FreeTruth

Friday Gayline and I shared the gospel with two people: one a 40 year old God-cursing, foul, furious sinner, the other a smiling, smug, 80 year old God-refusing do-gooder. The first hated God because he'd been molested by a priest. The other refused God because, well, she was simply so good that she couldn't conceive how she needed Him.

Both were equally doomed; both equally in need of grace; both equally savable at the foot of the cross. But probably the first will find that salvation long before the second. Unlike her he won't have to dig through mile-deep self-righteousness before he finds the filth within and sees his need.

He's the kind the Savior came to save, for Jesus is the friend of sinners. On the other hand, the 80 year old is in trouble for Jesus is the worst nightmare of the self-righteous.

Food for thought.

Labels: friend of sinners, Gospel, Grace

I have long found this saying of Christ from the cross both tender and profound in its intent. Two great realities are captured in our Lord's words to his mom and to John.

First, His words exemplify tender love. Here is a son in the midst of woes and sorrows beyond expression. He is surely at a moment in which it might be understandable for him to be a bit self-focused and self-attentive. But he is not. In this moment of profound pain and suffering, Jesus is still concerned about others; in this case his mom.

She was about to be both a grieving widow (Joseph appears to have died much earlier) and a bereaved mom. Who would take care of her? Who would be her caring son (remember, to this point Jesus' brothers did not believe, leaving Mary desperately alone and in need of immediate care). Who better to care for her than John, the Lord's best friend? So Jesus provides a model here of tender care and devoted sonship.

Second, His words ensure our salvation. This one may surprise you. How do Jesus' words ensure our salvation? In this way. By making sure to care and provide for His mom at his death, Jesus was keeping the fifth commandment--to honor father and mother. This was not just a tender act of love, it was an obedient act to God.

And that matters. It matters because the sacrifice for our sins had to be perfectly obedient to God in every way. He could not leave any command imperfectly obeyed for he had to be a Lamb without moral spot or blemish. Had Jesus failed to provide for his mother and honor her even in his death, he would have failed to be perfectlty conformed to the Law of God, and therefore would have been disqualified to be a perfect sacrifice for our sins!

Yes--our salvation depended on these words and the perfect love and honor for parents that they express. Are you not glad he did this? If he hadn't, his death would have been in vain, and we'd be without a Savior still.

Thank you Jesus for loving and honoring your parents right up to the end. Because you did, I have both an example to follow and a Savior to trust. Amen.

Labels: Gospel, Guest Post, Lent, The Work of Christ

Two weeks from today, Jesus will die.

More than once before His death, Jesus foretold it. In Matthew 19:17-19, we have one such prediction. "I'm going to Jerusalem", He said, "and when I get there, death awaits; an unjust, cruel, mocking, shameful, horrific death at the hands of pagan rulers according to the wish and will of the religious leaders of My own people."

"But I'm going anyway."

As Good Friday draws closer, it might be good to reflect on why Jesus might have made this prediction. I wouuld offer these possible reasons:

1. He did not want his followers to be shocked by the dark days ahead, and made vulnerable by the shock. God is kind this way: He tells us often in His Word that the way of faith and obedience leads to many sorrows and much suffering so that when it happens we will not be surprised or dismayed.
2. He wanted them to know that He was fully aware of every dark development, even before it happened, so that they would know His calm and sovereign purpose in it all. Things were happening as planned by God (Acts 2:23; 4:26-28). Calvary was not a mistake or surprise, bringing our Lord's life to an untimely end; it was the reason and purpose for which He had come into the world.
3. He wanted them to know the greatness of His love. How much does Jesus love His people? Enough to walk straight ahead, fully aware that every step was leading Him closer to the cross. He didn't flinch or panic or turn back. He came to redeem those He loves through His death, and that's what He did.

He stared death in the face, and walked right into its grasp. Behold the purposeful sovereign loving grace of Christ.

Labels: Death of Christ, Ethnic Grace, Gospel, Lent

Just days before His passion, our Lord battles hell over the death of His friend Lazarus. In the course of this, in John 11:25, 26 Jesus makes two bold declarative statements, followed by one penetrating personal question, all of which present watershed issues for our lives.

First, Jesus claims the power of, and makes the promise of, eternal life, in Himself: "I am the resurrection and the life." He does not say "I give resurrection and life" (although of course He does), but "I am resurrection and life. Life exists in Me" (John 1:4). No wonder the grave couldn't hold Him.

Then Jesus declares: "Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die." This two-fold promise is awesome indeed: "Believe in Me and live forever. And even if you die, you really won't. You'll just pass into life eternal."

Now the personal question Jesus asks: "Do you believe this?" What Jesus asked Martha, He would ask us. Do you believe this?

Granted, these are bold claims if ever there were such! But that's just the point. Such claims demand a conclusion. You must either believe, or not. One thing you cannot do is ignore. And here's a fact: you either do believe, or not. The direction of your life reveals which it is.

If you really believe this, the direction of your life is set: you are seeking to know and serve and love and trust Christ in such a way that you might enjoy His presence and favor forever in the eternal life He is and gives.

If you don't believe, the direction of your life is set: you are doing whatever floats your boat to create as many fun feelings as you can between now and when you croak. You're not concerned to store up for an afterlife that you don't think really exists.

So do you believe? Are you willing to risk all to have Christ, and with him life eternal? Or will you go on in the day-dream that it really doesn't matter after all?

What's the old set of alternatives regarding Jesus? He was either the Lord (of life), or a liar, or a lunatic. Whatever you do just don't cling to the nonsense that He was simply a good man and moral teacher.

Such claims as those in John 11:25, 26 do not leave you that option. You're going to have to make your choice. What's it going to be?

Labels: Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, Lent, resurrection of Christ. Guest Post

I grew up singing this old hymn:

I was a wandering sheep,
I did not love the fold;
I did not love my Shepherd's voice,
I would not be controlled.
I was a wayward child,
I did not love my home;
I did not love my Father's voice,
I loved afar to roam.

The Shepherd sought His sheep,
The Father sought His child;
They followed me o'er vale and hill,
O'er deserts waste and wild;
They found me nigh to death,
Famished and faint and lone;
They bound me with the bands of love,
They saved the wand'ring one.

They spoke in tender love,
They raised my drooping head,
They gently closed my bleeding wounds,
My fainting soul they fed;
They washed my filth away,
They made me clean and fair;
They brought me to my home in peace,
The long sought wanderer.

Jesus my Shepherd is:
'Twas He that loved my soul;
'Twas He that washed me in His blood,
'Twas He that made me whole.
'Twas He that sought the lost,
That found the wand'ring sheep,
'Twas He that brought me to the fold,
'Tis He that still doth keep.

No more a wandering sheep,
I love to be controlled;
I love my tender Shepherd's voice,
I love the peaceful fold.
No more a wayward child,
I seek no more to roam;
I love my heavenly Father's voice,
I love, I love His home!

All because of John 10:14, 15.

Labels: Death of Christ, Election, Gospel, Lent

In Isaiah's 700B.C. prophecy about the suffering Servant of Yahweh--the Son of God become Lamb of God--he includes details of the passion of Christ that are striking for their accuracy, but even more so for their poignancy.

As for the accuracy of these predictions notice that the Suffering Messiah would:

1. Submit to death without argument or personal defense (Isaiah 53:7; Matthew 26:59-63; Mark 14:55-61).
2. Actually die (Isaiah 53:8). This prediction of a dying Messiah made no sense to anyone looking for a mighty Deliverer, but in the wisdom of God's plan for human redemption, the Savior would have to die so that He could save.
3. Be buried in a rich man's grave (Isaiah 53:9; Mark 15:43; Luke 23:50-53).

As for the poignancy of these predictions, notice that the suffering Messiah:

1. Chose death for us over defense of self. Such was His love, and resolve to die for us that He didn't even try to put up a defense.
2. Was cut off from the land of the living not having any "generation" or children (Isaiah 53:8). He did not marry or have children because He was not here for such a purpose or pleasure. He came to produce offspring of a different sort (Isaiah 53:10; Hebrews 2:10-15). He came to save a people that would be children of faith and children of God.
3. Didn't even have his own tomb. (In the end this didn't matter much of course; since a Fort Knox vault-like tomb couldn't have held Him. But still: a borrowed tomb?!)

Such is the love of the Messiah for us. As you and I reflect on the dying love of Christ, may we feel the wonder of a Savior who gave up his rights, His life, His personal pleasure, His dignity, His all, for us.

