Knowing the God of Reconciliation (2 Cor 5:18-21)

Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (NASB).

1. God has dealt decisively with all that alienates us from Him. Christ’s passion answers every facet of our ruin, estrangement and alienation. In Christ, “God was reconciling the world to Himself.” In His death on Calvary, Christ Jesus took into His own Person all of the alienation due our sin. God has taken the initiative in our reconciliation (Rom 5:10).

Believers wrestle with a sense of acceptance with God. To understand reconciliation is to comprehend the fact that Christ is the believer’s eligibility for love, favor, belonging, adoption, and eternal blessing. Progress in the knowledge of God is inseparable from reckoning Christ as our qualification for life, love and favor.

2. When Christ gave His life on Calvary, in addition to physical death, He experienced the consequences of sin that bring agony to the soul. Shame, separation, crushing wrath, isolation, alienation, and abandonment washed over His person. The growing believer recognizes that Christ’s identification with the consequences of our sin was for the purpose of exchange (2 Cor 5:21).

When the Christian lives upon these truths of Christ, the suffering Substitute, he is able to commune with God in a more consistent manner. Agitations of conscience must first be dealt with by the cross. “Even one sin ricocheting around in the conscience is enough to weaken our confidence to draw near to God” John Owen.

3. The display of Christ crucified has the power to dash the sinner’s weapons (against God) from his hands. The proclamation of Christ crucified is able to scatter darkness from the heart and flood the soul with light. The message of the cross alone can remove enmity from the sinner’s heart. The “word of reconciliation” is foreign to the thinking of the unbeliever. As ministers of reconciliation, believers announce the glorious news that God has dealt with everything on His side that produces estrangement – God’s righteous requirement of death and separation to the sinner has been met in our suffering Substitute. Now God is free to receive into favor and friendship the person who believes and repents.

The conscience of man is not oriented toward mercy and forgiveness – it operates upon a strict principle of justice. In order for God’s “verdict” of acquittal to be the loudest voice in our conscience, we must “preach the Gospel to ourselves everyday.”

4. The cross of Christ is the key revealer of the Godhead. God can only be known by means of the work He has performed in the reconciliation of sinners. We have come to know the glory of God; the knowledge of God in the face of Christ (2 Cor 4:3-5). As long as the threat of judgment hangs over the guilty sinner’s head, he can only operate as a hostile enemy, blinded by darkness. But when in faith he casts one believing look in Christ’s direction, He comes to know God as He truly is – the God of justice and mercy, of holiness and love.

God’s work in our reconciliation preempts all of our legal efforts to commend ourselves to God. We could say that the religion “we were born with” is a works religion that seeks to appease God by merit, religion and self-reformation. By contrast, the message of reconciliation commands sinners to take refuge in the hiding place God has provided. It is in our eternal interest to enthusiastically consent to God’s terms of peace. God has not given this place of refuge reluctantly, but to the glory of His grace.

5. In order to be faithful ministers of reconciliation, we must be conversant with who God is. We must know Him as the “God who atones” and “the atoned-for God.” We are called upon to bring the good news to people who have no clue as to how God reconciles sinners to Himself. When the subject of sin comes up, the unbeliever can only reason in the realms of relative righteousness, divine leniency, and human works.

Believers cannot become too familiar with the truth of God’s justice in the cross of Christ. This truth is so foreign to our hearts that we tend to drift in our thinking toward legalistic schemes that base our acceptance with God on personal performance. God’s favor toward us flows from the satisfaction He has made, not from our duties and service. We’ve been set free to serve, the challenge is to stay free! -- both sin and law seek to entangle us. The knowledge of the God of all grace in the cross keeps us free.

Orthodox Formalism: The Error of the Ephesian Church

God’s saving grace restores the ability to enjoy God and to take delight in Him. The new birth effects a radical transformation of the affections. The regenerate individual is changed in his inner faculties so that he becomes a worshipper of the Creator instead of the creation. As John Piper often refrains, “God is most glorified when He is most enjoyed.”

God is exceedingly glorified by the plan of salvation in Christ. God’s wisdom and power are seen in His ability to make new creatures from a ruined race (2 Cor. 5:17). By the exercise of sovereign grace, God in Christ becomes the portion and treasure of former rebels. The Holy Spirit produces this change through the agency of divine truth (1 Pet. 1:23). There is nothing more important than God’s Word, the revelation of divine truth. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto eternal salvation.

The topic at hand reminds one of Jonathan Edward’s most important written work, The Religious Affections. In that book, Edwards gives overwhelming proof to support the proposition that true religion exists primarily in the affections.

Both Israel’s history and church history bear out the fact that religion grounded upon the truth always faces the danger of decaying into formalism. Formalism is an outward attention to forms, exercises, religious duties and even religious dogma. The error of formalism involves the declension of true religion within the soul of man (Isaiah 29:13).

In formalism, outward religion is kept up while love for God freezes over. Just as the natural man “materializes” his needs in a denial of his need of God (1 Cor. 15:46-48), so also, the religionist, in his descent into formalism settles upon carnal objects in his affections and pursuits. Decay into formalism is often secret and gradual. Duties, ordinances and even devotion to biblical truth are maintained while the heart strays from Christ as its first love.

It is a frightening revelation that formalism may also be a pitfall to and retreat of the orthodox. The self-deception inherent in formalism is powerful indeed. The religious activities of the formalist provide the conscience with the “evidence” that supposedly prove he is spiritual and in no danger.

Here is deception. By their religious activity, by their purity of doctrine, by their sitting under orthodox exposition, men flatter themselves that they are spiritual. Their religious life appears to be outwardly ordered by the dictates of orthodoxy. All the while, their affections remain under the domain of self. Their private world is carnally managed. Their devotion proves to be primarily outward. Life under God becomes bifurcated, religion fits into a compartment in one’s life.

The Lord’s assessment of formalism in the church can come as a shocking jolt. It must have been so in Ephesus in response to the letter of the apostle John (Rev. 2:1-7). Perhaps the Ephesian church was tempted to reason as follows. “The loss of our lampstand can’t happen here, we are distinguished and zealous stewards of the truth. We have watchmen on the wall who contend earnestly for the faith. Our love to Christ is demonstrated by our zeal for the truth and by our abundant ministries.”

Church history tells us that the lampstand at Ephesus was removed. Though she had the best teachers and even had a personal warning from the risen Christ, the church at Ephesus lost its lampstand.

Even as 21^st century believers, the demise of the Ephesus church continues to disturb. Was it the case that Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians was not answered? Did the Ephesians fail to gain a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ (Eph. 1:17-23)? Did they also fail to receive strength in the inner man so as to comprehend the dimensions of Christ’s love (Eph. 3:16-19)?

These questions ought to be of concern to every evangelical pastor. As preachers, we call men to follow Christ and abide in Him in surrender and devotion. Our preaching ought to exterminate incipient formalism. We preach under a wall of growing formalism by preaching to men the deadness and depravity they possess in themselves. We preach over the wall of formalism by declaring the excellencies of Christ and His perfect suitability for the sinner’s every need. We must know something of the formalist’s profile in order to preach to him aright.

The orthodox formalist is a challenge to flush out of hiding. Of great assistance in this task is an understanding of the formalist’s presuppositions concerning spiritual truth. Formalists assume that the truth and its power exist objectively, independently of the Person of Christ. By contrast, Scripture is careful to keep truth joined to the Person of Christ.

Christ’s epistemic role as the truth of God incarnate and the truth of God spoken is inseparable from the fact that Jesus Christ is in Himself the revelation of God. In other words, truth cannot be separated from Christ and remain true. All things are summed up in Christ (Eph. 1:10). All things are created by Him and for Him (Col. 1:16). All things are reconciled to God by Him (Col. 1:20). Christ opposes every possible world view and philosophy in which He is not preeminent (Col. 2:8).

Truth is written upon the pages of Scripture, but truth is also a Person. Scripture keeps the love of the truth joined to love for the Lord.

In formalism, to the degree that truth is objectified, religion is externalized. This always involves a radical declension in devotion to Christ and a substantial erosion of the commitment to keep Him preeminent in all things (Col. 1:18).

In formalism, Christo-centric Christianity is replaced by a “principle-ized” Christianity. In orthodox formalism, the implicit message is that truth principles are able to transform the life. Without intending to do so, Christ is “marginalized” in the process of exegeting principles.

It is a grave danger to separate the Person of Christ from doctrine. Our access to God, our interface with God, our covenant with God is the Living Truth. Christ is the truth incarnate, we worship Christ, the truth incarnate, not a body of orthodox truth that can exist and function independently of Him.

The God of truth in all His perfections and beauty is made manifest in the Person of Christ.

How can the sinful creature have fellowship with the infinitely holy Great I am? Only in our Substitute do we have access and relationship.

Orthodox formalism tends to lean upon its orthodoxy more than the living Lord Jesus Christ. A subtle pride in precision finds its way into the personal merit column. Intimacy with God is replaced by an academic consideration of truths and principles. In formalism, devastating contact with Him whose eyes are as a flame of fire becomes all but non- existent.

Scripture describes a kind of contact with God characterized by radical humbling, brokenness, utter dependency, waiting, periods of darkness, profound weakness and personal devastation over sin. God announces that those He meets with are characterized by deep humility, by brokenness, by trembling at His Word, by contrition and repentance (Isaiah 57:15; 66:1,2).

The Psalmist pleads with God to show him the creature how weak and transitory he really is (Ps. 39:4-6).

Such humility is to be cultivated. In ourselves alone, we are reduced to super-dependent sinful creatures meriting only destruction. We are responders to God by His grace alone. He is in control, not us. These intense humblings and messages of abject weakness are in reality gifts from God in order that Christ may be all in all in our lives. The believer is to reckon all privilege, status, security, favor and acceptance as having their source in Christ alone. When Christ is magnified in our thoughts and affections, self is decentralized, dethroned, and set off center (Gal. 2:20).

Man’s carnal lower nature craves an undisturbed self at the helm of one’s life. Religious man is no exception. Martin Luther quipped that the enemy he feared more than the pope and all his armies was the pope of self.

It is the self-examined Christian who understands that the carnal self always presses for a formalizing of religion. The formalizing of religion involves an ordering of the internal life so that the Lordship of Christ is usurped. Self at the controls of one’s religious life will always choose not to pursue the cross of Christ.

By contrast, the believer who abides in Christ adores his Lord and is devoted to Him. He reckons co-crucifixion with Christ. He is both comforted and devastated by the cross. He seeks to sit at the feet of the Savior and learn from Him. He knows that the self-life resists the application of the cross to the Adamic dominion of the old man. He knows that the self-life objects to God’s verdict that the old man is slated for demolition, not renovation through Christian principles.

The nearer one draws to Christ and His cross, the more precious and vivid the truths of union with Christ become (see Romans 6). Ongoing contrition becomes a byproduct of close communion with Christ.

The carnal self in its “respectable” tyranny is far more comfortable at a distance from Calvary. Self prefers to interface with “principle-ized” truth rather than with Him whose eyes are as a flame of fire (Rev. 1:14).

Orthodox formalism tends to sever truth from Christ. Truth that is objectified and primarily academic and principle-ized gives self a buffer of breathing room. Truth joined to Christ is filled with mortification. It applies the cross, mortifying the fleshly mind so as to place the creature in the dust. It lifts up Christ as all in all.

Orthodox formalism tears a breach between Christ and doctrine. Truth becomes primarily academic. The doxological and subjective side of truth is eclipsed by the scholastic and the formal. In the process, man gains a sense of control over facts and principles.

The issue is one of control. Christ must be preeminent in the realm of truth. In orthodox formalism, the exegete and his listener slip into an interface with God that turns upon the management of facts, truths and principles without the glory of Christ being central.

Lest we forget, the most accomplished exegete is not elevated above his less educated or precise brethren, he is still a sinner whose life and destiny are suspended upon Him Who is the living Word. Whether he is fully aware of it or not, his whole life is based upon organic union with Christ.

Orthodox formalism sows to our desire for a manageable Christianity. A Christianity that lies within the scope of our energies appeals to the self. Our method of self-evaluation may turn out to be based upon false assumptions. Perhaps the precision of our orthodoxy is the personal “scorecard” we have selected. Revelation 2:1-7 is a powerful antidote to the self-deception of formalism. He who walks among the lampstands presents His criterion for true Christianity, is Christ your first love?

No wonder the divines of old were frequently devastated by views of God’s holiness and their own bottomless depravity. No wonder they cried for grace so frequently. They saw that the cross applied and pursued was inseparable from knowing Christ (Phil. 3:8-14). They often faced a crushing sense of personal inadequacy. They often wept copious tears. They were careful to preach the gospel to themselves everyday because they knew the heart’s tendency to search for a robe of covering other than the righteousness of Christ.

In formalistic circles, these experiences are selectively hidden from view. This should not be surprising, formalism seeks a form of religion that turns upon an academic interface with God. The living Christ of Revelation 1 is pushed to the periphery. The mind may be engaged, but the heart is buttressed against anything that would wrench pain and tears from it. Where are the ongoing heart expressions of overflowing gratitude concerning the grace of Christ?

The humility and utter dependency necessary for spontaneous praise of Christ is absent in orthodox formalism. The reason for this is that formalism contains a smugness that measures spirituality by precision in orthodoxy and by academic prowess.

Needless to say, a rightly divided Word is the mandate for every believer. But the meeting place of the believer with his God is the Person of Christ, not orthodoxy without Christ. The Word must stay joined to Him. A mystical Christ without the Word is neo-orthodoxy. The Word without Christ preeminent tends toward orthodox formalism. Israel’s beginnings of apostasy germinated in a climate of enduring formalism. Scripture is replete with examples of professing believers who took pride in their orthodoxy while their hearts remained unconverted (Jer. 7:4).

Only the Christ adoring Christian can be taken off of self. Christ’s words to the church at Ephesus are also to the church universal. The situation is not hopeless. The Lord spelled out the way of return. Repent and do the first works, sit at the feet of Christ again and learn of Him.

Perseverance of the Saints, Part 1: Why Security is Joined to Diligence (2 Peter 1)

INTRODUCTION – In the last century, the gracious doctrine of the saints’ perseverance has been “streamlined” down to the inadequate term, eternal security.Eternal security, or “once saved always saved,” is indeed true and valid, but it can be misleading by what it leaves unsaid.

Believers are eternally secure because God preserves His saints and keeps them secure by means of perseverance in faith (1 Pet. 1:5). It is God’s power that does the keeping, but that divine power is manifested in the saints’ endurance and obedience (2 Thess. 2:13).

The doctrine of the saints’ perseverance and security, when correctly understood, promotes vigilance, not carelessness. It motivates godliness, not sloth and indulgence. The doctrine of perseverance teaches that where God gives genuine faith, there will be reliable evidences. Those evidences are the proof that a saint possesses the kind of faith that can save (James 2:14-26).

Application - The doctrine of the saints’ perseverance does not induce holiness by the fear of falling every moment. Instead it induces holiness by faith working through love (Gal. 5:6). God is honored because our security is traced to His power and purposes, not to our decision (2 Pet. 1:2-4). The persevering believer magnifies God for His intercession, justification, promises and sanctifying work. The Christian knows that he owes his stability, growth and comfort to God’s working on his behalf. (For scriptural examples of God’s power working in tandem with the believer’s diligence see the following texts: Heb. 6:11,12; 2 Thess. 2:12-14; 2 Pet. 1:9-11; Phil. 2:12,13.)

THE EPIDEMIC PROBLEM OF ANTINOMIAN, OR LAWLESS “CHRISTIANS”

The “once saved, always saved,” understanding of eternal security has contributed to the problem of antinomianism (or fleshly living). Countless individuals have regarded their profession of faith to be equated with eternal security. In many instances, well meaning counselors have suggested, “Pray this prayer and you shall be eternally secure.” Untold numbers of souls have been led to believe that their security flows from God honoring a decision they made. (NOTE: According to Scripture, the foundation of our salvation’s inception is attributed to God’s call, 2 Peter 1:3.)

Some are truly saved, but many are not. It is possible to be self-deceived into thinking that by a decision, one has bound or obligated God. Those under that deception commonly go forth to live for themselves and their own interests. It is tragic that the church is often indistinguishable from the world. The doctrine that personal holiness is absolutely necessary for entrance into heaven is all but lost in much of today’s Evangelicalism (Heb. 12:14).

The Church needs many voices to raise again the issue of Christ’s Lordship. His Lordship is directly tied to the doctrine of the saints’ perseverance. When Christ is Lord of a person’s life, faith working through love will produce perseverance and universal obedience (obedience in all areas of a man’s life).

The teaching of perseverance under Christ’s Lordship is needed to restore sanity to the Church, for much of Evangelicalism is pitching about on a sea of moral failure. “Cheap grace,” as Bonhoeffer referred to it, touts the freeness of the offer of salvation, but says little about the cost of discipleship.

Application – The Scriptures know nothing of a “two-tiered” Christianity made up of two classes of individuals. The Body of Christ is not broken down into two groups made up of those who are disciples and those who are not. (See the passages on the cost of discipleship, Luke 9:23-26; Matt. 10:34-39; John 12:25).

THE BIBLE STRESSES THE BELIEVER’S SECURITY WHILE AT THE SAME TIME CALLING FOR DILIGENCE AND PERSEVERANCE.

God has provided believers with all the resources necessary to make growth possible. 2 Peter 1 was written that Christians might match their calling and resources with growth in practical holiness. The command is to apply all diligence(1:5). To neglect this kind of progress is to have forgotten the depths from which one was rescued. It is to be blind to the glorious possibilities of spiritual development in Christ (2 Pet. 1:9).

THE GLORIOUSNESS OF GOD’S PROMISES ASSURES THE BELIEVER OF A COMPLETE SALVATION.

Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a

faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;

seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and

godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and

excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises

so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the

corruption that is in the world by lust (2 Peter 1:1-4, all Scripture citations from The

New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, (La Habra, California: The Lockman

Foundation) 1996.)

The majesty and immutability of God’s promises secure the believer’s perseverance and everything necessary for eternal life. These magnificent promises of God nourish our faith, affection, love and trust in Christ. Everything that is necessary for godliness and salvation is reckoned to be included among the supernatural gifts of God.

The knowledge of God is the basis of life (Jn. 17:3). The knowledge of God is the “doorway” to all godliness. God makes us sharers of these great blessings by the knowledge of Himself: by revealing Himself in the gospel (2 Cor. 4:6). God’s glory, virtue, excellence and power are in view as the cause of our rescue. Everything promised to us by God can rightly and fittingly be thought of as a result of His glory and power. God’s character and attributes are the “foundry” of His promises. That is where they are conceived, cast, formed and molded. (NOTE: To “become partakers of the divine nature,” does not mean that we will become an extension of God. Instead it refers to the kind of existence that is immortal, eternal, holy and completely blessed. We will eternally “house” the Spirit of God according to Ephesians 2:22.)

Application – Our personal, experimental (or practical) knowledge of Christ continues to grow as we walk in dependence upon Him. We experience answered prayer, chastisement and counsel. Christ lets His people know when they are doing His will. He delights in His people, drawing near to them when they share their inner life with Him. As a result of these experiences, our faith is strengthened and we come to know Him more and more. In this text, the promises of God are given the highest possible value. The believer is to respond by treasuring them, living upon them and feeding faith by them.

These promises remind us that Christ is the source of all virtue. Even in our diligence to grow in character, it is the power of God behind the promises that drives all our progress. We ought to notice that it is the purpose of the gospel to make us like God in holiness sooner or later. The higher premium we place upon the worth of the heavenly glory, the more we will be weaned away from the vanity of the present world.

BECAUSE OF THE PROMISES AND PURPOSES OF GOD (WE PARTAKE OF THE DIVINE NATURE), WE CANNOT BE APATHETIC ABOUT GROWTH.

Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,

and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:5-8).

God’s purpose is that we might grow more like Christ, especially since we have divine resources.

We ought to treasure the divine promises that assure us we are no longer powerless against our soul’s enemies. “We have escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust (v. 4).”

“Apply all diligence,” means that we must make it our business. This kind of language infers that it will be a difficult task involving immense labor. The only way to remain on track is to set or fix one’s heart upon things above (Col. 3:1-4). The life of faith is to translate into moral excellence. A steady increase in the knowledge of God gives the ability of greater self-control. That quality is necessary in order to cope with trying people and circumstances. We need grace even to cope with our own weaknesses. An increase in the knowledge of God establishes us in steadfastness, perseverance and godliness.

Application – By faith, we apprehend that Christ is our Source Person for all we lack. As we grow in character, we are to trust Him for what we lack in character. We will experience breakthroughs when we consciously attempt obedience in the strength of Another (Phil. 4:13).

Christ’s sufficiency is learned gradually. It will involve repeatedly coming to the end of self-reliance.

Unbelief retards our growth in service and character because we are unable to see past our own inadequacy. With our eyes off of Christ and His promises, we are left with the impotency of self as a source. We are prone to compromising decisions while in that condition. Spiritual paralysis sets in until we look to the Lord again.

All the virtues produced in your life are ultimately generated by the character of Christ reproduced in you by the Holy Spirit. This fact does not rule out the principle of presentation or yielding ourselves to God for obedience (Rom. 6:13-19).

THE BELIEVER’S COMFORT AND THE BELIEVER’S CONSISTENT ASSURANCE OF SALVATION FLOW FROM A LIFE OF DILIGENCE.

For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his

purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make

certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you

will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and

Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you (2 Peter 1:9-11).

When Christians neglect the kind of progress enjoined in this chapter, their spiritual vision becomes shortsighted. In that myopic condition, the person does not see the glorious possibilities of growth in Christ. They are blind to the riches and glories of God’s grace and they do not behold the wonder of their divine calling (Eph. 1:17-23).

When professing Christians miss the virtues commanded, they lack the consistent comfort of assurance of salvation. The reason for this resides in the very nature of God’s calling. It is a calling and election unto obedience and holiness (Eph. 1:4). Holiness and obedience are the fruits that confirm God’s divine choice. They give evidence of genuine faith.

Believers are urged to pursue such character and behavior because by that life they will apprehend full assurance of their salvation now. In this way, they will safely and certainly reach their glorious destination. The warranty of assurance is given to those who are diligent.

Diligence is also rewarded by a favorable entrance into the Kingdom. Diligence affects the way we will greet the King of kings. Those who have abided in Christ will not shrink away in shame at His coming, but will greet Him in confidence (1 John 4:17).

A SUMMARY OF THE BENEFITS OF DILIGENCE.

1.) You will walk in step with the Holy Spirit. You will be living consistently with the purpose of your divine calling. As you value the gracious promises, you will find that the world’s allure and appeal is increasingly diminished.

2.) The development of Christian character will make you useful and fruitful in the Master’s service. The people you draw close to will be encouraged in their spiritual growth. Christ’s character will be operating in you.

3.) Confidence, comfort and assurance will be yours in great measure. You will make your election and calling sure. Your confidence in the Lord will result in more spontaneous worship.

4.) On the last day, you will greet the Lord in confidence instead of shame. Your works will survive the judgment seat of Christ. You will hear, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant (Matt. 25:21, KJV).”

Philosophy of Ministry

I. The Benefits of a Philosophy of Ministry. 

Without a philosophy of ministry drawn from non-negotiable biblical principles, it is impossible to have unity of direction.  A philosophy of ministry defines both why the church does what it does, and it defines what the church is to do.

The investigation of Scripture yields explicit teaching regarding implicit methodologies of ministry.[i] “Scripture is the very foundation upon which the church is built and comprises not only the content of the message that the church proclaims but also the methods by which the church operates.”[ii]

As a consequence of the above, a biblical philosophy of ministry is not merely a suggested set of pragmatic guidelines, but a Scriptural mandate on how the church should function.[iii]  As such, the purpose of the church is the same for everybody.  It is a blueprint of what God wants you to do and how to do it.

A biblical philosophy of ministry is necessary in order to be efficient.  With limited time, energy and resources, it is incumbent upon God’s people to clearly understand God’s purpose.  Without a lucid plan drawn from Scripture, human nature is such that it will pursue personal purposes instead of God’s purpose.[iv]

Only by delineating God’s unquestioned goal can the church pursue that purpose with all its strength.  When the church articulates is philosophic foundations, it can determine the scope of its ministry and it can continually evaluate its corporate ministry efforts.  Driving toward a main purpose keeps the church “on task” so that its resources are not diluted.

An established philosophy of ministry allows the church to evaluate its ministry in light of well thought out biblical criteria rather than on the basis of a program’s popularity.[v]

With a philosophical foundation, the church will be better able to keep its ministry balanced and focused upon essentials.  Each aspect of ministry will more easily be defined in relation to the whole.

A firmly established philosophy of ministry regularly articulated by the leadership “filters down” through the rest of the flock to form a consistent approach to ministry.  As a result of such clear articulation to each member, there will be a very high potential for mobilizing a greater proportion of the flock. 

A church that can articulate its philosophic foundations will have a solid criterion for judging the relative merits of a prospective ministry.  Churches without a biblical philosophy of ministry tend to be “program driven.”  In that situation, goals will precipitate toward pleasing people instead of being God-centered.  Felt needs, social oriented ideas, and superficial views of success will tend to shape ministry programs where God’s purpose and plan are not articulated. 

A correct biblical foundation provides the church with a standard that allows her to purposefully choose to cooperate, or not cooperate with other churches and parachurch ministries.[vi]

II. The Purpose of the Local Church. 

            The Church is repeatedly called the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22, 23).  The Church was born in the eternal purpose of God.  In Ephesians 3, it is evident that God planned and purposed the Church throughout eternity, but He did not reveal it until this age.[vii]

            In essence, the Church is the only divinely organized society among men.  It was instituted for a purpose by Christ.  Christ gave it its laws and an economy of methods and order by which to accomplish its sacred mission.[viii]

            The Church exists in order to be a worshipping community.  Her purpose is to glorify God by worship and by godly living.  The glory of God is the Church’s first duty and is foundational to all other purposes (Rom 15:6, 9; Eph 1:5-18). 

            The ultimate purpose of the Church is the worship of the One who called it into being.  True worship can only take place as one is in the realm of the Spirit.  In that realm, one is vitalized and motivated to true worship.  Worship in Spirit is also worship in truth.  True worship only takes place in Christ.  In Him, one is in the supernatural life of the Spirit and in the truth.[ix]

            John 4:19-24 is a paramount text in our understanding of true new covenant worship.  In that passage Christ predicted that a new order of worship would be instituted by God in which the OT pattern would be replaced.  The NT introduces worship in Christ which does not prescribe a specific format.  NT worship has no holy place.  It has no sacrificial system (“sacrifices” are all now spiritual – 1 Pet 2:5: Rom 12:1, 2; Heb 13:15, 16).  A select priesthood has now been replaced with the priesthood of every believer (1 Pet 2:5; Rev 1:6).[x]

            The Church is to ascribe worth to God.  The redeemed community glorifies God not only in its acts of worship but also in its mere existence (Eph 1:3-14).  The Church’s very life and existence are a function of the exercise of God’s mighty attributes (2 Pet 1:1-4).  The community of saints can thus use their own spiritual life and conversion as “exhibit A” of God’s excellencies (1 Pet 2:9, 10).[xi]

            Worship services in the NT include the following: The Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:42; 1 Cor 11: 17-34), The Edification Service (1 Cor 14:1ff.), The Baptismal Service, The Prayer Meeting (Acts 13:2, 3), The Disciplining Service (1 Cor 5:1ff.).[xii]

            The Church exists in order to be a to be a repository of divine truth (1 Tim 3:15).  The Scriptures teach that believers adhered to a definite doctrinal standard (Acts 2:42; Eph 4:20).  They were to guard the truth (2 Tim 1:13, 14).  They were to contend for the truth (Jude 3).  They were to systematically teach the truth (Tit 1:9; 2:1). 

            The Church exists in order to be a light to the world through evangelism (Matt 5:13-16; 28:19-20; Tit 2:11-15).  The ultimate goal of all ministry is to reach others for Christ to the glory of God.  Believers’ lives are to be an evangelistic witness – a light to a dark and perverse generation (Phil 2:15).  Our witness is to be through our lives and through our words (1 Pet 3:15).  Missions entails a worldwide view of evangelism.[xiii]

            There is no excuse for a local church neglecting its “own Jerusalem.”  The field is the world, but the world begins in our own backyard, at work, and across the street.  Corporate evangelism is basic to personal evangelism.  Personal evangelism takes on an unusual significance when a local body of mature believers makes an impact on their community by means of their integrity.  Note the character issues that are joined to witness: excellent citizenship (1 Thess 4:11, 12), unselfish behavior (Rom 13:7), orderly conduct (1 Cor 10:31-33), wisdom (Col 4:6), diligence (1 Cor 6:1), humility (1 Pet 2:18).[xiv]

            The Church’s objective is to make disciples of the nations.  The goal is to plant a church in every nation and people group in order that the remainder of that nation may be reached with the Gospel.  Church planting is the primary objective of missions.  The Church is a “debtor” to the whole world.  We are under obligation to let the whole world hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

            Every church should study missions.  The study of the needs of unreached people groups results in missionary intercession, missionary contributions, and missionary sending.

            By evangelism, the Church also is a witness to those who will not believe.  As such, the Church is a restraining and enlightening force in the world.  Believers are the “salt of the earth” (Matt 5:13-16).  By their influence and testimony, believers are instrumental in holding back the unrestrained advance of lawlessness. 

            Though the believer is forbidden to form close partnerships with the ungodly (2 Cor 6:14-18), he is not to break off his support of causes that are positive in the community (those which promote social, political, economic, and educational welfare).  Our good works give evidence that our evangelistic testimony is backed up by righteous character. 

            The Church exists in order to edify itself (1 Cor 12-14; Rom 12; Eph 4).  This purpose includes the “building up of itself in love” (Eph 4:11-16).  The church is to grow to spiritual maturity through the process of edification.  Maturation makes its witness to the world dynamic.  God is honored and glorified in the process.[xv]

            The purpose of edification is to present every man complete in Christ (Col 1:28).  The plan which brings about the purpose is by proclaiming Christ, and by teaching and admonishing every man (1:28).  (“Teaching, admonishing, striving” indicate that the communication of the Word did not stop with preaching.  The truth was fixed in the mind until it was clear to the pastors and teachers that their listeners were doing it.)[xvi]   

            The local church serves as a training center whereby people can grow through the application of teaching and the utilization of their spiritual gifts.[xvii]

            True worship involves service.  Spiritual gifts were sovereignly distributed by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of building up one another (Rom 12:1-8).  Love makes us care for one another as a ministering, active community that exercises its spiritual gifts in order to fill the needs of those in the body (1 Cor 12-14).

            Every new believer must taught the answer to the question, “What do I do with my new found faith?” Answer – consecrate yourself and serve (Rom 12-16; 1 Pet 4:10, 11).

            The local church must be committed to the task of educating its constituency.  Gifted men are God’s gift to the church for the purpose of equipping and perfecting the saints for the work of the ministry (Eph 4:11-16). 

            The main business of assembly life is the equipping and the edification of believers.  We cannot expect lay workers in ministry to possess developed gifts unless we are totally committed to the mandate of “equipping the saints for the work of the ministry.”[xviii]  “The dynamic of the early Church came from a proper  understanding of the roles of the Body: gifted leaders building up the saints who in turn exercise spiritual ministries throughout the Body.”[xix]

         The Church exists in order to provide a context of loving fellowship for the purpose of mutual edification (Eph 3:16-19; 4:12-16).  The basis of our fellowship is our common bond in Christ by His Spirit (1 Jn 1:3).  Obedience as well as faith is vital to our fellowship with one another – “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another” (1 Jn 1:7).  The blessings of the brethren dwelling together in unity is dependent upon truth believed and obeyed, not upon mere sentimentality or compromise.[xx]

III. The Implementation of the Purpose of the Church. 

            Many lay people are highly trained, mature believers.  “Many of our lay people are much more capable of putting together and maintaining ministries than we pastors think they are.”  Sadly, so many churches are structured around one major chord – solely giving lay people more information about the Bible and the Christian life.[xxi]

            Implementation of the purpose of the Church begins first of all by understanding that God alone directs the Church through the Holy Scriptures (1 Cor 4:6); through His gifted people; and through the circumstances He ordains.  The Church belongs to God (1 Tim 3:14, 15).  Church leaders do not rule “in absentia,” for Christ is presently Head of His Church (Eph 4:15).[xxii]

            God’s power, rule, and direction are manifested through the exegesis of His Word.  Therefore, exegesis is the foundation and starting point of all ministry.  As a consequence, church programs must be established by people who are committed to biblical principles.[xxiii]

            Ministry ought to be built around the giftedness of the person, rather than around a job description or a program’s operation manual.  This is especially true in light of the fact that God sovereignly distributes spiritual gifting according to His wise plan.  God builds the church, placing gifted people in the body where He wishes (1 Cor 12:11).

