Most of us (if you are anything like me) tend to focus on short term goals. The older I get, the more that seems to reduce to just getting through today with no aggravations! Lofty – eh? (Lord help me!)
But then there are those among us who think in terms of a much longer timeline. Finishing High School, on to College, and then a chosen career. Good and fitting stuff. Such people tend to be more satisfied with life overall. No stones to be thrown here.
And then there some like the Apostle Paul. He had plenty of short terms goals; going to this community or that area to evangelize and establish a church, and then on to others. Wanting to be in Jerusalem at a specific time when about his other business, etc. You see it throughout the book of Acts and in his letters. Again, good stuff. Necessary stuff. Wise living.
But Paul was not lashed to his short-term goals either. So at times he changes course. Sometimes he plans to go to X and do Y, but is prevented by The Spirit or some other providence. And then he is led on to somewhere else and to serve in some other capacity. So we see that by the end of his life, his delight in evangelizing regions and planting churches is narrowed to evangelizing his immediate circle in Rome, and writing letters.
And then there is Paul’s revealed looooong-term goal. It comes out in Techi-color in his letter to the saints at Philippi – and most pointedly in the 3rd chapter of that letter.
Catch this: “More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.” (Phil. 3:8-13)
Here Paul reveals his ever-present preoccupation with searching out the unsearchable depths of what it means to have been saved by faith in Jesus Christ, Jesus himself, and the glory to come. Everything else he does comes under this umbrella. And we might summarize it like this:
1. To fully know Jesus Christ. His person and work – His faithfulness which purchased my salvation.
2. To fully know what has been bequeathed to me as a Believer by His resurrection – especially the power of the resurrection in the Spirit.
3. To embrace the finished work of His sufferings for my salvation, and thus to regard my own sufferings as an honor as a result.
4. To be as given up to the Father’s will, even unto death as He was. To share in that same devotion to the Father.
i.e. (12) I want to know, to investigate, to experience, to fully possess everything Christ was aiming at for me, in saving me.
There is a long-term goal which we will spend eternity aiming at. What a privilege then to be about it in the short term, so that our hearts and minds are anchored in eternal verities, rather than in the temporal chaos of this world. And we will never come to the end of it. It is indescribably deep and rich and wondrous. And how little we consider it or spend time meditating upon it and searching it out. No wonder the World finds us so easily distracted. Contrary to Paul we think we’ve already “obtained” it. That we know all there is to know about our salvation.
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.
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.
The phrase “The Great Exchange” is often attributed to Martin Luther. Whether or not the phrase originated with him, the concept is simply the Biblical teaching that salvation hinges upon the placing of our guilt for sin on Christ at the cross, and the imputation of His righteousness to Believers through faith. In R. C. Sproul’s “How Can I Be Right With God” he summarizes the Scripture teaching as: “We are blessed because our sin is not counted to us but imputed to Christ, and His righteousness is imputed to us by God’s forensic decree.” Sproul, R. C. 2017. How Can I Be Right with God?. First edition. Vol. 26. The Crucial Questions Series. Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust: A Division of Ligonier Ministries.
Now that has been the core of Biblical theology on the subject from the very beginning. Praise God for it!
But in our day, in 21st century America, the Great Exchange above has been supplanted by many for a different, and not-so-great-exchange. It is the exchange of lives consumed with spreading the Gospel of the saving grace of Jesus Christ and being transformed into His image by the power of the Spirit, to being consumed with preserving Western Culture and American Constitutionalism.
And it’s a raw deal.
The idea of praying “Your kingdom come” has been reshaped from seeking the fullness of Christ’s Kingship in our lives and His return to rule and reign on earth, to Christ helping us preserve the American way of life, and that, in material prosperity. We are no longer preoccupied with prosecuting the battle against the remnants of indwelling sin in ourselves and defending the faith once for all delivered to the saints, but battling the sin we perceive in others trying to encroach on an idealized and romantic notion of Americanism. It is Leave-it-to-Beaverism; as though the corruption of humankind hidden beneath the veneer of imagined external Pollyanna days was less deadly than the corruption we are increasingly seeing lived out in the culture. The dread disease was always there and just as fatal – it was just kept out of sight. Some.
When growing in Christ’s image no longer takes precedence, then other’s sins and other causes do.
The prayer closet has been exchanged for the voting booth.
