ResponsiveReiding

Margin Notes: What’s God’s Problem?

July 1st, 2019

Deuteronomy 4:29 (ESV) — 29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord! It is a ubiquitous phrase in the Bible. And one wonders, what’s the deal? Why all this attention on seeking Him? Is it ego? Does God have some sort of strange thirst to be pursued? Why is He always calling upon us to seek Him? Why do we need to seek Him? Isn’t He just there? And don’t we just live life “in Him and through Him? Isn’t it enough that I go to Church, sing the songs, enter worship, give my offerings and live the “Christian life?” And the truth is, I can do all of the above without ever actually seeking Him at all.

What is this seeking the Lord anyway?

Seeking the Lord is taking intentional time to be in the presence of God. To be in God’s Word, before Him and separate from all other things, to allow His Word to speak to our souls. To encounter Him in Word informed and driven prayer.

And the simple answer to why Scripture calls us to it so often is this: Scripture calls to us to seek the Lord over and over and over as an accommodation to our fallen state. It is reminding us that if we do not intentionally seek HIm, we will not naturally seek Him. At least not since The Fall. God must be sought because the sin in me is perpetually drawing me to everything else BUT Him. Because I will seek comfort, joy, peace, hope, fulfillment and well being in literally anything and anybody else – when in fact I was designed to find all of this in Him.

The Spirit does not remind us to seek Him all the through the Bible because of some weakness or need in God, but because of our brokenness. Because we will busy ourselves with all sorts of things other than Him – to the detriment of our eternal souls.

Every time you encounter this phrase in Scripture, be reminded that it is God Himself seeking YOU out, that you might have the fullness you were created for. It is His voice calling to you – to find your full and true satisfaction in Him. And I know for myself if I do not do it intentionally and daily – pretty soon I won’t do it at all.

Seek the Lord my friend, seek the Lord.
Margin Notes: From 1 Samuel

June 28th, 2019

1 Samuel 16:14–23 (NET) — 14 Now the Spirit of the Lord had turned away from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. 15 Then Saul’s servants said to him, “Look, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you!” 16 Let our lord instruct his servants who are here before you to look for a man who knows how to play the lyre. Then whenever the evil spirit from God comes upon you, he can play the lyre and you will feel better.”17 So Saul said to his servants, “Find me a man who plays well and bring him to me.” 18 One of his attendants replied, “I have seen a son of Jesse in Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave warrior and is articulate and handsome, for the Lord is with him.” 19 So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is out with the sheep. 20 So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a container of wine, and a young goat and sent them to Saul with his son David. 21 David came to Saul and stood before him. Saul liked him a great deal, and he became his armor bearer. 22 Then Saul sent word to Jesse saying, “Let David be my servant, for I really like him.” 23 So whenever the spirit from God would come upon Saul, David would take his lyre and play it. This would bring relief to Saul and make him feel better. Then the evil spirit would leave him alone.

A few years ago I met a retired professor of Psychiatry from Harvard in the airport. In our conversation, I asked what the biggest change was that he had witnessed in his profession in his 50 year career. He told me frankly (lamentingly): “we don’t treat people anymore, we just medicate them.” And as I ponder this text, I wonder how many Christians do the very same thing – by what appears to be superficially, a very “spiritual” thing?

You see Saul’s problem was that he had disobeyed God sorely in the affair with the Amalekites in the previous chapter. God has said he would take the kingdom away from Saul as a result. But rather than Saul repenting and seeking forgiveness – irrespective of reversing his penalty – he simply sulked. Sulked and suffered. And indeed suffered at the hand of God in being tormented by a spirit sent from God. True, the Lord had said Saul would lose the Kingdom – but that did not mean Saul himself was beyond recovery. Where there is repentance and a humble heart, God forgives. But at this point Saul would rather get any benefit or relief by proxy than to humble himself before the Lord and seek the remedy in his own relationship with Him. So he employs David to “medicate” him how? – with “Christian” music. For David was a Psalmist. And singing praises to God in that day was sometimes referred to as “prophesying” (see: 1 Sam. 10:5, 1 Chron. 25:103).

And I wonder just how many Christians have lapsed into a nearly identical state? They have sin in their lives, or have suffered a failure, but instead of seeking God directly for forgiveness, repentance and restoration, they defer to simply medicating themselves psychologically by hymns and songs and spiritual worship. The music of the Church makes them feel better – for a time. It is a sort of worship by proxy. But it is not the same as having had their relationship with the Father restored rightly. Never resolving their issue with their God – they let it tragically drone on in this horrible way. From the outside it looks spiritual, when in reality, it is little more than a mild placebo.