Labels: Death of Christ, Gospel, Lent

It's a familiar story, told in this instance by singer-songwriter Michael Card in his book, A Violent Grace.

A friend of mine and his buddy were sitting together in a foxhole during the Korean War. Their patrol had been assigned to sweep for concealed mines. As they sat together, sharing a candy bar, an enemy hand grenade flew through the air and landed between them. Without hesitation, my friend's partner threw aside the last piece of candy bar and flung himself on the grenade. His courage saved my friend's life.

Card adds this thought: "Jesus fell on the grenade, as it were, for me." And not just for Michael Card, but for me, and for you.

"The atonement is the work Christ did in his life and death to earn our salvation" (Wayne Grudem, Bible Doctrine). Simply put, Jesus Christ took our place.

Perhaps nowhere is this truth seen more clearly than in Isaiah 53:4-6. Take a minute to read the passage, preferably aloud. Notice the number of times in these three verses that Jesus absorbs the punishment we deserved.

"Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; ...he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.... (A)nd the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all."

Now read it again, this time putting your name in wherever there is a pronoun, "our" or "we" or "us." The truth is literally hammered home time after time: it was we who deserved to suffer and die, but Christ took our place.

This is so much more than simply saying, Jesus died for our sins. As true as that is, it fails to capture the depth and extent of the atonement's effect. Jesus Christ felt the weight of "our griefs and... our sorrows."

Why do we grieve, and why are we sorrowful? Because of sin. Because we mess up our lives by our own sin, and we suffer when sinned against. Jesus knows this, and carries that burden for us. In the process, "he was wounded" and "he was crushed."

Recall the account of his humiliation and torture and agonizing death. This was the eternal Son of God undergoing everything that I deserved and nothing that he deserved. The grenade he fell on had my name on it, and would have separated me from God forever, but Jesus willingly took that on himself.

"Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed." Thanks to the atonement, peace is now available--peace with God, which is our greatest need, and peace with those around us. What a gift! What grace and mercy! We have peace. We have healing. (See Matthew 8:17 for the New Testament commentary on verse 4.)

And what is our "contribution"? Isaiah answers that question in verse 6: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way." Every one--without exception. It is our sin that made the atonement necessary. Praise God for the merit of Christ, who alone could have earned our salvation!

by Tim Bowditch

Labels: Atonement, Cross Centered Living, Death of Christ, Gospel, Guest Post, Lent

"He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief..."

I recall sitting on my college bunk one evening in complete darkness, listening to this text as arranged by Handel in his musical masterpiece, Messiah. I was deeply moved that evening and I think the experience led me to a new awareness of our Lord's sufferings. There is something about the image of Christ as "a man of sorrows" that has always drawn me. It's how I most often look at him.

To truly understand this world is to be in significant measure, "a man of sorrows." Of course, no one understood life, reality, and eternity the way Jesus did. He knew the joys of heaven and the bliss of unhindered fellowship with the Father. He knew what a world without sin would look like, and just how much had been lost in the Garden. And he left heaven, to remedy the mess.

Our text for today tells us this sorrowful man was also despised and rejected by men. What an irony! Jesus was rejected by those for whom love had driven him to be "acquainted with grief." Loving the sinner is a sorrowful proposition! Were it not for his great love, he would not be that "man of sorrows." Sorrow is a function of love. Ask the parent of a wayward child--the greater the love, the greater the sorrow.

But recall, Our Lord was also "anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows." Another irony—the saddest man on earth is also the most joyful! Love and joy led Jesus to submit to the sufferings of the cross. "Who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross..."

Brothers and sisters, what a Savior!

Today, as we meditate on these words of scripture, we must understand that it was love for us that made Jesus the "man of sorrows." It was love for us that caused him to become that marred and disfigured man on the road to Calvary. Hear the words of the hymn writer, Philip Bliss:

Man of Sorrows, what a name
For the Son of God who came,
Ruined sinners to reclaim;
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Labels: Cross Centered Living, Death of Christ, Gospel, Guest Post, The Work of Christ

May I suggest that you take a few minutes and read Isaiah 52:13-15 and Isaiah 53:1-12? If you do my post today will be superfluous. Go ahead and do it. Then if you have more time later to come back to this, feel free. See you in a bit.




This is a stunning portion of God's Word for many reasons. Because it describes the experience of Christ with such poignant detail, it became in the minds of the early church, one of the most important Old Testament texts.

Here are some vital facts and statistics about this prophecy:
1. It is made 700 years before Christ was born.
2. It was understood to be a Messianic prophecy by many Jewish scholars before (and is some cases long after) the coming of Christ. Later, because of its striking connections to Jesus, revisionist interpretations were created.
3. It includes no less than 10 specific predictions that were fulfilled in the experience of Christ, including His resurrection!
4. It is cited no less than 12-15 times in the New Testament.
5. It gives a clear declaration of the atoning, sacrificial death of Christ in behalf of sinners, making it a stunningly clear gospel text in the Old Testament.

Above all this Scripture shows the amazing love of Christ for us; for me. May I suggest that you go back and insert your name and a first person singular pronoun throughout Isaiah 53 wherever it fits? Let me help you do this:

He was despised and rejected by [me];
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom [I hid my face]
he was despised, and [I] esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne [my] griefs
and carried [my] sorrows;
yet [I] esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for [my] transgressions;
he was crushed for [my] iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought [me] peace,
and with his stripes [I am] healed.

... like sheep [I] have gone astray;
[I] have turned [to my] own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity [which was mine].
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for [my] transgression...?
And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, [God's] servant,
make [me] to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear [my] iniquities.

Labels: Cross Centered Living, Death of Christ, Gospel, Lent

In Genesis 3:15 remarkable words are spoken at the dawn of time. This is the first Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter text all rolled into one.

By all appearances in that moment Satan had won. The power of hell appeared to have mutinied successfully against heaven, while taking the human race with him. He'd seduced Adam and Eve, and effectively gotten them banished from Eden.

But in Genesis 3:15 God gives a promise spelling the Devil's demise, which simultaneously sustained believers' hopes for millennia--all the way through the moment when it was fulfilled in the birth, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus. The promise is called in theology: "The Proto-Evangelium": the first gospel. It is the first heralding of a Saving Redeemer to come.

But this is also the first announcement that the Savior would suffer. Satan would attack the woman's offspring so fiercely that he would succeed in "bruising" or crushing His heel, speaking of a crippling, near mortal wound against Eve's seed. A child born to woman would experience a severe wound that would appear to spell ultimate defeat.

But in the end the Child would bruise or crush Satan's head! Here is a promise that a Child would be born that would experience apparent defeat only to turn around and gain ultimate triumph. That does sound familiar, now doesn't it?

Thousands of years later a Child was born to a woman; one who would redeem His people from Satan's grasp and hell's dominion. This Child would appear to be defeated on a cross, but then would triumph through the empty tomb. Satan would crush His heel; He would crush Satan's head. He came to destroy the devil and death, and that's exactly what He did (Hebrews 2:14, 15).

Friends, this text shows us that the sufferings of Christ came as no surprise to our Lord. Long before they happened He knew they would happen. He knew what would befall Him, and He didn't flinch.

History is not a story of a God surprised by human choices or sins. Jesus did not--as some have suggested--come to earth expecting a warm welcome only to be rejected. Rather, history is the unfolding of an eternal plan of God in which He Himself would come, knowing He would endure infinite unspeakable sorrow, that He might redeem us from eternal unspeakable sorrow. He knew His heel would be crushed, but He stepped into time and space to endure it all nonetheless.

Calvary was not an afterthought; it was the plan. It was not a mistake; it was exactly what God had in mind. And because it was, we have a Savior.

Labels: Atonement, Cross Centered Living, Death of Christ, Gospel, Lent, The Work of Christ

Many would ask what Lent is. People put ash on their foreheads; others go without meat or some other pleasure for a few days or weeks; still others fast seriously for a season--and we wonder what to make of it all.

The word "Lent" refers to spring, signalling emergence from the cold barrenness of winter to life-renewal on planet earth. The symbolic usefulness of this is plain. Lent can mark the coming of spring with a reflection upon how our souls may need renewal, as they often grow cold and barren for a season.

From back in the 100s AD some Christians have prepared for the Good Friday/Easter event with fasting and prayer. Marked by repentance, this was a season for personal reflection about one's own relationship with Christ, with an accompanying sorrow and confession over sin.

Someone has written: "The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial, for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ."

So Lent, with most of its individual components as practiced by many Christians throughout the centuries, is really a merging of many Christian disciplines into one forty day long event.