Don’t get me wrong, Christians have civic responsibilities. We should carry them out as conscientiously as we can. But there is no policy, even legislated from the most godly body that can actually deal with sin, only certain of its manifestations. Is that good? Sure. But does it change anyone? Does it bring them into right standing with God? Does it produce actual righteousness? No. Only the Gospel can do that. It is not an ultimate answer. That doesn’t mean we ignore it, only that we do not see it as an end. We want to, we are commanded to – do good to our neighbors. But good that does not address the soul is only wallpapering a gaping hole in the wall.
Man’s problem is a sin problem, not a policy problem. Not a political system problem. Not a cultural problem. And we cannot win a spiritual war with earthly weapons or tactics “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:12) To which Paul by The Spirit adds His “therefore”. Therefore what? Sue? Vote? Become activists? Campaign? Hold rallies? Finance pacs? Decry conspiracies? March? No – take up the whole armor of God.
Now hear me – I’m not saying we can’t do all those other things. I’m not saying they are not useful to some degree. If my basement is flooding, I need to be about the business of bailing. Such bailing is needed to stave off further damage. But if I do not attack the broken pipe, if I do not stem the source of the flood – no matter how heroically I bail – in the end, the flood will overtake me and all will be lost. When Jesus was asleep in the boat in Mark 4, the Disciples tried to rouse Him to help. Help them what? Help manage the boat in the storm. And if that is what He did, how tragic the result would have been. They needed supernatural aid to their very real, existential peril. They needed Him to stand up and rebuke the wind and the waves, even though they weren’t aware He could even do that.
The Church, the nation, doesn’t need a revival of Americanism and/or patriotism, it needs a revival of souls through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Until the people of God are more interested in God’s plans and purposes than our own, for His cosmic and eternal causes and not for our temporary and temporal ones, we will be distracted by an exchange that damns men’s souls while attempting to recover human institutions.
Is the picture above one of a white vase, or two silhouetted faces? It depends on your perspective.
The eye of faith grasps one thing. The eye of unbelief, another.
It would be hard to find a contrast more stark than that contain in verses 11-15, over and against 16-20.
The first is a commission to lie and obscure the truth of Jesus’ resurrection. It was designed to keep people in darkness and bondage.
Vs. 11 says that while the Marys were off telling the disciples the good news of Jesus resurrection, some of the guard went to the chief priests. Both told the very same story. But both came to very different responses. And herein is the work of Satan in the world writ large for us to see.
In Eden, Satan’s chief tool and tactic was to obscure the truth – especially the truth about God. Nothing has changed. This is why the Word of God is so central to the Believer, and the World as a whole. We must have some source of “true-truth” as Francis Schaeffer would phrase it. Personal perspectives, opinions and conjectures can bring eternal life to no one. We must know what THE truth really is if we are to know God and know ourselves.
We must know that God crested the heavens and the earth. That all that exists exists with a purpose and that by the omnipotent God who made it all for His own purposes.
We must know that humankind was made in the image of this God.
We must know that humankind – to a man – has rebelled against God’s right of supremacy over our lives, and that we are lost and condemned in our sin of rebellion.
We must know that God in His constitutional holiness and justice cannot simply dismiss sin, but must satisfy His own justice in judgment.
We must know that we have no means to be reconciled to our Creator by our own devices.
We must know God’s only provided means for that reconciliation, in having sent His Son – Jesus the Christ – to live in perfect holiness, and die a substitutionary death on a cross to satisfy His justice, and make a way for the unjust.
We must know that this salvation is held out to us, not because we deserve it, but because in His glorious, inscrutable love and grace – He delights to rescue His enemies and reconcile them to Himself, and at that, at the highest cost imaginable.
We must know that the only way we can have access to this salvation and reconciliation is by faith in the death, burial and resurrection of this Jesus.
Without knowledge of these basic realities, we live lost, aimless, purposeless, ultimately meaningless lives which end in judgement.
The second commission was by Jesus to the Marys to go and tell.
What the women told the disciples, motivated them to go to Galilee that they might see Jesus. What the guards told the priests, motivated them to do everything they could to keep people from seeing Jesus. And so it remains today.
The facts remained the same for both. Jesus rose from the dead. Angels attended His resurrection. He appeared to many. We will either embrace these truths so as to fall at the feet of the Savior, or respond by indifference and/or deliberate opposition. This is the difference that defines our eternity.
To you reader, if you do not yet know Him – know this: “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.”
Nothing seems sadder to me, than that the simplicity, beauty and profundity of Jesus’ institution of communion, should be the source of endless debates and division. Transubstantiation, Con-substantiation, mere memorial or remembrance, means of grace, etc., etc., etc.