It is one thing for us to find solace and comfort in the worship and music of the Kingdom as a part of our ordinary course. God has provided it for us. But it is quite another to use it as a substitute for having our hearts searched and brought back to a right place with the Father. Confession, repentance and by faith receiving forgiveness because of the Cross of Christ will move us beyond the need for a Gospel “pill”, and restore us to sweet and intimate fellowship with the Father. Don’t settle for Saul’s poor remedy.
Margin Notes: From Luke 15

June 27th, 2019

4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the grassland and go after the one that was lost until he finds it? 5 And when he* has found it,* he places it* on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he* returns to his* home, he calls together his* friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost!’ 7 I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.” The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Lk 15:4–7.

This is one of those parables of Jesus which has evoked tons of commentary and questions. Just who are the 99? What sense does it make that the Shepherd leaves those unattended to search after one? Why are the Shepherd’s friends and neighbors so happy when he returns with this one errant sheep? How exactly are we to make sense of this somewhat strange parable?

It is in a case like this that once and a while we get to glean something of the treasures of those who have gone before us in the faith. In this case, the 4th century Bishop of Salamis (in Cypress), Epiphanius. In his commentary on Matthew’s recording of this parable, Epiphanius conjectures a most charming way of getting away from the questions which take us away from the meat of the fruit of this passage. He suggests that the picture is that of the Son of God leaving Heaven and the righteous angels in the presence of God, to come and die. To seek out the “lost sheep.” It is a picture of the incarnation. In other words, the very oddity of the scenario is meant to suggest to us something we wouldn’t ordinarily consider.

The 99 represents the majority of all of God’s Creation which has NOT strayed from Him, especially the righteous, unfallen angels. And the one sheep, that one small part of Creation which has strayed – fallen mankind. Jesus leaves the 99 in Heaven, safe, secure and righteous, and comes seeking we lost, foolish and rebellious ones. And finding us, what does He do? He places us upon His own shoulders, with the full weight of all of our guilt and sin. He takes us up upon Himself, since we have no means to return to the fold ourselves. And carrying us to the Heavenlies on His scourge-scarred shoulders, He presents us blameless before His glory with great joy. (Jude 24) So it is Jesus notes it is joy “in Heaven” over the repentant sinner, above the righteous angelic host who need no repentance. And how they rejoice with Him in the fulfilling of His redemptive work.

And so we come to that closing thought: there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over the 99 – the angelic host – who have no need of repentance. And we are humbled to think how such a salvation, such a Savior can be ours. Glorify Him Christian – He values your soul more than all the holy angels in heaven. No wonder the Psalmist must gasp: “What IS man, that you take notice of him?”
Margin Notes: From Luke 7

June 26th, 2019

Luke 7:36–48 (ESV) — 36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. 37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” 40 And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.” 41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Here is a principle which seems counterintuitive, but is not: If we would love God more, we need a greater apprehension of the magnitude of our sin, and the glory of what it cost at Calvary to deal with it.

Our perception of and appreciation for God’s love for us is directly tied to our perception of the greatness of our sin, and what it cost to purge it.

It is a great mistake for Christians to want to forget about their sinfulness.

No, we do not want to wallow in it as though nothing has really changed – we HAVE been translated out of darkness into His marvelous light!

So it is, now we can peer into this pit with all of its filth and find the depths and power of God’s love – rather than despair and hopelessness. What once stood as a testimony against us, now becomes a means of blessing and testimony about our Christ.

Don’t waste your sin! Don’t deny it. Don’t run from it. Assess it acutely and minutely through the lens of the finished work of Christ. And use it to rejoice in what Christ has done in His love for you. Otherwise, you will try to live in a false reality, and when sin does raise its ugly head, you’ll have no category for it, no way to rightly deal with it.

Only in this way can we walk in truth and authenticity.
Margin Notes: From 1 Samuel 1

June 25th, 2019

There was a man from Ramathaim Zophim, from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah. He was the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives; the name of the first was Hannah and the name of the second was Peninnah. Now Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless. 3 Year after year this man would go up from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh. It was there that the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, served as the Lord’s priests. 4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he used to give meat portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But he would give a double portion to Hannah, because he especially loved her. Now the Lord had not enabled her to have children. 6 Her rival wife used to upset her and make her worry, for the Lord had not enabled her to have children. 7 Peninnah would behave this way year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the Lord’s house, Peninnah would upset her so that she would weep and refuse to eat. 8 Finally her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep and not eat? Why are you so sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?” 9 On one occasion in Shiloh, after they had finished eating and drinking, Hannah got up. (Now at the time Eli the priest was sitting in his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s temple.) 10 She was very upset as she prayed to the Lord, and she was weeping uncontrollably. 11 She made a vow saying, “O Lord of hosts, if you will look with compassion on the suffering of your female servant, remembering me and not forgetting your servant, and give a male child to your servant, then I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life. His hair will never be cut.” 12 As she continued praying to the Lord, Eli was watching her mouth. 13 Now Hannah was speaking from her heart. Although her lips were moving, her voice was inaudible. Eli therefore thought she was drunk. 14 So he said to her, “How often do you intend to get drunk? Put away your wine!” 15 But Hannah replied, “That’s not the way it is, my lord! I am under a great deal of stress. I have drunk neither wine nor beer. Rather, I have poured out my soul to the Lord. 16 Don’t consider your servant a wicked woman, for until now I have spoken from my deep pain and anguish.” 17 Eli replied, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant the request that you have asked of him.” 18 She said, “May I, your servant, find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and got something to eat. Her face no longer looked sad. The NET Bible 1 Sa 1:1–18.

