God's Wrath and God's Kindness

The coverage of the sad unfolding of events continues in Haiti. It's so hard to watch the pain. It's also hard to listen to all the comments from different talking heads... including one Pat Robertson who says this happened because the Haitians 'had made a pact with the devil'. Pat, that's a little harsh, don't you think? Pat, you're an evangelist - do you think you could have pointed your audience to some words of truth and hope from God's Word? We never know exactly why these kinds of things happen, but we can look to the truth from scripture to get a glimpse of some ideas, rather than relying on Pat Robertson. Romans chapter 1 tells us that the 'wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness'. So how is that wrath shown? Natural disasters could be one way, couldn't it? If God is omnipotent, then He could have stopped that earthquake from happening. So He's either not omnipotent, or He chose to let it happen. My Bible boldly teaches His omnipotency, so I believe He let it happen... and for a reason. That reason can possibly be found in an account in Luke 13, where a tower fell on some people and killed them. And Jesus tells the survivors, 'unless YOU repent, YOU will all likewise perish'. So there's a warning in tragedy. The warning is a clarion call to those onlookers - REPENT. Many people in Haiti have rejected Christ and have followed false religions. This is their call to repentance. And this call is not only for the Haitians, but for anyone and everyone who does not follow the God that could have stopped this earthquake. And so we pray for the Haitians in their hour of desperation. We pray for people's kindness to go far in the relief effort. And we pray that they see the kindness of God amid the disaster, for it is the kindness of God that leads people to repentance.

The Worst Trade... EVER!

In 1987, my favorite baseball team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, traded popular catcher Tony Pena to the St. Louis Cardinals for Andy Van Slyke.  Van Slyke turned out to be a pretty good player for the Buccos, but at the time I thought it was the worst trade in history.  I am sure there have been other ‘worst trades’ in professional sports. 

The real worst trade in history is found in Romans 1:25 - “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie...”   According to commentators R.C.H. Lenski and William Hendriksen, the literal rendering of that phrase could be, “They traded THE true God for THE lie”.   What could be a worse trade than that? THE lie in view here is the idols, or image-likenesses that people often make to replace THE true God.  Oh, they recognize who God is.  The Apostle Paul says they know that much, “For even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God, or give thanks” (Romans 1:21).  Not only do they know God but they are familiar with his law.   Verse 32 of the same chapter says, “...although they knew the ordinance of God”.    But even so, these people refuse truth.   They exchange it for THE lie.   The imagery of the lie comes from Isaiah 44.  Hendriksen says this “describes a sculptor, who has made for himself a god.  He reaches out to take ahold of it, but fails to ask himself, ‘Is there not a LIE in my right hand?’  The idol is a LIE because (in the imagination of the worshiper) it promises much; however it provides nothing!”

And so here we have the worst trade, the worst exchange in human history:  one who would exchange the true God for the lie.   Why?  Because men love darkness rather than light.   Does this not show how stupid, depraved, sin-sick, twisted and needful mankind really is?   Thank God he reveals his truth to those who have ears to hear and are willing to listen. 

Fervent Prayer

Fervency in prayer - what does that mean?  In my Puritan Paperback series, I am still reading 'The Secret Key to Heaven' (subtitled 'The Vital importance of Private Prayer') by Thomas Brooks.  In this morning's reading, Brooks effectively used scripture to convict me of my lack of fervency in my conversations with God.   While scripture is capable of standing alone, I find it helpful in understanding the Word when a man of God gives commentary on certain passages, bringing out the fuller and more robust meaning that the original writers intended.  Ponder the following passages and the accompanying words from Brooks:

James 5:16 - “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” .  The ‘working’ prayer; that is, such working prayer as sets the whole man to work, as sets all the faculties of the soul, and all the graces in the soul, to work. The word [fervent] signifies such a working as shows the liveliest activity that can be. 

Acts 12:5 - “...but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God”.   While Peter was in prison, prayer was being made by the church.  The Greek word [for fervent] signifies instant prayer, earnest prayer, stretched out prayer.  These gracious souls did in prayer strain and stretch themselves; they prayed with all the strength of their souls, and with all the fervency of their spirits. 

Romans 12:11-12  - “Not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer”.  The Greek word here for ‘fervent’ signifies seething hot; boiling hot; God loves to see his people zealous and warm in his service.  Without fervency of spirit, no service finds acceptance in heaven.   In verse 12, the word ‘devoted’ means continuing with all your might.  It is a metaphor from hunting dogs, that will never give over the game until they have got it. 

Romans 15:30 - “...strive together with me in your prayers to God for me”.  Strive mightily, strive as champions strive, even to an agony.  It is a military word, and notes such fervent wresting or striving, as is for life and death. 

Colossians 4:12 - “...always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers”.  Laboring signifies to strive or wrestle, as those do that strive for mastery.  As the wrestlers do bend, and writhe, and stretch, and strain every joint of their bodies, that they may be victorious, so Epaphras did bend, and writhe, and stretch, and strain every joint of his soul that he might be victorious with God on the Colossians’ account. 

Blessed are the Merciful

Tonight I had to give a 5-minute devotion on 'mercy' to a basketball team of 2nd and 3rd graders. It got me thinking about the real meaning of 'mercy'. Mercy is a sense of pity that has a desire to relieve suffering – it is not only pity but it also includes action, giving help to the afflicted and rescuing the helpless. It is a concern about the misery of mankind that leads to an anxiety to relieve it.

The New Testament parable of the Good Samaritan illustrates such mercy: on a journey, a Samaritan man meets another man beaten by robbers; he stops, goes across the road to where he is lying (while others have seen the man and have gone on); he is sorry for the victim and then dresses his wounds and then takes the victim with him. Luke 10:33-34 “But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him.”