All other discussions aside, nothing should more stimulate and make real to the heart and the mind of the Believer what Christ has done for us in respect to our sins – than this act together with others bought be grace, regenerated and indwelt by His Spirit.
Let us then in simple humility and inexpressible gratitude, partake – if we believe. And rest our souls in the finished work of the Cross. For only faith in His finished work satisfies, nourishes, refreshes, sustains and cheers the soul. He “loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (Rev. 1:5-6) Need we say more?
From J.C. Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on Matthew Matthew 27:27-44
“We must not be content with a vague general belief, that Christ’s sufferings on the cross were vicarious. We are intended to see this truth in every part of His passion. We may follow Him all through, from the bar of Pilate, to the minute of His death, and see him at every step as our mighty Substitute, our Representative, our Head, our Surety, our Proxy,—the Divine Friend who undertook to stand in our stead, and by the priceless merit of His sufferings, to purchase our redemption.—
Was He scourged? It was that “through His stripes we might be healed.”—
Was he condemned, though innocent? It was that we might be acquitted though guilty.—
Did He wear a crown of thorns? It was that we might wear the crown of glory.—
Was He stripped of His raiment? It was that we might be clothed in everlasting righteousness.—
Was he mocked and reviled? It was that we might be honored and blessed.—
Was He reckoned a malefactor, and numbered among transgressors? It was that we might be reckoned innocent, and justified from all sin.—
Was he declared unable to save Himself? It was that He might be able to save others to the uttermost.—
Did He die at last, and that the most painful and disgraceful of deaths? It was that we might live for evermore, and be exalted to the highest glory.—
Let us ponder these things well. They are worth remembering. The very key to peace is a right apprehension of the vicarious sufferings of Christ. Let us leave the story of our Lord’s passion with feelings of deep thankfulness. Our sins are many and great. But a great atonement has been made for them. There was an infinite merit in all Christ’s sufferings. They were the sufferings of One who was God as well as man. Surely it is meet, right, and our bounden duty, to praise God daily because Christ has died. Last, but not least, let us ever learn from the story of the passion, to hate sin with a great hatred. Sin was the cause of all our Saviour’s suffering. Our sins platted the crown of thorns. Our sins drove the nails into His hands and feet. On account of our sins His blood was shed. Surely the thought of Christ crucified should make us loathe all sin. Well says the Homily of the Passion, “Let this image of Christ crucified be always printed in our hearts. Let it stir us up to the hatred of sin, and provoke our minds to the earnest love of Almighty God.”
Ryle, J. C. 1860. Expository Thoughts on Matthew. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers.
Some details in Scripture are so subtle, we can pass right over them without a second thought. I think we have something of that in the verses before us today.
J. C. Ryle frames the situation for us well: “We now approach the closing scene of our Lord Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry. Hitherto we have read of His sayings and doings: we are now about to read of His sufferings and death. Hitherto we nave seen him as the great Prophet: we are now about to see Him as the great High Priest. It is a portion of Scripture which ought to be read with peculiar reverence and attention. The place whereon we stand is holy ground. Here we see how the Seed of the woman bruised the Serpent’s head. Here we see the great sacrifice to which all the sacrifices of the Old Testament had long pointed. Here we see how the blood was shed which “cleanseth from all sin” and the Lamb slain who “taketh away the sin of the world.” We see in the death of Christ, the great mystery revealed, how God can be just, and yet justify the ungodly. No wonder that all the four Gospels contain a full account of this wonderful event. On other points in our Lord’s history, we often find, that when one evangelist speaks, the other three are silent. But when we come to the crucifixion, we find it minutely described by all four.”1 1 Ryle, J. C. 1860. Expository Thoughts on Matthew. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers.
While the language here cannot bear more weight than is intended, nevertheless we see this remarkable feature: It is only “WHEN” Jesus had finished all these sayings and announced once more His impending crucifixion, that the opposition which had been mounting all along – finally “THEN” gathered to plot their final actions.
As the Expositor’s Bible Commentary notes as well: “Certainly the opposition had been rising for some time…On the other hand, by placing 26:3–5 immediately after vv. 1–2, Matthew gives the narrative the flavor of God’s sovereign control. The leaders may plot; but if Jesus dies, he dies as a voluntary Passover sacrifice (vv. 53–54; John 10:18).11Carson, D. A. 1984. “Matthew.” In The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke, edited by Frank E. Gaebelein, 8:523–24. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
O how we need to see the sovereign hand of God in it all.