How easily our miseries can blind our eyes to our blessings.

Do we not hear echos of our Husband here, hurt that we do not find His love sufficient? How we weep and discount His love because of some imagined fulfillment of a right, but now overblown desire, that captivates us and seems to all but extinguish our delight in being God’s preferred. How we cravenly envy the worldly blessings He bestows upon the lost – and virtually tell Him His love is meaningless if we cannot have what others have. Father, forgive me.

And in the natural, how many wives or husbands have destroyed their marriages because they lose sight of the great love at home, while longing for something outside or not provided. This is an emotional minefield.

Like Adam and Eve in Eden, they were free to indulge themselves without restraint except for the one tree. But it was the one tree they could not have that eclipsed all they did have. No wonder the old hymn writer reminded us to “count your blessing, name them one by one.” When we willingly ignore or undervalue the blessings God has given, our hearts will easily grow sick and bitter over what – in His love and wisdom – He has withheld.

Does that mean that if we regulate our hearts and minds properly that suddenly, as in Hannah’s case we’ll finally get what we want? Not necessarily. If, as in Hannah’s case it is what is best both for her and His kingdom, it might indeed work out that way. But much more important is the exercise of taking our desire to Him, and trusting both His love and wisdom regarding when and how He deems it best to answer. Not every good and legitimate desire is necessarily the best.

But note how it was she found her real relief in finally pouring out her heart to the Lord, and leaving it here. (v. 18) And how that appears to have restored a right intimacy with her husband. The child was not a reward for getting it right. Don’t misconstrue the passage. But how good God is that in her finding the better place, He added to it in giving her a son. Some of the older Jewish commentators say the text implies it was about a year later she conceived and delivered.

But even in this case, how many years did her husband suffer (recall vs. 8) because his wife, tho dearly loved and cherished, made less of her blessing than was fit? How his love was devalued in the meantime. What joy she robbed herself and her husband of in the intervening years.

Father, keep me from just such thinking. And teach me to pour my heart out fully, and rise from there, content, in you. And whether it is a year, or not until Christ returns, I know all my satisfaction is fully met in Him.
Margin Notes: From Mark 14

June 21st, 2019

Mark 14:32–36 (ESV) — 32 And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. 34 And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” 35 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

As we think on this passage, our attention is always drawn to the incredible submission of Jesus to the Father in this excruciating and harrowing hour. Rightly so. So great was the trial He was about to undergo, that three times He sought the Father’s face regarding any possibility for salvation to be accomplished any other way. The answer to which was not given in an audible response, but in the immediately following circumstances. No. This alone was the way both the satisfy justice and provide the means for sinners to be reconciled.

Now as I said, we focus our attention upon Jesus’ amazing submission here. But something I think we most often overlook is the Father in all of this.

We all face decisions. Some easy, some hard. Jesus was facing His hardest one at this moment. But put yourself in God the Father’s shoes at this moment. Contemplate His decision.

His Son, His only begotten Son – THE Son, is praying.

He appeals to the Father’s absolute sovereignty and power – “All things are possible for you” He says. And He is right. The Father does not HAVE to save anyone. He can at this moment, deliver His own Son – and let the rebellious race go to Hell. He is under no obligation. There is nothing constraining Him but one thing – His own heart.

Out of nothing but pure love, He willingly sends His Son to that Cross in our place. He didn’t have to. He wanted to. He could remain just and eternally condemn us all. He could remain full of mercy and grace – without it rising to the level of this sacrificial act.

But He refused.

Hearing His perfect Son’s pleas. Knowing His agony. Seeing His “distress” and “trouble” (vs. 33). Knowing He was “sorrowful, even unto death” (vs. 34). Yet still, He will not relent.

He sees the Son’s willing heart. It must melt His own. It can do no other. Yet the plan remains. The deliverance will not come. The Son will die – though the Father can freely and in all holiness and righteousness choose to spare the Son and cast us aside. But the love that “will not let me go” prevails.

What love is this?

What a Father is this?

What a Son is this?

What a salvation is this?