It's hard to argue with any of this. We evangelicals embrace penitence (not the same as penance), confession, fasting, prayer, self-evaluation, almsgiving, self-denial, and even the observance of holy days. Who can deny the value of these practices? In fact, each (with the exception of holy days) is biblically required of believers in some form or another, at one time and another.

What is optional is whether one attaches them to a Lenten pre-Good Friday/Easter experience. If one chooses to do so, I'd only urge that the following safeguards be observed.

--Lent must never be seen as a form of penance or personal atonement for sin.
--Lent must never be required of a believer by any Church or spiritual authority
--Lent must never be elevated above human tradition status. We must keep in mind our Lord's teaching in Matthew 15:1-9 that traditions are very dangerous things.

If so guarded, this discipline can prove and has proven immensely helpful to many. After all, don't we all have sin-winters in the soul from which we need to emerge into springtime life and renewal?

Labels: Death of Christ, Gospel, Lent, Spiritual disciplines, the passion of Christ

For my post this week once again my focus will be on that aspect of divine truth that is of first importance--the gospel (1 Cor. 15:3-4), as I consider one of it's chief blessings. During this Valentine's Day weekend as our thoughts ponder the subject of love, generally on the horizontal plane, let us first and foremost look up and gaze upon that great love of God in granting salvation to utterly unworthy rebels such as you and I. One of the chief blessings of this great saving love as God applies it to our lives is that provision of clothing us "in an alien asbestos righteousness transparent to the glory of God that can take me (us) into the flame of that 6 trillion degree centigrade holiness and enjoy it instead of being consumed by it" (John Piper). I am afraid this will be one of my more long-winded posts, for which I apologize profusely in advance. I cannot help myself.

Are you familiar with the phrase, simul justus et peccator--Latin for: at the same time--simultaneously--righteous or just and a sinner? In this slogan from the 16th century Reformation is captured my dear readers of this blog the sweetness of the Gospel. At the very moment we by God's sovereign mercy are granted saving faith in the Savior and rest our confidence in Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins, and His perfect righteousness is imputed or credited to us by an act of forensic declaration, we are in and of ourselves sinners still. And while God the Holy Spirit now resides in us and begins from that moment to form a real righteousness within us through the work of progressive sanctification, that righteousness in this life is always an imperfect righteousness.

We are saints on the one hand because of the perfect righteousness of Christ, and on the other hand, we still sin-------though to be sure sin no longer reigns over us and we no longer live in it as those who pursue holiness. We are simul justus et peccator. And as such, and only because of such we can come before God with a pacified conscience. Folks, there is never a moment in this life when our fellowship with God does not rest ultimately upon the free forgiveness of sins and justifying rigtheousness--all because of grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone. It is always Christ's virtue, not our own, that is the ground of our acceptance with the infinite/personal God.

At the heart of the Biblical gospel is the doctrine of justification. J. I. Packer in his introductory essay to the classic work "The Doctrine of Justification: An Outline of its History in the Church and of its Exposition from Scripture", by James Buchanan, expressed the following concerning the importance of the doctrine of justification:

...the doctrine of justification by faith is like Atlas: it bears a world on its shoulders, the entire evangelical knowledge of saving grace. The doctrines of election, of effectual calling, regeneration, and repentance, of adoption, of prayer, of the church, the ministry, and the sacraments, have all to be interpreted and understood in the light of justification by faith. Thus, the Bible teaches that God elected men in eternity in order that in due time they might be justified through faith in Christ. He renews their hearts under the Word, and draws them to Christ by effectual calling, in order that he might justify them upon their believing. Their adoption as God's sons is consequent on their justification; indeed, it is no more than the positive aspect of God's justifying sentence. Their practice of prayer, of daily repentance, and of good works--their whole life of faith--springs from the knowledge of God's justifying grace. The church is to be thought of as the congregation of the faithful, the fellowship of justified sinners, and the preaching of the Word and ministry of the sacraments are to be understood as means of grace only in the sense that they are means through which God works the birth and growth of justifying faith. A right view of these things is not possible without a right understanding of justification; so that when justification falls, all true knowledge of the grace of God in human life falls with it, and then, as Luther said, the church itself falls. A society like the Church of Rome, which is committed by its official creed to pervert the doctrine of justification, has sentenced itself to a distorted understanding of salvation at every point. Nor can these distortions ever be corrected till the Roman doctrine of justification is put right. And something similar happens when Protestants let the thought of justification drop out of their minds: the true knowledge of salvation drops out with it, and cannot be restored till the truth of justification is back in its proper place. When Atlas falls, everything that rested on his shoulders comes crashing down too.

To help us think more clearly about this vital truth that is at the heart of the gospel I am including in this post a brief test for us. It consists of 10 pairs of statements concerning the Biblical teaching about justification. Read them through carefully and choose which statements reflect the teaching of Sacred Scripture. The answers are given below (but no peeking allowed).

1. (a) God gives a sinner right standing with himself by mercifully accounting him innocent or virtuous.
(b) God gives a sinner right standing with himself by actually making him into an innocent and virtuous person.

2. (a) God gives a sinner right standing with himself by placing Christ's goodness and virtue to his credit.
(b) God gives a sinner right standing with himself by putting Christ's goodness and virtue into his heart.

3. (a) God accepts the believer because of the righteousness found in Jesus Christ.
(b) God makes the believer acceptable by infusing Christ's righteousness into his life.

4. (a) If a person becomes "born again" (regenerate), he will achieve right standing with God on the basis of his new birth.
(b) If a person becomes "born again" he achieves right standing with God on the basis of Christ's work alone.

5. (a) We receive right standing with God by faith alone.
(b) We receive right standing with God by faith which has become active by love.

6. (a) We achieve right standing with God by having Christ live out his life of obedience in us.
(b) We receive right standing with God by accepting the fact that Christ obeyed the law perfectly for us.

7. (a) We achieve right standing with God by following Christ's example by the help of his enabling grace.
(b) We follow Christ's example because his death has given us right standing with God.

8. (a) God first pronounces that we are good in his sight, then gives us his Spirit to make us good.
(b) God sends his Spirit to make us good, and then he will pronounce that we are good.

9. (a) Christ's finished work outside of us and his intercession at God's right hand gives us favor in the sight of God.
(b) It is the indwelling Christ that gives us favor in God's sight.

10. (a) Only by faith in the doing and dying of Christ can we satisfy the claims of the Ten Commandments.
(b) By the power of the Holy Spirit living in us, we can satisfy the claims of the Ten Commandments.


Answers: 1 a; 2 a; 3 a; 4 b; 5 a; 6 b; 7 b; 8 a; 9 a; 10 a.

The answers given above reflect the Evangelical, and what we believe to be the Biblical teaching on this great and vital truth. The alternative statements reflect a summary of the understanding of Roman Catholicism on this doctrine. They are obviously not the same. Do we understand the difference? Does it matter? Why?

"For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law" (Rom. 3:28).

"And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness" (Rom. 4:5).

"But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:6).

Labels: Gospel, Guest Post, Justification

To pick up where I left off yesterday, I would argue that all the religions and religious books of the world (except One) have two fatal flaws as they address the biggest need of the human soul: sin, and the separation it causes between Man and God. These "paths to God" are dead ends because they both exaggerate the virtue of man's goodness and depreciate the high holiness and justice of God. They make Man out to be better than he is and God out to be more indulgent and morally wimpy (i.e.-less holy) than He is.

For a "path to God" to be a true path it has to deal with this problem of sin in such a way as to treat both sin and God's holiness with absolute unflinching seriousness. Other faiths simply do not do this, but the Bible does.

The dilemma that sin causes can be described like this: Man is a sinner whose sin must be punished with death. But God loves sinners and wants to rescue them from the death they deserve, the hell that justice requires. So God in His love wants to forgive sinners, but God in His justice must punish their sin. It follows then, that if God punishes the sinners He loves in the way their sins deserve, there won't be any more sinners to love. They will all be damned. Any religion or view of life that does not reckon with this divine moral dilemma is a fraud.

So how does God both gratify His love for sinners and satisfy the justice of His holy nature with reference to sin? How does He damn and save sinners simultaneously?

Or to look at it from Man upward: how does Man find forgiveness with God for sins that God's justice simply cannot ignore? No faith but that of the Bible has revealed a satisfactory answer.

The answer is this: God voluntarily decided to punish Man's sin by becoming a man and bearing the punishment in Man's place. The Cross is the place where love and justice meet and kiss. On the Cross, human sin was atoned for (to satisfy God's justice) so that human beings could be forgiven (to satisfy God's love).