Many may think that only one thing is going on in Jesus’ death – that wicked men are having their day. That darkness has its hour. That Satan murders the King. And while all those are true, it is also true that God is doing what He had foretold from the Garden on – that the Seed of the woman would at last crush the Serpent’s head. And so the evil of the Devil and those under his influence can only in the final analysis, actually accomplish God’s sovereign will in making the atonement for sin.
Beloved, this is what is happening in your life and mine as well – this very moment.
Yes, the World, the Flesh and the Devil conspire to enslave our souls to sin and keep us from our Redeemer. But the hand of the One who rules all is at work on our behalf. The Christian knows His loving Father’s sovereign hand in the most difficult, confusing, and painful circumstances no matter how involved the enemy of our souls may be.
For us, it is only “when” our God speaks, that “then” even the most wicked forces can act. And then it is we see the wonder of Romans 8:28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
The verse DOES NOT say all things are good in and of themselves. But in our Father’s hand, all that befalls us, is designed and used that we might know His glory, and come to greater good.
We may not be able to see how it is so in some situations, and may never know fully until eternity. But this we know, we can trust Him. And if even the “then” of Jesus’ enemies couldn’t transpire until the “when” of Jesus’ pronouncement – we can know He rules in our lives the same.
We now come to the end of Jesus’ public teaching on the end times. It is both a sour and a hopeful note. Which, depends upon your relationship to Him in faith. J.C. Ryle writes: “There are few passages in the whole Bible more solemn and heart—searching than this. May we read it with the deep and serious attention which it deserves.” Ryle, J. C. 1860. Expository Thoughts on Matthew. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers.
Note first, that we must beware of turning an analogical statement into a full orbed theological and doctrinal construct. This is a common error in our Bible study and interpretation, and an easy one to fall into. Jesus’ simple point is, that on the final day, He will separate Believers from unbelievers, and each will receive appropriately from His hand.
Some, mistakenly, have turn this parabolic statement into a construct of ontology. They see it as though the world is made up of people who are as fundamentally different by nature, as sheep are from goats. One confused soul even said to me once: “I was never a goat, I was always a sheep.” This is just confused.
Yes, the one who is saved by grace has become a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, born again by His grace and adopted into the Family of God. But we must never forget Paul’s words in Eph. 2 when marking out what ALL of us used to be: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (Eph. 2:1-3)
Did you catch that last sentence? We were all, “by nature” children of wrath like the rest of mankind. There was no ontological, no constitutional difference between all human beings before salvation. We are all drawn from the same, fallen lump of Adam’s race.
As Don Carson is wont to say, we cannot make every simile, analogy or parable “walk on all fours.” We can over-interpret this way and end up distorting Scripture.
Note second: In the same vein as above, be careful to see that there is no attempt on Jesus’ part to turn “sheep” into believers everywhere sheep are mentioned in Scripture and “goats” everywhere they are mentioned into unbelievers. Sometimes, sheep are just sheep, and goats are just goats. All that is said here is that the Son will separate the believers from the unbelievers, in the same way a shepherd separates sheep from goats. The issue is separation, not ontological assignation.
Once again, if we press Jesus’ analogy too far, we’ll be at a real loss to deal with things like the Passover meal when instituted in Ex. 12; where the Israelites could select their Passover sacrifice from either the sheep or the goats, without distinction.
Note third: That the judgment for these two groups is different. One is rewarded for what they DID do, the other, punished for what they DIDN’T do. It is a most interesting dichotomy.
The Believer is rewarded according to his good acts, and the Unbeliever punished for his wicked acts.
Nothing that is holy but neglected will go undiscovered. Nothing done in earnest to serve Christ will go unnoticed either.
Note fourth: Both the terror and the glory of this one thing – It is Christ Himself who will sit as judge. Many a religionist fails to recognize that Jesus Himself is the judge. Yes, He is The Savior. Yes, He is the substitute. Yes, He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And yes, He will be our final judge. The omniscient, Son of God. The God who walked in human flesh and knows every heartache, every temptation, every opportunity, every obstacle, every circumstance we all have faced in this life. He, will judge us all. With the unsparing scrutiny of His omniscience. He is the Living Word, who discerns even the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Nothing will serve as a justifiable excuse for failure to reckon with the demand of the Gospel to find forgiveness and grace in Christ. He knows us. He knows all we face. He knows all of our circumstances. And no one will be able to exempt themselves from His all-seeing examination.