            Pastors and elders are to examine the use of gifts and equip people in light of God’s Word.  The profile of a gift should shape the profile of a ministry.  When elders meet, prayer ought to occupy a majority of the meeting time.  The reason for this posture of submissive prayer is because they are under Christ’s authority.  Seeking to ascertain what God desires to do in the Body must be primary.  God’s leading is always through the authority of Christ’s Word.[xxiv]  

            Every new church member ought to know precisely where the church is headed.  New converts, transfer members – each should be given an understanding of the purpose and direction of the church.[xxv]

            The mission or purpose statement of Saddleback Church serves to demonstrate that implementation of the philosophy of ministry ought to be always tied to results rather than mere activity.  Saddleback’s purpose statement reads as follows: “To bring people to Jesus and membership in His family, develop them to Christlike maturity, and equip them for their ministry in the Church and life mission in the world, in order to magnify God’s Name.”[xxvi]

            Implementation that is stated in terms of results is by far the best way to evaluate and measure whether or not the local body is fulfilling the Great Commission.  Results oriented implementation focuses more upon “growing people with a process, than growing a church with programs.”[xxvii]

            The purpose of the Church only becomes dynamic when it becomes specific.  By that is meant that the Church vision should be “personalized” so that each member understands the privileges and responsibilities of being a part of the Body.  (i.e., The purpose of our church is my responsibility to fulfill and my privilege to enjoy.)[xxviii]

            In order to reach the goal of equipping the saints for the purpose of ministry, it is useful to think in terms of “circles of commitment.”  Circles or levels of commitment provide a biblical structure for establishing a strategy to move the believer toward maturity. 

            The new convert is moved into the congregation for fellowship and worship.  Then he is moved into a committed relationship for discipleship.  Then he is moved into a committed core for ministry.  Finally, he is moved with the committed core back out into the community for evangelism.  This process fulfills all five purposes of the Church.[xxix]

            Central to the discipleship phase of the maturity process is the central task of equipping.  The equipping of believers falls under two broad headings: Equipping for Christian living and equipping for Christian service.  Jesus expects that His disciples will be involved in ministry.  He expects His people to train disciples who are able to reproduce themselves (2 Tim 2:2; Luke 6:50).

            New converts are to be discipled through personalized teaching.  FIRST, they are to be grounded in the Christian life.  This takes place through the worship/preaching service and through small groups.  Small group studies aimed at new believers stress principles for godly living and godly relationships.

            In a small group atmosphere, each believer is nurtured toward Christ-like maturity.  This first essential of equipping is vital, but not specific enough for the believer to assume ministry responsibilities.

The SECOND kind of equipping is for Christian service.  During this training, believers are instructed in the use of their spiritual gifts.  The minimal curriculum for this stage of equipping includes the following: 1.) evangelism with hands-on experience, 2.) Bible study methods, 3.) Panorama of the Bible (plus Fundamental of the Faith),

4.) Spiritual gifts, 5.) Foundational doctrines, 6.) Learning to serve, 7.) Apologetics,

8.) Ecclesiology, 9.) Basics of the Christian life (Essentials of prayer, Communion with God, How people change, Christian character).

A church in which every member has been equipped in these vital areas will be well-trained for ministry.

To summarize, we would say that we implement our church purpose by evangelizing non-Christians, by edifying believers in their spiritual growth (equipping stage one), by equipping workers for the ministry of their spiritual gifts (equipping stage two), by entrusting leaders to shepherd the flock.[xxx]

Each of the above four “ministry segments” is reflected in a strategy: 1.) Evangelism: Saturday evening evangelistic Bible studies.  Evangelism training with outreach experience (dinner parties, park evangelism, campus evangelism, visitation evangelism).  2.) Edification: Bible exposition at Lord’s Day meetings, after sermon Q& A, spiritual retreats, men’s ministries with the development of mentoring relationships, women’s ministries, small group studies with an emphasis on the Christian life.  3.) Equipping: Wednesday evening ministry training meetings (Bible study methods, spiritual gifts, apologetics, etc.), bi-monthly Saturday training seminars, service projects, world missions projects, discipling others, biblical counseling.  4.) Entrusting: Personal mentoring of shepherds, training in teaching, leading, administration, shepherding.

[i] Carey Hardy, Building a Biblical Philosophy of Ministry, p. 1.

[ii] Rick L. Holland, A Biblical Philosophy of Ministry, p. 1.

[iii] Alex Montoya, Internship: Pastoral Ministries PM 712, p. 3.

[iv] Ibid.

[v] Ibid., p. 4.

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] Paul R. Jackson, The Doctrine and Administration of the Church, pp. 13, 14.

[viii] Edward T. Hiscox, Principles and Practices for Baptist Churches, pp. 44, 45.

[ix] Robert L. Saucy, The Church in God’s Program, pp. 166, 168, 169.

[x] Montoya, p. 5.

[xi] Ibid., p. 6.

[xii] Ibid., p. 7.

[xiii] John MacArthur Jr., Shepherdology, pp. 45-47.

[xiv] Gene Getz, Sharpening the Focus of the Church, pp. 40, 41.

[xv] Montoya, p. 10.

[xvi] Ibid.

[xvii] Hardy, p. 8.

[xviii] Gary Inrig, Life in His Body, pp. 45, 47.

[xix] John MacArthur Jr., The Body Dynamic, p. 79.

[xx] Jackson, p. 116.

[xxi] Frank R. Tillapaugh, Unleashing the Church, pp. 76, 77.

[xxii] Donald McDougall, Paul’s Ecclesiology of the Church (An Exegesis of 1 Cor 1-6).

[xxiii] Ibid.

[xxiv] Ibid.

[xxv] Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church, pp. 91, 92.

[xxvi] Ibid., p. 107.

[xxvii] Ibid. p. 108.

[xxviii] Ibid., pp. 115, 116.

[xxix] Ibid., p. 138.

[xxx] D. Massimo Lorenzini, Witnessing Without Fear, A Guide to God Centered

    Evangelism.

Bibliography

Clowney, Edmund. The Church. Downers Grove: Inter Varsity Press,

               1995.

Getz, Gene A. Sharpening the Focus of the Church. Chicago: Moody Press,

               1974.

Hiscox, Edward T. Principles and Practices for Baptist Churches. Grand

               Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1980.

Inrig, Gary. Life in His Body. Wheaton: Harold Shaw Publishers, 1975.

Jackson, Paul R.  The Doctrine and Administration of the Church. 

               Schaumburg: Regular Baptist Press, 1968.

MacArthur, John Jr. The Body Dynamic.  Colorado Springs: Victor Books,

             1996.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_______.  Shepherdology, A Master Plan for Church Leadership.  Panorama

             City: The Master’s Fellowship, 1989.

Saucy, Robert.  The Church in God’s Program.  Chicago: Moody Press,

             1972.

Tillapaugh, Frank R.  Unleashing the Church.  Ventura: Regal Books,

             1982.

Warren, Rick.  The Purpose Driven Church.  Grand Rapids: Zondervan

             Publishing House, 1995.

Preaching to the Inner Man and Preaching for Conversion

Adapted from a Lecture by Hywel Jones, Banner of Truth Conf., 1997

There is a Great Need to Learn How to Preach to the Inner Man.

As preachers we are in need of a “fresh anointing.” We need to be reinvigorated and empowered anew (Ps 92:10-15). God’s anointing is needed because we are called to a ministry that is impossible apart from divine enablement – we are called to make a vital connection between the Word of God and our hearers.

Our preaching is intended by God to connect two worlds; the world of the Bible to the world of our listeners. In order to do so, it must impinge upon our hearers where they are.

So often we fall short of making this connection. There is a kind of preaching that is clear and perspicuous, faithful to the narrow and wider context of the canon, doctrinally accurate, BUT inadequate at reaching the inner man.

We must strive to preach to the inner man. Many expositors focus almost totally on the meaning of the text, but do not set their sights on targeting the inner man. We must not satisfy ourselves with the thought that our listeners “have learned something.” We must aim at reaching the inner man. We must preach so that our listeners’ reflection and conviction is, “This is what God is saying to me today.”

If reaching the inner man is not the goal of our exposition, our preaching will seldom rise above the didactic. This is a cause for serious self-examination. Our messages tend to be too “lecture-like.” They have a term paper feel to them, but they are not nearly prophetic enough in character. They are “atomistic” in the sense that they are consistently precept oriented, but lacking in the ability to stick in the conscience and the affections.

We must develop a deeper awareness of the prophetic character of preaching.

A prophetic thrust to preaching begins in the prayer closet and in the study. Our tendency is to tackle our text with this goal in mind, “I’ve got to deal with this passage.” If our preaching is to be prophetic, we will have to ask the question, “How is this passage dealing with me?” “What on earth has this to do with me?”

Our goal is not just to reach our hearers, but the inner man of our hearers. The inner man cannot be reached unless the mind and conscience is jabbed. Have we allowed the biblical passage to deal with us; has it jabbed our own mind and conscience? We must have the text deal with us first before we can reach the inner man in our hearers.

We must preach with the intent of bringing God into the view of our hearers.

The inner man is transformed by beholding God (2 Cor 3:16-18). We are able to preach with the confidence that we have a new covenant ministry; the wall (veil) between our believing hearers and our message is gone. That is the assurance given in 2 Cor 3:12-4:6. It is a cause for great boldness in our preaching (3:12).

This passage in 2 Corinthians gives us an analysis of our believing hearers: their hardness of heart has been removed (3:16); they are beholding the glory of the Lord (3:18); they have seen the glory of God in the face of Christ(4:6); they are ready to have their consciences addressed (4:2).

Now that the veil is gone (3:16), we can devote ourselves to preaching a life toward God; a life of towardness to God.

Preaching to the outer man is common in contemporary Evangelicalism. But true preaching is not merely focusing upon what we have found in the Word and have mined from Scripture. True preaching brings the inner man to his senses and to his knees. It does so because it touches the conscience in a profound manner (4:2). In true preaching, God comes into the view of the hearer in a life-transforming manner (3:18).

What kind of preacher can preach to the inner man? It is but one man in a thousand who can preach this way. A portrait of this kind of man can be found in John Bunyan. He was grave, serious, earnest in habit, not flippant. His constant mindset was to begat, bring forth, and nurse.

 Bunyan matched the description given of the teaching Levite priest in Malachi 2:5-7. “My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him as an object of reverence; so he revered Me and stood in awe of My Name. True instruction was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found on his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many back from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.”

The man who is able to preach to the inner man must be in the habit of hearing in his own inner man. He must see himself as a “beggar” speaking to other beggars. We must experience birth pangs and growing pangs in our own life if we are to reach the inner man in other individuals.

There is a Great Need to Preach for Growth in the Inner Man.

The image of God in man is hopelessly defaced by sin; men are beyond human repair. Yet people tend to live as if the power of repair is under their control. The knowledge of God’s truth is preached in order to transform and repair. The righteousness of God is preached that men might know the sinfulness of sin and the righteousness of Christ. Christ’s righteousness was evinced in His love for God, by His fulfilling of the Law in the place of the sinner.

God alone gives the increase in spiritual growth that we are preaching to induce.

Our preaching cannot produce regeneration or sanctification apart from the Spirit’s work. We must maintain dependence upon God in our preaching for growth. We tend to regard growth as conformity to truth and principles – this is certainly true in part, but there is a dimension we tend to ignore. Growth is the new man asserting itself more and more by the power of the Spirit.

Great care is needed when handling the subjects of the law and sin. If growth is to be equated with more life, freedom and righteousness, then we must not communicate that growth is merely mastering a code (God’s law).

Our emphasis should not be upon keeping the creed or the law, but upon living the life in the Son. It is so easy to burden and to deaden. Christ said that His yoke was easy and His burden was light. The child of God by definition is not under sin and law as a dominating, controlling, condemning force. He has passed from death to life – he is free from the law of sin and death.

In order to preach for growth in the inner man, we must deal with our listeners in their being alive! We must not make the Christian life a burden. Avoid generating a sense of condemnation. We must steer clear of forever talking about duty, focusing on failure, intensifying a sense of grievous disobedience, and deepening a sense of condemnation. This doesn’t promote growth.

If we hammer duty too much it can be a symptom of imbalance in our own ministry. Are we trying to make up for our lack of preaching to unbelievers? Are we seeking to assuage our sense of evangelistic failure by muscling in on believers and imparting our sense of failure to them?

Great transparency before the throne of God is needed in the life and ministry of the preacher. Are we piling up precepts on our people? We must guard against “be good” sermons that leave the listener with the impression, “You have so many commissions to fulfill, so many duties to accomplish.” To preach in this manner is to make them far from grace – it is to place them back under law. It builds a wall to separate them from the fullness of Christ.

Our entire eligibility for God’s favor is Christ; we have the Savior’s blessed availability -- all by gracious donation. We must avoid grieving the hearts of the righteous. Sanctification is relational; it is living the life of toward-ness to God in Christ as His beloved possession.

When promoting growth in the inner man, we are to press down the die of truth on the understanding and the affections. There are particular truths that promote growth. Make much of the love of Christ. The truth concerning His love is a constraining truth that promotes likeness to Him and conformity to His commands. Our obedience is achievable by virtue of His energy. When we deepen these “indentations” by means of the die of truth, growth will result.

How easy it is to lose sight of the Lord Jesus Christ. Other things become central and He is marginalized in the process. Beloved, the Church thrives only when Christ has preeminence in all things.

Christian people are right and correct when they hunger to hear how perfectly suited Christ is for their every need (Heb 7:26, 27). Our preaching must hold Him before Christian people. Set Him before them as their “Source Person” and it will cause them to be like Him.

Our motivation for obedience is the love of Christ. Our framework is His law (Christ holds the law in His hands as a placated Mediator of the new covenant who rules His people by love). Our strength and energy for obedience is His Person.

Christ is to be preeminent and central in all of ministry. He is to have preeminence in everything. Don’t talk more about God than Christ (1 Cor 2:1-3).

The motivation for growth is the Gospel, not the Law. Use the Gospel to keep your people aware of what they owe, who they are, what they were, and where they are headed. The precepts and laws of God must be filtered through Christ and Him crucified. Are we consciously seeking to bring our listeners to delight to receive Christ’s love and law in their hearts? Our tendency as ministers is to make biblical commands stand alone from Christ’s finished work and present power. But, it is the experimental knowledge of Christ’s love that gives us the disposition to love one another, and to bear one another’s burdens. His love gives us the disposition to please. His precepts give us the specifics of how to please God; He directs our love by His precepts. (We need to view our living the Christian life in this way instead of merely adherence to a code.)

We must understand that our being “in Christ” is our strength. Our union with Christ is vital, living, and organic; it is not merely federal representation. Themind of Christ is available, the might of Christ is available – we don’t have to fulfill a single command by ourselves, in our own strength. We operate in the realm of grace full and free. We cannot barter for God’s infinite goodness in Christ, we cannot exchange anything for it; it is still for nothing, it is still all of grace (Rom 5:1, 2).

How do we press down these truths upon the minds and hearts of our hearers?This ministry of pressing down the die of truth has three “tones” or “strands” that function together. The Apostle Paul used them in conjunction (1 Thess 2:11).“Just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children.”

Exhorting: is to appeal by argument. It is not the same as laying down the law. It is face to face, side by side ministry as when the Apostle Paul acted as a spiritual father and mother. Laying down the law is not as effective, though it might seem so. By contrast, the exhorting pastor asks the question, “What will make people rise up, want to be more like Christ, and want to obey?” “What will make them more like Christ in attitude, word, and deed?”

Encouraging: is to comfort humans in their frailty. Distressed minds and hearts need to be consoled. So many are distressed within and without. They are living with turmoil of soul, with stress, fear, anxiety, and condemnation. Even under the Old Covenant, the Levitical priest exemplified compassion and empathy (Heb 5:2, 3). How much more do we, under the new covenant, need to show compassion and empathy – we must not send the message that we have arrived spiritually. We can be too hard. Our own infirmities are always with us. Let us not be too censorious, too overbearing, or too demanding.

Imploring: is to warn the indifferent; it is to withstand the rebellious face to face. It is to confront in specific areas where obedience is lacking. We implore in the context of a “spiritual family.” We are to implore our people to go to perfection. Yet, some are not of us. If individuals persevere in disobedience, that sin might bring them to a point of irrevocable apostasy.

Disobedient believers must be taught to submit to the Heavenly Father’s discipline. In some cases of protracted disobedience in a believer, that correction from God may claim the health and life of the individual that their spirit may be saved in the day of Christ Jesus.

In all three of these tones (exhorting, encouraging and imploring), God is the One who is ultimately speaking. He is the One who calls us to call His people into His glorious kingdom. We are called to communion with Christ. We are called up into the light, even at death.

Christ is the gift of all gifts. We need to inculcate more longing and more yearning to know Christ and to be like Christ in Immanuel’s land. In order to preach to the life of God in the soul, we must preach and speak in all three tones: in speaking truth, we exhort, in communicating compassion, we comfort, in exercising firmness we warn.

The Apostle Paul spoke in all three of these tones (1 Thess 2:11).  

There is a Great Need of Preaching for Conversion.

Of course it is only the believer that has an inner man. We will be preaching to many unregenerate men in our congregations. The decay of the outward man is a sad spectacle because in the unsaved man, it is the decay of all that is there. (By contrast, the Apostle Paul did not lose heart amidst the decay of his outer man because his inner man was being renewed day by day – 2 Cor 4:16.)

Preaching evangelically is a serious weakness in Reformed preaching. Not only should we be preaching to produce growth, we should be preaching to produce a birth (James 1:18).  

In the Gospel idea of preaching, one takes a “die” into his hand in order to form impressions. The impression is the divine image of the knowledge of God and true holiness. God made the soul. Our task is not to criticize it, reform it, or alter it. We are simply to take the die and press it down.

The preacher’s business is simply to take what he finds in the Scriptures and press it down on the heart, conscience, and understanding of men. The die is perfect to produce the impression God desires. We must press down this die as those who have had the selfsame die pressed on us in the sight of God (see Dabney, Theological Discussions, pp. 596-601).

There is a morphology in preaching to bring for the new birth. The planting of life (regeneration) takes place beforehand. We do not preach in order to regenerate. The dead sinner’s heart is not reached by our appeals, pleas, and reasons. We preach to bring out the babe that God has conceived. Our task is more of a midwife than a mother or a father (1 Cor 4:15).

We are to harmonize with, as much as possible, the effectual calling of God, so that a healthy birth takes place. What lines of truth are necessary so as to produce the inner man? What truths does God utilize to bring forth life? (James 1:18). (The issue here is the Gospel truths, not just selective texts.)

We must major on the truth of Christ’s cross and the significance of His death. This is our canon within the canon. For in the cross and the Gospel is the message of the love of God providing an escape from the enslaving, corrupting power of sin and from the condemning power of God (in the Law).

Our mission is to press down these truths upon the mind, affections, and conscience. This means we will have to deal with personal sin. We need to bring to bear on our listeners that they have to come to terms with God’s Law. They are dealing with the Holy One of the universe. They must come to term with God’s love. They will have to come to terms with what God has done for sinners.

In order to press down these truths, we will have to preach so as to produce the following:

· a proper recognition of sin (CONVICTION).

· a proper repudiation of sin (REPENTANCE).

· a proper reception of the Savior (FAITH).

To receive Christ’s person is to receive His righteousness in His life and in His vicarious death; it is to receive His perfect satisfaction on behalf of believing sinners. To preach the recognition and repudiation of sin is to exhort the sinner to recognize his personal sin and create an antipathy toward it.

The preacher faces two obstacles in his task to produce conviction: the nature of the sin, and the condition of the sinner. The nature of sin can be described as blinding, enslaving, and deceiving. The condition of the sinner is as follows: his inability lies in his corrupt nature, his inability is traceable to his darkened understanding, his inability lies in the corruption of his affections, and his inability resides in the total perversity of his will (Arthur Pink, Obstacles to Coming to Christ).

Sin lives, rules, and reigns in the sinner. Sin is beyond all human knowing. It is so deceitful one cannot know it comprehensively. It is impossible to run an objective analysis upon it. It is not superficial. It has literally captured the heart and made the sinner a willing hostage. “Dead in sin” can be defined as that which disables and blinds (see Lloyd Jones, Ephesians Commentary, Eph 4:17-19).

To get the sinner to identify his sin, and reject his sin goes against his whole nature. He is willing to die for his sin, he loves it. If he could plunge a knife into the heart of God in order to keep sin, he would do so.

Sin makes one daring to commit high crimes against heaven. It destroys the fear of God; it is presumption. It is spiritual insanity. It is suicidal in its course. The false prophet Balaam pursued the object of his lust with abandon and “madness” (2 Pet 2:15, 16).

Sin is deceitful because its father is a liar (Jn 8:44). Sin promises, but never delivers what it promises. We must show its deceitful character by unmasking its true colors. We are preaching to sinners who are blinded to what sin is and what it does to the sinner and to God.

We are to depend upon the Word and the Spirit in order to explain what sin is. The law is a standard, a yardstick expressed in specific commandments, each of which is “exceedingly broad” (Ps 119:96).

Romans 7:9 declares, “when the commandment came sin became alive.” That is the Spirit taking up the commandment and bringing it home to the mind, affections, and conscience. The Spirit makes a man realize the inward influence of sin (subjectively). The sinner has to be brought to that level. The Spirit will take it infinitely deeper than we can take it so that the sinner will know sin and feel death.

Prior to the Spirit’s conviction, the sinner thinks that he can ingratiate himself to God. He imagines he can obligate God with a little moral exertion. People need to die to their pride, their confidence, their hope. They need to die to everything but an ever-increasing comprehension of the nature of sin. As preachers we must deal with sin and death. We must make people aware of what wretched men they are.

Jesus called sinners, not the righteous. He alone is fit to handle our ruin. He is perfectly suited (Heb 7:25-28). He kept the Law, and bore its curse.

When we preach, we are to call for the obedience of faith. In saving faith there is a giving of oneself away to God; it is casting one’s entire welfare upon the Lord.

God justifies the ungodly. We are to call upon people to turn, to flee, to look past themselves upon Christ who lived, and died, and rose again.

So great a salvation, full and free, was at the behest of the Father. Command them to come, command them to repent. Assure them that they won’t be cast out. If they will but call, He hears, He will answer. Like the father of the prodigal son, He will run and meet him, He will kiss him and clothe him, and reinstate him.

As preachers, we have to plead. We’re better at commanding than pleading, better at assuring than pleading. If we do not plead, we are not proper ambassadors (2 Cor 5:20). There must be pleading and beseeching in Christ’s stead. He is speaking through us. Our listeners must know that God wants them saved and Satan doesn’t.

The ambassador maintains dignity, but descends to entreaty – he communicates God’s condescending grace. God is Savior. He goes before us to regenerate. He takes the poor soul from darkness to light, from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of His dear Son.

Once the spiritual infant is produced by God, the inner work will become visible (Jn 3:7, 8). There may be a difference of degree of vigor in the life principle imparted. It may be a whimper, or a cry, but in regeneration, new life is present (see Archibald Alexander, Thoughts on Religious Experience, p. 23).

Your view on God’s regenerating work will affect your ecclesiology. Do you lean toward a position of decisional regeneration in which man’s decision initiates regeneration? Then you may focus more on faith made visible in a decision.

Pastors operating from that perspective may assume a higher number of their parishioners to be saved. They will tend to not expect too much of everybody.

There is another view of the regenerating work of God. Do you regard the regenerating power of God to be of the same magnitude of might God exercised in the resurrection of Christ? (see Eph 1:19, 20). If that is your position, then you will correctly expect some degree of vital faith, life, light and love to be evident in each and everyone of those spiritually newborn. You will preach to that new life accordingly – as a newly conceived inner man whose life needs to be asserted by the Spirit’s power.

Preaching to Unsaved Church Members -- Part One

More than 200 years ago Welsh pastor Howell Harris described the spiritual state of the churches in Wales. His penetrating observations were poignant at time but unbeknown to him; his comments have also proven to be descriptive of the condition of American Protestant churches today. In essence, Harris provides a definition of easy believism:

Churches are filled with folks who have a détente with sin; they are at ease under its dominion. They won’t study the fruits of faith or make their election and calling sure; but turn the grace of God into licentiousness (Edward Morgan, The Life and Times of Howell Harris, Need of the Times Publishers, 1998 rp, p. 71).

In his works on the unconverted religious, Howell Harris dissects the heart of the false professor with surgical precision. Harris peals back the layers of formal religion to reveal a soul that is yet a stranger to the blood of Christ.

As 21^st century pastors, we have much to gain by immersing ourselves in the practical theology of our predecessors. These were men who never saw a light bulb or an automobile, yet they knew the hearts of men intimately; perhaps better than we do.

Out of desire to be faithful preachers of the Word at times in our preaching we are going to target unsaved churchgoers who attend services regularly. We might choose a text that addresses the cost of discipleship; or the lordship of Christ; or the meaning of true repentance.

Certainly the Spirit of God is infinitely capable of using these biblical subjects (or any Scripture passage for that matter) to bring saving light into the soul of the unregenerate. But it is noteworthy that the preachers of the Great Awakening era camped frequently upon one great theme; the perfect suitability of the Savior for the sinner’s ruin.

It is only the destitute sinner who falls at the feet of Christ. Only those who been smitten with the death wound of damnation flee to the Savior, only those stripped of all self righteousness cry to Christ for mercy. Only those whose enmity has been cast out by the blood of Christ enjoy experimental union with Christ.

Men of God of two centuries past saw the ‘religious’ unsaved as those who hadconverted to Christianity but not to Christ. Though outwardly moral and verbally orthodox, the false professor is without personal knowledge of Christ. This subject of being a stranger to Christ was the touchstone that permeated the messages of our predecessors when they addressed nominal Christianity.

Therefore it behooves us to know the defenses and machinations of soul that keep the door barred from faith and repentance. How can we preach over, under, and around the door if we do not know the reasons the false professor has so securely bolted the door against the Lamb of God?

Confronting self-righteousness

To begin with, we must know that the unsaved ‘religious’ man has yet to receive a death blow from the law of God. The law has never been manifested to him in its spirituality. In other words, he has never been thoroughly slain by the law. If he had been he would be dead to the law as a source of life and would understand that he must find spiritual life in Another (Gal 2:19).

As a consequence of being yet alive to the law, the idol of self is set up in the heart against Christ in His offices. The false professor feels that he is a good Christian BEFORE he is thoroughly condemned by the law. Only when the law slays him will he be made to feel his utter need of faith in order to lay hold of Christ’s imputed righteousness (ibid., p. 74).

The work of Christ opposes the false professor at every turn; for guilt can only be removed by law at work in Christ’s propitiation. The sinner’s guilt, which issues forth in legal death and condemnation, must be removed by law. Christ accomplished this removal of guilt through His atoning sacrifice. Propitiation is in keeping with God’s law; for under the government of God Christ willingly became officially guilty of the sins of the elect (2 Cor 5:21).

It was by the giving of Christ’s life that condemnation is removed from the believing sinner. By contrast, the unbelieving ‘religious’ man is still in a state of spiritual death (enmity). His efforts to offset his condemnation fall short of resting in Christ alone (Thomas Wilcox and Horatius Bonar, Christ is All, Chapel Library, p. 3).

Believing upon Christ savingly is above the power of the natural man. The whole religious bent of man is to bring duties, humblings, and self-reformation to God in order to gain divine acceptance. But the Gospel proclaims that the sinner must receive all from God’s hand.

Everything in the sinner’s pride is allied against sovereign grace. It’s not an exaggeration to say that nature abominates the merits of Christ. The sinner would rather do anything than be saved by Christ alone; be obligated to Him and owe all to Him (ibid., p. 21-22).

God’s grace is free, but its bestowal has conditions which are set by the Holy Spirit; the Spirit prepares the sinner for grace by means of conviction (Jn 16:13). The burden of sin and wrath on the conscience is a function of divine grace BECAUSE Christ’s merit is only known to the poor soul in deep distress. Small conviction of sin will yield only slight views of Christ’s blood and merits.

Christ is not like us – He is so willing to forgive. Our methods of measuring mercy and grace are faulty; not a speck of self-improvement is acceptable to heaven. God does not grant His grace on the basis of legal repenting (legal repenting seeks to gain divine acceptance by means of personal reformation).  Saving grace is not mixed with works (ibid., pp. 23-24).

Nature can’t stand being stripped of all righteousness. Nature would rather despair; would rather choose Judas’ noose than go to Christ on His terms. “Be merciful to me the sinner” is the hardest prayer in the world. To confess Christ from the heart is above the power of flesh and blood. So much profession of salvation today is merely an accommodation, a lowering of the market to what the flesh is capable of; namely a form of religion in which men have never parted with self-righteousness. As a result carnal professors are strangers to the blood of Christ (ibid., pp. 24-25).

There is a form of religion which only feeds Pharisaical spirituality. Nothing can kill self-righteousness but a real acquaintance with the Savior’s poverty, humiliation, and death. False professors have settled into self-righteousness, self-sufficiency, and whole-hearted ‘confidence’ in their profession; but they will not come to the manger and adore their God and be saved by His humiliation alone (Morgan, pp. 204-205).

A radical change of heart is needed – regeneration. There is a great danger in resting upon any superficial idea or impression of religion. Salvation cannot be obtained until we become one spirit with Christ; experience His resurrection and enjoy the benefits of His death by union with Him.

False professors are more naked, wretched, and poor than they can possibly imagine. They have never seen their own moral bankruptcy and spiritual ruin. They are responsible for hating the light (Jn 3:19-21). They seem ignorant of the fact that God only pities, forgives, and receives those who are poor in spirit, self-condemned, broken-hearted, and sincere (no man apart from the Spirit’s work canprepare himself in this way; it is the Spirit’s convicting work to harrow the heart until it is ‘mortally wounded’). 

No one ever came to liberty without feeling himself in bondage. No man ever believed without discovering through an evil heart of unbelief that believing is the hardest thing in the world. No one ever took up the cross in self-denial without perceiving hell, darkness, and wrath pursuing him until fleeing to Christ as his only refuge (ibid., pp. 257-258).

God’s way is radically different from the “auto-soterism” inherent in modern evangelistic methods. God comes down and confounds the language of Babel; He scatters every stick and stone and pile of mortar. He does not leave one stone upon another. He is a jealous God, and will have no partner in the way of salvation (J. C. Philpot, What is it that saves a soul?, Chapel Library, p. 13).

Joshua’s filthy garments must be taken away from him before he is clothed in clean raiment (Zech 3:4). Thus killing goes before making alive; beggary and thedunghill before the inheritance of the throne of glory; the grave of buried hopes and the dust of self-abhorrence before the exaltation to a seat among princes (1 Sam 2:6-8) (ibid.).

When the quickening power of God’s Spirit has passed upon a man’s conscience, he is invariably brought to see himself to be morally and spiritually bankrupt. This inward sight of self cuts him off sooner or later from legal hopes. In many cases the work may begin in a way scarcely perceptible – but be sure of this, that the Lord will “bring down the hearts” of all His people “with labor;” will convince them of their lost state before Him and cast them as ruined wretches into the dust of death – without hope, strength, wisdom, help, or righteousness, except that which is given to them, as a free gift of distinguishing grace.

And this work of grace in the conscience, pulling down of all man’s false refuges, stripping him of every lying hope, and thrusting him down into self-abasement and self-abhorrence, is indispensable to a true reception of Christ. No matter how informed his judgment is he will never receive Christ spiritually into his heart and affections, until he has been broken down by the hand of God in his soul to be a ruined wretch (J. C. Philpot, The Heavenly Birth and its Earthly Counterfeit,Chapel Library, p. 4).