God chose to punish Himself for human sin so that the wrath due to sinners could be satisfied while the love God had for sinners could be gratified. God devised a way to punish sin and save sinners. He chose to die in their place.

John Stott has said that "Sin is man substituting himself for God, and salvation is God substituting Himself for man." There is the gospel, and there is the only truth path that actually gets you to God. Every other path is a bridge to nowhere.

And there you have one more reason why I believe the Bible alone is the Word of God. It alone saves.

Labels: Apologetics, Bible, Gospel, The Word of God

In the final analysis, the only real quest of the human soul is to be right with God. Man, being made in the image of God, was made to be in relationship with God. Humans are made to love and enjoy the love of, God.

Not only is this what the Bible teaches from cover to cover, it is what the heart of Man desires from womb to tomb. Man is--to use John Piper's pleasing phrase--"homesick for God". In the words of Augustine's prayer: "Lord, You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You."

All humanity's restless search for meaning, for true and lasting love, for peace of conscience and soul, is the product of our being made to be in right relationship with the One who made us, but from whom we have wandered in foolish and wicked rebellion.

Sin has ruined Man's soul and come between him and the One he desires. Therefore, it can rightly be said that this sin--and finding a remedy for it--presents humanity's greatest need.

It is at this point that I discover my next reason for believing the Bible is the Word of God: Because the Bible alone provides the answer for Man's deepest need: sin This argument will take two days to unpack.

The Bible proclaims words of eternal life and real reason to hope for forgiveness, declaring a gospel that offers grace to sinners without trivializing human sin on the one hand or divine justice and wrath on the other. No other Book/religion presents a way of salvation in which the justice due to sin and the mercy needed by sinners come together and kiss.

Every other religion and religious book presents a "way to God" that simply cannot be true because it simply cannot work. The way to God presented by these faiths invariably reduces to this in some form or another: "God (or karma, or "The One") wants you to be good. Be good enough and all will be well between you and God. Get it right and you will get peace with God and peace of soul."

The problem with this idea is that it unavoidably commits two errors. First, it exaggerates human virtue. It credits our efforts to be good with too much worth and value. It assumes we can be good, and it assumes that sooner or later we can be good enough.

The problem here is that we cannot be good, never mind good enough. To imagine that a human can be good is to assume that his pitiful attempts at being good--defiled as they invariably are by proud motives, desire for a pat on the back, half-hearted love, and a thousand other imperfections--rise to a level of actual goodness.

But folks, a good work done with a bad heart is at best what one has called--"a bad good work". To think that any human can ever amass sufficient good good works (good not only in external act but in internal motive) to make himself right with God is folly. We must exaggerate our virtue to ever place faith in our efforts to restore ourselves into relationship with God.

We must also trivialize God's holiness and justice. In order for us to think that we can satisfy a holy God with our bad good works we have to minimize God's holiness expectations and we have to believe that God is neither as holy as He really is nor as angry with sins as He really must be if He is holy.

Salvation by human morality forces us to think that God grades on a curve, winks at sin, doesn't really care about perfection, is indifferent to what is really and truly good. If my bad good works are really all it takes to please God, and to appease Him for my bad bad works then God is not really as good and holy as He's cracked up to be. He's a morality wimp; the ultimate Moral Pushover.

All other "ways to God" are dead ends. The Bible alone presents a way that allows God to save and reconcile sinners to Himself without exaggerating our goodness or trivializing His.

Come back tomorrow and I'll explain.

Labels: Apologetics, Bible, Gospel, The Word of God

In recent weeks I find that I have been driven afresh to the gospel, to look outside of myself ---- and instead more intentionally admiring, exploring, expositing, and extolling Jesus Christ and His imputed righteousness, by which alone I am acceptable before the God of blazing holiness. It is necessary for me to preach this gospel to myself afresh every day, because, in the words of my friend John Newton, "I am a great sinner." But, as he is quick to add ------ "Jesus is a great Savior."

So, for me and for you, here is more gospel fuel to reflect on today and this upcoming week. Compared to the lengthy Belgic Confession statement of last weekend I would say it is less gallonage, but speaks with the same high octane value:

"But one day as I was passing into the field, with some dashes on my conscience, fearing that all was not right, suddenly this sentence fell upon my soul, 'Your righteousness is in heaven.' I thought I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at God's right hand. There was my righteousness. Wherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could not say of me that I lacked His righteousness, for that was ever before Him. Moreover, I saw that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for My righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, 'the same yesterday, today and forever' (Hebrews 13:8)." -- John Bunyan

O the wonder! O----the wonder!!! If we are those who by His sovereign gratuitous mercy have truly turned from our rebellion against this God of blazing holiness, trusting in Jesus alone for our righteousness --- righteousness which is ours by imputation through our union with Him--- then when this God views our filthy ink black sin through the lense of the perfect righteousness of Christ alone, strangely, as far as our sin and our eternal destiny before God as judge is concerned------- well, our sin appears to Him as white as fresh fallen snow (Is. 1:18).

Labels: Gospel, Guest Post, Imputation, Righteousness of Christ

Some Gospel fuel for your upcoming week from the great Belgic Confession. Preach it to yourself every day:


.......We believe that Jesus Christ is a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek, made such by an oath, and that he presented himself in our name before his Father, to appease his wrath with full satisfaction by offering himself on the tree of the cross and pouring out his precious blood for the cleansing of our sins, as the prophets had predicted.

For it is written that "the chastisement of our peace" was placed on the Son of God and that "we are healed by his wounds." He was "led to death as a lamb"; he was "numbered among sinners" and condemned as a criminal by Pontius Pilate, though Pilate had declared that he was innocent.

So he paid back what he had not stolen, and he suffered, the "just for the unjust," in both his body and his soul, in such a way that when he senses the horrible punishment required by our sins his sweat became like "big drops of blood falling on the ground." He cried, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" And he endured all this for the forgiveness of our sins.

Therefore we rightly say with Paul that we "know nothing but Jesus and him crucified"; we consider all things as "dung for the excellence of the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." We find all comforts in his wounds and have no need to seek or invent any other means to reconcile ourselves with God than this one and only sacrifice, once made, which renders believers perfect forever. This is also why the angel of God called him Jesus, that is, "Savior", because he would save his people from their sins.

(Isa. 53:4-12; Ps. 69:4; 1 Pet. 3:18; Luke 22:44; Matt. 27:46; 1 Cor. 2:2; Phil. 3:8; Matt. 1:21)



We believe that for us to acquire the true knowledge of this great mystery the Holy Spirit kindles in our hearts a true faith that embraces Jesus Christ, with all his merits, and makes him its own, and no longer looks for anything apart from him. For it must necessarily follow that either all that is required for our salvation is not in Christ or, if all is in him, then he who has Christ by faith has his salvation entirely. Therefore, to say that Christ is not enough but that something else is needed as well is a most enormous blasphemy against God, for it then would follow that Jesus Christ is only half a Savior. And therefore we justly say with Paul that we are justified "by faith alone" or by faith "apart from works."

However, we do not mean, properly speaking, that it is faith itself that justifies us, for faith is only the instrument by which we embrace Christ, our righteousness. But Jesus Christ is our righteousness in making available to us all his merits and all the holy works he has done for us and in our place. And faith is the instrument that keeps us in communion with him and with all his benefits. When those benefits are made ours they are more than enough to absolve us of our sins.

(Rom. 3:28)



We believe that our blessedness lies in the forgiveness of our sins because of Jesus Christ, and that in it our righteousness before God is contained, as David and Paul teach us when they declare that man blessed to whom God grants righteousness apart from works.

And the same apostle says that we are justified "freely" or "by grace" through redemption in Jesus Christ. And therefore we cling to this foundation, which is firm forever, giving all glory to God, humbling ourselves, and recognizing ourselves as we are; not claiming a thing for ourselves or our merits and leaning and resting on the sole obedience of Christ crucified, which is ours when we believe in him.

That is enough to cover all our sins and to make us confident, freeing the conscience from the fear, dread, and terror of God’s approach, without doing what our first father, Adam, did, who trembled as he tried to cover himself with fig leaves. In fact, if we had to appear before God relying, no matter how little, on ourselves or some other creature, then, alas, we would be swallowed up.......

(Ps. 32:1; Rom. 4:6; Rom. 3:24; Ps. 143:2)

Labels: Christ Our Righteousness, Gospel, Guest Post

About a week after the first Christmas night, Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the temple. You can read about this in Luke 2:22-40.