By the same token, nothing that any who are His have done because they are His, no matter how small, how seemingly insignificant, how unknown by any other human eye or ear – will go unrewarded.
Note fifth: Because of who He is – because He is God, and perfectly holy, He can neither over-punish, nor under-punish sin. He knows what the penalty of sin costs personally. He endured it on the Cross. And for the very same reasons, He can neither over-reward nor under-reward His saints in judgment. And yet, He is free to pour out of His limitless grace, infinitely more than our just rewards, for He makes Himself our inheritance. His eternal limitless self. The fountain of all goodness, grace, love, wonder and joy.
1 Pet. 1:3-9 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
From Matthew 18:21-22 / Three Strikes and You’re Out!
Note first: The question here is regarding personal offenses. And as D.A. Carson notes, the Rabbinic teaching popular at the time was, you could (and should) for an offender personal sins 3 times. But on the fourth infraction – zippo. Done.
Now, Peter, in a noble effort ups the ante. He more than doubles the quota. And herein lies a problem which underlies much theological error – quantifying spiritual things.
This tendency, because we like neat and clean cutoff points, spills over into all sorts of places in the Christian life. How many chapters in the Bible should I read each day in order to be in good standing? How many Church services per month do I need to attend? What do I set the egg-timer on so that I am sure I pray just the right amount of time? How many times do I forgive those who sin against me so as to know I can tick the box off on my qualification form?
You see the problem.
Such thinking forms the foundation of legalism. It is proto-Phariseeism. It starts small and well meaning and maybe even subconsciously. But when it grows, it blossoms into full grown legalism. And this, from earnest Evangelicals.
So it is Jesus uses a hyperbolic number to expose the wrong reasoning. It is not a matter of quantity, but one of the inner heart and mind ruled by the Spirit, and in light of the forgiveness we ourselves receive each and every day from our Lord and King.
I remember a time in my own life when I had in fact been sinned against very greatly by a dearest friend. And my own hackles were raised to new heights. Anger and resentment grew daily. Revenge entered my heart.
Then by grace, one day in reading the Word and prayer, the thought entered my mind – one I blush to say now should have been there all along, but had been obliterated by my sinful response: In truth, no one has ever sinned against me, as greatly as I have sinned against my God. And yet here I am, the beneficiary of His ceaseless mercy and grace.
And in the moment, I was free.
Free to forgive, even though the other party showed no signs of repentance.
And what does that forgiveness look like? For me, it was going before the Lord, and pleading that nothing be laid to their charge before His throne on my account. Maybe I could not be reconciled to them because they did not want it. But I could ask the Father, that on the day of judgment, nothing related to me be charged to them. And, that in the intervening years, they would come to know Christ’s saving grace for themselves.
And such an approach takes quantities out of the equation, even as Jesus does not deal with me in terms of quantity – but out of the overflow of His divine love, mercy and grace.
Holy Spirit, make me like the Savior. And let me forgive out of the reservoir of cleansing His blood supplies. Where I can go and wash multiple times a day – and out of which I can then forgive others.
Note second: A question remains: Does forgiveness end the matter entirely? And we must say – often not. Other issues may be involved. Criminality for instance. Or danger to others who may also become victims. Remedial chastisement.
Our responsibility to the perpetrator and to the larger community must be considered. Forgiveness may not, in every case, simply end in dismissal and reconciliation. We must be in a perpetually forgiving frame. But that may not end the affair in and of itself.
J. C. Ryle writes: “The rule here laid down must of course be interpreted with sober-minded qualification. Our Lord does not mean that offences against the law of the land and the good order of society, are to be passed over in silence. He does not mean that we are to allow people to commit thefts, and assaults, with impunity. All that He means is, that we are to study a general spirit of mercy and forgivingness towards our brethren. We are to bear much, and to put up with much, rather than quarrel. We are to look over much, and submit to much, rather than have any strife. We are to lay aside everything like malice, strife, revenge, and retaliation. Such feelings are only fit for heathens. They are utterly unworthy of a disciple of Christ.11 Ryle, J. C. 1860. Expository Thoughts on Matthew. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers.
Note third: All of this is evidenced by the parable which follows. Forgiveness in that case did not lead to brokenness and genuine repentance. And so as the continued sin pattern spilled over to another, other action had to be taken and the “forgiveness” freely offered could not result in simply letting the matter go. It became apparent that remedial chastisement was also necessary – which looks as though forgiveness was rescinded, but was in fact further dealing with the offender in light of a wider circle of impact.
ResponsiveReiding 