forgiven are tied together in some capacity.
Let’s consider some of the implications laid out for us here.
1 – Note first in context, that this need for forgiveness of others is directly connected to being led out of temptation.
The petition to be spared from temptation in vs. 13 comes directly on the heels of asking for forgiveness. That’s not an accident.
I don’t know about you, but if there is any place where I am weak and fall so easily into temptation, it is in the area of letting offenses go – of forgiving others.
If the truth be told, many of us like to hold on to our grievances. We want to stay hurt – and to hold something against those who sin against us. In our twisted sinfulness, it gives us a perverse sense of power over the other. They hurt us and we had no power to defend ourselves – so we’ll hang on to their guilt and not let them off the hook for anything.
It makes no sense. Our lack of forgiving them doesn’t actually hurt them back. It doesn’t even the score. It just makes us miserable and bitter. But it deceives us into thinking we have some sort of power over those who injured us. It is a lie.
And what comes along with our unforgiveness is this: Nothing kills the true spirit of prayer more than a hard heart toward others while we are seeking God’s tenderheartedness toward us. Such is the heart of hypocrisy.
As J.C. Ryle noted so rightly on this point: “The plain object of it is, to remind us that we must not expect our prayers for forgiveness to be heard, if we pray with malice and spite in our hearts towards others. To pray in such a frame of mind is mere formality and hypocrisy. It is even worse than hypocrisy. It is as much as saying, “Do not forgive me at all.” Our prayer is nothing without charity. We must not expect to be forgiven, if we cannot forgive.” (Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on Matthew, 6:9-15)
How often, we’d rather hang on to our hurt than be disabused of our hypocrisy. We’d rather muse on their sins against us, than wonder at the glory of our sins forgiven in Christ. We’d rather lick our wounds, than feast at the table of His abundant grace.
Stupid. But then, sin always is.
2 – Second, law cannot forgive, law can only mete out justice.
At times the law may pardon, but it cannot forgive, because forgiveness is personal. Jesus is calling us to forgiveness, not just pardon.
In a pardon, the perpetrator walks free, but there is no concern for personal reconciliation. You go your way and I’ll go mine, and never the twain shall meet.
Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes true reconciliation can’t be accomplished. Rom. 9 calls us to live at peace with others, as much as it depends upon us. But some do not want to live at peace with us. So be it. We’re not responsible for how others respond. But there is always a desire in the heart of the Believer that a true peace between us can be reached, even if there are extenuating circumstances which will not allow for things to go back the way they were. An abandoning spouse who goes and marries another, can never return to the one they left at first. But there can be peace between them.
3 – Forgiveness is not forgetfulness.
This is so often misconstrued by absolutizing a verse like Isaiah 43:25 ““I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins” – as though God is possessed of some form of divine amnesia.
We know that isn’t what the passage is saying, when we consider that it is part of a pronouncement where God is recounting Israel’s sins! The sins of many of the saints fill the pages of Scripture.
The idea here is that in reconciliation, He no longer remembers our past sins against us. That He remits His right of recompense. For He was recompensed for our sins, fully, in Jesus.
Two parties may pardon one another but still not be reconciled. But in forgiveness, personal reconciliation is the goal. And in absolute justice, a declaration of innocence is indispensable.
In Christ, all of these are met. He takes our sin and we His righteousness. The Father personally forgives. In His sovereign authority He pardons. And in grace He imputes righteousness that we may be rewarded.
3 – Third, we must be aware that God does not forgive at the expense of justice, and thus He does not require us to do more than that and forgive without regard to justice either. When He forgives, He does so on the basis of the atonement made in Christ where justice is meted out in full.
So it is, when we forgive, we give up our right to prosecute the matter on our own behalf, surrendering the justice needed into the hands of the Father. We do not deny justice altogether but willingly suffer a particular loss in treating the individual as no longer an offender, while committing justice into the Father’s hands.
Yet, while forgiving sets aside any personal vengeance, it does not ignore what might be needed in loving our neighbors as ourselves and protecting them, and, if needed, getting the authorities involved.
Forgiveness only has reference to my right and requirement to be made whole in the aftermath of being sinned against. But I cannot forgive for others. I have no right to leave my neighbor in danger if the perpetrator I’ve forgiven is still at large and still poses a danger to them. My love for my neighbor requires I act in their best interest.
4 – Fourth, note too as above, that some offenses are purely personal – and others have several dimensions to to them.