This temple visit of the 8 day old Jesus is significant for a number of reasons. Among them is that by being brought to the temple and submitting to this ceremony of dedication, Jesus was beginning a life of active obedience to the Law of God (Luke 2:22-27. At eight days old Jesus was conforming to the Law of God blamelessly. That matters. But why?

It matters because this means that from His earliest days Jesus was putting into practice the perfect righteous obedience to God's Law that would later be imputed or reckoned or credited to our account upon our faith in Him.

In order to live in God's favor and presence, we need to have a perfect Law-keeping record (Leviticus 18:5; Galatians 3:12), which in ourselves, we don't. We are Law-breakers, not just by our failure to keep ceremonial laws but in our repeated wilful failures to keep the absolute moral laws of God. We choose to disobey God time and again. And God cannot condone, nor can He tolerate the presence of sin before His eyes.

This is why all works-based religions are exercises in futility. No matter how hard we try to get it right, we don't. Even if I got it right perfectly from this day onward, it would not remedy my bad record in the past. When it comes to saving myself through works it is a classic case of "I can't get there from here."

Enter the Incarnate Son of God. He comes to earth and starts living life on this fallen planet; only He lives it differently than everyone else. He gets it right--right down to ceremonies performed on Him and to Him when He's 8 days old. And by doing so throughout His life He attained a perfect record of righteousness.

This righteousness would later be offered to all who would believe in Him as Savior and Lord. God promises that the righteousness of Christ becomes ours by faith, so that we might live before Him forever (Romans 4:5; Romans 5:17-21).

Thank God for our Lord's 8 day old visit to the temple. If we see things rightly, we know that even then He was saving us by His obedient perfect life, an obedience one day to be counted as ours.

Amen.

Labels: Gospel, Justification, The Work of Christ

May I greet you with all the joy and wonder that my soul musters and the gospel merits, with a very happy and holy: Merry Christmas to you all!

If "merry" seems like a rather light and frivolous word to you on this holy and happy day, I can understand. The word's been cheapened much. Still take it as a starting point for your joy. Let your heart be merry and joyful and full of wonderful amazement and gladness as you consider the birth of Christ today.

Here's why. In Hebrews 10:1-10 we see the very essence of the Christmas event. Jesus Christ came into the world (Hebrews 10:5) to provide the sacrifice for sins that the animals previously sacrificed could not provide (Hebrews 10:4-7). The Son of God came into the world in a "body prepared" for Him by the Father. It was a human body, a real body, a body prepared.

But prepared for what? Prepared to die; prepared to be a sacrifice; prepared to be offered as a once-for-all atonement for human sin (Hebrews 10:8-10). I know of no text of Scripture that puts the meaning of the incarnation more starkly than this: the Son of God was given a body so He could give that body to sanctify or make us holy and forgiven. Animal bodies could not atone for human sin; only a human body could. So God the Father and God the Son devised this plan: the Father would prepare a human body for the Son which the Son would voluntarily inhabit so that He could offer Himself in that human body for human sin.

He had to be human for humans were the guilty ones. He had to be God (see Hebrews 1:3, 8, 9) because only God is of sufficient worth to atone for all the sins of His people throughout all time. This Sacrifice was so perfect, so complete, so adequate that no other sacrifice would ever have to be offered again (Hebrews 7:26-28).

So on this Christmas Day, let us join hearts and minds in glad and amazed worship as we consider that on that first Christmas Day this very thing happened: the eternal plan of God to atone for human sin was initiated by the Son inhabiting a body prepared for Him, a body which was given for one primary purpose, to be a sacrifice for sin.

Like no one ever before or since: this One was truly born to die. His body was created that it might be crushed. The Son was given by God that we might be forgiven by God.

It literally makes me catch my breath. I hope it does you to. That way we all can be one as we pause long enough to be very, very grateful and joyful today.

Yes: may God give you a very merry, a very holy and a very happy Christmas indeed!
Amen.

Tim Shorey

Labels: Advent, Christmas, Gospel

It is one of the more profound and staggering Christmas texts that you will find, but when you read Hebrews 10:1-10 you'll discover the essence of Christmas and Christian faith. In our final two posts for this advent season, I want us to capture the heart of this scripture and allow it to wash over us with all its stunning grace and truth.

The text begins with statements about the futility of Old Testament sacrifices for the taking away of sin (Hebrews 10:1-4). In olden times, animal sacrifices were offered daily for sin. But that these sacrifices were futile was evident in two facts. First, they were animal sacrifices. How can the blood of bulls and goats take away human sin? Humans are the sinners; not animals. Animals are actually more morally innocent than humans are! Look at a wart-hog and look at a human: at a moral level the first is not guilty, the second is. So from the outset, it is clear that even though God commanded animal sacrifices for human sin, those sacrifices could not actually take away that sin. Since humans sin, eventually a Human would have to pay the price.

Second, they were repeated sacrifices (Hebrews 10:1, 2). The fact that these animal offerings had to be offered continually reveals that they simply were not adequate. They were inadequate because they were animals only and because they simply were not of suffcient worth fully to pay the price for human sin. In contrast, a True Sacrifice of sufficient worth would have to be made only once.

Tomorrow we'll see what (or rather Who) that sacrifice would have to be. But for today please notice this about yourself and your sin: it needs a sacrifice! We humans tend to think that we're just not that bad, and God is just not that mad, as to require payment for sin. But our text tells us otherwise. It tells us that sin requires atonement. And it tells us that our sins require an atonement of incomprehensible worth. If the blood of various valuable animals numbering in the hundreds of thousands offered for thousands of years was not enough to pay the price for our sins, how bad must those sins be, and how mad must they make God!

Now don't despair: God has made a way. But do ponder: that way had to be made. I am that bad and God was that mad. Honest self-awareness tells us that we are very bad sinners deserving of the wrath of the Almighty. The gospel tells us that God's anger has been removed. Tomorrow's reading will tell us how.

Tim Shorey

Labels: Advent, Christmas, Gospel

"Holy God, in love, became
Perfect man to bear my blame
On the cross He took my sin
By His death I live again."

"For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on His shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never
end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this."

In this translation, the word "will" is mentioned eight times. For years I have read these verses of Scripture and it wasn't until now that I even noticed it.

Holy God, Perfect Man, willed.
To bear our blame, He willed to be for us, what we could never be for ourselves.
On the cross, He, Holy, Holy, Holy God willed to be given for us.
He willed to bear our sin so that by His death we'd share eternity with Him.

The Great Jehovah, Mighty God, Abba Father willed to become a man who would be the Lamb of God. The living Word, the infallible source of guidance and inexhaustible wisdom, was born to die, to triumph over death, hell and the grave.

"I will ransom them from the power of the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
O Death, I will be your plagues!
O Grave, I will be your destruction!..."

Sisters and brothers, may we purpose to pause, ponder and worship the One who, by His divine will, came to earth. His will in heaven became His will on earth. Let's give to Him the glory, honor, and praise due His name. As difficult as it may be to fathom this truth, we can by faith accept the incomprehensible and choose, because of it, to never grow weary or faint.

Stephanie Paul

Labels: Advent, Christmas, Gospel, Guest Post

In Hebrews 2:14-18 we learn that the only means for man’s deliverance required Jesus to become a real man. In that sense only, He "partook of the same." "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

Herein we see the love of Christ in that when He knew what He must suffer in our nature, and how He must die, He readily took our nature upon Him. God could never accept the Old Testament sacrifices and offerings to take away sin, and so He sent a substitute.

Jesus did not come to be the Savior of fallen angels but of man. Only the great mission of mercy to mankind caused Christ to leave His exalted place in heaven and become a man. Sometimes I think we don’t really appreciate the uniqueness of God’s love and mercy to mankind. We were equally guilty of rebellion against God as the angels were, but God left heaven to rescue us, not them. God chose to have mercy on man and graciously lead him to repentance.

The incarnation of Christ was required to accomplish our salvation. He became a real man and dwelled among us as "a merciful and faithful high priest." He can be faithful to God and merciful to man. In "things pertaining to God," to His justice, and to His honor, Jesus was the perfect sacrifice to reconcile God to man. So Christ’s substitutionary death satisfies God's righteous nature. There was no higher or lower nature than man that could suffer for the sin of man and satisfy the justice of God. Christ became man that He might die; because as God He could not die.

Oh, what a blessed Savior we have, Jesus the divine Mediator between a holy God and guilty man! What indescribable love He displayed in taking on flesh and blood; what kind condescension, what wondrous depths of unspeakable grace! He loved us sufficiently to lay down his life for us. Did not Christ for our sakes endure the agony of the cross, the turning away of the Father’s face, the burden of sin, and the pangs of hell?