Words, cannot express.
Margin Notes: From Mark 6

June 20th, 2019

Mark 6:47–52 (ESV) — 47 And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. 48 And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, 50 for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” 51 And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, 52 for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

How our Christ accommodates our weaknesses and infirmities. While in this case, He would have gone before them, leading the way to shore and safety – their fear and stress catches His heart. So rather than simply leading them on, He stops, enters the boat with them AND speaks a word of comfort to them. Then, as if all of that is not enough, He also stills the storm. How much He knows our pitiful state. How willingly He stoops to help us. One would have thought this an occasion for rebuke at their lack of faith. Hadn’t He stilled the storm before? But not so our Savior. Tenderly, willingly, accommodatingly, He shifts to meet the exigent circumstances they faced. How wonderful He is!

Note how they misapprehended Him and thought Him simply an apparition. I do this all the time. I fail to recognize Him in the midst of my storm. But He is there whether I perceive Him rightly or not. He never fails to be right in the very center of my deepest cares, concerns and woes. Especially those so outside of my own control .

What are we to think of the statement that “He meant to pass by them”? Our trial is not the end of God’s dealings, but merely one place along the path of His plan. We make them (and their relief) the end point. He does not. He is on His way toward His eternal goals, and our trials and difficulties are not out of His way – but directly in His path. They are neither incidental, nor the whole story. He meets us there, where we least expect Him, but He does not intend to stay there, nor did He alter His course in the process. Our woes coincide with His path, and His path leads beyond our woes. May we always keep the two of those things in view.
Margin Notes: From Judges 11

June 19th, 2019

30 Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, saying, “If you really do hand the Ammonites over to me, 31 then whoever is the first to come through the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from fighting the Ammonites—he will belong to the Lord and I will offer him up as a burnt sacrifice.” 32 Jephthah approached the Ammonites to fight with them, and the Lord handed them over to him. 33 He defeated them from Aroer all the way to Minnith—twenty cities in all, even as far as Abel Keramim! He wiped them out! The Israelites humiliated the Ammonites. 34 When Jephthah came home to Mizpah, there was his daughter hurrying out to meet him, dancing to the rhythm of tambourines. She was his only child; except for her he had no son or daughter. 35 When he saw her, he ripped his clothes and said, “Oh no! My daughter! You have completely ruined me! You have brought me disaster! I made an oath to the Lord, and I cannot break it.” The NET Bible (Biblical Studies Press, 2005), Jdg 11:30–35.

Jephthah is an interesting and tragic figure. The son of a prostitute, he was shunned by his 1/2 brothers and the community. Then, when it was expedient – because they all knew he was a pretty tough guy, these came back and contracted with him to defeat their enemies in exchange for recognition as their leader. Tough to refuse for a guy always struggling to legitimize himself.

But there are 2 very important lessons (among others) to be learned in this odd account. As the text notes, Jephthah “made a deal” with God. If God gave him success in his military campaign, he would offer to God by way of sacrifice the first thing that came out of his door to greet him after victory. Sadly, it turns out that was his only child – his daughter. And apparently, he kept his vow.

The first thing we need to note here is: Some vows we have no right to make at all since they (like this one) contradict the known will of God. God’s law strictly forbade human sacrifice. But either ignorance of God’s Word or in a callous disregard for it – Jephtha made and carried out this vow. Instead, he ought to have repented before the Lord and acknowledged his sin rather than fulfilling this travesty. As Proverbs 6:2–5 (ESV) notes: “if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth, 3 then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor. 4 Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber; 5 save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler.”

Maybe you’ve foolishly bound yourself to some “deal” with God you know now was foolish. Go to Him. Confess it, repent of it and move on. He is very gracious in the face of our foolishness. He would never have us bind ourselves to things which in the final analysis have no foundation in Scripture. No matter how pious it may have seemed at the time, God does not countenance our persistence in such things when they were in error to begin with. He cannot be bribed by such things anyway. So do not compound the offense the way Jephthah did.

Secondly: As in this case, Jephthah makes an assumption that there is direct causation between his vow and the victory. This is SO important. We MUST beware making the coincidental the absolute arbiter of truth for us. Having not sought God’s counsel first, he puts himself in a very foolish and costly position, binding himself to what ought never to have been binding. And he assumes that the reason he gained his victory was the fact he made his vow. But God would not countenance such a vow. and to imagine that the 2 things were tied together made him err in a most horrible fashion. God’s providences cannot be read through the lenses of our superstitions. The tendency to assign a direct cause/effect principle to things can get us imagining God is either condoning or condemning all sorts of things when neither may be the truth. That one has an inner “peace” over a situation or circumstance is no true indication of God’s approval. Only the Word can give us that infallible direction. Just as unrest may be no indication that something is amiss. Jesus’ agony, wrestling, anxiety and consternation in Gethsemane was no means of ascertaining that He ought not to go to the Cross. He knew His mission. And He stuck to that. Sometimes our sinful desires can give us peace over wretched things, and make us uncomfortable when following the right course. “To the teaching and to the testimony!” Isaiah 8:0a. That is the only truly safe place. And if Jephthah had followed that, he would still have won his battle, and his daughter would have lived.
Margin notes: From Mark 5:38-43

June 18th, 2019

Mark 5:38–43 (ESV) — 38 They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” 40 And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. 41 Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” 42 And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. 43 And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

I am continually challenged both by the tenderness of Jesus, and the completeness of His care for us. What a Redeemer is it we serve.