Exposing Presumption

So many today in churches rest in their convictions but do not give evidence of the Spirit of God working in the will and the affections. No man marvels in God’s distinguishing love unless he has received a deadly wound; by that wound the Spirit enables him to see that he must be damned unless covered by Christ’s righteousness and unless Christ’s nature is wrought in him.

There is inestimable danger in resting in convictions without life, love, fellowship with God and Christ and growth in the knowledge of Christ and self (Morgan, p. 76).

There is a natural love, faith, and humility in souls deceived into thinking that they are born again. Their natures are only outwardly changed and outwardly enlightened. Self love still reigns. They are not convinced of the evil of secret sin. They have never perceived the deceitfulness of their natures; natures capable of putting on the appearance of grace, and complying with the outward form of religion.

It is possible to know Christ outwardly according to the flesh wherein there is a kind of love to Him, a kind of confidence in Him that is from natural and historical views of the Gospel (such as Balaam had). These persons looked on something they had done or felt and drew the conclusion they were saved.

This is the religion of most professors. They formed a faith in themselves without going to Christ as a perishing sinner! They have never looked to Christ as to thebrazen serpent; they never ran fleeing to Christ from the Avenger. Therefore they settled into a false confidence. But notice what is foreign to them. They do not experience daily combat, victory of faith, feeding on the flesh and blood of the Savior, the mysteries of the God-man, His obedience of humiliation, His infinite riches, the wonders of His sufferings – these things are not delight for them but speculation; not the soul’s food, but subjects of religious controversy (ibid., pp. 179-180).

J. C. Philpot’s riveting comments highlight the fact that salvation in Christ is an internal reality; where there is no experience of that reality, there is no salvation: As far as inward religion is concerned, a man must have salvation as an internal reality, as a known, enjoyed, tasted, felt and handled possession, or he will never enter the kingdom of heaven. He may be a Churchman or a Dissenter, Calvinist or Arminian, Baptist or Independent, anything or everything, and yet all his profession is no more towards this salvation than the cut of his clothes, the height of his stature, or the color of his complexion.

What is the everlasting love of a Triune God, unless that eternal love is shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit? What is the final perseverance of the saints, unless there is blessed enjoyment of it in the conscience as a personal reality? To see these things revealed in the Bible is nothing. To hear them preached by one of God’s ministers is nothing. To receive the truth of these things into our judgment and to yield to them in unwavering assent is nothing. Thousands have done all this who are blaspheming God in hell. But to have eternal election, personal redemption, imputed righteousness, unfailing love, and all the other blessed links of the golden chain let down into the soul from the throne of God; to have the beauty, glory and blessedness of salvation in all of its branches – past, present, and to come – revealed to the heart and sealed upon the conscience, this is all in all (J. C. Philpot, What is it that saves a soul?, p. 18).

Many speak of Christ who never came to Him as a lost sinner; their natural enmity has not been cast out. They are still “outer court” worshippers engaged in old covenant spirituality. Therefore we’re going to be preaching to many who aretares; folks who have yet to have their hearts melted by the sight of Christ in a manger in our nature. They have never beheld Him crowned with thorns, opening not His mouth because He bore our sin and shame. The false professor has a secret enmity against the preaching of God’s humiliation in the death of the Son of God (the theology of the “crucified God” does not ravish their souls).

They are false professors content with false peace. They have overlooked their own sins; they have not been brought to the cross and the blood by a sense of their sin in order to see them done away with by Christ’s punishment and blood. They have but a superficial knowledge that cannot see our sins laid upon the Savior. Therefore they cannot feed upon Christ and His cross and receive comfort there.

But where the new man is formed, the individual is not satisfied to hear of Him ; he must have Him as the Pearl of Great Price; he must have the Redeemer upon whom he rests all of his hopes (Morgan, p. 181-182).

Though professing faith in Christ; the unregenerate lies in a deep spiritual slumber of apathy. But spiritual complacency is foreign to the child of God. The child of God’s grace is hungry for experimental righteousness and until his Lord returns he will watch against the uprising of lusts and thoughts which war against God and the soul (Gary Hendrix, Professing Christians Warned, Chapel Library).

The flesh can never rise above hypocrisy. Even when dressed in the highest Calvinistic orthodoxy it can never rise above itself. There is no brokenness of heart, no contrition of spirit, no spiritual hope, no godly sorrow, no genuine humility, no living faith, and no heavenly love, “shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit.” No abasing views of self, no tender feelings of reverence towards God, no filial fear of His great name, no melting of the heart, no softening of spirit, no deadness to the world, no sweet communion with the Lord of life and glory, ever dwelt in their breasts (J. C. Philpot, The Heavenly Birth . . ., p. 8).

It was Bishop Ryle who said, I look at the world and see the greater part of it lying in wickedness. I look at professing Christians and see the vast majority having nothing of Christianity but the name. I turn and I hear the Spirit saying ‘Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.’ Surely this text ought to make us consider our ways and search our hearts. Surely it should raise within us solemn thoughts, and send us to prayer.

Unmasking decisional regeneration

The teaching of “Decisional Regeneration” departs from Scripture because it attributes to man the ability to regenerate himself. The practice of “Decisional Regeneration” in the Church must be exposed in order to save men from the damning delusion that because they have “decided,” they are going to heaven and are no longer under the wrath of God (James Adams, Decisional Regeneration, Chapel Library, p. 3).

“You must be born again” (Jn 3:7) is the great doctrine of man’s need for regeneration in order to enter the kingdom of God (i.e., miraculous new birth). But the modern born again movement denies the very point that John 3 intends to teach. Simply stated, the error is this – that men are born again as a result of something they do.

Whatever requirement is put on the sinner the impression is given that sinful man himself is the one who brings about regeneration. We can and must tell men to turn from their sins and believe the Gospel, but in doing so we should realize that when a man does repent and believe, it is the result of God’s prior regenerative working within him. If this were not the case, if man were actually capable of initiating his own salvation, then it would be impossible to escape the conclusion that men do not need regeneration at all, but possess in themselves an innate goodness which causes them to seek after God – but Scripture puts this to the lie (Rom 3:10-12) (Richard Ochs, Born-againism, Chapel Library).

The purity of the Gospel is of extreme importance because it alone is the power of God unto salvation, and the true basis of Christian unity. Charles Hodge points out the danger of teaching decisional regeneration: No more soul-destroying doctrine could well be devised than the doctrine that sinners can regenerate themselves, and repent and believe just when they please. . . As it is a truth both of Scripture and of experience that the un-renewed man can do nothing of himself to secure his salvation, it is essential that he should be brought to a practical conviction of that truth. When thus convicted, and not before, he seeks help from the only source whence it can be obtained”(Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Grand Rapids 1970, Vol. 2, p. 277).

Evangelistic methods employed in Evangelical Christianity have given rise to a policy of equating salvation with a profession of faith in Christ. The result is church roles filled with carnal professors whose daily lives are a contradiction of true piety (Gary Hendrix, Professing Christians Warned).

Among the multitudes of “decisions” that are made there are some genuine conversions. But with the passing of every week thousands are being counseled into false hope. When folks are counseled to pray a certain prayer and then pronounced “saved,” it commonly results in the deluding impression that the individual has been “regenerated” through a decision. Regeneration is reduced to a procedure which man performs. How differently did Jesus Christ deal with sinners. He did not speak with people with a stereotyped presentation; He dealt with every individual on a personal basis (James Adams, pp. 4-5).

False professors place their confidence in a “birth” that is of “the will of man” (Jn 1:13). Observes Philpot, man then it appears has a will to become religious; and taken up by ourselves, so the birth after the “will of man” shadows forth a religion put upon us by others. And to what does that great mass of the religion of the present day amount to? If we gauge it by the scriptural standard, if we look at it with a spiritual eye, if we examine it in its bearings God-ward, what must we say of the vast bulk of religion current in this professing day? Must we not say that it is according to “the will of man?” (Philpot, The Heavenly Birth, p. 8).

Looking unto Jesus is the vivified soul’s response to a crucified and risen Savior. Let us not forget that repentance is a consequent of faith in God’s free love to sinners; we are not saved FOR believing; faith is not a work. Do not make a savior out of your faith. We might well ask, “Is your hope of glory laid by the hand of Christ or by your own hand? Who began religion in you? (Wilcox, Christ is All,pp. 13-17).

Christ is only put on when our own covering is totally unraveled. No one really believes until he is an undone sinner – the hardest thing in the world is to take Christ alone for righteousness. To believe, one must have a clear view of conviction of sin, of the merits of Christ’s blood, and Christ’s willingness to save one merely as a sinner. All this is more difficult than to make a world; nature cannot attain to it.

The temptations of Satan center upon self-righteousness which keeps guilt and hardness of heart in place. A defiled conscience is only allayed by the blood of Christ. No one is truly heroic about facing his own depravity’s vileness UNLESS he totally trusts the merits of Christ’s blood (ibid., pp. 19-20).

It is Christ’s work to make you believe. Saving faith is a gift. Yet you are to mourn your unbelief; for unbelief sets up guilt of conscience above Christ and His merits. Unbelief fixates upon complaints against the self – whereas faith looks away from self to Christ (ibid.).

The Gospel doesn’t calculate how guilty you are compared to other sinners. All are shut up under sin (Gal 3:22). The assured foundation laid up for the believer in the Gospel is commonly misunderstood by professors of faith. The Gospel is NOT a scheme to make up for deficiencies; the Gospel is addressed to those who are far from righteousness. It is addressed to the poor, blind and naked. Christ came to call sinners to repentance.

The true Gospel offends the pride of the hearer by putting all on the level of society’s outcasts. The Gospel is not a bargain or transaction which God proposes on certain conditions of acceptance. The gift of eternal life is not proffered to those who are able to meet certain conditions. No, the Gospel is a message of reconciliation offered indiscriminately to mankind (James Haldane, The Revelation of God’s Righteousness, Chapel Library, pp. 23-24).

Because of satanic blindness to the Gospel of grace (2 Cor 4:3, 4), unregenerate man cannot comprehend the true basis of salvation, and is therefore ever prone to do the best he knows how. This is to attempt to work out his own standing before God by his own efforts. It is the natural tendency to do something of merit; whether standing in an evangelistic meeting, or raising a hand, or walking an aisle. He may be persuaded to do all of the above when he has no conception of standing by faith on the Rock of Jesus Christ. He may come forward in a church and abandon his natural timidity when he knows nothing of abandoning his satanic tendency to self-help, and resting by faith on that which Christ has done for him (Iain Murray, The Invitation System, Banner of Truth, pp. 22-23).

Only the Spirit’s convicting power can slay self-help. The leprous doctrine of free will is destroyed in the heart of one who has had any spiritual dealing with Christ; for Christ is the One who in the exercise of His sovereignty applies His merits to the sinner (He reveals the Father, Matt 11:27 -- He is ‘the Mediatior of a better covenant’ – Heb 8:6).

Christ is so infinitely holy that man’s fallen nature dare not look upon Him in absolute reliance and believing surrender. The divine nature must be put into the soul in order to look upon Christ so as to lay hold of Him. No man apprehends Christ savingly but the one whom the Father draws (Jn 6:44) (Wilcox, p. 26).

Christ shows us in John 6 that the doctrine of human inability and sovereign election are not void of practicality. The truth of God’s sovereign electing love is to be set before the born again so that God may have all the honor in our salvation. And God’s electing love must be set before the Pharisee so that he might be humbled; for the un-humbled sinner erroneously believes that he can move the Great God to save him because he does so and so (Morgan, p. 86).

Conclusion

Evangelical pastors freely acknowledge that to be saved is to be delivered from the terrible consequence of the Fall. But that a man must deeply know and feel it; that he must have his soul weighed down and burdened by it; that the conviction of guilt, wrath, and alarm must be wrought by a supernatural power into his experience; and that he must be ground down by the upper millstone of the law, and the lower millstone of a guilty conscience – these great and solemn truths are shunned, shirked and muffled by nearly all who profess to show the sinner the way to Zion.

But, “Exercise your Christian duties, attend to your family, follow obedience, trust the atonement, honor God in your giving, cultivate holiness” – these and similar exhortations are lavished in boundless profusion upon seeking sinners from thousands of modern pulpits. But the nature, the depths, the power, the feelings, the cutting convictions, the groaning cries, the tearful anguish, the gloomy prospects, the sinking despondency, the utter helplessness, the thick darkness, the wretched unbelief; in a word, all those inward transactions which are carried on in a seeking sinner are passed over by the letter-ministers of the day. These things are taken for granted, and are either totally omitted or slightly alluded to (Philpot, What is it that saves a soul?, p. 14).

Scotsman John Kennedy was a great evangelist. Spurgeon mourned his passing when he died in 1884 saying that his loss to the Highlands was greater than the loss of one hundred other men. Kennedy, by his shrewd insight, saw that the whole tendency of the new ‘invitation system’ of evangelism would alter the work of the evangelist. He writes regarding the new evangelism:

Faith is represented as something to be done, in order to salvation; and pains are taken to show that it is an easy thing. Better far than this would it be to see it, that those with whom they deal are truly convinced of sin, and labor to set forth Christ before them, in His glorious completeness as Savior. To explain faith to them, that they may do it, is to set them still to work. . . I know well the tendency there is, at an anxious inquiry, to ask, “What is faith, that I may do it?” It is a legalist’s work to satisfy that craving; but this is what is done in the inquiry room. . . Explanations of what faith is are but trifling with souls. How different is the Scripture way! The great aim there is to set forth the object, not to explain the act, faith. Let there be conviction, illumination, and renewal, and faith becomes the instinctive response of the quickened soul to the presentation by God of His Christ (Iain Murray, The Invitation System, pp. 29-30).

Preaching to Unsaved Church Members – Part Two

 Faith in the historical Jesus, or in “Christ the Son of the living God?”

In Matthew 16:17 the Lord told Peter that his response, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” did not find its source in flesh and blood but was the result of the Father’s revelation.

Peter had not arrived at his belief by mere reason: flesh and blood had not worked out the problem; there had been a revelation to him from the Father who is in heaven.  To know the Lord in mere doctrinal statement, no such divine teaching is required; but Peter’s full assurance of his Lord’s nature and mission was no theory in the head: the truth had been written on his heart by the heavenly Spirit. This is the only knowledge worth having as to the Person of our Lord (Charles H. Spurgeon, The Gospel of Matthew, Revell, p. 224).

The Apostle Paul’s own testimony of personal salvation also includes the revelation of Christ.  “But when it pleased Him, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, in order that I might preach His Gospel among the Gentiles. . .” (Gal 1:15-16a).

The outward and the physical would have never sufficed to convert Paul.  The Apostle’s testimony was in “His good pleasure He revealed His Son in me.”  It changed a man who was breathing murderous threats against Christ’s church into one who breathed doxologies whenever he reflected on God’s marvelous redeeming love to one so undeserving as himself. 

The immediate purpose if this separation and calling is here said to have been “to reveal His Son in me.”  To reveal is to remove the scales from the eyes of the heart.  Paul had been persecuting God’s only begotten Son.  God wanted Paul to see that the Jesus, whom in His disciples Paul had been persecuting, was indeed partaker of God’s very essence, Himself God (William Hendrickson, NTC, pp. 52-53).

Many today believe in the historical Jesus who are ignorant of the character of God.  The power of the Gospel is to give the knowledge of the glory of God (His true character) in the face of Christ (2 Cor 4:6).  Many trust in Christ precisely as the Jews did in Moses.  This is another gospel; an historic Jesus, not the glory of God in the face of Christ.  Those who hold to this gospel are strangers to the truth and are still in love with the world (James Haldane, Revelation of God’s Righteousness, Chapel Library, p. 27).

As a consequence of this reductionist gospel, many have devalued knowledge; as if we might become acquainted with God without having the heart affected by the truth.  No, the knowledge of God produces the radical change; the entire change of the sinner’s heart. 

The knowledge of God is maintained in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.  If God is our soul’s portion then our continued enjoyment of such is due to our minds being enlightened in the knowledge of Christ.  That knowledge is maintained by the Holy Spirit.  Oh how great is our dependence upon God; the Holy Spirit bringing home the truth of God to our minds.  Without His continued influence we would totally relapse to ignorance and alienation. 

We are not to conclude from our dependence upon the Spirit that we should be passive quietists – no, we are to strive and make use of the means of grace; but all the while we are to know that the Holy Spirit keeps us from the loss of our knowledge of God in Christ.  By means of the Spirit’s enablement we keep fixing our hopes for time and eternity on the incarnation, sufferings, death and resurrection of the Son of God who is our life.  The same gracious Holy Spirit who first revealed Christ in us will do so until the day of eternity – Phil 1:6 (ibid., pp. 28-29).

Nature may have a superficial knowledge and illumination of the Savior.  The natural man may be active and do something for Him.  But to love the cross, to suffer with Him, to follow Him through the streets of Jerusalem to Golgotha as He stoops dumb before His shearers so that your spirit feeds on His flesh and blood and humiliation is a work of God’s Spirit in you.  The natural man may have His emotions stirred by Christ’s passion, but only the true saint is acquainted with Christ in his spirit so as to feed upon his Substitute (Morgan, The Life and Times of Howell Harris, p. 239).

The most important question that could ever be asked is: Do you know in reality the living Christ?  Do you know Christ by personal revelation?  The question is not: Do you read the Bible?  Are you religious?  The question is: Have you ever seen yourself a lost, vile sinner before a holy God?  Have you ever been stripped of your self-righteousness and laid low in the dust of humility?  Have you ever viewed by faith the glorious Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, all because of a direct and personal revelation to you of God the Holy Spirit?  (W. F. Bell, Do you know Christ by personal revelation? -- Chapel Library).

If you only know Jesus by no more than the world knows, than the learned among men know, you have not the real blessing.  If you only know the Lord of Glory by what you have found out yourself, in reading or in talking to others, unaided by the Father’s drawing power, you are not blessed with true salvation. The true children of God have been made humble.  They confess their total dependence upon the grace and mercy of Christ, and place their entire confidence and faith in His meritorious righteousness and shed blood (ibid.).

Is Christ your Surety, your Substitute, your Sacrifice, and your Savior?  Do you believe in Jesus by an inward discernment of Him? Do you clearly see Him as the Son of man and the Son of God?  Do you see Him as your propitiation before God?  If you know Him in this way, it has not been learned from the instruction of men; you have had a direct revelation made to you by the Father concerning who Jesus Christ really is (Gal 1:16) (ibid.).

The saved have had their eyes enlightened to understand the full and complete satisfaction made by the Son of God; that He has satisfied divine justice for all who believe.  They are enabled to apply this to their own hearts.  They have the testimony of the blood and the washing of the Holy Spirit (Morgan, p. 78).

The true saint never ceases to marvel that God has made an infinite difference between us and our fellow creatures by causing us to behold (by revelation) Christ’s death, humiliation, passion (ibid.).

The Church's Greatest Need from the Book of Revelation

The last nine epistles of the Scripture have a different tenor than the rest of the N.T. In these final epistles are found the majority of warnings in the N.T. The warnings are not the same as those in the Law of Moses. The law threatened stoning, excommunication, the curse, being cut off from God. N.T. warnings in this dispensation of grace are actually MORE SERIOUS. You may ask what could be worse than stoning to death as an outcast from God’s covenant people, to be left as a curse, a proverb, a byword?

The answer is found in the gospel warnings of Hebrews. Gospel warnings are divine cautions that are intended to show the seriousness of neglecting the remedy that is in Christ Jesus. When the remedy is neglected, there remains no more sacrifice for sin. This is a most fearful thing because the Scriptures indicate that those who broke the Mosaic Law with impunity died without mercy and, “How much more severe?” is the punishment of those who trample the blood of Christ underfoot (Heb 10:26-31).

Death by stoning evokes a hideous image of a mangled visage. What must await those who reject the truth of Christ after receiving it? No defense in the universe, not a drop of mercy, not a whisper of compassion in the conscience. Instead the conscience will take its revenge by God’s approval. The hiding place rejected, the remedy refused.

The book of Revelation is about the day of the Lord and the great distinction between the lost and the saved. It is about heaven and hell.

The last nine epistles also deal with the theme of the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is the “eviction” and destruction of the cumberers of the earth. The earth has been made to wobble because of the heaviness of their iniquity upon it (Is. 24). When the day of the Lord arrives, God will remove all stumbling blocks. The last nine epistles anticipate the coming apostasy.

When the day of the Lord arrives, it will sweep away the refuge of lies (Is 28:16-19) – every false hiding place will be exposed and flushed out. The day of the Lord is an eviction process. “No place was found for them” (Rev 20:11ff).

What terrible words, the creation itself disowns its ungodly inhabitants. The day of the Lord exposes the myth of ownership. It reveals that the human race is owned by God and that every person is but a tenant and a sojourner. The body you thought was yours will be “turned in.” The possessions you thought were yours will burn. The body’s tenancy will be revealed on the last day. Tenancy on the planet, tenancy in your dwellings, tenancy in your bodies – God will reclaim what is His by creation and rule (1 Chron 29:14-16; Ps 90).

Then when the disembodied dust and ashes stand on nothing before the uncreated, self-existent One there will be terror – “how dread are thine eternal years.” The nations will mourn when they see they sign of the Son of Man in the heavens, every tribe. They will seek annihilation rather than face the wrath of the Lamb (Rev 1:7, 8; 6:16, 17).

There is no greater contrast than in the destinies of the righteous and the wicked. There can be no greater discrimination than the state of those in heaven and those in hell. The righteous will shine like the stars, they will go from dust to glory (Dan 12:3). But the cowardly and the unbelieving will go from dust to dung in terms of dishonor. Dust does not offend, but refuse calls for burial, concealment. The moral stench of the wicked is their filth, corruption and eternal shame (Mal 2:3; Ez 32:24-32; Rev 21:8; 22:15). Oh but by the grace of God go we! It is Christ’s mercy alone that takes us from dust to glory (that replaces the Adamic mark of original corruption with the holy mark of God’s perfect image in Christ – Rom 8:29).

The birth pangs that precede the day of the Lord will increase in frequency and violence (Mt 24). The kingdom of God will come with unimaginable terror and tribulation (Zech 14). Christ’s kingdom will grind to powder every human institution and authority (Dan 2:42-45). Unspeakable trauma is coming (Heb 112:25-29). For the nations of the world manifest the attitude of Psalm 2, they will not lay down their weapons peaceably. They will not own the King of Kings as their glorious sovereign.

On the last day, the enemies of man’s soul will take their spoils: the world, the flesh, the devil, sin, death, hell, the condemnation of God’s law. These shall be as wedges of steel that shall cleave what remains of the soul’s unity. The faculties put in the soul by God will increasingly fragment to the eternal agony of the individual. Intellect, will, emotions, conscience and affections will all be at odds – beating the person to bits by the just permission of God. Man shall discover that the flagellants that lash him forever reside within his own soul (Mark 9:42-48).

Now contrast this to our completeness in Christ. Contrast this tiny chard of perdition to the peace and joy in the Holy Spirit that shall bubble over forever. Contrast it to the ravishment of soul that shall take place when you behold God looking out at you with eyes of flesh and with the marks of your atonement upon His body. Contrast it to the reality of being a partaker of His holiness so that you will be able to gaze without downcast eyes like the mighty cherubim. Contrast it to the sublimity of soul that you will experience when Christ’s love shall possess every fiber of your being so that your soul is ordered and organized around the alpha and the omega – the Son of God who is in you, and you in Him (Col 1:27; Eph 3:19).

And why are these infinite, eternal blessings yours? Because Christ entered the cog-works of God’s justice to be crushed for your sakes. The ineffable turning wheels of God’s justice and wrath, like mountains of iron and granite, fell upon Him so that His life-blood was pressed from His pores and His wounds. You and I had sowed a life of thorns. We deserved to reap a harvest of thorns – we merited an eternal (burning) bed of thorns and fire. Had not the Son of Man reaped our harvest, we would not have been able to escape God’s justice against us for our iniquity.

But Christ reaped our harvest that we might reap His. He sowed righteousness, love and peace – we reap His harvest of glory. Oh unfathomable exchange, that the Lord of glory should trade places with us! (2 Cor 5:21).

Now consider Christian, that Christ is the Physician of the soul. He is infinitely capable of attending the self-inflicted wounds you bear due to your sin. Christ is the Physician of hearts perforated, hearts divided, hearts that are double-minded and unstable. He is able to strengthen hearts weakened by neglect, hearts diseased by idolatry. He is the Great Physician of the sin disease.

His cures and treatments are effectual, but when we refuse them, the medicine He chooses may be very bitter. For when we do not esteem His new covenant love, and we stray from His side as a casual disciple, He brings out His rod of discipline. He restrains us and subdues us – through His mighty providence, He puts upon His beloved the bit and bridle of Psalm 32 in order to keep us in check that we might learn obedience from the heart.

It does not cross our minds enough that His faithful correction is working for our eternal happiness and bliss. For holiness is happiness – God’s way of making His people infinitely happy forever is to make them like Himself in holiness. So it is that Christ by His correction of us steadies our palsied hands that we might not spill the precious wine of the new covenant. In our many furtive glances at the world, we forget the preciousness of what is in our cup by grace. We become reckless with the wine. We forget the olive press of Gethsemene, where Christ was wracked with torment over the conflicting forces that assaulted Him. He knew that His passion demanded He be weak enough to be a victim in the face of His evil tormentors, but also that He be strong enough to bear the wrath and curse. He must bear it long enough to exhaust the justice of God against our sin. His weak human nature needed to be strengthened that He might be slain as a Substitute – but the success of His vicarious work depended upon Him NOT giving up His Spirit before He had drained the cup His Father had given Him to drink. His Gethsemene was about His passion, about laying His life down and bearing up under the torment – not releasing His Spirit until the curse against Him was spent.

Now what is our Gethsemene by comparison. We sweat drops of pride over our love of self and the world. We wrestle with our own wayward hearts that are too willing to entertain other lovers. But God is in all our trials – momentary light affliction is working for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.

Our afflictions take us off of our double-mindedness, they make us declare our loyalties. They contribute to our training as overcomers. They consolidate our hope – hope that we spread over legitimate and illegitimate supports (Heb 12:10, 11).

Those who are overcomers are animated by eschatological hope. Corporate eschatological hope is inseparable from corporate love to Christ. “First works love” is an expression of eschatological hope, because hope is a key revealer of the affections.

(2 Cor. 5:9 – ambition to please the Lord is a function of longing to be with Him. 1 Pet. 1:13 – fix your hope completely on grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, this is living by eschatological hope, Gal. 5:5.)

There is a tension between eschatological hope and present tyranny of the urgent.The tension is expressed by Paul as a “scale” or a computation sheet – he daily weighs eschatological hope against present gain and concerns (Phil. 3:17-21). (To not “love one’s life unto death” is to not love one’s life in this world. Revelation martyrs overcame by the blood of the Lamb – by a hope that was willing to hang onto nothing temporal – Rev 12:11.)

Eschatological hope orients us toward our true treasure. PRINCIPLE – the heart follows its true treasure with the enthusiasm of a puppy dog (eschatological hope is imbued with “eagerness,” Romans 8:23,25; Jude 20,21).

Eschatological hope is joined to our labor (2 Thess. 2:16,17; 1 Cor. 3). Hope is joined to our labor and work ethic. Orthodoxy without a fervent hope is not adequate insurance against compartmentalization (outward order and religious labor with internal truant affections).

Fiery trials have the effect of an “investment broker” who reinvests and consolidates your holdings in a superior account. Trials make us choose the eternal value system over and over again. Under the Lord’s providential guidance, the trial places our holdings into the account of heaven where its value is protected from wavering and failure (see 1 Pet. 1:4). Thus, trials wean us from temporal hope by fastening our affection more firmly on eternal hope.

The redeemed have a consuming sentiment for God’s glory. They desire that the outshining of His majesty and the knowledge of Him fill the universe (Rev. 7:12).They magnify God with endless thanksgiving because they themselves are not detached spectators of His majesty, but partakers of His majesty in the sense that the exercise of that majesty is the ground of their glorified existence. They are the OBJECTS of God’s wisdom, power, love, holiness -- these attributes have acted upon them in their salvation (2 Pet. 1:1-4). These attributes have determined their destiny. Christ has conducted the infinite riches of the Godhead into time-space history that the elect may be conformed to the image of God’s Son (and “gain the glory of Christ,” 2 Thess. 2:14).

Only when Christ is our “first love” are we safely building upon Him as our foundation (1 Cor. 3). What is it about us that makes us rather work than worship, preach than pray, achieve than adore, conquer than commune. Our natures would rather see how far we can carry the ark than take two steps, sacrifice and worship. We all carry a propensity for merit mongering that secretly (or openly) wants a part in our eligibility for divine favor.

The LAST thing we would admit in our zeal for the truth is that we have elements in that zeal that compete with the sufficiency of Christ and His honor. (Our esteem for the Lord is inversely proportional to our esteem for our own doings.)

This is not an appeal to quietism, but a desire to take the rebuke of our Lord in Rev. 2:4,5 with utter seriousness. We need to be ruthlessly honest about the fact that our passion for precision in orthodoxy is not immune from corporate pride. Zeal for doctrinal accuracy and confessional unity, for all its heat and light, may not succeed in loving Christ supremely.

Such is the “law of worship” that if Christ is not loved supremely, orthodox ministry can become an unchallenged forum (or form of) for self-adulation.

Perfectionism in all its forms, including the orthodox formalism of Ephesus, involves a looking away from Christ and looking unto religious endeavor. The church of Ephesus had temporarily lost its ability to focus upon Christ. It had begun to arrogate to itself a degree of credit for its works. (There is nothing more natural to the flesh than to burn incense to our accomplishments and erect a monument to our works.)

Our lower nature is at war with grace. It has a lust for law that craves making a contribution to our favor and acceptance before God. It ever seeks to make a scorecard of its achievements. In that sense, it works against the knowledge of Christ’s sufficiency. There is the frequent danger of building so as to have the stones we lay stray off of the foundation of Christ (1 Cor 3:10, 11).

When we do not love Christ supremely, and then attempt to serve Him, we have the internal posture of heart that Peter did when he uttered, “Never shall you wash my feet!” Peter had boasted that he would serve the Lord more loyalty, more courage, less care for his own safety than any of the other disciples – certainly a noble goal. But within Peter, like us, is an inclination for establishing and proving our value and lovability to the Lord. Not that our desire to serve does not flow from gratitude, it does. But there is an inner resistance to the notion that Christ came to serve and not to be served (Jn 13:8).

We say wholeheartedly, “Yes Lord we love you because you served us by laying down your life for us. By that service unto death you have made us yours forever, now we want to say ‘thank you’ by serving you.” Christ’s death made us His servants.

It is possible to approach our serving without a spirit of utter dependence. (The disciples argument over who was the greatest as well as Peter’s boast of fearless loyalty stemmed from a dependence upon self in serving.) The saints must be brought to see that they are as dependent upon the Lord now as they were the day of their new birth.

Repenting of leaving Christ as first love (Rev. 2:5) involves doing the first deeds. Those deeds were characterized by the overflowing gratitude that accompanied their new betrothal to Christ.

Our flesh has secretive machinations that seek to manage its own dereliction through religion. Like Peter, the pendulum swings back and forth from pride to despair (Matt 26:75). At one moment, he vaunts his superiority over the other disciples (Matt 26:33-35). He seems to have forgotten the view he had of himself when the Lord called him, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8). (When his eyes were upon his Savior, he was mighty for the Lord. When he looked away, he sank beneath the waves of Galilee or he stumbled over Galatian legalism (Gal 2:11-14).

Perfectionism in all its forms strays from utter dependency upon Christ. Perfectionism maintains an uninformed optimism that the flesh is perfectible through religious exertion. These are subtle workings, for the flesh can have as its perfecting object such noble things as doctrinal precision, confessional purity or a creedal legacy, etc.

What perfectionism does is unconsciously look away from Christ (as in the imperceptible drift of Hebrews 2). Perfectionism always entertains an optimism that some virtues will be found in us that will commend us to God. Peter hoped that his claim to fearless loyalty would commend him above his brethren. Orthodox formalists hope that their zeal for doctrine will commend them above their less precise (and perhaps less productive) brothers.

Perfectionism takes spiritual pride in personal adequacy. It refuses to accept that Adam’s wound in Eden was mortal (today toy stores are filled with super-human action figures – little “plastic Nimrods” that can subdue the earth and their enemies with a “pumped up” arm of flesh). Do our achievements in doctrine make us adequate? OR do we daily say along with the Apostle Paul that we do not have personal adequacy and regard no good thing as coming from ourselves.