He has renewed our lives, made us feel our sin, taught us to seek for mercy, raised up a hope in our hearts, applied a promise to our souls, given us a testimony. And it is only to make a further way for his grace; to open up more of his willingness and ability to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him. It is only to make Himself in the end more precious to us; to show us more of his finished work, more of his dying love and atoning blood, and more of what He is able to do in delivering us from all our fears.

“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death where is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:54-55) Amen.

Sesky Paul

Labels: Advent, Christmas, Gospel, Guest Post

In Matthew 1:21 we read: “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Is this possible? If this is true, what is the significance of it all? Surely God does not perform such a miracle for any small purpose. These kinds of thoughts must have been racing through Joseph’s mind. The answer to these questions came in the same message, “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” What a purpose!

But did Joseph fully understand what this meant? I think probably not. How often we fail to see the full significance of this name even after we’ve experienced the grace from the hand of the One bearing the name. However, two things could have come instantly into Joseph’s mind when he heard the name with which he was to call this baby boy.

Two other men of the Old Testament bore this name. The Hebrew form of the name is Joshua: “Yahweh Saves.” There was Joshua the captain of the army of Israel that led God’s people out from the punishment for their sins (the wilderness wanderings) and into the Promised Land. Then there was Joshua the High Priest after Israel’s captivity to Persia, of whom it was said, “the counsel of peace shall be between them” (Zech. 6:13); and of whom it was also said, “he shall build the temple of the Lord.”

One Joshua led Israel into salvation and blessing, and the other Joshua led them into peaceful relationship with God in his presence. “Christ is our Joshua; both the Captain of our salvation, and the High Priest of our profession, and, in both, our Savior” (Matthew Henry).

One Joshua led Israel out of their wanderings in the wilderness; Jesus leads us out of our hopeless pursuit of sin. Joshua led Israel into a land flowing with milk and honey; Jesus leads us into every blessing that our heavenly Father could possibly bestow on us.

The other Joshua represented the people before God in the temple; Jesus represents us by being our Great High Priest that places that temple in our hearts and by tearing the curtain to the Holy of Holies so that we can forever, in peace, come boldly to the throne of grace. Jesus leads us out of the bondage of our sin and into “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Eph 1:3). While it was said that “the counsel of peace shall be between them,” referring to Joshua the High Priest; it has also been said of Jesus, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end.”

What amazing truth is wrapped up in just our Savior’s name: Jesus.

Elliot Shorey

Labels: Advent, Christmas, Gospel, Guest Post

In Matthew 4:16 we read: "...the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned."

There is a piece of war history that stirs me deeply whenever I hear the story. The year was 1914. World War I was under way. There on the western front, the darkness of war was deep. Young British and German soldiers were being slaughtered by each other in Belgium.

But then, in the very cold December air of this first winter of the war, something wonderful happened. On Christmas Eve, December 24, 1914, silence replaced the sound of artillery and gunfire. Peering out across the battle zone, the British observed the Germans decorating their trenches with candles. Then came music as the German soldiers began to sing “Stille Nacht” (Silent Night). The British answered with Christmas carols of their own. Christmas greetings where then shouted across the field.

Eventually two German soldiers came up from the trenches, laid down their weapons, and walked out into the “No Man’s Land” between the battle lines. Soon they were met by unarmed British soldiers. And there, where only hours before bullets had been flying, and men had been killed, gifts and smiles were being exchanged! This went on through the night and into Christmas Day. There was even a report of a Christmas Day soccer game between British and German forces!

What happened? Simply this... “To those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a light dawned.” It was the Light of Christmas that brought this sudden cease-fire and good will; the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the Prince of Peace temporarily trumped the war.

One Advent Hymn my wife and I have loved though the years is “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence.” The third stanza speaks beautifully of Eternal Light coming to earth, and how darkness ultimately cannot stand against Light.

Rank on rank the host of heaven
spreads its vanguard on the way,
As the Light of light descendeth
from the realms of endless day,
That the powers of hell may vanish
As the darkness clears away.

Brothers and sisters, a Son has been given to us, and the Light has long since dawned upon the world. Yet many continue to sit in darkness. Let us faithfully proclaim the Light to this dark and dying world which has mostly chosen not to behold the Light.

Let our celebration of Christmas this year be robust. Let us boldly proclaim that the Eternal Light has dawned! There is no day like Christmas Day!

Peter Cardillo

Labels: Advent, Christmas, Gospel, Guest Post

We love a good rags-to-riches story, be it the animated Cinderella, the families in Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, or a man like Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie was born into poverty in Scotland in 1835 and by the end of the century became the richest man in the world.

2 Corinthians 8:9 speaks to us about poverty and wealth, rags and riches. It speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ as one who was rich, and the extent of his riches in eternity are beyond our ability to comprehend. Surely Christ was the richest being in the universe.

Yet this verse speaks of his grace shown to us in his decision to become poor. Packer describes this verse as the key New Testament text for interpreting the incarnation. He says this because it views the incarnation not just as a "marvel of nature, but rather as a wonder of grace!"

The text speaks of Christ's humiliation as gracious, voluntary, selfless, and purposeful. Gracious in that Christ did not become poor for us because of our goodness or deserving. Voluntary in that the text says it is Christ's grace, a gift of his own giving. Selfless in that it was "for your sake," he did it for us. Purposeful in that he did it "so that;" there was a reason for it, and that reason we are told is so that we might become rich.

When we think of Christ in the manger this Christmas season, let's remember and marvel at his poverty. He was literally wrapped in rags to keep warm in a stable. A humbler, poorer birthplace was hardly possible. Let's remember that through the incarnation, we are rich, for Christ did not fail in his purpose.

I fear that one of my greatest shortcomings as a Christian is going through life as if I am poor. John Paul Getty, one of the first people in the world to accrue a fortune of one billion dollars, was once asked what it was like to be the richest man in the world. His response: "I don't feel very rich". I don't want to be the spiritual equivalent of John Paul Getty. I want to
remember this Christmas season that because Christ became poor, I AM RICH!

These thoughts are wonderfully summed up in the following Christmas hymn:

Thou who wast rich beyond all splendor,
all for love's sake becamest poor;
Thrones for a manger didst surrender,
sapphire paved courts for stable floor.
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendor,
all for love's sake becamest poor;

Thou who art God beyond all praising,
all for love's sake becamest man;
Stooping so low, but sinners raising,
heavenward by thine eternal plan.
Thou who art God beyond all praising,
all for love's sake becamest man;

Thou who art love, beyond all telling,
Savior and King, we worship thee.
Emmanuel, within us dwelling,
make us what thou wouldst have us be.
Thou who art love beyond all telling,
Savior and King, we worship thee.

Amen.

Scott Stengele

Labels: Advent, Christmas, Gospel, Guest Post

Some 700 years before incarnate Deity walked this earth in the Person of Jesus the Messiah, an ancient Jewish prophet penned words from the Holy Spirit that foretold in precise detail who He would be as God in human flesh, and what He would do to accomplish redemption for His people. In the 53rd chapter of this great prophecy of Isaiah, we are given what John MacArthur appropriately describes as that which "contains unarguable, incontrovertible proof that God is the author of Scripture and Jesus the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy. Isaiah 53 presents details so minute that no human could have predicted them by accident and no imposter fulfilled them by cunning." And so the first thing I would like us to see is this evidence of the Divine authorship of the Bible that is so clearly and powerfully demonstrated for us in this passage.

The second thing I would like us to see as we reflect on this passage is its message. In this prophecy Isaiah has given a description in advance of Jesus in His mediatorial work as the suffering Servant of the Lord, the great Lamb of God bearing the sin of God's elect people as a substitutionary sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sins. Moreover, we find in this passage the whole saving work of Christ in summary form--His humiliation and exaltation: His substitutionary death, burial, resurrection, saving of sinners, intercession for them, and His kingdom. Matthew Henry rightly says that this chapter is so filled "with the unsearchable riches of Christ that it may be called rather the gospel of the evangelist Isaiah than the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah."

The central concern that God through His prophet speaks to us about in this passage is our most pressing and desparate need and His gracious provision for that need. While we have many felt needs, things that we think are our most important needs, by nature we do not percieve our greatest need------the forgiveness ot our sins before a holy God and a restored relationship with Him. There is a bumper sticker that says: Jesus is the answer. One might ask----what is the question? What is Jesus the answer for? Often it is to meet or satisfy not our greatest need, but one or more of our felt needs, to make life comfortable and happy. In response to this kind of desire, C.S. Lewis expressed it well when he said: "I didn't go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don't recommend Christianity."
But oh how our most desperate need, our greatest need is met in the Savior! He is "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," because "He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows" (vs. 3-4). Indeed "He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (vs. 5-6).