One would think it enough that He raised this little girl from the dead. But look at how He is mindful of not turning her into a spectacle. He puts everyone out of the room except for her parents and 3 of His disciples. Jesus does none of His miracles like a circus act, like so many claiming these powers today. This is a little girl. The text says she is only 12. The last thing she needs when being raised is to be gawked at by a crowd who have no regard for her own feelings and the amazement which will fill her heart. She has been through the trauma of death, and then the glory of resurrection. But she is not turned into a spectacle. He protects her so tenderly.

Look too at how he took her by the hand when He raised her. She was not alone in that startling moment, but touched by the hand of the One whose power holds the universe together and keeps the planets in their orbit. This sovereign, Master of all, takes her hand Himself. Tenderly and sweetly He provides assurance in this most confusing hour.

And then note how Jesus is concerned for her immediate and basic need of food. He knows hers and our EVERY need. But this need He does not meet Himself. Instead He does it through the ministrations of others. How our Lord puts in our paths those who will supply at His behest, what we need. We may not see Him in the moment, but we can be sure He is the one behind our needed provision.

He meets her spiritually, psychologically and physically. Nothing is left untouched. So too He is a complete Savior to us. He is mindful of everything which concerns us – and He is faithful to provide. Some things, He does absolutely by His own touch – and other things, He meets through the careful ministrations of others. But in all, He considers our every need, and leaves none of them unattended to.

What a Redeemer it is we serve.
The Fear of The Lord Part 3

June 17th, 2019
The Fear of The Lord Pt. 3

Audio for this sermon can be found here

Sin distorts everything.

Christians know this as axiomatic. We can see it everywhere – most in ourselves and the loss of the clear image of God reflected back.

God’s natural state is one of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

But humankind – created in that image, now often distorts love into lust and blind indulgence; joy into mere temporal happinesses; peace into chemically induced oblivion; patience into blind indifference; kindness into insipid acquiescence; goodness into cultural morality; faithfulness into agreements of convenience; gentleness into spinelessness and self-control into – well, that’s just off the radar screen.

We see it in art which is meant to elevate the soul and lift us up to the appreciation of beauty, purity and noble things – degenerate into depictions of chaos, ugliness, the profane and even the pornographic.

Music, given as a gift of God to cheer the soul and draw us into joy and beauty and inspiration gets used to incite hatred, violence and expressions of animalistic emotions and desires.

The physical intimacy of marriage which is meant to unify, comfort and delight in giving and receiving in the tenderest and most sacred and private of ways has been twisted into raw lust without regard for love, marriage, safety or sacredness. It has been made exploitative, public, harsh and cruel and rooted in self-gratification.

Tragically this distortive tendency creeps into the best of all of God’s gifts to us. And no less so in the great truths and doctrines of the Bible as well.

Think for a minute of the marvelous doctrine of election.

The Bible unfolds election as a revelation of God’s goodness in securing salvation for some when all deserve eternal condemnation. And then how God works in us to bring us to Himself when our natural, fallen disposition is to reject Him. This is turned by some into a notion of a God who creates only to condemn – and thus make election out as a curse instead of a blessing.

The very truth designed to give assurance to those who have come to Him that He has loved them always, is made abhorrent in our distortion of it.

Or think of the doctrine of God’s sovereignty over all things.

While we are meant to take supreme comfort in His loving superintendence over all circumstances and events for our good and His glory – this gets distorted either into some form of heartless and cruel fatalism or an attack upon individual freedom and will.

It seems that in the Fall, nothing God has done in goodness and grace has been left undistorted in the human mind – until the Spirit begins to open our eyes afresh to read and understand God’s revelation of Himself in His Word more accurately.

And nowhere is this more evident than it is in examining a doctrine like the fear of the Lord.

In our fallenness and sin-distorted reasoning, we look at those words “the fear of the Lord” and import into them notions of ruthlessness, implacability, perpetual irritation, pettiness, unpredictability, volatility and harshness.

Not a God to be awed at in His glory and wonder but cowered before.

So that God must be approached as though surrounded by a cosmic minefield and that we had better be constantly careful that we don’t tick Him off lest He explode at us in inexplicable rage.

And that, by keeping an endless list of revealed and even worse – secret and irrational rules regulations.