Some offenses cross over into crimes and are sins against the State or others as well. I have no right to usurp the State’s, nor anyone else’s authority and forgive on either’s behalf. The offender may well still need to face that reality beyond my sphere of forgiveness.
Overstating forgiveness is as dangerous as understating it.
I must forgive when it is in my power and within my sphere, but I cannot and must not usurp that issue on behalf of any other entity. I can only forgive for myself alone. And I do so, committing it all to the Father’s just disposal.
On the cross, Jesus can forgive His tormentors for Himself, but note how He prays that the Father would forgive them. For He cannot overstep in the issue of His Father’s offense. This, He appeals to the Father for. And when we forgive, we do well to follow suit. We too can pray – “Father, lay nothing to the charge of their account on my behalf.” How He may deal otherwise is up to Him.
5 – Fifth, note too how Jesus cannot and will not usurp the Spirit’s own sphere and pretend to forgive blasphemy against Him.
The unpardonable sin as it is called – is against the Holy Spirit. And Jesus simply says it will not be forgiven. Ever. He does not say it cannot, but that it will not. God refuses.
6 – Lastly, note how there is a difference between forgiveness in restoring relationship, vs. simple offenses from strangers where there is no relationship to restore. And how it is Christ does all of this in regard to our sins against Him. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
We must always remember that Believers forgive out of the boundless ocean of the forgiveness we have received in Christ.
Ps. 103:8-14 “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.”
Matthew 6:12 “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
If you have ever thought much about this verse, no doubt you’ve wrestled with whether or not Jesus is saying that the Believer’s being forgiven of our sins, is dependent upon our forgiveness of other’s sins. That forgiveness with God is at least in part a form of quid pro quo. And that in the end, our salvation is works based and not grace based.
Given the balance of New Testament teaching, we would be faced with a true contradiction if this is the case. So we do need to sort out what is really being taught here. We especially need to see it in terms of our overall theme of how the elements of this prayer together are calculated to re-tune the Believer’s heart with the heart of God each time we enter into it.
Forgiveness is a huge category in Scripture. The entire Old Testament sacrificial system is built upon it, and as Peter and Paul make it central to all the preaching in Acts and in their letters: Acts 10:43 “To him (Jesus) all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Mankind’s greatest need is that we be forgiven of our sins in order to be reconciled back to the Father. We share the universal condemnation that we want the right of supremacy over our own lives and goods, rather than being submitted to the rightful Lordship of the God who created us for Himself. We want to say what is right and what is wrong for ourselves without His imposition. We want to justify ourselves for all of our actions, words, thoughts and attitudes irrespective of God’s requirements. We want to be god unto ourselves, being responsible to no one else but ourselves. And as a result, every other sin we commit flows from this central corruption.
So it is, the plain teaching of the Bible is that we can only be forgiven for this cosmic rebellion, through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross who died in our place. Thus the resurrected Jesus Himself told the Disciples in Luke 24:46–47 “[A]nd (He) said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”
So what are we to make of this? First and foremost (and I plan to come back to this topic again next time) – that an unforgiving, grudge-bearing, bitter spirit is so irreconcilable with the Spirit of Christ, that as long as we entertain such, we cannot live in harmony with the Triune God we claim to love and serve. We cannot be tuned to Him. For such an heart-set is in direct opposition to the Gospel of grace we claim to have been saved by. That a spirit or attitude of unforgiveness is wholly antithetical to the Spirit of God, and to the message and work of the Cross.
No wonder then, that Jesus, in teaching us to pray so as to be tuned to His own heart and mind, directs us not only to seek forgiveness regularly in recognition of our own ongoing battle against indwelling sin and our constant failures in that regard – but that as the love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit overflow so as to provide forgiveness for all who believe in the Cross of Christ – so being ourselves forgiven of cosmic crimes, forgive others out of the abundance of our having been forgiven. We do not forgive others out of our own largess, but out of that which we have received.
Do you remember Jesus’ encounter at the Pharisee’s house in Luke 7? A woman with a bad reputation made her way into the gathering, and anointed Jesus with perfume, weeping, kissing His feet and wiping them with her hair. The Pharisee was indignant at her garish display. But Jesus rebuked the man by pointing out that she acted out of love, knowing the forgiveness of her many sins. The Pharisee, thinking he had little to be forgiven of, didn’t love much either, and even ignored some common courtesies toward Jesus.