When He came as a baby born in Bethlehem--He came for this.

Phillip Bliss expressed it well when he wrote in his hymn drawn in part from Isaiah 53:

"Man of Sorrows! what a name
for the Son of God who came,
ruined sinners to reclaim:
Hallelujah! what a Savior!"

Bruce Bradford

Labels: Advent, Christmas, Gospel, Guest Post

In Galatians 4:4-7, we read: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God."

As I considered today’s verses over the past several weeks, I was impressed once again that there is no doubt that God is involved in the affairs of men specifically and intentionally. As Paul writes of Christ’s birth, he clearly indicates God sent forth his Son when the fullness of time had come. In other words at just the right time, the perfect time, a specific time, Jesus came. What determined it to be the perfect time, I don’t know, but I do know it was the perfect time in God’s plan.

“God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law...”

Why?

Why would the Eternal Creator God leave the glories of heaven, to come in the flesh, to save sinful, rebellious man?

...to redeem us from under the law. Romans 8:3-4: “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Christ did what we could not do.

Now that is amazing enough, but what I find even more amazing is that He did not redeem us and leave us as slaves, but rather, he redeemed us that we might be adopted by His Father, making us sons of God. As adopted children, we have become sons/daughters of the Eternal Creator God.

Not only are we redeemed from under the law, and adopted by the Creator and King of the universe, He has put the Spirit of His very own Son into our hearts which cries out to Him, “Abba! Father!”

And it just keeps getting better. In addition, we became full heirs of the promises and provisions of our Father.

By the birth, life, and death of Jesus, we were redeemed out of slavery, became sons of God by adoption into His family, and enjoy forever the treasures of relationship with God and the glories of heaven. With our sonship we became heirs with Jesus Christ, because in the fullness of time, Jesus came.

Diane Hunt

Labels: Advent, Christmas, Gospel, Guest Post

John's Gospel opens with these words, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that has been made" (John 1:1-3). John gives an interesting prologue to his first century readers.

The Greeks were obsessed with knowledge and philosophy. The measure of a man was his ability to produce ideas, discuss the noumena behind the phenomena or the concept behind the reality. It was Plato who said, "Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy... the human race will never have rest from their evils" (Republic 5.473d-e). The Greeks worshipped great thinkers and orators.

The Romans spoke of power and might and world domination, which would usher in the "Pax Romano" or Roman peace. Strength and honor were their hallmark. "Hail Caesar" was the command as his legions overpowered any and all who would not submit to his power. They worshipped power as they worshipped the Roman Emperor. They had gods for everything; even Caesar was god.

The Jews had their "Festival of Lights" and their common toast as they raised their glasses was "le chaim" or "to life." They had all but given up on the promised Messiah. They looked, as it were, through the eyes of the Greeks and Romans, for a wise and powerful political savior.

This prologue of John's Gospel was meant to confound all people groups with a unique word to all. To the Greek, he was the quintessential "logos" or word. To the Roman he was the ultimate power. There was nothing created that was not created by Him. He spoke the universe into existence. To the Jew, he was both light and life (John 1:4). Sadly, all three groups missed him, because they looked with eyes of flesh.

"The word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). It was this Master of all ideas and thoughts, this powerful One who can think or speak things into being (Genesis 1), this light of the world who is said to have been "face to face" with God the Father in intimate communion and complete self-enjoyment. It was this God, who became flesh. He became a Man on a mission, as we say.

This was no ordinary mission; he came as John the Baptist declares in John 1:29, as a sacrificial lamb, who would take away the sin of the world. The One who has seen God (John 1:18), has exegeted, or expounded him in his own life and death. Would you seek wisdom, would you observe power, would you behold life and light, would you come to God? Look to the One who became flesh. Learn that His power is made perfect through suffering and weakness. This Christmas season, seek and worship the wisest, most powerful life, who faced death for you and for me.

John Roberts

Labels: Advent, Christmas, Gospel, Guest Post

How many times did Sarah replay, in her mind, words predicting a child in her old age?

Surely, Hannah ran the words spoken to her by Eli the priest over and over again in her thoughts.

Everyone's heart treasures something. Words, memories, faces, dreams. Look to see what your heart overflows with and you will see what you treasure.

Replay... replay... replay...

Mary was no different. In the first two chapters of his gospel account, Luke tells us that Mary "discerns," "treasures" (twice), and "ponders" words, situations, and reactions--all regarding the birth and life of her son, Jesus.

I found it interesting that the Greek word used in Luke 2:19 for "ponder" is sumballo, which means "to throw together," "discuss," or "confer." Mary worked through all of these strange, wonderful, difficult events by talking to herself! It seems even a 1st century woman was guilty of the occasional chat with herself.

Just think of the events Mary stored up in her memory:
1) Gabriel's visit and message from God
2) Elizabeth's prophecy
3) Shepherds' testimony
4) Simeon's prophecy
5) Leaving behind of Jesus in Jerusalem

With each event, Mary's understanding of Who her Son was must have become a little clearer.

Concerning Mary's ponderings, John Calvin said, "For if we are wise, it will be the chief employment, and the great object of our life, to consider with attention those works of God which build up our faith. Mary kept all these things... to collect the several events which agreed in proving the glory of Christ, so that they might form one body. For Mary could not wisely estimate the collective value of all those occurrences, except by comparing them with each other."

And again, "Mary kept in her heart those things which she did not fully understand. Let us learn from this, to receive with reverence, and to lay up in our minds (like the seed, which is allowed to remain for some time under ground), those mysteries of God which exceed our capacity" (John Calvin, Commentary on the Harmony of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, [Grand Rapids: Baker, 2009], 124-25).

Mary's ponderings served two purposes: to work her own faith out and to share Christ with others.

Have you ever gotten to the point that you almost can't remember the details of how you came to faith in Christ? You know you believe, but it's hazy as to how you got there...

A good project, during this season of celebrating our Savior's birth, would be to open up the rusty parts of our memories and remind ourselves of the details of our conversions. Words, memories, faces, dreams... we are no different from Mary--we too need to meditate on Who Christ is and what He has done for us.

And then--share Him with others.

Robin Lawrence

Labels: Advent, Christmas, Gospel, Guest Post

(See Luke 1:38)

Just for the sake of excitement, let's try to imagine that we are entirely unacquainted with this story. Put out of your mind all murals, mosaics, statues, and pancakes that bear the image of the girl Mary. Wipe clean the spectacles of your traditions, and look on Mary with fresh, untainted eyes.

The narration is a whirlwind, rushing so quickly that what's said is almost lost. This girl is given no more than a passing sentence's worth of introduction. She is told incredible things by a fearsome being, and then she's making this huge statement, declaring her life, her dreams, her reputation all forfeit for the sake of God’s call.

On the one hand, God promises big things, such things that will make her the most blessed among women. On the other hand, this is really hard. She must give up, at least in the eyes of others, her reputation and honor. She must expect gossip, slander, malice--we know how women talk about women. Joseph might put her away, leaving her to face the fear and pain of pregnancy and motherhood alone.

Yet she replies with words that thrill our souls, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."

We are not shown Mary's life before this point. But her self-description is a telling one. The Lord’s servant. The English word servant is not strong enough. In Greek it really means bondslave. One definition of slave is this: a human being who is owned as property by and is absolutely subject to the will of another; bondservant divested of all freedom and personal rights; a person who is completely dominated by some influence, habit, person, etc.

These are big ideas--owned as property; absolutely subject; will of another; divested of all freedom; completely dominated. Abhorrent ideas--repellent to the American freedom-obsessed soul. Even so, every man, woman, and child is a slave either to righteousness, or to sin. Mary knew her Master and actively, willingly, and joyfully served Him.

But you must see that Mary's submission did not begin at the moment of crisis. She was not bullied or frightened into this. Had she not been obedient to God's law, would a "just man" want her for a wife? The virgin birth was an ordained means to bring God glory--her habit and practice of obedience preserved for her the honor of being the mother of her Savior. Were she not righteous, would she be addressed as a partaker of grace, as a woman richly blessed, having found favor with God? Would she be able to rejoice in song?

Mary was a sinner in need of a Savior--she says so herself. Yet how many of us can describe ourselves as divested of all freedom and personal rights, the Lord's to do with as He pleases?