We all know what the Mona Lisa by Da Vinci looks like.

So when we see something like Botero’s “Fat Mona Lisa” – we recognize the distortion instantly.

And we would never fall for one as messed up as this.

But if we had never seen the original – we would easily take a distortion – no matter how bizarre – as accurate.

And it is just this way both with concepts of God, AND certain Biblical truths – like the fear of the Lord.

If we do not grasp them, if we do not see the World and truth through the lens of the Bible – from God’s revelation of them – but instead through the lenses of myths, our own imaginations, lies or other distortions – no wonder people at times recoil from some Biblical truths.

As a side note here I’ll put in a quick pitch for an excellent book on this topic: Misreading the Scripture with Western Eyes by Richards and O’Brien. Well worth your time and money.

I hope by now in our study we’ve begun to disabuse you of some of the distortions that often accompany the doctrine of the fear of the Lord, if, you have suffered from them.

As cataloged above from Galatians 5, the winsomeness and sweetness of God ought to inform us just as much as His power, greatness, glory and holiness. In fact they are as necessary a part of His holiness as His righteousness, justice, sovereignty etc. We dare not lose any of His attributes.

This was manifested for us so wonderfully in the life of Jesus.

How He received sinners to Himself so readily and graciously, yet never sinned nor excused sin. How He was easily approached and loved by children. How He never stretched out His hand in divine judgment upon those around Him during His incarnation. How He was exposed to opposition, misunderstanding, resistance, foolishness and sin of all kinds on every hand – and yet from the very cross of His murder could exclaim “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

The fear of the Lord we are after is reverential awe of this Redeeming Savior – NOT the irrational terror of a quick tempered monster.

As we have emphasized in our previous two visits to this topic – the fear of the Lord is primarily located in the idea of: Reverential awe.

That the more we discover of Him in Creation, the Word and the Incarnation; the more we are taken by His immensity, eternality, power, wisdom, knowledge, administration of all things, holiness, love, mercy and yes – and even His judgment – the more we are overawed at the vision of it all.

And then, that this God of all creation would come to this little planet in the middle of nowhere, take on the likeness of sinful humankind and die at our hands for our salvation!

Reverential awe is the ONLY fitting response.

As John Flavel would write: Behold the admirable condescension of Christ, that he would come into the heart of the vilest sinner, and not disdain to take his abode in that soul which hath been the seat of Satan, where he hath ruled, and every unclean lust hath been harboured!

There are two things wherein the admirable condescension of Christ appears. (1.) In taking union with our nature after sin had blasted the beauty of it. This was a marvellous stoop indeed. But (2.) that Christ should also take union with our persons, and take his habitation and abode in our hearts, after Satan and sin had so long inhabited and defiled them; that he should accept those members as instruments of his service; that very tongue to praise him that had blasphemed him, &c. yet so he is willing to do, and commands us to deliver them up to him, Rom. 6:19.

John Flavel, The Whole Works of the Reverend John Flavel, vol. 4 (London; Edinburgh; Dublin: W. Baynes and Son; Waugh and Innes; M. Keene, 1820), 160–161.

In fact, where we will end up today is by locating the fear of the Lord in a most unsuspected place.

I’ll come to that shortly, but let me remind you of the path we’ve been taking:

Gaining the Fear of The Lord
1. Creation b. The Word c. His Acts
Our first look was at the wonder, expanse, order, beauty, symmetry and perhaps even the impossibility of the Creation in order to draw on the vastness, power and eternality of God.

Then we visited Ps. 139 in gaining a look at His being: All powerful, All knowing, and Everywhere present at once.

And so this morning we want to briefly rehearse some of His acts which ought to inspire this reverential awe – culminating in the Cross.

Now when I speak of God’s acts, I think it is useful to break them down into a few categories:
1. Acts of Power
2. Acts of Judgment
3. Acts of Mercy
I won’t spend much time on Acts of Power since we already saw so much of that in Creation.

I would only call your attention to some additional acts along the same lines:

Especially His involvement in the affairs of mankind: Jer. 18:1-11; 2 Chron. 20:5-6; Job 12:9-25; Ps. 47:8; Isa. 14:24-27 are prime examples. But let me turn to only one of them: Job 12:9-25

Job 12:9–25 ESV / Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food? Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days. “With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding. If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open. If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land. With him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his. He leads counselors away stripped, and judges he makes fools. He looses the bonds of kings and binds a waistcloth on their hips. He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the mighty. He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment of the elders. He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong. He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep darkness to light. He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away. He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a trackless waste. They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.

God is at work in the nations – not just His Church – in all of human activity.

Second there is His provision for and the sustaining of all life – human and animal as so fully brought out in Job 38-39.