The more we try to view ourselves as not needing forgiveness, the more we will need to harp on other’s sins, and in direct proportion, will fail to love Christ.
What a Savior He is. He gave His very life, that we might have the full and free forgiveness of God Himself. In comparison, what microscopically little I have ever had to give in forgiving others.
Father forgive me.
As right now, I ask you to lay nothing to the charge of anyone else on my account. For my sins have been many, perpetual and truly evil against you. Their’s, have been so little against me.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
Jonathan Edwards: “There is perhaps no part of divinity attended with so much intricacy, and wherein orthodox divines do so much differ as stating the precise agreement and difference between the two dispensations of Moses and Christ.”A – The Law is good IF it is used LAWFULLY or rightly.B – The Believer stands in a new RELATIONSHIP to law than they did prior to trusting Christ.
1. The Law must be used LAWFULLY – It must be used for what it was intended.
2. [The] law is not made for a righteous person – The primary use of the Law is NOT for the man who has been made righteous with the righteousness of Christ
BUT: [It IS made] for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching,
3. The Believer is NOT “lawless” – Since the Law is NOT made for the righteousness man but for the lawless man – The Believer is NOT lawless, even though he is not “under” the Law.
Titus 2:14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
1 Peter 4:3 For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.
Rom. 6:14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
The restoration of God’s OWN holiness to the HEART of the Believer – as it is re-inscribed there by the Holy Spirit in regeneration and energized by the indwelling presence of the Spirit is now the PRINCIPLE under which the Believer lives.
He is not constrained by externals as much as he is now motivated by new internals – He has a new inclination.
He is to use Paul’s words in 2 Cor. 5:14 – Constrained by love
1 John 5:1 “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.”
The man who has been born again, loves the righteous and holy God he once rebelled against and ran from. He now sees God’s righteousness as lovely, not distasteful. He love righteousness BECAUSE he loves the righteous God who loved him.
But – Sure, I may now LOVE righteousness, but what exactly is my relationship to God’s Law?
And that IS the key word, RELATIONSHIP
The point is, that being born again and justified by His grace and indwelt by His Spirit – we now stand in a totally different relationship to the Law than we once did.
The Law didn’t change – WE DID!
The issue is one of a change of relationship.
THE LAW IS STILL EXACTLY THE SAME FOR THE LAWLESS – 1 Tim. 1:8
Illustration: Trespassing vs. Being a co-owner (or joint-heir)
While parents were alive, I always knew that at any time, I could go to their house – and even if they weren’t home, raid the refrigerator, use the facilities, sack out on the couch, watch the TV and relax.
Now what is also true, is that I cannot do that just anywhere. If I go to stranger’s houses, the very same activities are in fact illegal and punishable by law.
If I become an heir, what did not belong to me now does – what attempting access to would once bring the charge of trespass, is now turned on its head. My relationship to it changed. I now have an entrance to the throne room of God which was once not mine to enter.
Illustration: NYS Driving age. Once I turned 16, the law that said I could not drive at 15, became the law that said I COULD drive. The law didn’t change, I did.
The Law is good IF it is used “lawfully”.
Classically – 3-Fold Purpose of the Law (Louis Berkhof) —
a. CIVIL: “The law serves the purpose of restraining sin and promoting righteousness. Considered from this point of view, the law presupposes sin and is necessary on account of sin. It serves the purpose of God’s common grace in the world at large.”
b. PEDAGOGICAL: “In this capacity the law serves the purpose of bringing man under conviction of sin, and of making him conscious of his inability to meet the demands of the law. In that way the law becomes his tutor to lead him unto Christ, and thus becomes subservient to God’s gracious purpose of redemption.”
c. DIDACTIC (or Normative): “The law is a rule of life for believers, reminding them of their duties and leading them in the way of life and salvation.” (Lutheran controversy)
Actually, while this is generally accepted, and nice and neat – it is nowhere near how the Bible speaks.
The 7-Fold Purpose of the Law
The Bible itself gives us 7 reasons for the Law.
a. EXPOSES SIN / Rom. 3:20b: “since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”
Rom. 5:20: “Now the law came in to increase the trespass”
Rom. 7:7 “Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”’”
In this way, it is PURELY DIAGNOSTIC – Like an X-Ray machine.
Like an X-Ray machine for the soul, it can show you the broken bone, but has no power to MEND the broken bone.
b. INSTRUCTS / Ex. 24:12 “The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.”