Jenny Lawrence

Labels: Advent, Christmas, Gospel, Guest Post

Christmas morning! Excitement! Joy! Anticipation! Why? Well, because everyone has gathered around a tree to exchange gifts with others that they love! Today in our continuing Advent series, I want us to gather around another tree and there behold the great gift of God that He has offered upon it!

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:1-4).

These four verses are packed with powerful, soul liberating truth! But there is "one" truth, "one" glorious implication of God’s gospel gift, that I want us to specifically consider...

Because of the death of Christ on a tree, the threat and the awful reality of condemnation no longer await us on Judgment Day! For every person who has been united to Jesus Christ by faith alone has been delivered from the wrath to come!

Condemnation!! Eternal punishment! Final doom!! Such terrifying and soul paralyzing realities have been removed from the believer’s future! Hallelujah! But how did God accomplish this? How did a holy and just God free us from our sins without exacting from our flesh the wages our sins deserved?

Beloved, God did condemn our sins in human flesh!! But it wasn’t in our flesh that He condemned sin! God condemned sin in the flesh of His Son as He hung on a tree. Make no mistake about it! God must judge sin! And judge it He did! And so thorough, so complete and so sufficient was the sacrifice of Christ in our place that now it can be pronounced over us that "there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." How could there be?? Our sins (each and every one of them) were fully condemned in the flesh of Christ! And here is perhaps one of the greatest implications that the gospel gift offers... God not only won't condemn us, but God can't condemn those of us whose sins He already condemned in Christ!!

Did you get that? Brothers and sisters these are most precious words and truths! Each and every day as we struggle with sins, we must always remember that those very sins are forgiven sins! Even when remaining sin in us discourages us and saddens us we must never forget that those sins will never condemn us!

This Christmas, amidst all the "other" gifts, treasure the one great gift, the one free gift of God that came from God's tree…no condemnation!

Steve Cassarino

Labels: Advent, Christmas, Gospel, Guest Post

Men read many books. Novels, biographies, poetry, history, and even comic books. Too few read the great gift and treasure that we have been given, the Bible. What a great treasure men have had for over two thousand years! What is this treasure? The actual life stories of Immanuel, which means "God with us."

In Mark 2:13-17 we are invited to see God the Son, Jesus Christ, as He lives among man. The writer of this gospel tells us that Jesus "went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and He was teaching them." Jesus was at the sea. All the crowd was at the sea. But while Jesus and the crowd were at the sea, Levi the tax collector was at the tax booth. Levi was not seeking Jesus. Levi was not on His journey to seek God. Levi was at the tax booth.

"And as he passed by He saw Levi." Jesus saw Levi. There were many whom Jesus saw that day, but He saw Levi differently. He did not merely see Levi as we see the many people which pass by our eyes. I see people on my way to work. I see people at Wawa. I see people at my workplace, but Jesus saw Levi differently. Jesus saw Levi, the tax collector, as one to "call" for Himself. Jesus said "Follow me." "Levi rose and followed Him."

Levi had not gone out beside the sea. Jesus went to Levi’s booth. Now the writer does not tell us that Levi went to Jesus' house, rather that Jesus went to Levi's house. Immanuel, God Incarnate, the Holy and Righteous, goes to Levi the tax collector's house, and He surrounds Himself with "tax collectors and sinners."

The writer tells us that they were "reclining with Jesus." What a picture! What a story! What a hope for sinners! Jesus is a friend of sinners. The writer tells us that Jesus "was eating with tax collectors and sinners." Jesus was eating with Levi and His friends.

No! This can not be! This does not sit right with some who look on, the "righteous" in their own eyes. They ask a most important question, and we are privileged to hear the response of God. "Why does He eat with sinners and tax collectors?" And we have the words of the Savior! "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Jesus sought out Levi. Jesus called Levi to follow Him. Jesus ate at Levi's home. Jesus reclined with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus came to call sinners! There is no hope for those who are righteous in their own eyes, but full and sure hope for "sinners." 1 Timothy 1:15 states "This saying is trustworthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Hallelujah!

Tom Coughlin

Labels: Advent, Christmas, Gospel, Guest Post

They say that to understand a man, you must walk a mile in his shoes. The mile walked by the man Joseph in Matthew 1:18-25 was a long and windy path for sure, filled with questions the likes of which none of us have ever faced.

We first imagine him to be a man filled with the joys that a beautiful fiancée brings. We feel his anticipation as he looks forward to the blessings of marriage to a godly woman. We feel the emptiness and sadness he experiences as his bride's visit to her cousin Elizabeth grows ever longer. There is the exhilaration of her return followed quickly by the agony of soul upon the news... she's pregnant. His mind must have raced. Why? How? What would cause her to do such a thing? Thoughts of anguished betrayal are complicated by the love he had felt for her. God does not leave him in anguish for long, but it is during this time of anguish that God calls him a righteous (just) man. Joseph's righteousness can be seen in his decision to pursue a path of compassion. Though not yet married, Mary would have been considered an adulteress, and would be subject to the stiff penalties adulterers faced. He decides to divorce her quietly, to keep her pain to a minimum, all the while dealing with the deep sorrows of his own heart.

So God sends this just man an angelic visitor, who brings him relief of soul. Relief of soul yes, but with this relief come many other burning questions, some of which are wonderfully expressed by Michael Card in the lyrics of his ballad entitled "Joseph’s Song”:

How can it be, this baby in my arms, sleeping now, so peacefully,
The Son of God, the angel said, how can it be?

Lord, I know, he's not my own, not of my flesh, not of my bone,
Still Father let, this baby be, the son of my love.

Father, show me where I fit into this plan of yours,
How can a man be father to the Son of God?
Lord, for all my life I've been a simple carpenter,
How can I raise a King? How can I raise a King?

In actuality we know very little about the man Joseph. He lives out the rest of his life in near anonymity, but what we learn about him in Matthew 1 is enough. It is enough to know that this man was a man of courageous faith. It is enough to assure us that the only begotten Son of God, the one they named "Yahweh saves," yes the very King of Israel, was indeed raised by an earthly father who was... "a righteous man."

Scott Stengele

Labels: Advent, Christmas, Gospel, Guest Post

Christmas cannot be marveled at unless pre-Christmas is understood.

What is pre-Christmas? According to Paul in Philippians 2:6-8, pre-Christmas is Jesus in the form of God. He was the eternal exact effulgence or brilliant expression of the fullness of God (Hebrews 1:3). He was God on display. John tells us in John 12:41 that it was the glory of the pre-Christmas Son of God that Isaiah saw in his famous vision in Isaiah 6:1-7.

Read and think about that. The Baby of Bethlehem was first the Lord of Glory high on the throne of heaven. Long before the angels heralded His birth (in Luke 2:13, 14) they were singing His worth (in Isaiah 6).

Consider the Person of Christ who is the form, the image, the stamp of God’s nature. In fact think about these words from one man (John Piper):

So the Son in whom the Father delights is the image of God and the radiance of the glory of God. He bears the very stamp of God’s nature and is the very form of God. He is equal with God and, as John says, is God.

For all eternity, before creation, the only reality that has always existed is God. This is a great mystery, because it is so hard for us to think of God having absolutely no beginning, and just being there forever and ever and ever, without anything or anyone making him be there--just absolute reality that everyone of us has to reckon with whether we like it or not. But this ever-living God has not been "alone." He has not been a solitary center of consciousness. There has always been another, who has been one with God in essence and glory, and yet distinct in personhood so that they have had a personal relationship for all eternity.

The Bible teaches that this eternal God has always had a perfect image of himself (Colossians 1:15), a perfect radiance of his essence (Hebrews 1:3), a perfect stamp or imprint of his nature (Hebrews 1:3), a perfect form or expression of his glory (Philippians 2:6).

We are on the brink of the ineffable here, but perhaps we may dare to say this much: as long as God has been God (eternally) he has been conscious of himself; and the image that he has of himself is so perfect and so complete and so full as to be the living, personal reproduction (or begetting) of himself. And this living, personal image or radiance or form of God is God, namely God the Son. And therefore God the Son is coeternal with God the Father and equal in essence and glory.

I know this is as some have said, the deep end of the pool, but take a dip anyway! Give some time to consider the One who came. He who was God and was with God (John 1:1) became flesh and dwelt among us. He humbled Himself by becoming human. The Eternal One was born. He is, as one has put it, "the only one in history who was alive long before He was born" (Bruce Ware).

Tim Shorey

Labels: Advent, Christmas, Gospel