Is it too humbling to see ourselves as charity cases, in need of Jesus washing our feet each day – our completeness is in Him (Col 2:6-10).

Perfectionism seeks to outgrow utter dependency upon Christ (and Him serving us). Jesus is still washing our feet so to speak by His union with us in His Person and work. Our utter dependence makes us uncomfortable – we wish to work our way out of the arrangement that we are so beholden to Him (as a charity case) everyday.

A fall from grace is the unconscious goal of perfectionism – the use of religious instruments to perfect the flesh is a slur upon the sufficiency of Christ (Gal. 3:1-4; 5:4). If we began by the Spirit, we must continue by the Spirit (the Spirit always lifts up Christ and points to the blood).

The preponderance of perfectionism in the church reveals a radical inadequacy in our anthropology. We’ve not adequately considered how pervasive an effect our depravity has upon our search for security and identity (ontological issues of personhood, lovability, significance etc.).

We’ve failed to take the Galatian error as a warning about our own lower natures. The Galatian error reveals just how driven human nature is to take charge of managing its own dereliction (depravity, brokenness and ruin).

The church’s failure here reveals a naïve spirit that winks at how the Christian religion can be used to manage dereliction. The truth is that the flesh is always searching for fig leaf score cards.

Evangelicalism is the most covert in concealing the manner in which the flesh manages its own dereliction. The scorecard is nearly “invisible” in evangelicalism because the areas of “credit” are so noble (note the list of the Ephesian Church’s accomplishments). Christ, whose eyes are as a flame of fire, sees fig leaf score cards and the perfectionistic approach to the Christian life.

Christ is scraping down His servants, so to speak, to ontological “bedrock.” He’s protecting them from biblical eloquence without Christ as first love. That is a mercy, because service without supreme love always degrades into perfectionism. He’s “dynamiting” them off of their fleshly foundations and resetting them upon Christ alone, not on the works of their hands or upon their talents and gifts. Ephesus rested upon a pseudo-foundation of orthodox accuracy and works of ministry. There is a battle front in this lesson of ontology, the issue is that Christ’s man must be solely grounded upon Christ’s covenant and His dimensionless love – not personal performance. Inner resistance to this dependency is the same resistance our flesh has to being utter beholden to Christ for breath as well as standing. Our communing with Him must have the interface of our comprehensive sinnership.

Are there any places where we are not broken by sin? NO – therefore our dependency upon Christ ought to be coextensive with our sinnership. The bulk of our angst and anxiety in ministry is based upon the misinformed notion that God is waiting to mix His power with ours. Such is not the case. We are slow to learn this. Christ’s sensitive servants are frequently pulled into the same whirlpool of self doubt – “am I holy enough, this enough, that enough?” “Have fulfilled all of the exponents necessary for spiritual use and power?” Our problem is that we pour over ministry absolutes instead of making knowing Him our primary objective. In Acts it says of the rulers and elders of the people, that they began to recognize the disciples as having been with Jesus. Should there be a different standard of usefulness, power and confidence for us? Unless knowing Him is my priority, other “dung-refuse” goals will fill my frontal vision – Phil 3. The battle is actually flesh versus Spirit. To press on to know Him is to be radically identified with Him and the power of His resurrection. It is to be willing to suffer the loss of all things that used to be gain -- that is the price of knowing Him. Idolatry of self keeps us from esteeming the prize Paul spoke of in Philippians 3. Only by a proper esteem of the prize can I answer the upward call.

The Ephesian error is ubiquitous in the church today. Evangelicalism’s corporate pride is evidenced in its preference for ministry over abiding in Christ. There’s a greater devotion to ministry, than to the Lord.

By contrast, Paul’s ontological stress was, “To know Him, to suffer the loss of all things, to answer the upward call, to exalt Christ in his members.”

When we assume that Christ’s love and presence are not available, and that the church is not His present habitation, then religious activity will replace living, vital communing with Him. There will be an accompanying waning of desire to know Him in the new covenant (2 Cor 3:16-18) – less of a desire to delight in God, more of a tendency to take satisfaction in the fact that we have “done church and done it well.”

To be truth-oriented as a church is not a guarantee that we will not be wed in our affections to things below. Orthodox formalism reveals how devastating it is to have moved away from Christ as first love. Eschatological hope was a missing factor -- hope fixes the heart on the object that fills it with eager expectation. Truth without hope can catapult into formalism. (Note the example of Princeton Seminary’s historic slide into apostasy, see also examples of decline from the Boice-Ryken book, The Doctrines of Grace.)

Revelation joins OVERCOMING to eschatological hope (which is also joined to sanctification, see also 1 John 3:2). The Bride who has no consuming thoughts about the honeymoon (marriage supper) has left her first love in her affections.

Can the true church have only apathy instead of eager anticipation for the nuptial chamber? If that anticipation is absent, what does it say about her? If she busy serving and working for her Husband without a compelling heart longing for Him? That situation better describes an executive secretary than a bride to be.

The church’s retrograde slide into formalism means that its affections are secretly somewhere else (with the world and the flesh). Oh this is covert, for there is no apparent interruption in the church’s fidelity to the truth, BUT, there has been a radical interruption in constantly fixing the mind upon things above. The ravishment of heart at the thought of resting on Christ’s bosom has all but evaporated.

Christ is the revelation of God – the more we know about our triune God, the more we will hold fast to Christ. For Christ exegetes God! (Jn 1:18). God is known by a deeper knowledge of Christ our Mediatorial King, our City of Refuge, our Paradise, our Life.

Outside of clinging and fleeing to Him, the world’s lusts deceive, its idols woo our admiring glances. Do we forget, God’s wrath burns because of the world’s idolatry. Sinners will justly reap the consequences of their sins.

The church is to return to her first love – contenting herself in His love, consenting to be loved by Him – only then will the wine of heaven flow through us to others.

God’s will is communion with the Son – all of our working must be subordinate to that goal.

In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John is functioning as a prophet of God – he is calling the church back to pure, simple devotion to the Lord. This is marital fidelity to God (2 Cor 11:3). The prophets of God are the watchmen on the wall who identify the ways that the world has crept in unnoticed. The prophet has a super-human task, for he must expose the ways that the world has legitimized its adulterous existence to the people of God. The world offers itself for status, security, significance, source, power and satisfaction. The world always seeks to supplant Christ as Source. The evil one is always attempting through his solicitations to cause the church to commit spiritual adultery. Though God has deeded to us all we need through the new covenant in Christ’s blood, the world competes for our time, talent and affection.

This is precisely why the doctrines of grace must be kept before the people of God. Believers must continually apprehend by faith the heart of God toward them. They must be able to recline upon Him as their refuge and Source. They must be able to learn how habitually to rest upon the Father’s perfect satisfaction and delight in our Suffering Substitute. This is the only basis for our working, worshipping, seeking, piety and delighting. Our faith must be able to see past our depravity to His kind intentions toward us the covenant. We must behold the Son as our sole source of unlimited access to God (Eph 3:11, 12).

In Christ, God has joined His glory to our highest good, therefore, the kindest thing you can do for your soul is love God. Keep Him supreme in your affections – love, honor and obey Him as in the marriage vow.

Rejoicing is our duty, it keeps us navigating toward the celestial city. Rejoicing keeps our affections united, rejoicing keeps our hope strong and it fixes our minds upon the disposition and posture of God’s heart towards us. It prepares us for spontaneous worship, it glorifies God (Who is most honored when He is most enjoyed. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Joy strengthens the heart to trust more and more – it prevents double-mindedness and discontent. Have you accepted the assignment, “Enjoy God every day.” That enjoyment of God is only possible while under affliction IF the heart is feeding upon the doctrines of the grace of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Are you stuck in affliction and trial and darkness? Pray, praise, preach worship and rejoice your way out. What Jesus says to Laodicea, He says to His church universal, sup with Me, commune with Me, meet with Me for intimate fellowship – understand that you were created anew for fellowship with Me.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

1.) Hope is a Person (Titus 2:13).

2.) God’s dream – that He be our eternal dwelling place and that we be His eternal dwelling place. God’s dream is reciprocal dwelling (see Rev. 21:1-7; Eph. 2:18-22).

3.) The rewards are relational – see the heavenly promises to overcomers in Rev. 2-3.

4.) Your greeting when you see the Lord “is your reward” (see 1 John 2:28; 2 Thess 1:10; Heb. 10:35-39; 2 Pet 1:11).

5.) The more God is seen as your portion, the greater will be your hope in Him (see Phil. 3:8-11 and Lam. 3:24).

SUMMARY – Rev. 2:1-4 - Precision in orthodoxy is not a guarantee that the heart is not attached to things below. When the church descends into formalism, it is a most subtle declension because there is no apparent interruption in fidelity to the truth. But the declension reveals that truth has become separated from the Person of Christ. What is absent is the constant fixing of our minds upon things above so as to have our affections anchored to them. Otherwise, we will be subject to compartmentalization, intellectual pride and cooled affections.

Rev. 2:5-7ff. – Eschatological hope is inseparable from love to Christ. Hope is a barometer of the affections – the heart inevitably follows its affections (Matt 6:21). Revelation joins overcoming to eschatological hope. The bride with no consuming thoughts of the joys of the honeymoon has left her first love. Christ gives content to our eschatological hope – He inflames and enlivens it – He gives the descriptions of heaven here. Overcomers are animated by this hope. If we are not beholding Christ, it is a matter of course that our affections like water will flow to the lowest paths of physical sense – they will settle onto things below.

Declension in true religion is when the discipline of grace is neglected. It is when the soul becomes contented in the world and apathetic about gathering the heavenly manna each morning. When the discipline of grace is neglected, religion becomes cold and formal. Simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ, (a devotion like an betrothed bride), becomes replaced and substituted with the duties of religion performed with outward efficiency (2 Cor 11:3). However noble these duties manifested by the Ephesus church (doctrinal purity, zeal for accuracy, ability to resist heretics), without Christ as first love, formalism allows the heart to stray further from the living God (Is 29:13).

The Cross, The Conscience, and Family Dynamics

“Sin makes cowards of us all” (Paul Zahl, Who Will Deliver Us?).

The human condition is such that the law of God continually judges us and finds us wanting. Not one of us can say that we have loved God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength for even an hour.

According to the book of Romans, the judgment of the law is internalized in the conscience (Rom 2). The law operates in the conscience as a principle of self-condemnation. The law judges us wanting if we are not found capable of perfect obedience.

According to Scripture, our response to this condemnation of conscience is fear of punishment – “fear has to do with punishment” (1 Jn 4:18). We will do almost anything to ward off threats of condemnation – we will go to great lengths to defend against judgment.

Because our consciences carry a deep sense of moral failure against God’s law, much energy is exerted in seeking to avoid any additional condemnation.

In his book on the present power of the cross, Paul Zahl explains to what degree our lives are involved in attempts to steer clear of judgment. (He asks his readers to recall some humiliating event from their childhood. The emotional pain from it has etched it into the memory -- we want to avoid further exposure to humiliation at all cost.)

Due to our depravity, human nature cannot adequately meet judgment. According to the Bible, it is impossible work our way out of condemnation. The harder we try to live up to the law, the worse we feel about our failure (Paul Zahl, Who Will Deliver Us?, p. 38).

Our greatest need is personal atonement for guilt. Zahl notes that much of our working and striving involves an attempt to offset or “atone” for our failure. Like an accounting spread sheet, we try to pencil into our consciences more credits than debits!

The law makes its overtures to us as we attempt to minister to our fear of judgment. The law beckons us to return to the legal principle of justification by works – “I am what I do.” We become stuck in patterns of performance. Self-righteousness begins contaminating our works.

Our carnal efforts to carry our own worth and relieve our own consciences always fail. The verdict of conscience can only be brought into line with the verdict of heaven (justification) by fresh acts of faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace, p. 53).

The flesh has strategies to avoid judgment.

The biblical prototype of all subsequent attempts to escape judgment is Adam’s flight from God in Eden: “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; so I hid myself” (Gen 3:10). The effort to ward off judgment is expressed in the form of strategies that fall under three heads:

The first strategy involves the effort to escape condemnation by ESCAPE (or splitting off from reality). Absenting our inner self does not completely quiet the voice of condemnation. Our attempts to “turn off” the conscience by a denial of judgment ultimately fail. (We can recall the attempts of a number of biblical characters who used this strategy: Pilate in Mt 27:24; Nabal in 1 Sam 25:36-38; or Felix in Acts 24:25.)

A second strategy that is used to ward off the threat of judgment is OPEN RESISTANCE. This involves an attempt to take on the judgment “head on” with a defense or even with defiance. (Biblical figures who employed open resistance or were defiant in the face of judgment were: Pharoah in Ex 5:2; Job in Jb 23:1-7; Zedekiah in Jer 36:23-25; the Jewish refugees under Jeremiah in Jer 44:15-18.)

A third strategy used to ward off judgment is APPEASEMENT. Of the three, this strategy is dealt with in the greatest detail in Scripture. Saul of Tarsus sought to win God’s favor by law-keeping. Saul sought to appease God and win His friendship by successfully adhering to the law (Phil 3:4-6; Gal 1:14).

The APPEASEMENT strategy recognizes the superior force of the judgment that is faced. It is aware of personal vulnerability. “This strategy attempts to negotiate for peace with the hostile powers of condemnation, hoping for the best” (Zahl,Who Will Deliver Us? p. 22).

Appeasement tragically fails to eliminate the threat of judgment.

The tragic flaw of the appeasement strategy is the resentment that accompanies it. One may use words to negotiate for peace, but the inner man resents the arrangement. In this case, the one using appeasement feels he has too much to lose by standing up to the opposing force and defending himself (Zahl, p. 22).

Each time the appeaser compromises, he becomes more furious on the inside (thus resentment is bred).

Appeasement is an attempt to take upon oneself the burden of another’s judgment and thereby disarm it. “It means accepting the judgment as correct and bowing to it in the hope of withstanding it. It is undertaken as a means of making friends with it. Unfortunately, this never happens. As soon as we bow to a human being or institution in judgment over us, we are in their power. We will never be good enough to satisfy them” (Zahl, p. 22).

Zahl observes that appeasement is degrading because we know that it is only a temporary measure – it forestalls, but does not eliminate the reckoning we fear. “Appeasement will always feel compulsory; it is always accompanied by anger. We can open negotiations, but it is never enough, the judge will not be satisfied by anything we do” (Zahl, p. 24).

Control of others by guilt, (or by their fear of judgment), involves an attempt to bind the conscience. The opponents of the Apostle Paul sought to bring the Galatians into bondage by means of the conscience. The Judaizers wanted to bind the consciences of the believers in Galatia. The Jewish false teachers were seeking control over others. They made a solicitation to the Galatians that involved accepting a certain criterion for “conscience management.” But Paul admonishes his readers to stay free! “Do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal 5:1).

Stephen Olford notes that legalists are not interested in alleviating bondage. They want to keep guilt in place because it is the means by which they control others (Stephen Olford, Anointed Expository Preaching, p. 35).

Paul makes it clear in Galatians that the person who seeks to bind the consciences of others dishonors the work of the atonement. By contrast, the Holy Spirit “points to the blood of Christ.” The Spirit keeps bringing spiritual freedom and liberty because He ministers the blood of Christ to the conscience (Heb 9:14; 10:22).

Olford indicates that the Holy Spirit personalizes the redemptive work of Christ as we yield moment by moment (Olford, p. 37).

A person who uses guilt as a major means of manipulation is demonstrating that that his or her conscience is not at peace. A lifestyle of blame/shame never vindicates us. We cannot raise ourselves up above condemnation by transferring our fear of judgment to the conscience of another.

Holding others “hostage” by attempting to keep their guilt in place cannot protect us from judgment. Instead it is a very telling symptom that one’s conscience is not managed by the blood of Christ. A prominent family counselor makes the following observation. When we lash the conscience of another person, it is a strategy learned in childhood; it is practiced in order to feel powerful. To abandon the behavior is to feel a loss of power.

God’s only method for bringing peace to the conscience of the believer is by renewed “views” of our suffering Substitute. The justice our conscience cries out for against ourselves and those who have offended us is found only in the atonement of Calvary. Our conscience only comes to a full rest when it sees (by faith) justice against sin carried out in the bloody death of the Son of God.

The powers of darkness have much to gain by keeping guilt in place in the conscience. As Puritan John Owen states, even one sin circulating within the conscience is enough to discourage us from drawing near to the throne of grace with confidence.

Concerning guilt in the conscience, Robert Haldane warns that “No sin can be crucified either in heart or life, unless it be first pardoned in conscience. . .” (Robert Haldane, An Exposition of the Book of Romans, pp. 253-254).

The atonement of Christ is God’s plan to free His people from fear.

Because we live our lives under judgment, our greatest need is personal atonement for guilt. In the counsels of eternity, God planned that our judgment and condemnation would be assumed by Another. Central to the Good News is that the Son of God did a voluntary guilt transfer.

The atonement is a “cosmic moral transfer” of infinite worth. The atonement disarms and frees us from the law. Because of my sin, the condemnation of the law was my chief adversary. But now, the empty tomb carries the atonement into the eternal present (Zahl, p. 41).

Now humanity’s designated meeting place with God is the same for every person – it is true fellowship with the Trinity based on true freedom from judgment.

Our problem as believers is that indwelling sin keeps disturbing the conscience with fear of judgment. We find it difficult to reckon that the full force of our judgment fell upon the Son of God.

We are still searching for atonement to answer our fear. We often act out of guilt; seeking to discharge a debt, win approval, appease. The old strategies of escape, open resistance, and appeasement still hold attraction for us. The heart is drawn to self-righteous merit systems – we want to have a part in carrying and proving our worth to ourselves and others.

The Gospel is the only antidote to our hiding, rage, defensiveness, and self pity. In order to daily experience its healing grace, we must consent to be represented and protected by the Son of God.

The Gospel’s message of justification teaches us that the righteousness of Christ is put on our account – it is imputed to us. Our worth as believers is upheld by Christ and His work. This is life- transforming, for infinite worth and credit have been assigned to us!

The atonement is freedom from judgment because God’s verdict about us in Christ has the power to evaporate all other verdicts (Rom 8:31-34). (Verdicts of condemnation come from people, demons, and God’s law – only the blood of Christ can silence these.)

Herein is the success of the atonement to heal our fear. By God’s plan we may become as we are regarded. Though we carry feelings of condemnation and worthlessness, God regards us as righteous in Christ and free from condemnation.

The Gospel is able to penetrate the most guarded prisons of the heart. All the carnal fortresses we have raised to protect ourselves against judgment harm our relationship with others. What is needed is courage and healing; the Gospel provides both.

The Gospel makes us heroes in our dealings with sin and conscience.

So much of our energy goes into the effort to resist the verdicts of others, we forget to run to the atonement. But, Christ’s work is where we find heroism and courage to face our own sinful imperfections.

The great reformer Martin Luther had a problem as a priest. He couldn’t understand how a perfectly holy God could accept him when he was so filled with sin and imperfection. At one point Luther protested, “Love God? I feel I hate Him!” (When Luther uttered these words, he felt it impossible to be good enough to gain divine acceptance.)

In His grace, God showed Luther the biblical doctrine of justification by faith. The world has not been the same since. Luther wrote volumes on the practical value of justification. Here is his formula for heroism and courage in dealing with sin and conscience: according to the Gospel, the believer is justified, yet a sinner. Therefore, he may be absolutely honest about his sin without jeopardizing his perfect status in Christ.

The Reformer’s point is vital. The imputation of Christ’s righteousness draws the blood of Christ into real situations. This is the basis for radical heroism; I can be a very imperfect person who is honest about his transgressions and offenses without losing my perfect standing in Christ. I don’t have to prove my worth (by using carnal strategies) because the Gospel proclaims the affirmation of my worth in a most dramatic way. The Gospel literally gives me permission, even urges me, to give up fleshly strategies for personal worth (Zahl, p. 73).

The sin of self-justification needlessly makes others into adversaries.

Paul Zahl practically X-rays the human heart when he makes the following observations: When I become depressed, it is usually through the gateway of someone else’s perception of me as I perceive it. I feel my own weakness so heavily, it seems to express the whole truth about my life.

Depression provides a clue to our need for value to be assigned to us. The absence of positive value can incarcerate us in a prison of depression. The only real and lasting cure must fulfill our need of value.

Union with Christ decisively answers this need, nothing else can.

Because we are sinners, we carry a sense of condemnation and fear of judgment. Just below the surface, we feel our impotence, fear, weakness and fragility. Because of this, the slightest thing can make us feel diminished.

Due to our desperate need of worth, we tend to suspect the worst about ourselves. This colors our interactions with others. Anger is the response to perceived hostile invasions of self. The angry person is likely to interpret exchanges with others as attacks on self. Behind the rage is a most painful insecurity. Because we feel small, weak and vulnerable, we believe we must protect ourselves with all our might, even if relationships are damaged in the process (Zahl, pp. 13, 14).

If the lion’s share of our emotional energy is devoted to fighting a sense of judgment, we won’t be able to handle negativity nor will we be able to risk intimacy. God’s answer is the healing power of the Gospel.

The atonement of Christ has healing power.

When we allow others to carry our value instead of depending upon the work of Christ, we are still wed to fleshly strategies for warding off judgment. These flesh strategies further damage our humanity and our relationships. When we use our pain to hurt others, we are living in sin (Zahl, p. 45).

God loves us too much to allow this situation to continue indefinitely in His child. Because of God’s fatherly care, He allows our defenses to fail. He does this because He wants our souls and our relationships healed (Eli Ashdown, The Saving Health of the Gospel, p. 101-108).

Our fear of judgment is so strong, we will not repent of our fleshly strategies until we believe that the atonement has the power to heal our fear and replace our need of self-protection. That daily consent to suffer Another to work for us is the key. Jerry Bridges refers to this as preaching the Gospel to oneself every day. Says Bridges, since we sin every day, we need to preach the Gospel to ourselves every day (Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace, pp. 123, 124).

The Gospel’s healing power comes about through ongoing repentance.

Since fleshly strategies of managing condemnation further damage our humanity and our relationships, repentance is called for.

We are to repent of the destructive fortifications that we have habitually employed.

When we hear that our worth is established by God, we are enabled to move from carnal control to liberty, heroism, and realism. There is great power in God regarding us righteous in Christ. We can face negativity without being radically diminished. We can face the worst news about ourselves without our value being threatened.

By contrast, when we are always fighting against negativity and fear, our lives are characterized by a cowardly escape from judgment. The cross leads us out of escape, denial, and blame. The atonement enables us to “assimilate” negativity, processing it with courage and realism. (The Psalms provide an ideal model of this processing of negativity. John Calvin referred to the Psalms as a complete anatomy of the human heart.)

“God is glorified when we believe with all our hearts that those who trust in Christ can never be condemned. [When we] live in the good of total forgiveness, we are able to turn from old, sinful ways of living and walk in grace-motivated obedience” (C. J. Mahaney, The Cross Centered Life, pp. 39, 40).

The imputed righteousness granted in justification gives believers the legal right and responsibility to come out of hiding and deal with sin courageously in ongoing repentance. This always involves forsaking false refuges and strategies designed to defer judgment.

Jesus’ righteous regard of the Christian enables him to see himself in truth and to accept the truth about himself. He can admit his bondage, his failure, his suffering, and his compulsive sin. Justification gives us the courage to admit the suffering our sin has caused in our lives and the lives of others.

A mighty redemption has broken sin’s bondage, yet believers still carry the tendency to defend and fight against judgment. We are all too aware of our failures, inadequacy, and guilt. The temptation is to return to the old refuges and strategies for protection from judgment. What is needed is renewed appropriation of the Gospel, for that alone is the source of heroism. Justification in the Son of God establishes a secure status that produces courage.

The atonement gives us the courage to forgive others.

Nowhere is more courage needed than in the area of relational hurt. Hiding, pretending, attacking, and defending keep short-circuiting any hope of restoration.

The courage born of justification enables the believer to deal with the alienation and ache of offenses committed both by him and against him. The truth of justification gives the power to forgive freely and to be freely forgiven (Eph 4:32).

Nothing short of heroism is necessary in order for the Body of Christ to build itself up in love. When believers are self-protective and defensive, they are unable to give and receive admonishment (Rom 15:14). It is the justified man who is wise enough to receive a genuine admonishment born of love. Because he knows he is justified, yet a sinner, he can admit when he is wrong without being diminished.

Conclusion:

So much of our self-protection, pretending, and hiding our hearts from God and each other is because we do not understand the present value of the cross. The finished work of Christ is perfectly suited for dealing with every sin and the fruit of every sin. The present value of the cross allows the believer to process the most horrendous things about himself. This is because no fact or negative truth can harm the saint’s perfect standing in Christ before God.

The cross works across the grain of the flesh. It opposes the self-preservation strategies that turn upon self-sufficiency. God calls His people to childlike vulnerability before Him. We must be willing to be searched (Ps 139). The Scriptures join lowliness of mind with contrition (Is 57:15; 66:2).

Guarded dungeons of pain keep us from receiving God’s love in new areas of our being. Christ calls His people to make appointments with Him in these dungeons. He wants us to dismiss our guards and give Him the opportunity to apply His grace to these heart prisons. He is perfectly qualified for this. He is the Sympathetic High Priest who empathizes and identifies with all of our weakness and pain.

In His suffering for us, He identified Himself with the sorrows and exigencies of the human condition. His priesthood addresses both the guilt of sin and the effects of sin. He wants us to desist from our schemes of carnal management and call upon Him for new supplies of grace and mercy (Heb 4:15, 16).

His priestly mercy is available to us in areas that we are used to controlling. These areas include sin, weakness, failure, rejection, disillusionment, inadequacy, helplessness, pain, and suffering.

Realism before God is a hard won asset. Strategies to defend our pain and woundedness tend to be habitual and instinctive. The Psalmist is willing to meet God in some very painful places. There are prayers with themes of despair, despondency, depression, betrayal, disillusionment, resentment, guilt, and injustice. Agonizing memories and ache of soul are a common theme.

When a believer refuses to accept appointments with God in these areas of negativity, these same areas become “sealed off” from the full benefit of God’s grace. When appointments with Christ in our regions of pain are consistently refused, the heart builds prisons to house these unacceptable negatives.

The result of sealing off the pain is often a host of defenses that manifest themselves in our relationships. Our hearts are no longer tender before God because we have refused to “pour out our hearts to God” (Ps 62:5-8).

Sealing off pain is a symptom of flight from judgment. It causes us to split off from the very regions of our hearts that are needed for godly passion and Christian compassion. Unless our heart prisons of pain are allowed to come in contact with God, it is very unlikely that we will be able to weep with those who weep (Rom 12:15).

The Apostle Paul makes it clear, those who draw abundantly from God’s comfort amidst their suffering are best equipped to comfort others (2 Cor 1:3-6).

It is a mercy that God lets our defenses fail. Affliction is sent by God to break up the lime scale of our carnal strategies. A constant use of carnal defenses builds up layers of protection that inhibit our ability to enjoy intimate contact with God. Only the cross can put these self-life strategies out of business.

When we endure God’s chastening, it is unto a grace awakening. During affliction, God empties out our secret coffers of merit. He takes us back to the Publican who has nothing but sin. He causes our defenses to fail (this can be catastrophic to us, it may feel like God is against us). He orchestrates all of this that He might restore us to a place of child-like reliance and vulnerability before Him.

Only by fresh views of our depravity, including our defenses, will we be able to marvel again at the unfathomable riches of Christ our righteousness (Jer 23:6).

The Cross-Centered Life

Believers are engaged in an ongoing battle to stay cross-centered. The problem is most are unaware of the importance of the struggle. Due to our depraved natures, every saint faces the very real conviction that he or she does not measure up.

A pervading sense of condemnation turns like a little dynamo inside of us. It may slow, but it never stops. Law continues to expose our sin after we are saved.

The great paradox is that the better we are at any given aspect of ministry, the more tempted we will be to make that area of ministry production a defining contributor to our relationship with God.

That’s the rub – the law makes its overtures to our strengths. “Do in order to be” is the law’s rationale. It makes its solicitations to our gifts and talents. It promises to invest our gifts and talents into the account of our favor and acceptance with God.

How subtle this is – for the use of our gifts and talents have been a legitimate blessing to the Body of Christ. The saints have been built up through our ministry diligence and exertion. We rightly long for the Lord’s approval. Our usefulness is not the question.

The issue of cross-centeredness focuses upon whether or not we regard our productiveness to be a contributing factor to our favor with God. “Is my work and service central to my interface and acceptance with God?” If so, the law principle may be operational in my life -- EVEN if I am a strong proponent of grace truths!

Certain temperaments are prone to specific departures from cross-centeredness. The “catalytic extrovert” has a personality that makes things happen. He shies away from introspection. He seldom retreats into the “grey castle of self.” He prefers to manage his dereliction (depravity) by performance, production, and by the generation of massive amounts of work.

The extrovert’s problem is harder to see than the person’s who is neutralized by condemnation. Yet the extrovert’s deviation from cross-centeredness is just as real – he may be operating by law, not grace.

By contrast, the person laboring under a yoke of condemnation feels that heaven is staring at him in one large cosmic frown. Thus he retreats into the grey castle of self and attempts to comfort his soul with sensual things justified by self pity.

Having lost sight of the cross, he does not entertain high prospects of the Lord’s desire to meet him and commune with him. Comfort from the Lord seems light years away.

For the person stuck in the castle of self, the sense of divine favor can only be restored by a fresh view of the cross by faith. For the cross alone is God’s answer to our paralyzing depravity and dereliction.

The cross alone can bring the condemned saint out of hiding and back into the joy of communing with his Lord. The cross lifts the believer out of the exasperation of not measuring up. It places the saint back upon the grace plane of abiding and being that constitute the life of sonship.

So also, the cross is necessary for the extrovert (or workaholic – “human doing”) to be restored to a place of communion that rests solely upon the Savior’s work.

Only the cross of Christ can rightly align the workaholic’s motives with God’s purposes of grace.

When the workaholic is in full production mode, he is often blind to his utter dependence upon the cross for all fellowship and usefulness. Busyness is his drug – while in the whirlwind of urgent ministry tasks, he doesn’t have to stop long enough to look in the mirror and feel any guilt for not measuring up. He is so far “ahead of others” in his ability to generate Christian works, he takes solace in his productivity.

But a “small” detail is missing. Paul mentions it in 1 Cor 15:10. In that passage, the Apostle attributes his productivity to God’s grace alone: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain: but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.”

Paul was careful to stress that his ability to excel in work for the Lord was solely a function of grace. Therefore, he did not see his labors as contributing to his acceptance with God. He regarded his work as an evidence that he was a trophy of God’s grace.

Productive people in ministry who lack Paul’s mindset, tend to use their output of labor as a means of offsetting any feelings of not measuring up.

Those on the receiving end of the workaholic’s ministry may heap praise and gratitude upon him, but his soul is a dry salt waste of a wilderness. If he stopped long enough, he would discover that his heart was no longer a garden.

It is the Spirit’s constant work of grace that teaches us that Christ alone is the ground of all our acceptance, favor, and communion with God. Our greatest works and service do not add a single atom of weight to any of these three. Yet untold numbers of believers live as if their doing is an essential contributor to the three.

No one lives a cross-centered life without an intentional “curriculum” of self-talk. These little “sermons” we preach to ourselves are gospel sermons that reaffirm our utter dependence upon the cross for all favor, acceptance and communion with God.

This self-talk is the necessary way that we “do business” with our souls. All of our thinking and feeling must be rectified by gospel self talk. The cost of not doing so is high indeed.

Without cross-centered living, the law will necessarily dictate the method by which we manage our souls. If the cross is not clearing the way daily for us to receive God’s love and grace in our souls, we will by default automatically gravitate to methods of soul management that are born of law.

These law methods come natural to us – they constitute the “religion” we were born with – a religion of measuring up, of doing in order to be. How many gifted ministers gradually began to support their soul’s life on the husks of their own productivity? The number must be staggering.

One of the symptoms of departing from the cross-centered life is a “law method” of dealing with others. When we abandon the grace-based perspective that flows from cross-centered living, we cannot help but deal with others by the same manner we deal with our own souls. It will “leak out.”