In this way, the Law serves to help us know what God thinks about things – what He likes & dislikes, proscribes and warns against.
Looking at the 10 Words as ten revelations of our God Himself. Above everything else, it instructs us in a right view of God, self and life.
1 – God is God alone and must be recognized as such
2 – God is not to be reduced to an image, to anything tangible. It preserves His transcendence. Something desperately needed in our day too.
3 – God is not to be taken lightly – even in the use of His name
4 – God is to be worshipped (Calvin – Harmony of the Law – The object of this Commandment is that believers should exercise themselves in the worship of God; for we know how prone men are to fall into indifference, unless they have some props to lean on or some stimulants to arouse them in maintaining their care and zeal for religion.)
5 – Man is to be respected as created in God’s image – first with parents, and then with other authorities.
6 – Life is sacred before God. As created in His image, humankind, all members of the race are to be treated with dignity. None are to be simply disregarded, and in something like the case of abortion, as disposable.
7 – Sexual purity is required to love man.
8 – Man’s property is not to be violated.
9 – Man is not to sinned against even in the use of law.
10 – Contentment with God’s provision.
c. HUMBLES / Lev. 16:31 “It is to be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may humble your souls; it is a permanent statute.” (NAS95)
We need rest. We were created that way. And to ignore proper rest is to live apart from faith. It is outside the order He has created us to live in.
It reminds us that we are under His authority – not autocrats. In all places and at all times, He is the ultimate authority. And He need not give us reasons for His ordering of things. We are to trust that He is wisest and most loving and that He orders all things in life in accordance with His wisdom and love.
d. DECLARATIVE / Deut. 4:6-8 Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?
When we set ourselves properly under His authority to guide our lives and choices, we live out the Gospel in a most tangible way to those who observe us, even if they do not recognize it as such.
e. IDENTIFICATION / Same as Above – It shows we’re God’s people. We listen to Him, cherish His words, and live by His precepts.
f. PROPHETIC / Col. 2:16-17 “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.”
g. PROTECTIVE / Gal. 3:19 “Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.”
In this capacity, it is mainly protective against two things: The Wrath of God / Natural Consequences of our sins.
Also – Ga 3:24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
MUCH MORE – I want to suggest to you that due to our change in relationship to the Law, the Law may be used “lawfully” (in respect to him or herself) by the Believer in the following three ways.
Col. 2 – Due to the fact that the decrees against us have been removed out of the way (i.e. Nailed to His cross) THEREFORE we are no longer to be judged concerning Sabbath days etc. – BECAUSE – they were shadows of that which was to come (i.e. Christ) and now that the substance is here – we no longer occupy ourselves with the shadows.
When the Believer is confronted with the Law of God, his first response ought to be to look at it as “having received double” – for his sins against God.
An infinite debt PAID IN FULL!
When we consider the 10 Words (as well as other places) we have His payment placarded before us.
This is what Jesus fulfilled for us in His obedience.
And this is what Jesus paid the penalty for for our every infraction.
2. Christ’s Imputed Righteousness / Rom. 3:21-26 “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Not only has my infinite debt been canceled – this is what has been deposited into my account!
I am righteous with the righteousness of Christ Himself!
2 Cor. 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Rom. 5:19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. What Christ has done which is imputed to me.
He deals with me as though Christ’s own righteousness were mine!
What an unspeakable comfort!
3. The Glorious Promise / 1 John 3:1-3 “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”
We will wake in His likeness
Those words: Thou shalt & Thou shalt not – are promises!
We can rightfully read them this way:
This is my promise, when I am done with you dear child you will –
love me with all your heart mind soul and strength and never have some other god before me.
I will preserve you from falling prey to any idols
You will not bear my name vainly – it will not be an empty thing to say you are God’s. To bear the name – Christian.
You will rest in the perfect rest of Christ’s completed work for ever.
You will honor your mother and father.
You will not murder any more.
You’ll never commit adultery again.
You will never steal.
You will never bear false witness against your brother or covert your neighbor’s wife or anything else he has.