And 3rd, His divine appointments in Providence which Paul makes much of in Acts 17:26-28

Acts 17:26–28 ESV / 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, 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, for

“ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

as even some of your own poets have said,

“ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

Such an account of God’s all pervasive power being exercised in the affairs of mankind is staggering.

But then we add to that, consideration of His various acts of judgment.
1. Acts of Power
2. Acts of Judgment
3. Acts of Mercy
Remember the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden. It is frightful.

His cataclysmic judgment on human sin in the Flood.

The confusion of languages at Babel; the fiery decimation of Sodom and Gomorrah; the overthrow of the 7 kingdoms in Canaan after the iniquity of those nations had finally reached their limit.

Then we see individual outbreaks of His fury in all sorts of events, not the least of which is the striking down of Uzzah in 2 Sam. 6 when he dared to touch the Ark of the Covenant with his bare hand; The deaths of Nadab and Abihu for offering unauthorized fire before the Lord; the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira in the book of Acts for lying to the Holy Spirit; the striking of Herod with deadly worms for failing to give God glory for the response to his oration and the blinding of Elymas in Acts 13 for trying to buy the power to give the Holy Spirit to others.

In each of these we see glints of what God SHOULD be doing in judgment constantly – but what in His patience and forbearance He refrains from doing as He holds forth the opportunity for all to repent and believe the Gospel.

And in all of these we’ve not yet mentioned the pronouncements of the coming final judgment told to us by Jesus and enlarged upon the book of Revelation.

These ought to make us abundantly aware that while God is good and patient and astoundingly forbearing – we do not know when that will end and when there will be no more time to repent – and Jesus “will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.” Rev. 19:15c

All of which leads us back to our final category:
1. Acts of Power
2. Acts of Judgment
3. Acts of Mercy
Here, let me call your attention to an astounding verse: Psalm 130:4

Psalm 130:4 ESV / But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.

Now at first blush, one might wonder exactly how the concepts of God’s forgiveness and fear of Him come together.

But in truth, it isn’t very hard to grasp once we begin to think about it and consider what the Bible has to tell us about the nature of sin, the holiness of God, and the nature of a holy and just God who cannot ignore sin or let it go unaddressed.

As the verse directly preceeding this one states: Ps. 130:3

Psalm 130:3 ESV / If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

If God were to call us into account for our sins just as the matter nakedly is: No one would come out alive. No one. Who could possibly remain standing when confronted by the blast furnace of His ineffable holiness?

So in what way does God’s forgiveness create a right fear of Him? Let me suggest 7.

With God there is forgiveness that He may be feared because:
1. Forgiveness is an act of free grace, not an obligation
Beloved, this is so vitally important to grasp: God is under no obligation to forgive anyone, any of US, our sins.

Their is no law or principle He is bound to outside of Himself. Nor is there anything in His being which requires it.

Forgiveness is a personal choice, not a legal requirement.

God forgives sin solely at His own discretion. For you see all are guilty before Him and all of us justly deserve His holy judgment upon our sin.

So we read in Romans 3:10-18

Romans 3:10–18 ESV / as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

God would be completely just in consigning all of mankind to an eternal Hell – but for His willingness to forgive and redeem.

We ought to tremble at the thought of it.

If you are a Christian here today it is not because God owed you forgiveness – it is owing singly and entirely to His sovereign discretion in loving you so as to forgive you.

And at that, a forgiveness He offers to the World though the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

God owes no one forgiveness.

And yet so many have it today – only because of His mercy and grace.

With God there is forgiveness that He may be feared because:
1. In His holiness, He cannot pervert justice
Once again we need to reckon with the fact that salvation is NOT, is not and never has been a cosmic version of ally ally in free.

Because He is infinitely and inviolably holy and just, He cannot simply dismiss or overlook sin. Justice MUST be done.

Yes, He forgives personally, but He is also the judge of all the earth. Bound by His own holiness and justice.

Say you were to rob a store of its cash: 2 Things have occured, you have sinned against the store owner, AND you have a committed a crime against the State.

And while to Owner may forgive you personally, that does nothing to satisfy the law and the State. Forgiven, you may still be subject to a just penalty.

In God, He is both the personally offended AND the judge of all the earth – the King of His Kingdom. And justice must still be met somehow.

This is why the cross becomes of infinite importance. For apart from justice being satisfied on our behalf, we may be forgiven – but still liable. Forgiveness does not erase or mitigate guilt.

Only in the Cross, only in Jesus paying the just penalty for our sins may we find relief from our guilt and just judgment.

God cannot – due to His holy nature simply ignore sin, even as He may personally forgive our offenses against Him.

And so in His infinite wisdom, grace and mercy He devised the plan to make sure His justice could be satisfied as well as our being forgiven – that we might be restored to Him – reconciled to Him – with the crimes of our sin fully met.