So also, when a person is living a cross-centered life, he cannot help but appeal to the grace of God in the cross for all advancement in work, worship, and sanctification.

The cross alone can lead us out of self (whether a performing self, or a condemning self). The Lord calls us, just as He did the Laodicians, to commune with Him and to receive His love in our spirits. He wants us to come as the beggars we are. He desires that we rest the whole acceptance of our souls upon the grace wrought by His cross and His Person.

The Doctrine of Justification by Faith: Understanding So Great a Salvation

INTRODUCTION – Justification defines our relationship with God. The purity of the gospel depends upon an accurate understanding of justification by grace through faith.

The doctrine of justification by faith has not been given the central place it deserves. In his book, The dynamics of Spiritual Life, Richard Lovelace describes the problem. “Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives. Many have so light an apprehension of God’s holiness and of the extent and guilt of their sin that consciously they see little need for justification, although below the surface of their lives they are deeply guilt-ridden and insecure.”

Jerry Bridges also exposes the same problem indicating that the doctrine of justification by faith has been relegated to the sphere of the unbeliever only. When that happens, says Bridges, Christians turn from grace to personal performance as the basis for Christian living (The Discipline of Grace).

In Evangelicalism today, the doctrine of justification has been exegeted in statements of faith, but the dynamic relationships that flow from the doctrine have not been adequately explained.

Application - Tozer understood the value of justification for daily living. He extolled the liberty God supplies in justification. He reminds us that when justification is appropriated, the believer is liberated from sterile legalism, from unavailing self-effort and from the paralyzing fear of condemnation. Tozer adds that the doctrine of justification in Christ is not simply a legal declaration, it is an ongoing revealer of the infinite riches of the Godhead.

THE NEED OF JUSTIFICATION

When our first parents sinned, the whole human race was plunged into total depravity (sin ruled every human faculty, man became dead to God, Ephesians 2:1-3). By Adam’s one act of disobedience, all of his progeny were constituted sinners. Adam’s descendants are sinful by nature, by practice, by preference, by birth and by decree.

God has given a legal PRONOUNCEMENT about the sinful state of mankind (Rom. 3:9, 10ff; 3:23; 5:12). This pronouncement is a legal declaration, a verdict about every member of the human race. It is a judicial pronouncement about our legal standing before God.

Every unbeliever has a legal standing before God of CONDEMNATION (John 3:36; Rom. 5:16,18; Mark 16:16). In heaven’s sight, all unsaved people are in a state of condemnation, liable to eternal punishment (Gal. 3:22).

No man or woman has the power to change that standing before God. The unbeliever cannot lessen his guilt, nor offset it with works, nor work his way out of condemnation.

THE NATURE OF JUSTIFICATION

Into this human condition of ruin, crisis and condemnation comes the glorious brilliance of the gospel. The extraordinary message of the good news is that through Christ there is a second legal pronouncement from the God of the universe. The second pronouncement has superceded the first legal declaration of universal guilt and condemnation. Justification is that second legal declaration. It overturns the first pronouncement for those who believe.

Romans 1:16,17 answers the question, “How can sinful man be just and righteous in God’s sight?” (See Williams Translation, “For in the good news God’s way of man’s right standing with Him is uncovered.”)

Justification is a VERDICT about us (Rom. 3:22-28). It is declaration takes place in the courtroom of God, before the throne of God, at the justice bar of God, whereby the believer is declared judicially righteous.

Justification is a legal DECLARATION by God in HEAVEN concerning a man, that he stands RIGHTEOUS in God’s sight (Rom. 5:18,19; 3:26; 4:5; 8:33ff).

The righteousness God looks upon when He justifies the believer is resident inCHRIST JESUS (Phil. 3:9; Rom. 4:23-25).

Application – The good news of the gospel is only received as tidings of joy by the person who has felt to some degree the crushing weight of his own sin. The gospel is only good news to a person who is impressed with his own ill desert and guilt before God. God prepares a man for salvation by convincing him of his slavery to sin and the hopelessness of dependence upon self. The awakened sinner respects God’s justice and has begun to quake at the condemnation of God’s law. (For further study – Consider what errors stem from the idea that justification is a process instead of an instantaneous legal pronouncement.)

THE AGENT OF JUSTIFICATION

Salvation is always a sovereignly given gift of God’s grace to those who believe (Eph. 2:8,9). Only those who relinquish all claims to goodness and acknowledge they are ungodly are candidates for justification (Rom. 4:5; Luke 5:32).

In justification, God takes His own righteousness and credits it to the believer. Faith cannot be a meritorious work, it is simply the channel which receives God’s righteousness (Rom. 4:3).

God justifies us by FAITH alone (Gal. 2:15-21). God justifies the person who looks away from himself and trusts in CHRIST ALONE for righteousness (Titus 3:5-7; Rom. 4:4,5).

Application – Saving faith never looks upon itself as having performed a meritorious work. Beware when the seeker asks, “What is faith, that I may do it?”

When a person exercises saving faith, it is because Holy Spirit has brought him to end of self and led him to the risen Christ. The “prepared” sinner despairs of being able to provide any part of his salvation.

Saving faith is by nature self-renouncing. It judges self and condemns self. It finds the resources of self to be bankrupt. It looks away from self and in utter dependence looks upon Another.

THE BASIS OF JUSTIFICATION

Right standing or justification is only by reason of our union with Christ. By union with Christ, the believer is given right standing as a gift of grace. The Holy Spirit applies the benefits of Christ’s death and life to the one who trusts Christ.

God’s legal basis for justifying the ungodly is CHRIST’S FINISHED WORK of substitution and redemption (2 Cor. 5:19-21; Is. 53:5,6; Gal. 3:13). The ground of (our) justification is not the believer’s faith, but the REDEMPTION that is in Christ Jesus (Rom. 3:24).

Application – What errors may develop if a person considers his faith to be the foundation that supports his justification?

THE JUSTICE OF GOD IN OUR JUSTIFICATION

Scripture joins the justice of God in the cross to the justice of God in our justification. The argument of the Apostle in Romans 3:25-31 is that the justice of God is upheld and vindicated when sinners receive forgiveness.

Along with Paul, every Christian must emphasize that the justice of God is magnified in the doctrine of justification. When the sinner is pardoned and declared righteous (justified), it is NOT because God has exercised leniency or clemency! God is, “Just and the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26). God upholds His own immutable law when He justifies he ungodly.

The justice of God is made manifest in three great imputations. To impute is to ascribe or attribute wickedness or merit to another person. When something isimputed to a person, it is a matter of counting or reckoning to their account. (Imputation is the heart of justification. God declares the repentant sinner righteous and does not count his sins against him because He covers him with the righteousness of Christ the moment he places faith in Christ.)

The Three Great Imputations:

O R I G I N A L S I N (The First Pronouncement)

1.) The IMPUTATION of Adam’s sin to his descendants (Rom. 5:12).

J U S T I F I C A T I O N B Y F A I T H (The Second Pronouncement)

2.) The IMPUTATION of the sin of the elect to Christ (1 Pet. 3:18; 2 Cor. 5:21).

3.) The IMPUTATION of Christ’s righteousness to the elect (2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 3:21-26).

The doctrine of justification by faith directly involves the second and third of these great imputations. In justification, there is both the forgiveness of sin and the imputation of righteousness. In order to be regarded just in the sight of God’s law, there must be both a positive righteousness and an absence of transgressions. Justification accomplishes both for the believing sinner.

Romans 5:12-21 - The same divinely ordained principle that allowed Adam to represent his race also provides that Christ be the representative of all those who would believe upon Him. This is the reason why Christ is referred to as “the last Adam,” (1 Cor. 15:45).

Paul lifts up God’s love and grace in Romans 5 as he sets forth Christ’s victorious work of representing His people. In that chapter, the Apostle makes it clear that every man stands either in Christ or in Adam as representative. Those in Adam remain under a reign of death. Those in Christ are under the reign of grace and life.

Application - In our horizontal relationships we may demonstrate virtues that over time deepen our commitment with others. We gain the trust of others, we win their affection, we earn their respect and we prove our faithfulness and usefulness. BUT, in our vertical relationship with the Lord, right-relatedness is completely a gift of God’s grace.

Status, favor, sustenance and right standing are freely poured out upon the believer as gifts in consequence of our union with Christ. All of God’s subsequent dealings with us are grounded upon this fact of free grace. We are to stand in the grace of God and exult in it (1 Pet. 5:12; Rom. 5:2).

In personal relationships it is difficult to express love and trust if we do not know where we stand with an individual. Many Christians face a similar dilemma with the Lord of Hosts. They seem unable to clearly think through the most central issue: “What has God done with my sin and guilt?” It is vital that the saint learn how to take hold of the sufficiency of Christ as his sin-bearing Substitute.

God forgives by “non-imputation,” and He accepts into favor by the imputation of His own righteousness (Rom. 4:5-8). The maturing believer practices this “gospel reasoning” as he does the accounting of his conscience and soul. The more biblically he thinks, the more inclined he is to receive God’s love and comfort and to seek His fellowship. (Remember, the whole idea of a righteousness that is a gift from God is contrary to all our inherited nature.)

THE FOUR DIMENSIONS OF JUSTIFICATION

Although the nature of justification is that of a forensic declaration, there are four biblical dimensions of justification that safeguard it from distortion.

Heresies related to salvation inevitably exclude or replace at least one of the four dimensions.

1.) We are justified JUDICIALLY by God (Rom. 3:26,30; 8:30,33). It is a declaration that is instantaneous and forensic, taking place in the throne room of God.

2.) We are justified MERITORIOUSLY by Christ (Rom. 3:24; 4:23,25; 5:8,9; 10:4). Our right standing is grounded upon the redemptive work of Christ alone.

3.) We are justified MEDIATELY by faith (Rom. 1:17; 3:26,30; Gal. 2:16, 3:24). Sinful man cannot contribute to his justification. It can only be received as a gift of God’s grace. Faith is the channel through which it is received.

4.) We are justified EVIDENTIALLY by works (James 2:21-25; 1 Jn. 2:4,15,19, 3:6-10,24; 4:8,20). (Works justify us from the accusations of men who say that our claims of salvation are false. The fruit of faith is good works. In contrast to a hypocritical faith, true faith purifies the heart and is made manifest in a life of integrity.)

GOD IS GLORIFYING HIS GRACE

God’s grace in Christ is the great revealer of the divine attributes (Eph. 1:6,12,14). The satanic lie of Eden planted the notion in the heart of man that God’s glory and our highest good are antithetical to one another.

Through the Person and work of Christ, the Agent of God’s justifying love, light pierces into the darkened understanding of man, reversing the lie (2 Cor. 4:4-6). By way of the gospel, men have the Edenic lie expunged. Through the grace of God in the gospel, the believer comes to understand that God has joined His glory to our highest good. Those who understand that gracious fact can say that it isrational to abandon oneself to God in Christ (Rom. 12:1).

The Dynamics of Grace, Part 1

INTRODUCTION – Justification defines our relationship with God. The purity of the gospel depends upon an accurate understanding of justification by grace through faith.

The doctrine of justification by faith has not been given the central place it deserves. In his book, The dynamics of Spiritual Life, Richard Lovelace describes the problem. “Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives. Many have so light an apprehension of God’s holiness and of the extent and guilt of their sin that consciously they see little need for justification, although below the surface of their lives they are deeply guilt-ridden and insecure.”

Jerry Bridges also exposes the same problem indicating that the doctrine of justification by faith has been relegated to the sphere of the unbeliever only. When that happens, says Bridges, Christians turn from grace to personal performance as the basis for Christian living (The Discipline of Grace).

In Evangelicalism today, the doctrine of justification has been exegeted in statements of faith, but the dynamic relationships that flow from the doctrine have not been adequately explained.

Application - Tozer understood the value of justification for daily living. He extolled the liberty God supplies in justification. He reminds us that when justification is appropriated, the believer is liberated from sterile legalism, from unavailing self-effort and from the paralyzing fear of condemnation. Tozer adds that the doctrine of justification in Christ is not simply a legal declaration, it is an ongoing revealer of the infinite riches of the Godhead.

THE NEED OF JUSTIFICATION

When our first parents sinned, the whole human race was plunged into total depravity (sin ruled every human faculty, man became dead to God, Ephesians 2:1-3). By Adam’s one act of disobedience, all of his progeny were constituted sinners. Adam’s descendants are sinful by nature, by practice, by preference, by birth and by decree.

God has given a legal PRONOUNCEMENT about the sinful state of mankind (Rom. 3:9, 10ff; 3:23; 5:12). This pronouncement is a legal declaration, a verdict about every member of the human race. It is a judicial pronouncement about our legal standing before God.

Every unbeliever has a legal standing before God of CONDEMNATION (John 3:36; Rom. 5:16,18; Mark 16:16). In heaven’s sight, all unsaved people are in a state of condemnation, liable to eternal punishment (Gal. 3:22).

No man or woman has the power to change that standing before God. The unbeliever cannot lessen his guilt, nor offset it with works, nor work his way out of condemnation.

THE NATURE OF JUSTIFICATION

Into this human condition of ruin, crisis and condemnation comes the glorious brilliance of the gospel. The extraordinary message of the good news is that through Christ there is a second legal pronouncement from the God of the universe. The second pronouncement has superceded the first legal declaration of universal guilt and condemnation. Justification is that second legal declaration. It overturns the first pronouncement for those who believe.

Romans 1:16,17 answers the question, “How can sinful man be just and righteous in God’s sight?” (See Williams Translation, “For in the good news God’s way of man’s right standing with Him is uncovered.”)

Justification is a VERDICT about us (Rom. 3:22-28). It is declaration takes place in the courtroom of God, before the throne of God, at the justice bar of God, whereby the believer is declared judicially righteous.

Justification is a legal DECLARATION by God in HEAVEN concerning a man, that he stands RIGHTEOUS in God’s sight (Rom. 5:18,19; 3:26; 4:5; 8:33ff).

The righteousness God looks upon when He justifies the believer is resident inCHRIST JESUS (Phil. 3:9; Rom. 4:23-25).

Application – The good news of the gospel is only received as tidings of joy by the person who has felt to some degree the crushing weight of his own sin. The gospel is only good news to a person who is impressed with his own ill desert and guilt before God. God prepares a man for salvation by convincing him of his slavery to sin and the hopelessness of dependence upon self. The awakened sinner respects God’s justice and has begun to quake at the condemnation of God’s law. (For further study – Consider what errors stem from the idea that justification is a process instead of an instantaneous legal pronouncement.)

THE AGENT OF JUSTIFICATION

Salvation is always a sovereignly given gift of God’s grace to those who believe (Eph. 2:8,9). Only those who relinquish all claims to goodness and acknowledge they are ungodly are candidates for justification (Rom. 4:5; Luke 5:32).

In justification, God takes His own righteousness and credits it to the believer. Faith cannot be a meritorious work, it is simply the channel which receives God’s righteousness (Rom. 4:3).

God justifies us by FAITH alone (Gal. 2:15-21). God justifies the person who looks away from himself and trusts in CHRIST ALONE for righteousness (Titus 3:5-7; Rom. 4:4,5).

Application – Saving faith never looks upon itself as having performed a meritorious work. Beware when the seeker asks, “What is faith, that I may do it?”

When a person exercises saving faith, it is because Holy Spirit has brought him to end of self and led him to the risen Christ. The “prepared” sinner despairs of being able to provide any part of his salvation.

Saving faith is by nature self-renouncing. It judges self and condemns self. It finds the resources of self to be bankrupt. It looks away from self and in utter dependence looks upon Another.

THE BASIS OF JUSTIFICATION

Right standing or justification is only by reason of our union with Christ. By union with Christ, the believer is given right standing as a gift of grace. The Holy Spirit applies the benefits of Christ’s death and life to the one who trusts Christ.

God’s legal basis for justifying the ungodly is CHRIST’S FINISHED WORK of substitution and redemption (2 Cor. 5:19-21; Is. 53:5,6; Gal. 3:13). The ground of (our) justification is not the believer’s faith, but the REDEMPTION that is in Christ Jesus (Rom. 3:24).

Application – What errors may develop if a person considers his faith to be the foundation that supports his justification?

THE JUSTICE OF GOD IN OUR JUSTIFICATION

Scripture joins the justice of God in the cross to the justice of God in our justification. The argument of the Apostle in Romans 3:25-31 is that the justice of God is upheld and vindicated when sinners receive forgiveness.

Along with Paul, every Christian must emphasize that the justice of God is magnified in the doctrine of justification. When the sinner is pardoned and declared righteous (justified), it is NOT because God has exercised leniency or clemency! God is, “Just and the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26). God upholds His own immutable law when He justifies he ungodly.

The justice of God is made manifest in three great imputations. To impute is to ascribe or attribute wickedness or merit to another person. When something isimputed to a person, it is a matter of counting or reckoning to their account. (Imputation is the heart of justification. God declares the repentant sinner righteous and does not count his sins against him because He covers him with the righteousness of Christ the moment he places faith in Christ.)

The Three Great Imputations:

O R I G I N A L S I N (The First Pronouncement)

1.) The IMPUTATION of Adam’s sin to his descendants (Rom. 5:12).

J U S T I F I C A T I O N B Y F A I T H (The Second Pronouncement)

2.) The IMPUTATION of the sin of the elect to Christ (1 Pet. 3:18; 2 Cor. 5:21).

3.) The IMPUTATION of Christ’s righteousness to the elect (2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 3:21-26).

The doctrine of justification by faith directly involves the second and third of these great imputations. In justification, there is both the forgiveness of sin and the imputation of righteousness. In order to be regarded just in the sight of God’s law, there must be both a positive righteousness and an absence of transgressions. Justification accomplishes both for the believing sinner.

Romans 5:12-21 - The same divinely ordained principle that allowed Adam to represent his race also provides that Christ be the representative of all those who would believe upon Him. This is the reason why Christ is referred to as “the last Adam,” (1 Cor. 15:45).

Paul lifts up God’s love and grace in Romans 5 as he sets forth Christ’s victorious work of representing His people. In that chapter, the Apostle makes it clear that every man stands either in Christ or in Adam as representative. Those in Adam remain under a reign of death. Those in Christ are under the reign of grace and life.

Application - In our horizontal relationships we may demonstrate virtues that over time deepen our commitment with others. We gain the trust of others, we win their affection, we earn their respect and we prove our faithfulness and usefulness. BUT, in our vertical relationship with the Lord, right-relatedness is completely a gift of God’s grace.

Status, favor, sustenance and right standing are freely poured out upon the believer as gifts in consequence of our union with Christ. All of God’s subsequent dealings with us are grounded upon this fact of free grace. We are to stand in the grace of God and exult in it (1 Pet. 5:12; Rom. 5:2).

In personal relationships it is difficult to express love and trust if we do not know where we stand with an individual. Many Christians face a similar dilemma with the Lord of Hosts. They seem unable to clearly think through the most central issue: “What has God done with my sin and guilt?” It is vital that the saint learn how to take hold of the sufficiency of Christ as his sin-bearing Substitute.

God forgives by “non-imputation,” and He accepts into favor by the imputation of His own righteousness (Rom. 4:5-8). The maturing believer practices this “gospel reasoning” as he does the accounting of his conscience and soul. The more biblically he thinks, the more inclined he is to receive God’s love and comfort and to seek His fellowship. (Remember, the whole idea of a righteousness that is a gift from God is contrary to all our inherited nature.)

THE FOUR DIMENSIONS OF JUSTIFICATION

Although the nature of justification is that of a forensic declaration, there are four biblical dimensions of justification that safeguard it from distortion.

Heresies related to salvation inevitably exclude or replace at least one of the four dimensions.

1.) We are justified JUDICIALLY by God (Rom. 3:26,30; 8:30,33). It is a declaration that is instantaneous and forensic, taking place in the throne room of God.

2.) We are justified MERITORIOUSLY by Christ (Rom. 3:24; 4:23,25; 5:8,9; 10:4). Our right standing is grounded upon the redemptive work of Christ alone.

3.) We are justified MEDIATELY by faith (Rom. 1:17; 3:26,30; Gal. 2:16, 3:24). Sinful man cannot contribute to his justification. It can only be received as a gift of God’s grace. Faith is the channel through which it is received.

4.) We are justified EVIDENTIALLY by works (James 2:21-25; 1 Jn. 2:4,15,19, 3:6-10,24; 4:8,20). (Works justify us from the accusations of men who say that our claims of salvation are false. The fruit of faith is good works. In contrast to a hypocritical faith, true faith purifies the heart and is made manifest in a life of integrity.)

GOD IS GLORIFYING HIS GRACE

God’s grace in Christ is the great revealer of the divine attributes (Eph. 1:6,12,14). The satanic lie of Eden planted the notion in the heart of man that God’s glory and our highest good are antithetical to one another.

Through the Person and work of Christ, the Agent of God’s justifying love, light pierces into the darkened understanding of man, reversing the lie (2 Cor. 4:4-6). By way of the gospel, men have the Edenic lie expunged. Through the grace of God in the gospel, the believer comes to understand that God has joined His glory to our highest good.

Those who understand that gracious fact can say that it is rational to abandon oneself to God in Christ (Rom. 12:1).

The Dynamics of Grace, Part 2

INTRODUCTION – Scripture makes it clear that all men are in bondage and slavery to the fear of death (Heb. 2:14,15). The source of the fear has to do with what lies on the other side of death (Job 18:14). The fear involved is a dread fear ofpunishment (1 John 4:18; Heb. 9:27; 1 Cor. 15:56).

The fear beneath all fears is one of ultimate judgment. In that form of judgment, the person and his right to exist are condemned. There is a radical diminishing of the self so that all wellbeing is lost. (In our earthly experience, think of how difficult it is to forget times of intense shame and humiliation that we have experienced.)

Living with this fear of judgment colors our whole experience of life. The fear is rooted in the fear of ultimate condemnation. That fear finds its day to day expression in anxiety, rage, tension, stress and depression. People will do almost anything to prevent returning to that unbearable place of exposure and condemnation.

When sin entered the human race, the fear of condemnation was its instantaneous companion. Immediately after sinning, Adam and Eve utilized strategies to ward off the threat of judgment. Adam attempted to cover his shame. He was afraid. He tried to hide from his Creator and Judge. He engaged in blame in order to defer judgment away from himself (Gen. 3:7-13). According to Scripture, the guilt man feels as a sinner is not simply the irritations of conscience, it is actual legal guilt before God (Rom. 3:23; 2:5).

Adam’s fear of punishment (his response to loss of innocence), is the universal response of his sinful descendants. The human condition is characterized by guilt, blame, shame, hiding, anxiety, flight and defiance.

By nature, we are like Adam, we do not deal courageously with our sin. The fear of punishment makes cowards of us all (Note the baseball and the broken window story). The roots of cowardice penetrate deep in our lives because not only are we condemned in our acts of sin, but also in our whole nature and being.

Only a perfect atonement can end our fear of judgment! The design of Christ’s propitiatory sacrifice was to deliver us from the bondage of fear. Only when that fear is cast out can we be perfected in love (1 John 4:18). (The word propitiationrefers to the power of Christ’s substitutionary death to fully satisfy the claims of God’s law against the sinner. Apart from His propitiation, the full eternal weight of God’s wrath falls upon the unbeliever.)

THE POWER OF SIN IS THE LAW (1 COR. 15:56).

By means of the Law, sin is charged to our account (Rom. 5:13). When we transgress the Law of God, iniquity is imputed to us. The Law declares death’s legal power over us as the just penalty for sin (Ez. 18:4; 1 Cor. 15:56).

Sinners are capital offenders in custody, awaiting judgment (Gal. 3:22). The degree to which God’s verdict is resisted by the human race almost defies reason. So great is man’s antipathy to the verdict, it could be compared to the following scenario. A man was led to an immense stack of bricks and lumber. He asks the purpose for the building materials. He is told that he is to construct a courthouse in which he will be tried and found guilty, to build a cell in which he will be incarcerated and to erect a gallows on which he will be hung.

Men imagine that they are acting in their own interest when they refuse to believe God’s verdict regarding their sin and what it deserves. But such is not the case, for only those who agree with God’s verdict avail themselves of God’s merciful remedy.

The legal condemnation of God’s Law hangs over a person like a huge sword ready to drop, pierce and cleave us by God’s wrath. (In our glorious gospel, the Son of God placed Himself between us and God’s “sword” of wrath. In the substitutionary death of Christ, the “sword” of God’s wrath falls upon the Son of God in His death by crucifixion.)

THE LAW WAS THE MINISTRY OF CONDEMNATION AND DEATH (2 COR. 3:7-9).

Sinful human nature staggered under the Law’s crushing demands. Instead of being able to control a person morally, the Law strangles and suffocates the sinner. (The Law’s demands are absolute, but it grants no power or inclination to the sinner that enables obedience.)

The Law came with a curse (Gal. 3:10-13). The Law was meant to be the great revealer of man’s sinful condition (Rom. 3:20). The inability of the Hebrew nation to keep God’s Law is an authoritative commentary about the entire human race (Note that one only has to test one bucket of water in order to find out if a whole bay is polluted. The nation of Israel was a small portion of humanity.)

THE LAW IS NOT OF FAITH (GAL. 3:12).

In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ’s words struck the religious establishment of Jerusalem like a thunderbolt. The Jewish religious leaders had systematized the Mosaic Law into a predominately external moral code that was achievable by human exertion.

In Christ’s discourse, the spirit of the Law which was clearly taught in the Torah, was driven home in His sermon – love for God and neighbor is not just externals,it extends to what a man thinks, loves, speaks and looks at!

Martin Luther’s comments on the Sermon on the Mount can be summarized in the following way. The Sermon is meant to exasperate the sinner in order to prepare him for the gospel. (In other words, who can possibly keep such a high divine standard?)

Not only, does the Law exasperate, it may also exacerbate the sinner’s problem (Rom. 5:20). (Def. of exacerbate – increase severity of or bitterness of. This is reminiscent of the public’s response to the freeway signs that said, “Drive 55 and stay alive.” ) (Remember the example of the Law acting as a stir stick that stirs up the sediment in the glass of water.)

The sinner must learn that the Law way is closed as a way of obtaining right standing with God (Rom. 3:20; 10:1-4; 4:4-16). The present evangelical function of the Law is that of a tutor to lead a person to Christ as the only Way of right standing (Gal. 3:24,25).

Though the Law’s commandments are holy, righteous and good (Rom. 7:12), the Law only brings death, wrath and condemnation because of the weakness of human flesh (Rom. 8:3-8). (Man’s weak and sinful flesh cannot be raised up to God by means of the Law anymore than overcooked meat can be lifted up in one piece by a two-pronged fork.)

THE UNBELIEVER’S RESPONSE TO GOD WHO DEMANDS JUSTICE AND RIGHTEOUS IS ENMITY (ROM. 5:10; EPH. 2:15,16).

Unrepentant man has no sentiment for God’s purpose to glorify Himself through the knowledge of Himself. The natural man does not appropriate God’s purpose that mankind must be a moral reflection of God’s righteousness. The natural man is an enemy of God’s glory (Rom. 5:10; Phil. 3:18,19).

The N.T. Greek word for enemy (echthros), is closely related to the Greek word for enmity, (echthra). The word for enmity describes the disposition of the enemy, that of hostility. Paul asserts that the mind set on the flesh is “hostile” (echthra) toward God (Rom. 8:7 – see the Williams Translation). Man’s refusal to obey God’s Law involves defiant opposition. The soul enslaved to sin, alienated from God and under condemnation cannot love God (Titus 3:3 ff). The sinner ruled by his iron lusts cannot love the Holy One.

Man’s enmity is a function of his resentment that God should hold him liable to judgment. The good news of the gospel is that the solution to man’s problem is entirely from the outside of man. Man is not even part of the solution! God has unilaterally acted to solve man’s dilemma.

In Israel of old, the murmuring Hebrews were plagued by the bites of “fiery” serpents in the wilderness. God told Moses to cast a brazen serpent and place it upon a pole. When a Hebrew was bitten, all he had to do was look at the brazen serpent in faith, and his symptoms would be removed. So also, one believing “look” at Christ can strike the enmity from a man’s heart (John 3:14-18). The cross not only makes us acceptable to God, it also makes God’s holiness desirable to us. Justification by grace through faith annihilates our enmity toward God.

MAN’S NATURAL CONDITION IS AKIN TO BEING STUCK IN A VICE

By reason of sin, man’s image bearing integration in God was lost. Man became darkened, fragmented and broken (Note example of broken window pane with cracks radiating to all sides of the frame). The aspects of man’s soul were no longer in harmony. Instead, they were at odds, pulling against each other. The conscience and the affections became hopelessly separated -- people attempt to meet their needs by sinning, then the conscience justly accuses them for doing so.

Sin and self replaced God at the center of the life. As a result, dread, fear of punishment, blame and guilt displaced peace.

The obligation to obey God remained in full force, but the inclination to obey God was decimated by the fall. This condition put man is a crushing vice so to speak. A man’s desires, needs and wants are dictating to him one direction (his mind is set on the flesh), and at the same time, the Law of God demands that he be righteous or face death.

What the Law says he should be and what his desires dictate form the two arms of the vice clamped upon him. As he seeks to solve his needs and problems by sin, the arms of the vice squeeze harder, producing more fear of punishment.

SIN MAKES COWARDS OF US ALL (HEB. 2:14,15; 1 JOHN 4:18).

The fear of condemnation makes us cowardly concerning our sin. We do not deal with our sin courageously. The principle of guilt before God’s Law seeks to dominate our lives through fear of punishment. We tend to be cowed, defiant and self-protective. In our flesh, we will run anywhere but to the atonement God has provided in His Son. We desperately need Christ’s work in order to be free of guilt’s captivity.

The reason the roots of cowardice run so deep in our lives is because God’s Law condemns not only our individual acts of sin, but also our whole being (what we are by nature). All our fleshly strategies employed to avoid judgment utterly fail. Whether it is denial, appeasement, rationalizing or defiance, the efforts we make to escape the painful truth about ourselves falls short of the heroism God calls us to practice.

STRATEGIES OF THE FLESH THATARE USED TO WARD OFF JUDGMENT

Guilt and fear of condemnation move a man to seek an “atonement” or a strategy to defend against the threat of punishment.

Fleshly strategies include:

1. Flight – In this strategy the person seeks to escape the accusations of Law and conscience by devoting themselves to some diversion, escape or amusement. Denial of guilt factors heavily into this strategy. Biblical examples include Nabal’s feast (1 Sam. 25:36-38), Pilate’s denial of guilt by hand-washing (Matt. 27:24), Jonah’s voyage in the opposite direction of Ninevah (Jonah 1:3), Judah’s escapist mentality of “eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we may die,” (Is. 22:13,14).

2. Open Resistance – This strategy involves contempt for God’s judgment. It is an attempt to take on the judgment with a defense or with defiance. Biblical examples include the Chief Priests’ plot to kill Jesus (Matt. 21:45), Job’s desire to bring God into court (Job 23:1-7), Zedekiah’s burning of the Word of God (Jer. 36), the apostates of Jerusalem defying the Word of God (Jer. 44:16,17).

3. Appeasement – This strategy is an attempt to win God’s favor by law-keeping. It is an effort to appease God by successful obedience. Law keeping that is legal in nature is always selective, scrupulous and legalistic (Matt. 23:23). Biblical examples include the rich young ruler (Matt. 19:16), Saul of Tarsus prior to his conversion (Phil. 3:4-6; Gal. 1:14).

THE CONSCIENCE OF MAN WILL ONLY BE AT REST WHEN TRUE JUSTICE HAS BEEN DONE (2 COR. 5:21).

Every strategy employed by man to elude judgment will ultimately fail. Every false hiding place will someday be revealed as a “refuge of lies,” (Is. 28:17). Men take no account now of the fact that they daily “bribe” their consciences with alibis for their transgression of God’s commandments.

The startling truth is that man is made in the moral image of God. Man’s conscience is not a product of social conditioning, it is God’s moral mark upon us. For that reason, the conscience can never be eradicated. All efforts to do so will only result in greater eternal anguish.

The conscience is a constant reminder of the great assize to come, it is a harbinger of judgment day. Though men experience temporary “success” in quieting their consciences in this life, a day is coming when the conscience will take its full revenge.

On that day, the conscience will accept no bribes, it will demand strict justice. It will agree with God’s verdict that man’s sin deserves eternal wrath.