The supreme example in the New Testament is that of Jesus Christ: God sent his one and only Son into the world. Why? Because he saw our pitiable estate. He saw the suffering and consequences of our sin, and despite our law-breaking and constant rejection, He took action. Jesus didn't just look upon us and had pity from a distance, He came and dealt with our condition. Romans 5:6-10 – “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

Deserving eternal punishment, but not getting it... Now THAT is mercy.

What Shall We Say Then?

…but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Heidelberg Catechism Question #43

Question 43. What further benefit do we receive from the sacrifice and death of Christ on the cross?

Answer: That by virtue thereof, our old man is crucified, dead and buried with him; (a) that so the corrupt inclinations of the flesh may no more reign in us; (b) but that we may offer ourselves unto him a sacrifice of thanksgiving. (c)

(a) Rom.6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (b) Rom.6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Rom.6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin. Rom.6:8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Rom.6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom.6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Col.2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. (c) Rom.12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

This is really good news for us who are saved but still struggle with sin (which is all believers if we're honest). The 'old man' is dead. The person we were in Adam was crucified. According to Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and the statements in this 43rd question, there is a distinction between the 'old man' (which died) and the 'body of sin' (the flesh). The 'flesh' is the body in which sin tends to tyrannize still, the body in which sin yet remains. The good news is this: when Christ was buried in His grave, the 'old man' was with Him in it. But why do we still struggle with sin in the flesh? Lloyd-Jones goes on to tell us that the hold of sin upon us, even in the body, has been rendered null and void and ineffective. The objective of 'salvation' is that we may be rid entirely and completely of sin and its effects. The whole objective of 'grace' and 'salvation' is to deliver us from sin in every part - in personality and finally even in the body. The bottom line is that even though our 'old man' in Adam was slain and buried, our earthly bodies still houses the effects of the fall. Yes, the corrupt inclinations no longer reign in the true believer. They no longer REIGN. But that isn't to say that we don't slip and fall once in a while. The good news for those who are followers of Christ is that eventually... ultimately... finally... we will be delivered from this body of sin and death. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

War and Peace

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ - Romans 5:1

What is the opposite of peace? War. If we aren’t at peace with God, then we are in a spiritual war with Him. Many unbelievers may think that because they really aren’t aggressively against God that they are at peace with Him. Others may believe that indifference or neutrality toward God certainly does not rise to the level of ‘a spiritual war’. Still others may actually believe there is a supernatural war going on, but they choose to be nonpartisan, failing to realize that they are the very enemies of God. Those against whom God is warring are operating in the flesh. Another verse in Romans (8:4), indicates that "the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God".

How do we come to a truce in this spiritual war? The hostility toward God must cease, but it cannot end as long as we are at enmity with Him. God’s anger is kindled against those who are at enmity with Him and these will be objects of His divine wrath. But God has also made humankind objects of his divine compassion by sending Jesus Christ to us. By placing our personal trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, surrendering our lives to His control, and turning away from our sin, then our spiritual war with God will be over.

A new war begins at this point: the war with the enemy, Satan.

Poured Out

In chapter five of Romans, the Apostle Paul tells us that 'the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us'.

That phrase 'poured out' means overflowing, super abundance, gushing out, profusion, lavish outpouring. John MacArthur makes the comment that "our Heavenly Father does not proffer his love in measured drops, but in immeasurable torrents". This gives us unwavering assurance and comfort that the God who saves us is the God who keeps us.

The hymn, 'The Love of God' describes this pouring out of God's love very well. Written in 1917 by Frederick M. Lehman, the lyrics follow:

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

Refrain
O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.

When years of time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men, who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.
Refrain

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.
Refrain

What's Wrong With This Picture?

1). Could it possibly be a violation of the Second Commandment, not to make any graven images (Exodus 20:4)? If the Second Commandment’s purpose is to prohibit idolatry and false worship, and not necessarily ‘artistic expression’, then maybe this big cement Jesus is just someone’s way of expressing what they perceive Jesus to have looked like on the cross.

But…

2). This Jesus is too clean and too recognizable. The Bible says that Jesus was pierced and crushed and bruised and wounded (Isaiah 53:5). Jesus was scourged and beaten (Matt. 27:26;30). Historians tell us that the floggings that took place in that day were beyond brutal. The device used for the floggings was usually a leather whip with stones and glass embedded into the leather so as to rip the skin off of the ‘criminal’ in ribbons of torn flesh and muscle. Jesus also had a spear rammed into his side (John 19:34) and He wore a crown of thorns that was mercilessly rammed onto his head (Mark 15:17). There is no accurate representation of this brutality in this picture.

3). The other thing that is wrong is this: Jesus is no longer on the cross. He’s no longer in the tomb either. The cross is empty and the tomb is empty. He is very much alive and seated at the right hand of the Father (Mark 16:19; Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:3). What is attractive to the unbeliever about showing a dead and defeated Jesus in His humiliation? Why would we want to depict the Conqueror of sin and death in any other way than ‘living and victorious’?

You see, even a statue, a crucifix, or ornamentation on the front of a church can give us the wrong ‘picture’ of who Jesus Christ is. If we have a wrong view of who He is, how then can we properly understand why He came to earth and what He did here? We MUST go to the Word of God to find out who Christ is, how He lived, how He died, what His purpose was and what He is doing right now.

Christians must preach the good news of the gospel. Christians must be able to articulate and clarify the gospel. At least once a week, probably on the weekends, I hope to enter into a habit of sharing elements of the gospel from what I am learning in my study of Paul's letter to the Romans.

Not ashamed of the Gospel,

Mark