Quotes:
Luther: we say that the law is good and profitable, but in his own proper use: which is, first to bridle civil transgressions, and then to reveal and to increase spiritual transgressions. Wherefore the law is also a light, which sheweth and revealeth, not the grace of God, not righteousness and life; but sin, death, the wrath and judgment of God. For, as in the mount Sinai the thundering, lightning, the thick and dark cloud, the hill smoking and flaming, and all that terrible shew did not rejoice not quicken the children of Israel, but terrified and astonished them, and shewed how unable they were, with all their purity and holiness, to abide the presence of God speaking to them out of the cloud: even so the law, when it is in his true sense, doth nothing else but reveal sin, engender wrath, accuse and terrify men, so that it bringeth them to the very brink of desperation. This is the proper use of the law, and here it hath an end, and it ought to go no further. Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 302.
Now the foolishness of man’s heart is so great, that when the law hath its office and terrified his conscience, he cloth not only not lay hold upon the doctrine of grace, but seeketh to himself more laws to satisfy and quiet his conscience. “If I live,” saith he, “I will amend my life. I will do this and that.” Here except thou do quite the contrary: that is, except thou send Moses away, with his law, and in these terrors lay hold upon Christ, who died for thy sins, there is no salvation for thee.
These things are easily said: but blessed is he which knoweth how to lay sure hold on them in distress of conscience, that is, which can say when sin overweighteth him, and the law accuseth and terrifieth him: What is this to me, O law, that thou accusest me, and sayest that I have committed many sins? Indeed I grant that I have committed many sins, yea and yet still do commit sins daily without number. This toucheth me nothing: I am now dead and cannot hear thee. Therefore thou talkest to me in vain, for I am dead unto thee. But if thou wilt needs dispute with me as touching my sins, get thee to my flesh and members my servants: teach them, exercise and crucify them, but trouble not me, not Conscience, I say, which am a lady and a queen, and have nothing to do with thee: for I am dead to thee, and now I live to Christ, with whom I am under another law, to wit the law of grace, which ruleth over sin and the law. By what means? By faith in Christ, as Paul declareth hereafter.
This sentence of Paul: “through the law I am dead to the law,” is full of consolation. Which if it may enter into a man in due season, and take sure hold in his heart with good understanding, it may so work, that it will make him able to stand against all dangers of death, and all terrors of conscience and sin, although they assail him, accuse him, and would drive him to desperation never so much. True it is, that every man is tempted: if not in his life, yet at his death. There, when the law accuseth him and sheweth unto him his sins, his conscience by and by saith: Thou hast sinned. If then thou take good hold of that which Paul here teacheth, thou wilt answer: I grant I have sinned. Then will God punish thee. Nay, he will not do so. Why, doth not the law of God so say? I have nothing to do with that law. Why so? Because I have another law which striketh this law dumb, that is to say, liberty. What liberty is that? The liberty of Christ, for by Christ I am utterly freed from the law. Therefore that law which is and remaineth a law to the wicked, is to me liberty, and bindeth that law which would condemn me; and by this means that law which would bind me and hold me captive, is now fast bound itself, and holden captive by grace and liberty, which is now my law; which saith to that accusing law: Thou shalt not hold this man bound and captive, or make him guilty, for he is mine; but I will hold thee captive, and bind thy hands that thou shalt not hurt him, for he liveth now unto Christ, and is dead unto thee.
Bunyan: “Wherefore whenever thou who believest in Jesus, dost hear the law in its thundering and lightning fits, as if it would burn up heaven and earth; then say thou, I am freed from this law, these thunderings have nothing to do with my soul; nay even this law, while it thus thunders and roareth, it doth both allow and approve of my righteousness. I know that Hagar would sometimes be domineering and high, even in Sarah’s house and against her; but this she is not to be suffered to do, nay though Sarah herself be barren; wherefore serve it also as Sarah served her, and expel her out from thy house. My meaning is, when this law with its thundering threatenings doth attempt to lay hold on thy conscience, shut it out with a promise of grace; cry, the inn is took up already, the Lord Jesus is here entertained, and here is no room for the law. Indeed if it will be content with being my informer, and so lovingly leave off to judge me; I will be content, it shall be in my sight, I will also delight therein; but otherwise, I being now made upright without it, and that too with that righteousness, which this law speaks well of and approveth; I am not, will not, cannot, dare not make it my saviour and judge, nor suffer it to set up its government in my conscience; for by so doing I fall from grace, and Christ Jesus doth profit me nothing (Gal 5:1–5). John Bunyan, The Trinity and a Christian (alternate Title: The Law and a Christian), vol. 2 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2006), 388.
ResponsiveReiding 