Against this dark fact, the atonement of Jesus Christ is grace beyond description.

In the atonement, the believing sinner beholds Christ, the suffering God-man, bleeding and dying in his place. This is NOT to arouse pity or sympathy – this is the satisfaction of JUSTICE. The law of God and the conscience of man will accept nothing less than perfect justice.

When the believing sinner casts a believing “look” at Christ, for the first time in his life, his conscience is at peace and rest. He sees that justice has been served concerning his sin. With his sin forgiven, his formerly troubled conscience becomes like the placid surface of a lake – now he begins to reflect the character of his Creator.

The Dynamics of Grace, Part 3

INTRODUCTION – The Church (or body of true believers in Christ), can be likened to a temple of praise, a family, a war room (both Pentagon and boot camp), a survival training institute, a school, an organism and a hospital.

The Church as a “hospital” takes into consideration the application of God’s cure for the sin disease. The solution to human sin is found in the heart of God. His grace, mercy and infinite lovingkindness are sounded forth in the gospel. He has given His only begotten Son to offer an effectual sacrifice that is both substitutionary and penal. Christ’s finished work on Calvary satisfies all the claims of God against us. The Lord has accomplished a complete redemption that gives believers an immutable righteous standing by His shed blood.

THE MANAGEMENT OF GUILT IS THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND MANMADE RELIGION.

The natural man seeks to work his way out of condemnation by religious effort, moral exertion and self-reformation. The sense of justice planted in man’s conscience demands some form of atonement to “offset” the punishment man deserves.

Man’s nature longs for a “score card,” or means by which he measure the merit he has “earned.” (Natural religion provides that score card. Think of examples from Hinduism, Buddhism and Catholicism.)

Scripture regards all efforts at winning God’s favor through the accumulation of merit to be dead works (Heb. 9:14). Dead works not only fail to commend man to God, they also perpetuate the imprisoning principle of fear of punishment. Deeds generated to manage a sense of condemnation cannot lift a person above personal guilt. The person will always be left with the haunting doubt, “Have I done enough to atone for my sins?”

ONLY A PERFECT ATONEMENT WOULD END OUR FEAR OF JUDGMENT.

Natural men devise their own means of atonement. Unregenerate men assume that a zeal for righteousness accompanied by sincerity cannot help but find favor with God. BUT, the problem with atonement is that everything depends upon the value of the sacrifice as measured by the Judge!

If the sacrifice is insufficient and not 100% successful in the eyes of the Judge, then man’s guilt, fear and condemnation remain in place (Rom. 10:1-4). Everything depends upon God’s determination of its value.

Atonement is called for when the first party in the transaction is in a position of actual guilt in regard to the JUDGE. Guilt has estranged the two parties. The power of atonement is its ability to remove guilt from the situation.

God has publicly displayed His own Son as the perfect atonement (Rom. 3:25,26). God has endorsed the infinite value of His Son’s death. “He was raised for our justification,” (Rom. 4:25).

The judgment due us because of our sins has been assumed by Another. Not only are believers freed from judgment, they are reconciled to the Judge! (Rom. 5:10). In the gospel, the Judge gives His authoritative endorsement of the atonement He has provided (Titus 3:4-7; Heb. 6:17-20).

THE ATONEMENT DISARMS THE CONDEMNING FORCE OF THE LAW AND FREES FROM THE FEAR OF PUNISHMENT.

The gospel brings incredible news – that what we know to be true about ourselves (our actual legal guilt and fear of punishment), has been responded to decisively, eternally from outside ourselves.

The human condition has been brought to light by God’s law. God has intervened sending His Son in human flesh in order that the full force of judgment that makes our lives so miserable might fall on Him (2 Cor. 5:21).

The whole oppression of judgment in every sense has descended upon the Son. This spells the end of the law as a power to deal out death to humanity. Jesus Christ is God’s infinite grace gift in Whom all men “killed by the law” are invited to rest (Gal. 2:19-21).

In judging Jesus Christ to death in our place, the law has done its worst. It has prosecuted its standard of obedience to the furthest possible limit – death to the lawbreaker in ultimate condemnation (Gal. 3:10-13; Rom. 10:4).

By disarming the law, the atonement frees from the fear of judgment.

Gospel atonement bursts in upon the fear of judgment. Remember, the law has not only judged what I do, but also what I am! (Our conscience witnesses against us. There is evidence of deliberate sins, conscious moral failures, compulsive patterns of lust and passion. At times, the believer loathes living in his body of flesh, Rom. 7:24,25.)

Because of Christ’s perfect atonement, the law is now powerless to condemn me (Col. 2:13,14; Eph. 2:14-16). The law cannot see me apart from Christ. Because of justification, I am morally and legally one with Him in the eyes of the law (Col. 3:3,4; Phil. 3:9).

GRACE MAKES HEROES OF BELIEVERS.

It was the fear of punishment and condemnation that made cowards of us all. We could not deal with sin courageously. Fear of punishment and exposure held us in a vice grip of guilt. The fear of punishment dominated our lives. We sought to “manage” that fear by hiding, denial, flight, defiance, appeasement and other carnal forms of self-protection.

Only Christ’s atonement could free us from guilt’s captivity. The design of Christ’s propitiatory sacrifice was to deliver us from the bondage of fear, casting it out, that we might be perfected in love (1 Jn. 4:18). (Fellowship with God and one another is the priority of grace – 1 John 1:3-7.)

Through justification, we move from cowardice to heroism.

The roots of cowardice penetrate so deep in our lives because the law condemns our whole being – what we are by nature (2 Cor. 3:9; 1 Cor. 15:56).

BUT, such is the power and wisdom of God in justification that believers are lifted out of cowardice to heroism. The very cause of our cowardice has been dug up by the roots.

It is no longer necessary to turn to flesh mechanisms in order to deflect judgment. The crushing fear of punishment has been mightily dealt with in the atonement. Our bondage to fear is broken by the atonement (Heb. 2:14,15).

JUSTIFICATION GIVES US THE LEGAL RIGHT TO COME OUT OF HIDING AND DEAL WITH SIN COURAGEOUSLY.

The atonement of Jesus Christ exists to make us heroes instead of cowards in the area where the greatest heroism is called for – in the area of human sin. Through justification in Christ, we come out of hiding and deal with sin courageously in true repentance and confession.

A mighty atonement is working in our favor. It is the believer’s responsibility to daily reckon Christ’s work on his behalf, BECAUSE the believer sins everyday. All our natural inclinations are to return to the fleshly strategies of managing guilt, fear and failure. (These are employed in an attempt to ward off threats of condemnation.)

Heroism is manifested when we believe the message of Christ’s work for us. Clothed in Christ’s righteousness, we may admit our sin without fear. The courage and confidence flows from the fact that honesty about indwelling sin cannot jeopardize my position in Christ (Rom. 8:1).

Application – All of the pains taken to avoid the painful truth about ourselves utterly fail. Whether it is denial, rationalizing, blame or defiance, carnal methods of self-defense fall short of the heroism God calls for us to practice (1 Jn. 1:6-10). Gospel “reasoning” is the key to the victory (Gal. 2:20).

WHEN BELIEVERS RETURN TO CARNAL STRATEGIES FOR MANAGING THE FEAR OF PUNISHMENT, RELATIONSHIPS ARE DAMAGED.

The fruits of our cowardly choices hurt those closest to us. The carnal methods of managing a sense of condemnation affect our relationships with others. When we are only concerned about deflecting judgment and winning approval, we cease to love the other person at that point. Not only does the fear of man bring a snare, it also is antithetical to living for God’s glory (See Proverbs 29:25; John 5:44; 12:43).

Every carnal attempt to escape judgment is a flight from realism and heroism. Cowardice moves us to retreat into blame, self-justification, hiding and pretending. The pretender’s attempt to cover guilt ends up hurting those around him.

Cowardice short-circuits conflict resolution.

It is the wise man who is able to receive a rebuke, a correction or an admonishment (Ps. 141:5). By contrast, the individual who is managing his dereliction (fear of judgment), by carnal methods will inevitably be defensive. He will feel too diminished to admit he is wrong (Prov. 9:8; 13:1; 17:10).

Those who are justified by Christ can admit when they are wrong. There is no other way to uphold a spirit of unity and maintain the bond of peace. This must be the case in a fellowship of forgiveness (Eph. 4:1-3,32; Col. 3:12,13 ff.). The justified sinner can admit when he fails others. He does not need to retreat into denial, escape or defensiveness.

UNRESOLVED SIN HURTS THE BELIEVER’S FELLOWHIP WITH GOD.

By “unresolved sin” is meant sin in a believer’s life that has not been confessed and repented of. In those instances, the Christian will not enjoy a sense of God’s favor and forgiveness.

We desperately need heroism at this point. Self-shielding is an effort of hide our deformities from God and ourselves, lest they should invite judgment. Unresolved sin sits there like a malignancy spinning off blame, shame, alienation, guilt and depression.

The Holy Spirit desires to bring us back to gospel reasoning. He wants to convince us of the wisdom of keeping “short accounts” with God (Acts 24:15,16). Gospel reasoning appropriates the unlimited provision for forgiveness found in the New Covenant (Heb. 8:12).

Application – If we as believers continue with unresolved sin, our energies that could be going toward the Lord and others will be squandered. We will be too occupied rationalizing and concealing our sin in an effort to deflect condemnation.

This is often seen in pastoral counseling situations. Delayed repentance only produced a series of further compromises resulting in additional regret. The experience of love and fellowship with God and intimates suffered in the process. (Note the frequent need of “family forgiveness,” John 13:10).

AN ATTITUDE OF CONTRITION IS CENTRAL IN OUR FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD (IS. 66:1,2; 57:15).

Efforts to shield ourselves from judgment alienates us from God’s gracious provision for forgiveness. Moral trust in God involves the daily application of gospel reasoning.

Courage to deal with personal sin entails dropping our defenses, false refuges and systems of self-righteousness. God desires that by the word of justification applied, you might demonstrate a depth of personal responsibility for sin known as contrition. Joy follows on the heels of contrition. It is the contrite who enjoy God the most. There is a joyful “integration” that accompanies the realism associated with contrition. Peace floods the heart when we come out of hiding into the presence of God.

THE CALL TO CHRISTIAN HEROISM IS A CALL TO LIVE A SIN-JUDGED LIFE.

Acknowledging our sin to God is the key to confessing our sin to others. Carnal approaches to conflict destroys unity (some hurl abuse, some hide, some are openly defiant, some appease – Scripture tells us to speak the truth in love, Eph. 4:15)

All of our “prickly” defense mechanisms look as if we carry our own worth and perfection. They appear as if our value would be decimated if we had to admit we were wrong (See 2 Tim. 3:3; Prov. 27:6; Lev. 19:16-18).

By contrast, the justified person is equipped for radical realism. He can admit his offense in the interest of God’s glory, in the interest of the relationship, in the interest of Christian unity and the bond of peace. He doesn’t have to play the “I’m right game.”

The man who trusts in his own righteousness may shun admissions of failure, sin and guilt. But the justified man trusts in an alien righteousness outside of himself,in Christ. He has the resources for radical realism.

Application – The sin-judged life is one of ongoing Biblical self-confrontation. The Christian must guard against attempts to raise himself morally by focusing upon the faults of others (Neh. 4:15; 6:15,16; Luke 18:11).

The Christian’s position is “in Christ.” The source of the believer’s strength and victory is grace (Heb. 13:9; Jude 20; Gal. 2:20).

The Dynamics of Grace, Part 4

INTRODUCTION – Justification defines our relationship with God. Justification involves the application of the benefits of Christ’s life, death and resurrection to the believer (Rom. 5:8-11). By Christ’s work, we are brought into relationship with God. Justification becomes the basis for our adoption, acceptance, favor and sonship.

Justification is forensic in nature and relational in its result. Justification removes every barrier to eternal fellowship with God. As our Substitute, Christ took upon Himself all of the dis-relatedness, the enmity and the alienation caused by our sin. He became our curse and our guilt. He willingly assumed the temporal and eternal consequences of our iniquity.

Here is the great scandal of the cross. It frustrates natural human reason to think that by God’s own hand the Son of God should be bruised, crushed, tormented and excommunicated. The most righteous man that ever lived was by God’s own plan, crucified by evil rebels and hateful cowards. Christ was brought to abject weakness, agony and shame. He was forsaken to die in ignominy and abandonment.

The cross, the greatest breach in human justice in history, became the greatest satisfaction of divine justice in time and eternity.

Christ became our dereliction of fear. He became our separation, our dereliction and our dis-relatedness. The dis-relatedness of non-being (the exp. of being cut off from God) fell full strength upon His Person. On Calvary He experienced the loss of all well being -- He became the embodiment of man in hell.

As our suffering Substitute, He removed the barriers to fellowship with God. And as our Substitute, He established the foundations of perfect fellowship with God.

Christ not only became a curse for us, He also is the believer’s right-relatedness to the Godhead. His perfect obedience to God, His perfect love to God, His perfect relatedness to the trinity is OURS BY IMPUTATION!

Christ is not only the revelation of God, He is our RIGHT-STANDING with God. He is meeting place, altar, covenant, eligibility, access and living way (Heb. 13:15; Is. 42:6; 49:8; Phil. 3:9; Eph. 3:12; Heb. 10;20).

He is our eligibility for an unbroken flow of divine love and blessing. In removing the barriers of dis-relatedness, He spanned the infinite moral gulf between God and man. Justification is an infinitely gracious exchange. He gives us His own right relatedness to the Father. He takes upon Himself our wretched dis-relatedness.

The right standing we now have in Him is only by union with Him. He is the sole source of our favor, acceptance and sonship. By God’s grace, we have His moral perfection by imputation and by union with Him.

In justification, there is a radical dealing with everything that produces dis-relatedness. Justification is relational grace. It is the ground of our reconciliation. It is the basis for perfect fellowship, for belonging, for oneness, for immutable love. It is by abiding in this divine love that we are transformed (1 Jn. 4:16-18).

As we “preach the gospel to ourselves every,” we are enabled to surrender to God in obedience and adoration. “Gospel reasoning” enables us to take delight in God and to abandon ourselves to Him (Rom. 12:1,2). Justification is of great practical value!

JUSTIFICATION CHANGES OUR WHOLE RELATIONSHIP TO GOD’S HOLINESS.

Through Christ, the justified man has become “rightly adjusted” to God’s person, character and attributes. The justified man is “rightly adjusted” to the claims of God, the government of God and the law of God. The justified man has beenlegally severed from the reign of the Adamic nature (Rom. 6:5,6; Col. 2:11-13). The justified man has a new Master – Christ and righteousness (Rom. 6:16,18,22).

Therefore, sanctification involves taking one’s justification seriously. Sanctification is the process of receiving the word of justification repeatedly and of receiving it in new areas of our being. To the degree that grace truths permeate the believer’s thoughts, values and conclusions, he is transformed by them. That is growth in grace, living in the light of these truths and seeing oneself and one’s relationships in light of these truths (Gal. 2:20).

Application – Study the imagery in Revelation 3:15-21 (“blind, poor, naked, wretched, miserable, needing nothing…”). Contrast the negative description of the Laodicean church with the promised blessings of Christ. In what ways does this contrast provide a picture of self as an ineffective “source” versus Christ as Source Person? (See 2 Pet. 3:18; Eph. 4:15,16; Col. 2:19.)

SANCTIFICATION INVOLVES BECOMING AS WE ARE REGARDED (2 COR. 6:14-7:1).

“Sonship is the motive and meaning of gospel holiness” (Lewis Sperry Chafer). Justification established our status as sons and daughters of God. The bestowal of sonship is completely gracious but our sonship is joined to moral imperatives (Matt. 5:44,45; Rom. 8:12-17; Eph. 5:1,2ff.; 1Jn. 3:9,10).

ROMANS 6 IS THE TRANSITION CHAPTER OR “BRIDGE” THAT JOINS OUR JUSTIFICATION TO OUR SANCTIFICATION.

“The gospel does not command us to do anything to obtain life, but bids us live by that which another has done” (H. Bonar). The soul’s rest in the life-giving truth of the gospel is the root of all true labor.

“In receiving Christ we do not work in order to rest, but we rest in order to work” (Jerry Bridges). Believers work from a position of pardon. Realized forgiveness is the joyful motive for obedience. Justification is the ongoing foundation for all progress in sanctification. “The sinner’s legal position must be set to rights before his moral position can be touched” (H. Bonar).

Romans 6 opens with the federal fact (Christ’s federal rep. of us) -- that Christ’s death was a representative union. (All the legal liabilities and responsibilities of His people rest upon Him.)

Christ’s death was not only “on behalf of” (huper) our sin, but “unto” (eis) sin. Here Paul brings the federal fact to light. Not only was Christ’s death intended to redeem His people from their sins, (Rom. 3-5) it was also intended to change His people’s relationship toward sin (Rom. 6-8). Our federal solidarity with Christ brings not only forgiveness of sin but also freedom from sin’s dominion! Thus, we may affirm “Christ died for us and we died in Him.”

In Romans 6, Paul joins the previous theme – salvation from sin’s penalty, with deliverance from sin’s dominion. Remember, Romans 5 established that the penal consequence of Adam’s sin was that mankind was delivered over unto the legal reign of sin. The great revelation of Romans 6:10 is that Christ died unto sin on our behalf. By reason of our federal union with Him in His death, we died as well to the legal reign of sin (Rom. 6:6-11).

“We could not take one step in the pursuit of holiness if God in His grace had not first delivered us from the dominion of sin and brought us into union with His risen Son” (Jerry Bridges).

THE FACT THAT WE DIED TO SIN IS NOT IMMEDIATELY EXPERIENTIAL.

“Our old self was crucified,” is a revealed truth that is addressed to faith (Rom. 6:6). The positional truth of co-crucifixion and union with Christ is not perceived primarily by experience, it is apprehended by faith.

If we “consult” our unmortified desires, we may conclude that we have not died to sin. Our indwelling sin seems to testify to the contrary that we are dead to sin. Our natural desires, passions and reasonings are not a reliable standard for our behavior (“[We] do not live by the standard set by the lower nature, but by the standard set by the Spirit” Romans 8:4b – Wms. Transl.).

THE FACT THAT WE DIED TO SIN IS A TRUTH EXPERIENCED BY FAITH. Paul affirms that the death of the old self in Christ’s death was necessary in order to “do away with our body of sin.” The Greek word for “do away” in this context means to annul or put out of business (kartegeo). By our co-crucifixion with Christ, all the legal rights of sin are gone. Christ’s work applied to the believer has the net effect of annulling the power of indwelling sin.

The ramifications of co-crucifixion with Christ are carried into practical living by means of faith. The believer is called upon to reckon a fact that appears contrary to experience, namely that he is dead to sin (6:11). To “consider” or “reckon” is an imperative or command in the Greek (Rom. 6:11-13).

Application – The benefit of Christ’s death to sin is the rightful property of His people. Here lies the incumbent challenge of preaching the gospel to ourselves daily. Our experiences of indwelling sin seem to contradict the federal fact of our death to sin. The difficulty resides in believing the astounding revelations of Romans 6. The old self causes trouble and we are immediately tempted to leave off the way of faith (expressed in reckoning) and turn back to carnal reasoning (fleshly strategies for coping with judgment).

The fact that we shared in Christ’s death to sin and that we are alive unto God in Him must be believed. There is no other path that establishes our souls and causes us to rest in Christ (Heb. 4:11).

Our “fruit unto sanctification” turns upon the daily presentation of ourselves to God (an activity born of reckoning) (Rom. 6:22).

SCRIPTURE JOINS THE RECKONING OF OURSELVES IN CHRIST “POSITIONALLY” WITH OUR BEING MADE HOLY “PRACTICALLY.”

In justification, God preempts all of the individual’s efforts to commend himself to his Creator. Status, favor, and acceptance are granted by a gracious divine donation. As a result, the pursuit of sanctification is liberated from every legal effort to enhance standing and acceptance before God. Only in this way can sanctification be all of grace (Rom. 4:3-8,16; 1 Cor. 1:30).

Efforts in sanctification that are completely divorced from the cross belie a carnal confidence that the flesh is perfectible (Note the Galatian error addressed by Paul). Scripture keeps justification and sanctification joined in the Person of Christ. The believer’s federal union with Christ is central in both doctrines. All advances spiritually are grounded upon faith in God’s Word. When the believer reckons the benefits that flow from his solidarity with Christ, God is glorified because Christ is the source Person, not self (Gal. 2:20).

Application – For passages that affirm that progressive sanctification is by faith, see Rom. 6:19,22; 2 Cor. 3:18; Gal. 2:20; 5:16-26; Col. 2:6,7; 3:1-11; 2 Thess. 2:12,13; 1 Tim. 6:12; Heb. 3-4; 6:11,12.

SCRIPTURE KEEPS JUSTIFICATION AND SANCTIFICATION DISTINCT BUT INSEPARABLE.

The three “tenses” of salvation (I was saved, I am being saved, I will be ultimately saved) are also true of sanctification. (Justification and sanctification are bound together, one never occurs without the other.)

The three tenses of sanctification:

1.) I was set apart for God at the moment of salvation (1 Cor. 1:2; Heb. 10:10).

2.) I am living a life that is continually separated unto God that progresses in practical holiness (Rom. 6:22; 2 Cor. 7:1).

3.) When I am glorified, I will be absolutely set apart from sin, experiencing complete sanctification (Phil. 3;20,21; Rom. 8:30; Eph. 5:26,27; 1 Thess. 5:23).

Errors that result from separating or confusing justification and sanctification:

1.) PERFECTIONISM (Gal. 3:1-3) – This error stresses that the flesh is perfectible. Supposed “progress” in sanctification is given as evidence that man can be perfected by the flesh (supra-biblical standards are often used to measure progress). The “higher life” version of this error is commonly seen in “holiness” denominations. They stress a second work of grace. Sanctification becomes divorced from faith in the Person and finished work of Christ. Justification is devalued as sanctification becomes a new sought after “plane” of existence grounded upon human performance. (See also Quietism.)

2.) ANTINOMIANISM (Jude 4; 2 Pet. 2) – This deadly error denies the need for personal holiness. It turns the grace of God into an excuse for sinful expression. It produces both a false security and a false sense of “freedom.”

3.) SUBJECTIVISM (experience oriented Christianity – Col. 2:18,19) – In this error, religious experience becomes a badge of spiritual superiority. Private revelations, ecstatic experiences and sign gifts are paraded about and turned into a sacrament. Experience becomes the mark of the “spiritual.” In the process, justification is devalued. Union with Christ is de-emphasized.

4.) LEGALISM (Col. 3:16,17; 1 Tim. 1:7) – Legalism is closely associated with perfectionism. False religion is nearly uniformly legalistic, for it seeks to establish merit before God in a man-centered fashion. Perfectionism is more subtle than legalism. Perfectionism is the most common symptom among true believers who separate justification and sanctification.

Application – Discuss how the “narrow way” is a fitting metaphor to describe the biblical salvation path that steers clear of both legalistic perfectionism and carnal antinomianism. (Example - Like the relationship between the two natures of Christ in the doctrine of the hypostatic union, justification and sanctification are distinct yet inseparable. Where there is true salvation, justification and sanctification will be distinct yet inseparable.)

Gal. 2:20 -- We are justified because of union with Christ, not because of our conduct. BUT justification should affect our conduct. For Paul, justification is not merely a past event, but a present reality which he experiences everyday of his life. Peace with God, forgiveness, and acceptance belong to believers because of the righteousness of Christ – thus Paul lived by faith in the righteousness Christ. Though justification is a point in time past event, Paul brings justification into the present in Galatians 2:20. We work, serve and obey from the perspective that Another has performed for us, we live by faith in Him.

The Dynamics of Grace, Part 5

INTRODUCTION – By justification in Christ, we have bold access to the throne of grace (Eph. 3:12). Justification frees us from our cowardice and hiding and enables us to draw near to God in honesty and realism.

All of our fleshly attempts to manage pain, suffering and failure cause us to turn away from the ruthless honesty that Scripture enjoins. (The temptation is always to return to the fleshly strategies of flight, denial, open resistance and/or appeasementinstead of the atonement.)

Only the justified person has the resources for realism (realism born of heroism). He sees himself in Christ but also as a sinner who is utterly dependent. He knows that his completeness is a function of his union with Christ (Col. 2:10; 3:3). Our completeness and right standing are carried by God’s Son (Rom. 5:9). No specific fact concerning the believer’s depravity can harm his immutable standing in Christ.

JESUS CHRIST IS OUR SYMPATHETIC AND MERCIFUL HIGH PRIEST (HEB. 4:14-16; 2:17,18; 5;1,2,7,8; IS. 53:3; 2 COR. 13:4).

In Christ’s High Priesthood there is a sympathizing with our weaknesses and merciful aid for our temptations. Christ’s obedience as a suffering Servant exposed Him to the consequences of sin. As an obedient Son, He fully identified Himself with the sorrows and exigencies of the human condition.

The efficaciousness of His priesthood is coextensive with both the guilt and the effects of sin. Christ manifests His High Priestly mercy to us in areas where we experience indwelling sin, weakness, failure, inadequacy, helplessness, pain, persecution and suffering.

The Credentials of our Great High Priest – Scripture ties the depth of Christ’s mercy toward us to His sufferings. He was tempted in all things and made like His brethren in all things (Heb. 2:17,18). (God can be no more merciful than He is, but in Christ, there is a human heart that resonates with us. Without sinning, Christ identified with the plight of the sheep. He is able to sympathize.)

If God would have desired it, He could have ordained the sacrifice of His Son to be carried out in a manner that would have insulated Jesus from the abuse of wicked sinners. BUT God predestined the sacrifice should be carried out by enraged sinners. His Son was exposed to torture, spitting, flies, nakedness, shame, mockery and betrayal.

All the aspects of Christ’s passion are not to arouse our deepest pity, but that we might understand that Christ’s identification with sinners is so complete as to include all the ugly scandals of human existence – injustice, humiliation, victimization – every heart-wrenching experience. God spared not His own Son from this in order that He might identify with our plight and deliver us by His death.

Christ took on our nature that He might be our sin-bearer. But also as our substitute, He identified Himself with the consequences of sin – death, separation and agony of soul.

The pressure He experienced in Gethsemane’s garden was not primarily the recoil of human nature from death by crucifixion. The avalanche of mental and emotional anguish consisted of the crushing weight of expiring as sin’s curse, under the wrath of God, while separated from God. The greatest agonies of soul are tied to shame, condemnation, isolation, abandonment and divine wrath.

Application - Discuss the reasons why the stress Jesus experienced when He sweat drops of blood must have exceeded that ever experienced by any man. What was Jesus requesting of His Father in Hebrews 5:7? (Think about the fact that Jesus had been the master of every situation. As He faced Calvary, He was to be a passive victim in the face of evil and injustice. He was to be cut off, left alone and condemned as an accursed object worthy of destruction.)

The Grace and Mercy of our High Priest – Christ’s kenotic descent into radical humiliation enabled Him to assume our condition and penalty (Phil. 2:5-8). The Almighty Ruler, Creator and Lawgiver voluntarily became a curse, a victim and a corpse that He might gain the victory over death and sin for His people. (See Acts 2:24; 1 Cor. 15:55-57; Heb. 2:14,15.)

The torments of soul and body happened to our High Priest by God’s will that He might be uniquely qualified to minister to every human ache and agony. He sympathizes with our weaknesses. He has experienced the frailties of our human nature. Though sinless, He has great compassion for sheep that become hopelessly entangled in sin. He is friend of sinners. He is the wonderful counselor to believing sinners.

Our Great High Priest has purchased at Calvary all of our sonship privileges. Those privileges include an endless supply of grace. Our Heavenly Father is teaching us to roll our burdens onto Christ and to cry to Him for our daily needs of grace.

Application – Nearly all of our natural instincts for managing the pain and hurt of life are fleshly “solutions” that are ultimately destructive. Blame, denial, escape, bitterness, defiance and appeasement hurt our fellowship with the Lord and our relationships with people. (Israel’s failure in the wilderness is meant to be a negative example to the N.T. Church, see 1 Cor. 10:1-14; Heb. 3-4.)

The fleshly strategies cause us to come short of obeying Hebrews 4:16 – they stop us from drawing near to the throne of grace. In order for God to use you as a channel of grace to others, one must develop the habit of drawing near to the throne of grace in your own need, pain and inadequacy.

Before we come to the throne of grace, we first identify ourselves as “needy” (4:16b). We face the daily decision of “crying for mercy and grace” or of defending our pain by fleshly strategies.

The burden of the text falls upon the believer to make use of the infinite resources found in his High Priest.

THE PSALMS SET FORTH A PATTERN OF HONESTY BEFORE GOD IN PRAYER.

The godly man makes God his refuge in every area of life (Ps. 34:8). Such radical trust is unnatural. The tendency is to attempt to conceal pain of soul from oneself and God.

The Scripture commends a reverent but ruthless honesty before God. “Trust in Him as all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us" ”Ps. 62:8).

The promise of tender mercy, refuge and help are strong inducements to come out of hiding and exercise heroism. (While under the influence of fleshly strategies, we are shut up in the “gray castle of self.” We are not free to engage in spontaneous praise, adoration and surrender.)

According to Calvin, the Psalms provide a complete anatomy of the soul. They demonstrate a model of heart transparency before God. We see the Psalmist meeting with God in some very painful places. Though praise is abundant, there are numerous prayers that express despair, despondency, depression, betrayal, persecution, disillusionment, resentment, guilt and injustice. Agonizing memories and ache of soul for offenses committed and received are not an uncommon theme. In many instances, the psalmist utters imprecatory prayers -- calling for God to execute vengeance and judgments (Ps. 35:1-8).

Application – The command to rejoice in the Lord always (Phil. 4:4) and to give thanks in all things (1 Thess. 5:18) honors God amidst our circumstances. Our Savior entered into the emotional experiences of life, but was never sinfully controlled by emotions (Jn. 11:33).

The believer is not to manage his emotions by stoic denial of them or by sinful expression of them. The pattern found in the Psalms leads to realism before God and intimacy with God. The Psalms exalt God’s covenant faithfulness amidst every circumstance (Ps. 111:5,9).

POURING OUR HEARTS OUT TO GOD INVOLVES THE “PROCESSING” OF NEGATIVITY.

The Psalmist considered the negativity in his life (rejection, disillusionment, persecution, failure etc.) to be appointments with God. He regarded these negatives to be an opportunity to cry for fresh measures of grace, mercy and equipping.

When a believer refuses to accept “appointments” with God in these areas of negativity, these same areas become sealed off from the full benefit of Christ’s grace. When “appointments” with Christ in our regions of negativity are consistently refused, the heart builds prisons to house these unacceptable negatives.

The exhortation stands, “Pour out your heart to God” (Ps. 62:5-8). When the believer chooses to “manage” negativity in a carnal manner, he makes a choice for lukewarmness. Sealing off the pain of suffering and the ache of sin’s consequences can cause us to split off from the very regions of the heart that are needed for godly passion and Christian compassion.

In many respects, our personal ministry to others is the outgrowth of how we deal with our own souls.

Without contact with the God of all grace in the areas of our own negativity, it is unlikely that we will be able to weep with those who weep (Rom. 12:15). Paul makes it clear that believers who draw abundantly from God’s comfort in their own sufferings are best equipped to comfort others (2 Cor. 1:3-6).

CHRIST OUR HIGH PRIEST EQUIPS US FOR INTIMATE COMMUNION WITH THE FATHER.

Christ redeems us from cowardice in the area of transparency with God. Through Him, we dare to draw near. He has given us His grace that we might be courageous in dealing with our sin and suffering.

The very emotional resources needed for compassion, pity, empathy, passion, tenderheartedness are most available to God’s use when the heart is transparent before God.

Giving up false refuges is necessary in order to take pure delight and comfort in God. One cannot fulfill the assignment to delight in God when the flesh has prisons with prison guards in the soul.

By way of example, the oyster responds to irritation by forming layers of smooth iridescent nacre around a particle of jagged sand. So also, our tendencies are to defend and split off from our pain and hurt with layers of defensiveness, denial and stoicism.

At times, God brings suffering into our lives to break up all the lime scale of our defenses. He sends those trials that our hearts may have a renewed ability for intimate contact with Him. (The thicker our protection layers, the less intimate our contact with God.)