Tremble at the thought beloved – the impossible was made possible: 2 Cor. 5:21 only in Christ on the Cross.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV / For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

With God there is forgiveness that He may be feared because:
1. Our sin is so great
Being as we are, we love to make light of our sin. We love to use phrases like: “Nobody’s perfect” and “I’m just human” or to borrow from Alexander Pope: “to err is human.”

We say “we’re all sinners” as though the universality of our sin somehow makes it less vile than it really is. As though if everyone in the world had the same fatal disease, that would somehow make it less fatal.

But how serious is sin really?

We never truly understand it until we look at the Cross. Until we realize that sin brings us under the just wrath of the Almighty God who cannot excuse it on any level – and who made the all-encompassing pronouncement: “the wages of sin is death.”

And not just physical death – death to God. Death to everything good and holy and blessed – because all goodness comes only from and in connection to – Him.

Hear to voice of torment crying out from the Cross in supreme agony of soul and body: “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?”

The One who had known only perfect, utter and infinite bliss in union with His Father – bearing the weight of our guilt and our shame in His death.

That’s what sin costs.

And to have that penalty not just erased but utterly reversed in the granting of eternal blessings ought to make us tremble in awe.

With God there is forgiveness that He may be feared because:
1. Of what it to took atone for our sin
What did it take to atone for, to pay the penalty for your sin and mine?

Nothing less than the brutal death of the eternal Son of God in our place.

No animal sacrifice could do what was needed.

No amount of good works by us could possibly make up for our rebellion, since we had owed Him total love and allegiance from the very beginning. To live perfectly would only be to do what OUGHT to be done – that can make up for nothing.

No angel could interpose himself.

No, our salvation required nothing less than a sinless, infinite sacrifice to deal with the depths of our sin and iniquity.

We ought to be struck with a holy awe that there was nothing other than the death of The Incarnate Son of God in our place that could do what was needed to save us.

And how do we know that for certain?

By Jesus own thrice repeated prayer in the Garden: “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” Mt 26:39.

With God there is forgiveness that He may be feared because:
1. What love there was in the Father to send His Son for us
Ought it not send a holy gasp through our souls to contemplate what love the Father must have for us that He would devise and carry out such a plan for those who hated Him, rebelled against Him and still fail Him every moment of the day?

That so great is His love, that He would send His only begotten Son, that whoever would believe in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life.

Thank on it Believer. Think on it and stand in awe of a love like that.

What kind of love must that be? There is none like in all of humanity. None.

Stuart Townend’s words begin to make the inquiry:

“How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure,
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure.
How great the pain of searing loss –
The Father turns His face away,
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory.

Robert Murray McCheyne: “Learn the intense love of God for sinners. He spared not his own Son. Herein is love. He loved the happiness of his Son; but he loved the salvation of sinners more. He loved to have his Son in his bosom; but he loved more to have sinners brought into his bosom. He cast out his Son, in order to take us in. Oh! sinner, how will you escape, if you neglect so great a salvation?”

Astounding!

With God there is forgiveness that He may be feared because:
1. What love and humility there was in the Son to come and die
What is the nature of Christ Jesus’ love for us, that He would submit Himself to this plan that we might be reconciled to the Father and made His own?

It’s transforming when we muse on it enough to fill us with awe once again.

That was the case with Samuel Trevor Francis as he stood on London’s Hungerford Bridge contemplating suicide. When all at once thoughts of the great love of Christ came flooding in only to send him off to pen the words:

“O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, spread His praise from shore to shore!
How He loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, nevermore!
How He watches o’er His loved ones, died to call them all His own;
How for them He intercedeth, watcheth o’er them from the throne!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best!
‘Tis an ocean vast of blessing, ’tis a haven sweet of rest!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, ’tis a heaven of heavens to me;
And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee!

With God there is forgiveness that He may be feared because:
1. What glories are ours vs the eternal torments we deserve
When we contemplate our sin, and the reality of our guilt before this holy God, and the display of His wrath poured out upon Jesus on the Cross – and THEN, go on to contemplate that no eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard, no man has ever been able to even imagine the things God has prepared for those who love Him – except to know that there is no suffering in this present life that is worthy to be compared to the glory about to be revealed to us – by faith, we stand in fresh awe.

If this does not engender reverential awe in us, we are not yet born again.

We have not understood God’s holiness nor our sin aright.

But if by grace your heart has been moved in the consideration of these things this morning – then I plead with you to come and bow before the throne of the truly awesome God and His Christ – to confess your sin before Him, and cast yourself upon the mercy offered to you in the substitutionary death of Jesus on the Cross.

And my dear fellow Believer – commit today to strive to keep these things ever before your own eyes. To not let the reverential awe of this God and His salvation leave your thoughts.

For the fear of the Lord is the very beginning of wisdom.

Psalm 103:11 ESV / For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;