The furnaces of affliction are a mercy. For in them, our defense mechanisms utterly fail (Ps. 73:26). This is compassionate discipline from God, for we need to desist from control in order to assume a posture of childlike reliance. A united heart, a whole heart, a truthful heart that is unrestrained in affection comes only form a childlike disposition in the presence of the Father.

Application – God’s chastening love permits burdens too big for us that we might develop the habit of unburdening ourselves before Him in prayer. He gives us these “errands” so that we will pour out our heart until the care and pain is spent and “rolled upon” our High Priest. It is by these “appointments” that He restores joy from the deadness of carnal self-sufficiency. Our right standing is the foundation for intimate fellowship with God.

THE CROSS REDEEMS THE NEGATIVITY IN OUR LIVES.

So much of our self-protection, pretending and hiding our hearts from God is due to the fact that we do not understand the present value of the cross. The finished work of Christ is perfectly suited for dealing with every sin and every fruit of sin. The present value of the cross allows the believer to process the most horrendous things about himself.

All of the methods of escape, denial, defense and self-protection make a man’s latter end infinitely more painful. This is a great paradox. Those who attempt to live the most “pain free” now will have the greatest discomfort later. The secrets of men’s hearts will become public knowledge on judgment day (Rom. 2:16; 1 Cor. 4:5). Short accounts with God was Paul’s watchword (Acts 24:16).

The cross works across the grain of the flesh and opposes the self-preservation strategies that turn upon self-sufficiency. Carnal strength resorts to innumerable strategies employed in pain management. Allowing our pain to come in contact with God is the standard for His saints. “Thou hast taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Thy bottle; Are they not in Thy book?” (Ps. 56:8). Why are our tears so precious to God? The Lord values intimacy of soul in it interface with Him. The humble are vulnerable before God, they are willing to be searched by Him (Ps. 139:23,24). Guarded dungeons of pain keep us from receiving God’s love in new areas of our being. The Priesthood of Christ deals with the fruit of sinas well as the sin itself.

The cross is a paradigm for redeeming the negatives of life. The growing believer increasingly regards it to be so. Paul frequently spoke of the negativity in his life through the lens of the cross. (See 2 Cor. 4:7-18; 6:3-10; 7:6; 11:18-33; 12;9,10).

Application – Realism is a hard won asset. Strategies to defend pain and woundedness tend to be habitual and instinctive. The ultimate goal of our transparent prayer life is that we may draw near to God in adoration and love. By unburdening our souls before God, we make supplication for new installments of grace. By this renewed strength, we are enabled to do His will and bring Him glory. We pray that we might follow in the footsteps of our Savior as overcomers.

The Dynamics of Grace, Part 6

INTRODUCTION: The Colossian letter was written that Christians might know that their acceptance before God is through Christ only (they are “complete” in Christ, Col. 2:10).

The Colossian error embraced a philosophical system that depicted angels as a form of intermediary between God and men. False teachers influenced the Colossians to become ascetics (those who practice severe treatment of the body as religious devotion). Some of the deceived also revered angels to the point of worshipping them.

The error of the false teachers promoted a Jewish-pagan piety. Colossian believers were tempted to seek “something more” than the gospel of Jesus provided. (The “something more” included: a legalistic veneration of holy days, legalistic rules about food and drink, visions, religious ecstasy and secret knowledge.)

The Apostle’s answer to this dangerous error involved an exhortation to the Colossians to contemplate afresh God’s revelation of Christ. Redemption is the heart of the gospel – the Colossians must understand that their whole existence is rooted and grounded in Christ (Col. 1:23; 2:19).

The epistle was written to show that the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ is NOT an abstract religious concept – it is the theme of the gospel objectively andsubjectively.

Christ is supreme and preeminent – All authority has been given to Him. He is Lord of the universe. God’s plan is that Christ have first place in everything (He is Logos, Lion, Lamb – Creator, Redeemer, King, Prophet, Lawgiver, Judge).

Christ is all-sufficient toward His people – Our Christian life turns upon the experimental knowledge of Who He is toward us now and who we are in Him now. We live by faith in what He has done for us and what He will do for us. (His “relational grace” entails who He is toward us in His supremacy and sufficiency. In Him, we are new creatures, circumcised in heart, justified, forgiven all our transgressions. He is actively renewing us, transforming us into His image).

COLOSSIANS 1 & 2 SETS FORTH THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL REALITIES THAT FORM THE BASIS FOR ALL CHRISTIAN DUTY.

One’s relationship with Christ is foundational for all the duties commanded in Colossians 3 & 4. (Our relationship with the Lord is characterized by heart knowledge of Him, devotion to Him, praise, worship, thanksgiving, vital faith and piety.)

Without that vital union/fellowship, the duties and practice of Colossians 3 & 4 will only be burdensome laws, frustration and bondage. The evangelical pattern always joins the fruits of righteousness to one’s relationship with Jesus Christ.

IN COLOSSIANS 3 & 4, PAUL ADDRESSES HOW CHRIST’S SUPREMACY AND SUFFICIECY EFFECTS OUR PERSONAL HOLINESS, OUR SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS, OUR FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS, OUR WORKPLACE RELATIONSHIPS AND OUR MINISTRY.

Paul immediately moves Christian experience out of the private arena and into the corporate body – the implications are in all spheres of relationships. The constant affirmation is that those who have received mercy (have been justified by faith), ought to be careful to maintain good works (Titus 3:8, also Eph. 4:1ff.).

Colossians 3:1-4 – This section addresses what the cross of Christ accomplishedfor you, to you and in you. Paul makes it incumbent upon the believer that the change of 2:9-14 must be realized in the Christian’s life. “I died once for all to the world, I’m living another life now. My true citizenship is in heaven.”

The believer is to occupy his mind with his true treasure (“things above”) – not have his mind consumed with earthly things. These first four verses of chapter 3 concern the believer’s new identity in Christ. God placed you in Him in love, now “be who you really are!”

Paul’s logic is as follows: our true identity is an unseen reality now (hidden, not esteemed by natural reason) – our radical identity with Christ is comprehended by faith in God’s revelation. When we “set our minds” upon these glorious realities, they exert a transforming power in our walk and relationships.

Christ is our life – our “Source Person.” All that God communicates to us by way of life and infinite riches comes to us because we are in union with Christ.

Our new “heavenly” life revolves around Christ. The glories of the gospel have an eschatological dimension – The “hope of glory” permeates our life with resolve to pursue sanctification. (See 1 Jn. 3:2; Phil. 3:20,21; 2 Cor. 5:9 and the “overcomer” passages of Revelation).

Application – When we meditate upon the Word and its revelation of Christ, the eyes of our hearts are able to focus upon unseen spiritual realities. As a result, we will increasingly reckon the fact that we have been translated from earth to heaven in the spheres of position, purpose, relationships and destiny. Repeatedly fixing our minds upon these truths “pulls back the veil.” Our preoccupation with the material, transitory and the mundane will give way to the heavenly, the moral and the ethical. There is no progress to maturity without this practice.

Colossians 3:5-11 – Because of the gospel realities of union, identification and glorification – therefore we must be done with the old. (i.e., the skunk-sprayed clothes illustration)

“Consider,” (put to death, treat as dead, reckon as dead, realize you’re dead to the world).

Sins born of lust deceive the soul (Eph. 4:22). They wage war upon the soul (1 Pet. 2:11). They train the heart in greed (2 Pet. 2:14). They constitute idolatry (Col. 3:5).

Our old man must be piteously slain – this is our present obligation (Rom. 8:12,13).

WHEN WE PUT ON THE GARMENTS OF GRACE, WE MUST PUT OFF THE OLD CORRUPT GARMENTS AS WELL.

The mortification of sin is not merely abstinence, it is replacement. It is not merely the avoidance of the negative, it is a striving for the virtuous, positive graces.

These grace garments are to be our dress. They are the glory of the church now. The grace garments manifest an ever-deepening image of Christ stamped upon us. God’s grace is exalted, not just in keeping us out of hell, but in making men new!

THE NEW MAN IS CONSTRUCTED COMPLETELY AROUND CHRIST.

Christ is the “Architect” of the new man – Col. 3:10

Christ is the “Blueprint” for the new man – Col. 3:10, Rom. 8:28,29

Christ is the “Contractor” of the new man – Col. 3:11; 2:19; Eph. 4:15,16

Christ is the “Resident” in the new man – Col. 1:27; Rom. 8:10

Christ as the Creator of the new man is also fashioning each new creation He shapes into a master edifice which will serve as God’s eternal temple (Eph. 2:19-22).

Application – True community thrives where Christ’s preeminence, supremacy, sufficiency are lived out. Where He shines and where His people seek to glorify Him, the grace garments of Colossians 3 will be worn.

Where Christ’s master plan for the new man is kept before the minds and hearts of God’s people, there will be vision for transformation. God’s goals for the new man will become our goals. The elect embrace God’s purpose for the new man.

The moral image of Christ was first graciously imputed to us in forensic justification. Then the actual internal reality of possessing Christ’s moral perfection will be ours at glorification. The day by day renewal of the new man concerns our present existence between the events of justification and glorification. Thus, our present duty is sanctification by means of the development of the new man (Col. 3:10; 2;19; Eph. 4:22-24).

Colossians 3:12-14 – The objects of God’s love are summoned to the privileges and duties of the gospel.

Chosen of God – Since God has chosen us as members of His new creation, we must fulfill the command to conduct ourselves according to the ethics of the new man.

Put on therefore a heart – The wardrobe of grace garments begins with a heart of pity and compassion – tender-hearted kindness and compassion. It’s a disposition that seeks to meet the needs of others through deeds of kindness.

Humility – Lowliness of mind is to recognize one’s own weakness, but also to recognize the power of God. A humble opinion of self is accompanied by a deep sense of one’s moral littleness. Humility avoids a demanding spirit where personal rights are concerned.

Meekness – This virtue is only possible when a person is exercising obedient submissiveness to God and His will. It is known for gentleness with others. Unwavering faith and enduring patience will display itself in gentleness and kindness towards others – especially in the face of opposition. Where meekness is exercised, the powers of personality are brought into subjection and submission to God’s will by the power of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:23). (The opposite of meekness is “quick-draw” retorts of rudeness, harshness, resentment, revenge and wrath.)

Longsuffering – It is a long holding out of the mind before it gives room to action or passion. It indicates the patient longsuffering that bears with injustices or unpleasant circumstances without revenge or retaliation. It maintains the hope that such self-control will result in a positive outcome.

Forbearing – The word is in the present tense, indicating continual action. It means to endure, to bear, to put up with someone. It is to restrain oneself so as not to burst forth (which would produce dire consequences). When we show forbearance, we suspend rightful demands out of consideration for the weakness of the brethren. (Each of us has our own set of weaknesses.)

Forgiving – The literal word is to be gracious – that is to be gracious so as to forgive “as members of one another.” If Christ has forgiven us, should we not be generous in extending forgiveness to others? It is “gracious” to bestow favor unconditionally.

“If any man has a quarrel” (by quarrel is meant complaint, or cause for blame. It is to find fault so as to be dissatisfied with someone. It refers most commonly to errors of omission. Therefore, to refuse to forgive would be to regard the offense as a debt to be remitted.

We forgive because He forgives us and because He commands it.

Love – “Above all these things – in addition to – on top of all” put on love which is the outer garment which holds the other grace garments in place. (Remember, our ethical treatment of others to a great measure issues from our inner disposition towards them.)

The bond of love is the perfect expression of Christ’s personality – that is His divine life in the Christian community. (Love by the Spirit’s enablement is a choice to give no place to bitter words, angry feelings, dishonesty and unseemly speech.)

The “top coat” of love should characterize a congregation. This is not the sentimental love the world talks about, but the kind of self-sacrificial love the Bible speaks about. Love is bond that protects unity and leads to maturity.

All these grace garments are facets of Christ’s character – to “put on Christ” (Rom. 13:14) is to put on Christ’s character.

Application – The power to obey these commands (put on the garments of grace) flows out of faith in God. It involves reckoning the unseen realities of union with Christ.

The Gospel for Life,the Centrality of the Gospel in the Life of the Church

The Gospel, worship, and renewal The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the very “food” of the Church. The Gospel, or as Paul describes it at times, the “word of grace,” or “word of truth” is the sphere in which the church operates. It is her life breath and atmosphere. For it is by the Gospel that the Church worships, progresses in her knowledge of God, maintains purity, pursues unity, and fulfills her mission to the world. The Gospel is “our canon within the canon.” Those who disbelieve the Gospel are at war with who God is. They show themselves hostile to God’s self-revelation. The only way to know God, and therefore to be saved is to become a friend of the cross. True believers literally love the way God has saved them. They love the truth and feed upon it; they “preach the Gospel to themselves.” They cherish Christ as revealed in the Gospel. They meditate upon the word of God’s grace, marveling at God’s wisdom in the cross. Therefore the Gospel is their constant meeting place with God; for it is the revealer of the heart of God toward us (1 Jn 4:9, 10). Our boldness to draw near to God in prayer and the confidence that we are heard is because the Father has graciously called us to meet Him at the altar of the slain Lamb of God. Oh how the Gospel towers over the human intellect. Consider that God has taken man’s salvation into His own hands -- for the love of God and the wisdom of God have carved out a hiding place for believing sinners by means of the justice of God in the cross – so that by the sovereign calling of God the sinner may take refuge in the mercy of God from the wrath of God. Those who are willing to continually drink deeply from the well of the “word of grace” are never bored with God. On the contrary, they are renewed by fresh views of God – views that produce awe, adoration, wonder, fear, and amazement. The Gospel is central to worship. For it is by the Gospel that God exalts, preserves, makes known, and glorifies His holy character in the face of Christ (2 Cor 4:6). By nature even saved men are prone to live by sight and sense. Like silt settling to the bottom of a lake, our thoughts find the lowest common denominator and eventually return to a temporal value system. Only the Gospel can lift us to another “dimension” by which we live “God-ward” lives. Only the Gospel can fuel our hope and make us resolute in our pilgrimage to the Celestial City. Just as gravity causes water to flow downward so that it eventually finds the bottomland, the swamp, and the stagnant slough, so also the old nature tugs at the saint, pulling him away from faith living. It takes energy and a plan to move pure water uphill to the water tower at the hilltop. So also, feeding on grace is a matter of intentionality. In order to rebound from spiritual declension, one must assess the spiritual malnutrition in his own soul. He must stir himself past the carnal apathy that has left him contented with spiritual dryness and a lukewarm disposition toward Christ. The believer must take seriously the fact that Christ sharpens His rod of discipline to chasten believers who exhibit more complacency than zeal. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; be zealous therefore, and repent (Rev 3:19). It is a wonder how Evangelical pastors in good conscience can function week after week without giving their listeners frequent views of the God of all grace. A pulpit ministry that does not connect precepts to divine grace tends to leave the listener with a moralistic view of the Christian life. Paul consistently anchored N.T. commands upon the foundation of grace and redemption. His arguments for obedience were soundly developed from the believer’s union with Christ. Without that connection, Christians are left with free-floating exhortations that have the hollow echo of “be-good, and try harder.” A ministry pattern of attempting to improve the Christian life by right attitudes and behavior modification falls woefully short of the grace-based pattern set by the Apostle. If the precepts we teach are disconnected from the word of grace, the struggling believer is frequently left with the impression that his Christian life is a non-stop effort to measure up. The exposition of biblical principles must be joined to a glorious exhibition of the majesty of the Savior who loves the redeemed to the uttermost. The Apostle Paul’s controlling burden for his converts was that they would be granted (by the Holy Spirit) a “spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ” (Eph 1:17ff.). This prayer request for his converts involved a Spirit-imparted understanding of the doctrines of grace in a way that would penetrate their hope and affections. The Christian life is a life of walking worthy of our calling (Eph 4:1). The first three chapters of Ephesians set forth the infinite riches and glory of our calling. The believer who understands, and highly esteems his calling by the Gospel of grace is in the best position to obey his Lord from right motives. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet 3:18a). When the saints are awakened to the all-pervasive spiritual reality that they owe their life, their future, their sonship, their status, and their favor with God in Christ solely to the unobligated sovereign mercy of God, it has a life-transforming and revolutionizing effect. But there is more. Once the saint begins to understand (by means of a spirit of wisdom and revelation, not just academically, but in his deepest affections) that God’s sovereign mercy is not just how God is taking poor sinners to heaven, but it is the very center of God’s plan to glorify Himself – then the saint begins to see things from a different perspective; a perspective which we could designate the Divine View Point (DVP). (A believer operating from DVP takes to heart the message of Ephesians one; God’s glory is exalted in the entire salvation of the sinner. God is lavishing grace on the sinner for His Name’s sake! Ez 36:22, 23.) When the believer is stuck in patterns of spiritual defeat, it is frequently because he had not lifted his eyes above his own struggles. Unbelief keeps us focused upon our own circumstances and performance. As long as the saint is stranded in a Human View Point (HVP) perspective, he has little incentive to exercise passion for the glory of God. By contrast, living by Divine View Point produces a kind of “grace awakening;” it elevates our thinking to live in compliance with Colossians 3:1-3. “If this be so; if you were raised with Christ, if you were translated into heaven, what follows? Why you must realize the change. All your aims must center in heaven where reigns the Christ who has thus exalted you, enthroned you on God’s right hand. All your thoughts must abide in heaven, not on the earth. For I say it once again, you have nothing to do with mundane things: you died, died once for all to the world: you are living another life” (Expanded paraphrase of Col 3:1-3 -- J. B. Lightfoot’s Commentary, p. 208). In the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the believing sinner discovers to his utter astonishment that God has planned from all eternity to join His matchless glory to the unending blessedness and welfare of the believing sinner. In response to such infinite grace Calvin says, now let us fall down before the majesty of our good God, with acknowledgement of our sins, praying Him to make us perceive them more and more.And may He enliven us with the doctrine of the Gospel that we may see our own sins and shamefulness and be ashamed of ourselves, and also behold the righteousness which has been shown us in our Lord Jesus Christ, and lean upon it with the endeavor to be fashioned thereafter, so that daily we may come nearer and nearer to it, until we cleave thoroughly to it (Calvin’s Sermons on Ephesians, pp. 445, 446). By God’s design, the glorious effect of grace – namely to be taken up and “intoxicated” with God (hungering and panting after Him and delighting in communion with Him) is the prerequisite for selfless ministry to others (including a zeal for evangelism – genuine ministry is the overflow of worship). The Gospel of grace alone can make us leave our comfort zones on behalf of the needs of others. Grace alone can move us past self-protection. Transforming grace is what is needed in order for us to be lifted out of self concern and to be taken up with God. Apart from Divine View Point, our tendency is to settle into a relational life characterized by personal interests, independence, guarded privacy, prickly defenses, and cherished masks. The saint “stranded” in the HVP perspective of things tends to operate from the carnal vantage point of self concern. His vantage point turns upon his self-ordered world of personal peace, protection, and prosperity. His truncated “keyhole” vision of things has no picture window to see what God is doing in the world. In spiritual practice he lives in a dingy hut, contenting himself with the “bread and water” of carnal security and comfort. Though seated in the heavenlies, he doesn’t stir himself to see past the tiny walls of his little stick hovel of HVP. Religion has become a spiritual compartment characterized more by deadening duty than delight. Instead of glorying in an all-pervasive relationship with Christ that dominates exceptionally in his life, his heart is smothered in layers of guilt, obligation, and fear. He is like a prisoner in his grey castle of self. The Gospel of grace is the cure. The kind of grace thinking enjoined by Paul is what is necessary to raise us from a state of spiritual lethargy to a pervasive consciousness of all that God is toward us in Christ. Only by a grace awakening can we be lifted out of carnal self concern to function from a DVP vantage point (Divine View Point) laid out by Paul in Ephesians 1-3. And what a vantage point it is! Meditate for a moment upon God’s plan revealed in the Gospel. Consider what it means to be taken from dust to glory: “What is [God’s] goal? What does He aim at? . . . His ultimate objective is to bring [redeemed mankind] to a state in which they please Him entirely and praise Him adequately, a state in which He is all in all to them, and He and they rejoice continually in the knowledge of each other’s love – men rejoicing in the saving love of God, set upon them from all eternity, and God rejoicing in the responsive love of men, drawn out of them by grace through the gospel” (J. I. Packer, Knowing God, p. 81).  This is God’s glory and man’s glory bound up together in a setting in which the whole created order has been transformed (Packer, pp. 81-82).  Oh how the Church needs to feed on the grace of the Gospel. A passion for God’s glory in our lives is the blessed byproduct of walking through the gates of Ephesians chapters one through three, and (by the Spirit’s enablement) understanding what God is doing in the world – He is glorifying His grace, and He desires that the saints align their entire lives with His plan. The maturing saint has numerous “grace awakenings” as his Christian life progresses over time. The spiritual cycles of these awakenings bear a strong resemblance to one another. Every time, it is the Gospel order – first there is a withering and stunning view of our weakness, sin, pride, inadequacy, smallness, pettiness, unbelief, unmortified lusts, and frigid love for God. We become utterly disillusioned with our Christian lives. Then, just when we are ready to write ourselves off as useless to God, as unfruitful and failures as Christians, then the Holy Spirit inspires us to exercise “mustard seed” faith in a passage of Scripture, or a promise from the Word. Even a single line of living Scripture believed anew with struggling faith can be a staging area from which God can give us fresh revelations of His faithfulness (and from which He can do new things in our lives). Amidst our self-loathing, the Holy Spirit “shows us the blood” yet again. We feed our faith again upon the grace of God in Christ. We fall at Lord’s feet and consent to be loved by Him for Christ’s sake alone. Suddenly duty becomes delight – we move all the way into renewed enjoyment of all that God is towards us in Christ. It is through the lens of the Gospel that we see that we are God’s possession. Our identity as sons of God is drawn directly from the word of grace. To the degree that the saint defines himself by the Gospel, literally drawing his identity from what God says about him, to that degree his life will demonstrate eternal values. By contrast, the saint adrift in the dwarfed faith of HVP tends to define himself primarily by temporal things. His job, his income, his possessions, his friends, his status, his hobbies, his appearance – all these define the HVP saint in his own mind, more than his holy, God-possessed status in Christ. Preaching grace truths to ourselves regularly is not an option. Without a steady spiritual diet of the word of grace, of Christ and Him crucified, the lower nature will assert itself. Performing, pretending, and a passionless spirit will dominate our lives if we are not feeding upon Christ as He is revealed in the Gospel. Here is the unbreakable truth, if your own identity in Christ, as defined by the Gospel, is your controlling identity, then you will see the Gospel as your life. The Gospel through Christ’s constraining love will animate you; it will determine how you see everything. It will mark out your value system. The Gospel and Sanctification Historically, the Church has always found it a battle to keep the doctrines of justification and sanctification joined (and operating in their logical relation – especially as set forth in the Pauline epistles). Pietism separates the two cardinal doctrines; as does quietism. Legalism and antinomianism mitigate against their unity as well. Of all the groups in church history, the Puritans seemed to have best understood the essential and practical relationship between justification and sanctification (many of the Reformers did as well, but they did not write on it as prolifically as the Puritans). As pastors, our anthropology ought to reflect an extremely keen insight into the hearts of our hearers. We’re preaching to people who carry in their bosoms the seeds of the Galatian error. We should never be shocked at how religious the flesh of man can be. Orthodoxy can be a forum for the flesh. We are preaching to folks like ourselves who carry in their souls an internal enemy of God’s grace, even though they are believers! Carnal sense has no trouble understanding moral obligation, ethical responsibility, duty, performance, production, and law, BUT, it requires the ongoing work of God’s Spirit to understand and live by the grace of the Gospel. The flesh of man prefers a formal, manageable approach to religion. True religion always tends to degrade in the direction of formalism and compartmentalization. (See essays: Orthodox Formalism and Thoughts on Church Renewal). Only fresh acts of faith take us off of ourselves and dislodge self from being at the center (even Christians would rather do some work of service than do the work of believing – note Heb 4. Christ was witness to this propensity in hearers; a tendency to rather work than believe – Jn 6:27-29). Due to this bent in all of us, the challenge is to keep before our people the union of justification and sanctification. And the fact that grace is not primarily a principle or a possession; grace is a relationship; it is relational. God has made us His possession that we might know and enjoy Him and in so doing glorify Him – all flows from Christ, our “Source Person.” We are saved to commune with the Trinity and in so doing ultimately realize (that is be transformed into) our true identity in Christ. Grace is a love relationship with our Heavenly Father through Christ our Lord in the power of the Spirit. Sanctification is the outworking of this love relationship. When the believer maintains his relationship with the Lord, he is living a “separated unto God,” or “sanctified” life. Thus sanctification involves caring for our relationship with God (David Peterson, Possessed by God). Our relationship with God is manifested in our relationships with others. Through the word of grace, and union with Christ we are made “fit” to wear the garments of grace. The “garments of grace” are described especially in Ephesians 4-5 and in Colossians 3-4. The language used by the Apostle in these chapters is “put on” (put on like a garment the character qualities of Christ). Put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience (Col 3:12b). Our practical sanctification is lived out as we wear the garments of grace in our relationships with believers. In this way, others see that we have become partakers of Christ and of grace. The Gospel of grace provides the rationale for us to love sacrificially; to be spent on behalf of the brethren; to live for the edification of others. The word of grace gives us the reasons why we are to identify ourselves completely with Christ’s purposes. The believer is a member of Christ’s Body; as such each member is to contribute his part to the maturation of the Body of Christ as a whole (Eph 4:15, 16). Each member of Christ’s Body is to commit himself to the Great Commission which is not only directed at evangelism, but equally at discipleship. And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man that we present every man complete in Christ (Col 1:28). Such radical identification with Christ and His purposes requires that our affections be captive to the grace of God in the Gospel (to be captivated with the Gospel of God’s grace is synonymous with having a DVP perspective). Only then does the believer gladly make the purposes of Christ his life’s direction. Pastors in training face a whirlwind of seminary instruction that tends to leave them with a certain inference, namely that the Bible is a divinely inspired, inerrant “technical manual” from which they are to mine and exegete timeless principles. The sheer volume of academic material to be covered in the seminary curriculum pushes spiritual life issues into the background. As a consequence, the following essentials are frequently neglected: the believer’s union with Christ, the doctrine of abiding in Christ, the spiritual nature of ministry, the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ, and the relationship between spiritual position and condition (definitive and “progressive” sanctification). Without the Gospel of grace as our focus, there can be a tendency to preach principles and then recruit volunteers for ministry while the sense of obligation is weighing heavy. Our people can easily interpret our ministry activity and “orthodox output” as the very soul and heartbeat of the Christian life. Indeed, this happened at the church of Ephesus (Rev 2). Productivity “ate up” devotion to Christ as the highest value. If we are to be faithful to the logical relationship between justification (the Gospel) and sanctification, then we will want to follow the pattern set by the Apostle Paul. An understanding of “who we are in Christ” and our devotion to Him will have to precede “what we do for Christ.” The Gospel of God’s grace is our constant corrective; it keeps liberating us from the pressure to “measure up” in order to be loved and accepted by God. Preaching Christ in the Gospel of grace is the key to an “identity-based” ministry that puts who we are in Christ ahead of what we do for Christ. Pastors therefore should personally master an understanding of the relationship between justification and sanctification. It’s an area of study that eludes most laymen. Folks who have been church members for decades have difficulty explaining the relationship between these two doctrines of justification and sanctification; most cannot do it. Those who are able to give the barest explanation of the relationship between the doctrines often do so without any mention of the dimension of life in Christ and union with Him. It is the goal of this author to challenge pastors to be Gospel-centered. Consider keeping at least one book on your nightstand that deals with this topic of justification and sanctification and union with Christ. This author is increasingly convinced that Christian maturity is retarded because believers are not approaching sanctification and service as a function of faith in Christ and the Gospel (suggested bibliography at end of this paper). The Gospel and Evangelism The saint who lives in perpetual amazement concerning what Christ has done for him is a grace-based, grace-awakened believer who cannot lack Paul’s sentiment that he is a debtor to all men (Rom 1:14). The DVP saint maintains a “debtor” mentality toward all men – he always has on his radar screen a cognizance of the spiritual state of those around him, therefore he is keenly aware of every Gospel opportunity. He prays that he will be strengthened so as not to lose any evangelistic opening God provides. He runs through his mind potential dialogs with the lost – he considers how they may be reached for Christ. He believes that God has placed him strategically for the purpose of being a witness to those in his sphere. It is the word of grace that instills fervency and boldness in him for evangelism. A diet of grace truth has conditioned his mind to think this way because his spirit is fed and fortified on the truth of what God is doing in the world in view of eternity (Eph 1-3). For the reasons spelled out above, a heart for evangelism proves to be a telling virtue concerning the spiritual condition of the individual, and of the local church. The next point related to evangelism is more controversial. It comes from the biography of Martyn Lloyd-Jones. It rattles our traditional thinking regarding how a burden for evangelism is produced among church members. Lloyd-Jones states that evangelism training programs like Evangelism Explosion (James Kennedy) are too cut and dried. He notes that most training programs bypass the need for personal spiritual awakening and revival. Now comes the part that can be the toughest to accept: Lloyd-Jones states that if you preach the Gospel well enough to your church, the true Christians will know how to do it, and they will do it (Ian Murray, Lloyd-Jones Bio vol. 2, pp. 706, 707). Martyn’s point is that the churched are not used to hearing the Gospel passionately and convicting-ly preached from the pulpit. Lloyd-Jones preached two sermons each Sunday -- morning and evening. One of the two was always intended to be evangelistic, often both were! Yet, he was one of Britain’s finest expository preachers! Lloyd-Jones is passionate in his assessment of why the Church lacks commitment to the Great Commission. Lloyd-Jones states that the prevailing error today is that pastors imagine that the majority of the people in their churches are saved and only need instruction – Lloyd-Jones saysthey actually need a more consistent diet of the Gospel, repentance, and exhortation (Vol. 2, p. 619). Lloyd-Jones’ point is well-taken. In order for believers to confidently and consistently share the Gospel, they must be in the habit of living upon the Gospel. Christians need practice thinking through the Gospel, worshipping through the Gospel, and repenting through the Gospel. The word of grace; the Gospel, preached passionately, is desperately needed in order to deepen our faith in what God is doing in the world now. He is convicting, calling, quickening, and regenerating sinners by means of the Gospel. This is God’s primary means of glorifying Himself! Thus, the word of grace provides an essential grounding inDivine View Point. This perspective (DVP) becomes a key source of our confidence. Are we absolutely convinced that every man bears a relation to God defined by his relation to the Gospel? Are we convinced that he will carry that relationship with him eternally? This is a source of boldness for us. It feeds our desire to march under Christ’s banner; to be co-laborers with God’s field, the world. Evangelism is also a barometer of spiritual vigor because it involves a very pronounced dependence upon the power of God. This proves to be a divider of men for the following reasons. First, it is utterly realistic to affirm that our evangelistic efforts must be accompanied by spiritual power if they are to be effective (1 Cor 2:4). We must sense our dependency upon the Holy Spirit. Therefore consider that spiritual power is a daunting thing because it cannot be harnessed by ambitious men, nor can it be traced to the strengths of the creature. This can be disturbing to us because it exposes our utter dependence upon God and it is demands that we have high views of God. And that we live by a faith that is self-renouncing (self-renouncing because we look away from self and toward God as our chief resource). What I call the “toe in the Jordan principle” applies here. Just prior to Israel’s conquest of Canaan, God commanded Israel to enter Palestine by way of crossing the Jordan River at flood stage. Not until the feet of the high priest touched the water did the cresting Jordan River part in order for the armies to cross over. Now here is the application to evangelism. The believer in the pew takes inventory of his own inadequacy, he thinks about the stubborn pride of the unbeliever. He thinks about the rejection that is targeted at those who preach such a demanding and exclusive worldview as the Gospel. Then he concludes that his own spiritual impotence is no match for the hardened sinner. The result is that he is apathetic about evangelism. But the “toe in the Jordan principle” is extremely relevant here. Not until we make an attempt to share the Gospel will we sense any power from God in the situation at all. The key is to make the attempt; make the attempt anyway, against all instincts of self preservation against failure – step into the Jordan anyway! We agree with that giant of the Great Awakening George Whitfield who saw so many thousands saved under his preaching, “the Gospel is dead apart from the Holy Spirit.” It is no exaggeration to say that to embark upon evangelistic efforts with enthusiasm requires that we exercise faith in God’s spiritual power (by spiritual power is meant that God is pleased to bring His power to bear on His message, the Gospel). A regular “diet” of the Gospel instills in the believer the conviction that the Holy Spirit has already been striving with every sinner (Rom 1:18ff; Acts 7:51). And further, it imbues us with the confidence that God is quite ready to exercise spiritual power when we share the Gospel with the lost. In this context of spiritual power, one of the problems associated with a lack of evangelism becomes evident – without a steady diet of grace truths, potential workers will not be in the habit of attempting something that requires divine spiritual power (only by the perspective of Divine View Point can we “see” past our own inadequacy). The word of grace then (the doctrines of grace), are needed in order to instill faith in what God is doing in the world now. He is convicting, calling, quickening, and regenerating sinners by means of the Gospel. By means of His sovereign grace He is glorifying Himself! Thus, the word of grace provides an essential grounding in DVP. This becomes a key source of our confidence. Are we absolutely convinced that every man bears a relation to God defined by his relation to the Gospel? That he will carry that relationship with him eternally? This is a source of boldness for us. It feeds our desire to march under Christ’s banner, to be co-laborers with God in His field, the world. By way of review and summary, we feed on the truths of grace for our very spiritual life toward God. The “word of grace” builds us up in order for us to fulfill our high calling. The word of grace gives us God’s perspective of life (DVP). It instills in us kingdom values. We are constantly renewed by the word of grace. It plants in us God’s heart for the world. It emboldens us to radically identify with God’s purposes and to commit ourselves to outreach, believing on Him for the power necessary for the Gospel to actually break hearts of stone. The Gospel is our divine resource so that we live lives that are supernatural. Living upon the Gospel is the best preparation to preach the Gospel. Through the lens of the Gospel we view the glory of God in Christ, through the lens of the Gospel we view the brethren as fellow heirs, through the lens of the Gospel we view the unsaved world as is desperate need of the treasure we carry (2 Cor 4:7). ADDENDUM: The following is a suggested book list of titles that provide an excellent explanation of the relationship between justification and sanctification. Howard Marshall, Gospel Mystery of Sanctification (an awesome book that drives home the fact that our pursuit of holiness can only be advanced by fresh acts of faith in Christ. Related themes deal with the Law, with the necessity of assurance, and the central theme of the relationship between justification and sanctification.) C. J. Mahaney, The Cross-centered Life (a short devotional style book that shows the relevancy of the cross to all of the Christian life – how we need this theme.) Paul F. M. Zahl, A Short Systematic Theology (and short it is! 100 pages. The book shows how redemption penetrates to our conscience and motives and relationships, and how the flesh takes a myriad of exits, literally fighting the Spirit’s desire to show us the blood of Christ anew.) John Owen, Communion with God (abridged) (a heart rejoicing work that encourages the reader to take Christ for righteousness and happiness as a daily activity – and as a result experience communion with God. Excellent on the relevancy of the Gospel for daily Christian living.) Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace (perhaps the best book out in layman language that shows the connection between the gospel and sanctification.) David Peterson, Possessed by God (a treasure of a book, it combines condensed critical studies on a par with D. A. Carson, (editor), with devotional applications. This is one of the best books for pastors on the subject of sanctification. Peterson powerfully lays out the relationship between definitive sanctification and holiness of life. The book provides a survey of the N.T. doctrine of sanctification – it is incredibly comprehensive for its length.) Thomas Hooker, The Poor Doubting Christian Drawn to Christ (this book, like many Puritan works shows that these men were consummate physicians of the soul. The book would greatly enrich any pastor’s ability to counsel with “Christ crucified” as the answer to every problem.) John Piper, Future Grace (written in order to explain that justifying faith and sanctifying faith have the same object. Piper drives home the fact that faith in God’s “future” grace is a function of understanding the grace of Christ in the Gospel.) Horatius Bonar, God’s Way of Holiness (a short rewarding work that stresses the role of faith in sanctification – excellent.) Kenneth Prior, The Way of Holiness (MacArthur’s personal favorite for explaining the relationship between justification and sanctification.) Richard F. Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life: An Evangelical Theology of Renewal(Terrific insights on the practical value of justification as it touches the believer’s daily walk and pursuit of holy living.)

The Marks of True Salvation

I. From the Sermons of George Whitfield (Select Sermons of George Whitfield), Banner of Truth Trust, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1958).

A. The Grace of God in the Gospel Versus Human Merit.

1. Do you expect to be saved at last because of what you have done in part or in whole and because of your faithfulness?

2. Do you expect to be saved at last only because of God’s eternal love and sovereign grace given to sinners in Christ? (Titus 3:5-7).

3. How long have you loved God? Was there ever a time when you hated God and had enmity in your heart toward Him? Can you recall when the sin of unbelief governed your heart?

4. Did the Spirit ever convince you of your inability to close with Christ? Did you ever cry to God for faith and for mercy in your helpless condition? (Rom. 5:6, Titus 3:1-3, Rom. 7:14).

B. Mortification of Sin.

1. Do you find it necessary to constantly watch, pray, resist and fight against your corruptions so that they do not rule over your life? (Rom. 7:22-25).

2. Is your indwelling sin the burden of your heart? Do you cry out, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Have you ever felt that God might justly curse and damn you for your indwelling corruption if you were not a believer? (Rom.7:24).

C. Proper Conviction of Sin.

1. Was there a time when God wrote bitter things against you, when the burden of your sins was intolerable to your thoughts? Was there a time when you were conscious of the fact that God’s eternal wrath might justly fall upon you on account of your actual transgressions against God? Did this conviction ever pass between your soul and God? (Rom. 2:1-11, John 3:36).

2. Have you ever justified God in your damnation? Have you ever owned the fact that by nature you are a child of wrath? (Eph. 2:1-3).

3. Have you ever been troubled not simply over outward sins, but over the sins of your heart, your nature and for the sins of your best duties and performances? Have you ever been brought to see that the best of your duties are as filthy rags in God’s sight? (Is. 64:6) (Rom. 8:5-7).

D. Spritual Life and Growth.

1. Do you rest upon your profession of faith or are you always building yourself up in the righteousness of Christ? (Jude 1:20, John 15:4).

2. Do you trust in your former conversion or are you always pressing forward, trusting in the righteousness of Christ which is outside of you? (Phil. 3:8-11).

3. Do you rest upon the experience of your first conversion, or do you frequently flee to Christ and his blood, loathing your own self-righteousness? (1 Cor. 3:11, Phil. 3:9, Rom. 7:18).

4. Has God spoken peace to your heart? Have you felt the power of God on your soul as you opened the Word of God? (Heb. 4:12, 13, Rom. 14:17).

II. Questions From the Writings of Richard Baxter (Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor, The Banner of Truth Trust, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1656,

r.p. 1979).

A. The Gospel of Jesus Christ.

1. Have you ever been made to feel the greatness of your sin and misery? Have you felt your sin as a heavy load upon your soul? Have you ever felt the everlasting misery due your sins and with that burden the knowledge that you are a lost person? (Acts 2:37, Luke 18:13).

2. Have you gladly received news of a Savior, casting your soul upon Christ alone for pardon by His blood? (1 Cor. 15:1).

3. Do you believe that nothing can prevent you from going to hell but the sacrifice of the Son of God? (Heb. 2:1-3).

4. What becomes of men when they die? Do you have any sin? Were you born with sin? What does every sin deserve? What remedy has God provided for the saving of sinful miserable souls?

5. Has anyone suffered in our place whose sacrifice God accepts? Who are those whom God will pardon? Who shall be saved by the blood of Christ? (Mark 1:15, Luke 13:5).

B. The Need for Regeneration.

1. What change must be made upon all who shall be saved? How is that change affected? Have you ever found this great change upon your own heart? (Titus 3:5-7).

2. Did you ever find the Spirit of God by the Word of God, come in your understanding with a new heavenly life which has made you a new creature? (2 Cor. 5:17).

3. Have you had that change upon your soul that causes you to despise the world and to set your hope and affection upon things above? Do you order your life so as to be happy in the life to come? Is this where you lay up your happiness and hopes? (Matt. 6:21, 1 John 3:1-3).

C. The Necessity of Repentance.

1. Can you truly say that the sins of your past life are a grief to your heart?

(Rom. 6:21).

2. Can you honestly say that your heart has turned from sin, now that you have the holy life you shunned before? (Rom. 6:22, Rom. 12:1-2).

3. Can you truly say that you do not live in willful practice of any known sin? Can you say that there is no sin you are not willing to heartily forsake, and no duty you are not willing to perform? (Col. 3:5-10ff).

4. Have you resolved to cast all sins from you that defile your heart and life? (Acts 26:18-20).

5. Can you honestly say that the glory of God is as dear to you as your own life? (1 Cor. 10:31, Col. 3:23, 2 Cor. 5:9).

D. Sanctification and Indwelling Sin.

1. Do you understand that it is not possible to go the way of heaven without knowing it for certain? Do you frequently call upon Christ as Deliverer to get you past the many obstacles and enemies which block your way to heaven? (Eph. 6:18, Heb. 2:18, 4:16).

2. Are you aware of a bitter conflict between the flesh and the Spirit: Do you live by the power of the Spirit and mortify the deeds of the flesh? (Rom. 8:12-14, Gal. 5:16-18).

E. Living Unto God and Loving God.

1. Do you see great happiness in the love and communication of God in the life to come which draws your heart from this present world? (Col. 3:1-4, 1 Pet. 1:13).

2. Have you taken the everlasting enjoyment of God for your happiness? Does God have most of your heart, love, desire and care? Are you resolved by divine grace to let go of all the world rather than jeopardize the joy of God? (1 John 2:15-17, James 4:1-5).

3. Can you truly say, even with your failings and sins, that your care and bent in life is to please God and enjoy Him forever? Do you regard your worldly business to be that of a traveler and your true home to be heaven? (Phil. 3:20-21, 1 Tim. 4:10).

4. Is your heart set on God, on the life to come? Is your chief business to prepare for everlasting happiness? Do you honestly regard your time in this world to be chiefly for the purpose of preparing for another. Do you live so as to learn more of the will of God? Do you believe heaven can be had without pains? Is heaven worth your labor? (Heb. 6:11, 12, Heb. 12:14, 1 Pet. 4:18, Matt. 7:13,14).

III. Questions from the Writings of Matthew Mead. (Matthew Mead, The Almost Christian Discovered, Sola Deo Gloria Publications, Ligonier, PA 1661, r.p. 1989).

A. Common Faith Versus Saving Faith.

1. Does your faith go no further than agreeing with the facts of the gospel? Is your faith primarily a mental assent to the truth of the gospel?

(James 2:19,20).

2. Does your faith rest upon and cast the soul wholly upon Christ for grace and glory, pardon, peace, sanctification and salvation? Is your faith a united act of the whole soul, understanding, will, and affections, all concurring to unite the soul to an all-sufficient Redeemer? Is it a faith that purifies the heart and gives strength and life to all other graces? (Gal. 6:14, 1 Thess. 1:9, Rom. 12:9-21).

3. Does your faith take hold of Christ so as to “close yourself up in the wounds of Christ,” and by His stripes gain healing to your own soul? (Is. 53:5,6).

4. Does brokenness of heart over sin accompany your faith? Does your faith produce confession of Christ as Lord wherein your will is engaged to choose His ways and own them? (Luke 9:23-26).

5. Does your faith produce a willingness to persevere and endure hardship for the interests of Christ? (Rom. 8:17-25).

B. Communion with God.

1. Can you honestly say that you delight in God?

2. Do you enjoy communion with God? Do you fear and revere God and yet love Him as well? (Is. 66:1-2, 1 Jn. 1:3).

C. God’s Commandments.

1. Do you welcome the examination of your heart by the Scriptures?

(Ps. 139:23, 24).

2. Do you delight after the Law of God in the inward man? (Heb. 8:10).

3. What is the source of peace to your conscience? (Heb. 9:14).

IV. Questions Drawn from the MacArthur Study Bible. (John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible, Word Publishing; 1997) p. 2191.

A. Evidences that Neither Prove nor Disprove One’s Faith:

1. Visible morality: Matt. 19:16-21; 23-27

2. Intellectual Knowledge: Rom. 1:21, 2:17ff

3. Religious Involvement: Matt. 25:1-10

4. Active Ministry: Matt. 7:21:24

5. Conviction of Sin: Acts 24:25

6. Assurance: Matt. 23

7. Time of Decision: Luke 8:13, 14

B. The Fruit/Proofs of Authentic/True Christianity

Does your life exhibit the following evidences of salvation?

1. Love for God: Ps. 42:1ff, 73:25, Luke 10:27

2. Repentance from Sin: Ps. 32:5, Prov. 28:13, 1 Jn. 1:8-10

3. Genuine Humility: Ps. 51:17, Matt. 5:1-12, James 4:6,9

4. Devotion to God’s Glory: Ps. 105:3, 115:1, Is. 43:7

5. Continual Prayer: Luke 18:1, Eph. 6:18, Phil. 4:6

6. Selfless Love: 1 Jn. 2:9, 3:14, 4:7

7. Separation from the World: 1 Cor. 2:12, James 4:4, 1 Jn. 2:15-17

8. Spiritual Growth: Luke 8:15, Jn. 15:1-6, Eph. 4:12-16

9. Obedient Living: Matt. 7:21, Jn. 15:14, 1 Jn. 2:3-5

C. If list “A” is true of your life yet list “B” is not, the validity of your profession may be in question. If list “B” is true in your life, then list “A” will be true of your life also.

V. Direction to Those Whose Lives do not Manifest the Evidences of True

Salvation. (Matthew Mead, The Almost Christian Discovered).

A. Seek to attain a thorough work of God in your heart. Do not rest until such a change is wrought upon you. All those whom God intends to pardon and save are regenerated by God’s Spirit. In the act of giving them His grace, God gives them a new heart (Jn. 3:5-7).

B. God’s grace in giving this change begins with conviction of sin. As Richard Baxter observes, God brings a conviction that will make a man feel his sin as the heaviest burden in the world. The man will be crushed in his heart over his sin. God’s Spirit will make him understand that he is liable to God’s wrath and curse. He will make him see that he is a lost man facing damnation unless pardoned by the blood of Christ. (The Reformed Pastor, p. 250).

C. There is no true conviction of sin until one breaks off all false peace of conscience (Heb. 10:22). A false peace of conscience keeps a man from seeking after Christ. God’s peace is a peace that keeps a man from sin (Phil. 4:7). The sinner’s peace is a peace with sin.

D. The sinner must be wounded for sin and troubled under it before Christ will forgive him and give him peace. God makes a man truly sensible of the bitterness and misery of his sin before he allows the man to experience mercy. The sinner must see the vileness and unprofitableness of his sin before he is able to profit by Christ’s righteousness.

E. One must be convinced of the misery and danger of one’s natural condition. Until a man sees the corruption of his heart and the wretchedness of his state by nature, he will never leave off self-righteousness to seek help in Another. One must be convinced of the utter insufficiency of anything below Christ Jesus to minister relief to the soul. Duties, performances, prayers, tears, self-righteousness, religious practice avail nothing in themselves. Only an infinite righteousness can satisfy for us. Our sin has offended an infinite God. Your case requires infinite mercy to pardon you, infinite merit to reconcile you to God; infinite power to renew your heart, and infinite grace to save you from hell.

F. You must know that a sinner can never come to Christ by his own power. For he is dead in sin, and in a state of enmity against Christ. He is an enemy of God and the grace of God. No man comes immediately out of deadness of soul into conversion and belief in Jesus Christ without divine preparation. Central in this preparation is sound conviction of sin. (Luke 5:32, Luke 19:10, Is. 61:1).

G. Get sound convictions over your sin. Without them you will never seek after Christ for sanctification and salvation.

H. Never rest in your convictions until they end in conversion. Some rest in their conviction of sin as if sorrow over sin is the same as forgiveness. Seeing one’s need of grace is not the same as a work of grace.

I. Let your conviction of sin work repentance. Do not slight your conviction of sin. Only by following the conviction of sin will a man turn to Christ who is ready to pardon and save. Therefore, seek to have your convictions improved and deepened (not slighted). Do not rest in your convictions until they rise up to a thorough close with the Lord Jesus Christ and end in a sound and perfect conversion.

The Pastor as Prophet

The Role of Spiritual Discernment in Preaching Repentance

The prerequisite to diagnosing the spiritual state of our hearers is for us to be accomplished at ruthless honesty in our own state of affairs. The Lord teaches His servant to diagnose his own heart and then preach to himself the appropriate message. The minister prepared by God has been through deep waters; All Thy breakers and Thy waves have rolled over me (Ps 42:7). By engulfing the shepherd in “breakers,” God gives His man much practice in the probing of his own ways.

The man who is to be God’s instrument is subjected to a personal regimen of identifying in himself what makes his heart sickly. As C. S. Lewis said, I have my own heart as a reference [for understanding depravity].

In this age of spiritual froth and foam, of more heat than light, we count ourselves rich to find more than a hand full of friends and brothers who wish to converse about the preciousness of Christ. There are times where we have to be more like Chafer who told a stranger who wished to join his conversation concerning the deep things of God, “No, you know nothing of the matter.”

In our relations and in our ministry it is wisdom to pursue consistency in our doctrine of God and man. Therefore it behooves us to know the spiritual condition of our hearers when we preach. Our expectations must be in keeping with what we know of the spiritual health of our listeners.

This does not mean for a moment that it is pragmatic to limit our thinking as to what God may wish to do. There may be a Zaccheus in your congregation who repents of his theft and covetousness in the same hour as your sermon. Yes, we are to preach always expecting God to do great things.

We cannot see the wind, but we see the trees bent over by its force. So also God’s Spirit may blow among our hearers and bend them contrary to their natures. But at the same time we ought to consider that our Savior in His earthly ministry continually spoke of the heart condition of His hearers; you cannot hear my word (Jn 8:43).

It was Pascal who said every man constantly chooses what he perceives to be in the interest of his own happiness; even the man who hangs himself. What a mighty work of God’s grace it requires for a man to be constrained by the love of Christ; to set aside faithless self interest and to take up his cross daily.

Because men (even outwardly religious men), do not truly fear God, they do not care when their personal word is allowed to miscarry. Personal integrity is at a very low ebb in this country; even among professing believers. The old slogan,thy word is thy bond has fallen before the new gods of expedience and pragmatism.

We observe double-mindedness frequently in our conversations. People promise recklessly, but do not follow through. This is not right. We are to reflect and imitate our Heavenly Father whose Word never fails. Promising is easy, keeping our promise is frequently inconvenient – but a true test of character. It is often in the small things that we manifest holiness and the fear of God (John Newton).

When dealing with a man whose pride of life manifests itself as the “power-broker” type, we may hear from him ostensible words of friendship. Yet on the inside, he may never let you outside of the cross-hairs of his unsanctified ambitions. Yes love believes all things, but love also needs to be as wise as a serpent because we are dealing with depraved men.

Apart from a miracle of God, do not expect a man who regularly bribes his own conscience to allow you to inform his conscience of God’s standard. Do not expect a man who has a low view of Scripture to suddenly raise his view of God’s Word to the level that you maintain as God’s servant.

Don’t speak to a profane man about the preciousness of the things of God. Your delight in the things of God will not stay with him any longer than the sound waves of your voice will remain in his physical ear. Don’t speak to a man enmeshed in lust, sin, and self-deception about the joys of obedience as if he could extricate himself in a moment and begin walking the ancient path. Don’t speak to a double-minded man as if he were a man of principle who thinks by means of the biblical grid.

Shall we speak to churchmen who are deep in the world as if they are following Christ and hating their lives in this world? Would you speak to an empire-builder, and not expect him to view you as a potential brick? Our genuine brethren are those who have forsaken this world for a city whose architect and builder is God (Heb 11:10).

When dealing with the self-righteous, remember that you cannot help a man who thinks he has no problem, nor can you help a man who thinks you are the problem, nor can you help a man who does not believe that you are sent by God to help him.

Through His Word the Lord builds, rules, preserves, and perfects His Church. Through His Word He calls back strays and crushes the hearts of the impenitent. Through His Word He ravishes our souls; He persuades us of His goodness and love; He conquers us and makes us willing and affectionate subjects.

Therefore our task as preachers and prophets is to know the condition of the flock that we might rightly divide the Word in this sense – choose the passage which is fitted to their state of affairs.

The book of Proverbs is intended to cure our naiveté about men simply needing information in order to be good. The cure comes by way of a detailed explication of the machinations of the human heart. The book of Proverbs presents a vivid contrast between two paths; wisdom and folly. Wisdom is work; it is a path that is contrary to our natures; men naturally prefer the folly path.

In order to truly preach as a prophet, we will have to be familiar with the modus operandi of the lower nature. The Apostle Paul heard about the pecking order that had arisen in Corinth. His converts had precipitated toward a realized eschatology – they wanted to live as kings in the present. They eschewed the reproach of Christ. The Apostle knew that only a steady diet of Christ and Him crucified could bring down the Dagon they had erected in honor of fleshly wisdom.

Consider Paul’s challenge – he was dealing with fellow believers, fellow heirs who, but for his apostleship, had equal footing before God. No wonder he was in fear and trembling in their midst – for he had to confront their carnal wisdom without appearing proud, without exasperating them, without harming their friendship, without harshness.

He would preach love, but at the same time address every abuse. He emphasized his spiritual fatherhood in their case – but what a testy congregation. They were proud, fussy, ungrateful, backbiters, sensual, and ready to betray Paul for the approval of the false apostles.

Paul was very careful in the matter of receiving financial donations. Not that he couldn’t use the money; he was frequently homeless (1 Cor 4:11). The reason he was so cautious in the matter of potential donors was because he, as a prophet, knew the heart of man.

He knew the subtle reasonings that take place when people give money to men, but never really give it to the Lord (thoughts of obligation, superiority, and control). As a consequence, Paul tended to restrict the reception of his financial support to the church at Philippi; the church of brotherly love; the church that loved Paul (Phil 4:15-18).

When Paul was dealing with people and local bodies who needed repentance, he made it a habit to not receive money from them. Repentance is hard enough work – it can be even more difficult if the preacher receives money from the impenitent parties.

The person who lacks repentance in his life is wedded to his lusts and consequent fears. Each day he procrastinates, the task of repentance grows ever more daunting and undesirable. What started as a “rock pile,” has become an Everest. The thought of “bulldozing” so much ensconced sin is withering to his spirit. He cannot conceive of altering his life patterns and bearing the consequences of his sin. He fears change more than God Almighty.

(Preaching repentance is not only the hammer of the Word breaking up rock; it is also the matchless hope and mercy of Christ. In Him there is a refuge so ample that His grace will support us when we abandon ourselves to Him. In true repentance there is the free fall factor; the penitent man casts his welfare upon the Lord; he desists from self-directed living. We always display Christ’s willingness to “catch” the repenter.)

The man of God, like a SEAL team member, is strategically inserted by his Lord into situations that call for repentance. Now the man of God is a prophet in this sense; he makes a penetrating application of God’s Word to the specific need of the sinner. As such, the man of God comes to symbolize to the impenitent man all of the rejected appointments with God that the sinner has habitually cancelled.

Winsome as he may be, the man of God remains a disturbing irritant to the impenitent man. The very appearance of the prophet is a walking reminder to the impenitent man of the standing idols he yet tolerates.

Our Savior, and the holy prophets of old, caused discomfort by their very presence. Jesus was hated by His unbelieving hearers because He testified to men that their deeds were evil (Jn 7:7). Jesus warned His followers that if they were faithful, they too would be hated by the world (Jn 15:18-16:3).

Spirit-empowered preaching produces an inevitable clash. When men are so clearly confronted with what God says about their sin, they either do the painful work of repentance, OR they discredit God’s messenger. It requires a supernatural work of God for men to smash their cherished idols without a backward glance toward Sodom.

Delayed repentance and compromise are always found together. God’s prophets are used to snatch away what the impenitent man regards as morally neutral ground. A prophet makes the issues black and white. He shines God’s light upon compromises that have become the status quo.

The O.T. is replete with examples of confrontation by God’s prophets who bring the sin of hesitating between two opinions to a crisis point of repentance. At certain points in Israel’s history, the dividing line between obedience and disobedience became a literal line in the sand (Ex 32:26, 27).

After the golden calf incident, Moses stood at the gate of the camp and cried out, “Whoever is for the Lord come to me!” Those who didn’t were immediately slain with the sword.

In the incident of Korah’s rebellion, Aaron took his stand between the dead and the living to make atonement (Num 16:48). Allegiance to God’s Word sometimes took the visible form of the penitent standing beside the prophet who had spoken God’s truth.

What God occasionally did visibly in ancient times – placing the prophet between the living and the dead, He still does spiritually today. The man of God is there speaking the truth. Eternal issues are at stake. The truth from his mouth is a watershed like the Continental Divide. Two paths, two lifestyles, and two destinies are at stake.

What an awesome responsibility it is to speak for God to men. God’s truth in the mouth of a prophet pulls back the calluses of the heart. Men are cut to the quick.When they repent, fruitfulness and blessing follow.

The impenitent man is an enigma. He opposes his own soul’s welfare. His sin has produced spiritual insanity. He studiously works to keep repentance at bay. As men of God, we must know how the heart of the impenitent man operates. We must understand that he secretly hopes to find evidence of hypocrisy in us so that our message can be discounted.

It is an insightful, but unnerving thought that the believers at Corinth, under the influence of the false apostles, were tempted to begin searching for hypocrisy in Paul (2 Cor 10:10).

We must know what lies at the root of this tendency to discredit God’s man. So bitter is the prospect of repentance to the impenitent man that he will do anything to avoid it. This fact must strongly condition our optimism; Satan holds men in a state of impenitence (2 Tim 2:25, 26). Therefore, facing what we are up against with utter realism is necessary. If we are willing to do so, it will have the conciliatory effect of driving us to hope in God’s power alone for change in our hearers.

We live in a culture of niceness and flattery; people wear a veneer – it’s a necessary part of “good manners” in our land. Our listeners may praise us with sweet words and moist eyes, but at the same time internally strengthen their reasons to remain impenitent.

One of the most shocking examples of a spiritual veneer is found in the book of Jeremiah. The prophet’s entourage of Jewish expatriates cast their request in the most spiritual language possible. Jeremiah, pray for us to find God’s will – we will do whatever the Lord says to do (Jer 42:2-6).

Ten days later the Lord answers Jeremiah. God reveals to the prophet their entrenched idolatry and their wicked plan to return to Egypt. When Jeremiah verbally uncovers their motives, the people turn upon him like vicious animals. They accuse him of lying to them.

The resultant exchange ends with the apostate people uttering a blasphemous attack upon God’s Word; we will carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths (Jer 44:17).

It’s amazing that the people made the decision to approach Jeremiah in the first place; asking him to pray for God’s will and pledging their commitment to obey the direction God would give through him. During the 10 days of waiting on the Lord, God revealed to Jeremiah the contents of the peoples’ hearts. The outwardly spiritual congregation wanted to assuage their guilty consciences by involving God’s man in their plans!

Nothing has changed in 2700 years. Those who are both religious and impenitent still want to entangle God’s prophet in their carnal endeavors in order to “Christianize” their worldly ambitions.

How devastating it has been for many ministers to come to the realization that people under his care have regarded him merely as a “spiritual mascot” – just along for the ride. When apostate Christianity is in league with the love of mammon and the values of economic Babylon, the pastor may have little more influence than a chaplain on a Carnival cruise ship. His presence may even assist men in bribing consciences, while the moral direction of the ship remains unchanged.

Nothing tests a man like the offer of honor, security, and financial resources.

How true it is – the fear of man keeps many men from warning the flock. Honor and money are at stake. Pastor John O. Anderson who has spoken in the parliaments of five western countries in defense of the unborn said the following: At times the only thing that separates a false prophet from a true prophet is that the false prophet refuses to warn.

When honor and money are lavished upon a man of God it can have a corrupting influence. Frequently those in a position to lavish the money and honor are in the habit of looking to that duo for their own sense of value and completeness. Is it any wonder that their bestowal can be a tacit invitation to enter a temporal value system?

“Love believes all things, but that does not include gullibility. It means rather, that the believer is not to be suspicious. If however sin is evident, the believer must judge it and support its discipline” (Wycliffe Bible Commentary, p. 1252).

Proverbs addresses the gullibility that is inherent in us. In a nearly comical use of hyperbole, the verse states that if we are given to appetite we should rather put a knife to our throat than eagerly eat the delicacies offered by a wealthy ruler (Prov 23:2). Why? -- Because the food and the compliments belie the fact that the man wants something from us. By his gifts, he intends to obligate his guest.

So also the man of God is tested by the promises of his hearers to make him comfortable in this life. Paul was hypersensitive in these matters. He was careful about receiving financial support from the Corinthians. He wished to avoid any spurious charges coming from the false apostles that he preached for mercenary reasons; therefore it was Paul’s aim to preach the Gospel without pay.

He says in 1 Corinthians 9:12, If others share the right over you [of financial support], do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. (Paul was able to do what most of us are simply unable to do because of the cost of living we face. He was able to be incredibly selective about his financial support.)

God’s prophet may be frequently tested in this very issue; the issue of resources offered to him by his listeners. Paul is clear in 1 Corinthians 9 that the minister has the right to live by his preaching of the Gospel. But in our study of the human heart, we need to know how our supporters are tempted to think.

Money is commonly given with strings attached. It requires an act of faith and love for the believer to give to God’s workers as unto the Lord with no strings attached.

How strong in Christ the man of God must be, for the praise and resources of men call out to him to enter an unspoken contract. And what are the terms of the unspoken contract? Very simply they are -- we will make you comfortable if you make us comfortable. Do not disturb our lifestyles. Do not upset us. We have hired you. You belong to us. You are our paid teacher, our employee. We will be charitable toward you if you pronounce us spiritually well.

There is no cynicism here. Every prophet of God of every age faced the same offer of the unspoken contract. Every prophet had to decide if the Word of God was to be bound or loosed in his ministry. Every prophet had to come to terms with a loss of popularity if he preached the whole counsel of God.

The man of God stands between two worlds. He stands between God and man. Both exert pressure upon him. If a man says that he doesn’t feel this pressure, he may have already sold his soul. Feeling the pressure is necessary if the man of God is to be able to say at the end of his ministry, I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God (Acts 20:27, 28).

Every prophet of God must walk so closely with his Lord that he does not fear being in the minority. Under the reign of King Ahab, Micaiah was beckoned to give his prophecy to a packed house. Ahab and Jehoshaphat were there; the un-anointed prophets were there as well. Micaiah was “primed” ahead of time by the king’s messenger, make certain that your prophecy is favorable just as the prophecy of the other prophets will be (1 Ki 22:13).

Micaiah was the lone voice of truth. He was threatened with incarceration for speaking the Word of God. He did not back down.

Speaking the truth can be provocative. It may stir up a hornets’ nest in an instant. In our faithfulness, shall we expect a life of honor when our Lord was so often reproached?

In Luke 4 the synagogue congregation was filled with wonder at the gracious words which were falling from the lips of Jesus (4:22). Our Lord chose not to ride that wave of popularity. Instead He spoke truth which He knew would be inflammatory.

As the promised Prophet, He was willing to be provocative. By stating that God had cared for a Gentile widow and a Gentile leper at the time of Israel’s apostasy, Jesus effectively turned 700 years of historical revisionism on its ear.

The response of the congregation to a right interpretation of Israel’s history was murderous rage. Jesus had dared to touch the sacred nerve of national Jewish privilege. Today’s prophet will be daring (at God’s command) as well to speak truth that he knows has the potential to provoke.

There are key chapters in Scripture which describe for us the startling contrast between a shepherd and a hireling (Jn 10 and Ez 34 especially). The hireling tailors his message to the tastes of his hearers. The more they pay him, the more he flatters them. Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead My people astray; when they have something to bite with their teeth, they cry “Peace,” but against him who puts nothing in their mouths, they declare holy war (Mi 3:5).

There are two O.T. individuals that stand out in bold relief as “prophets for hire” – the Levite of Judges 17-18, and Balaam. The Scripture holds them up as negative examples, as object lessons; one with some N.T. commentary (Balaam), and one with no N.T. commentary.

I site them in this document because there are insights to be gained by studying those who “employed” their services. The prophets themselves are so egregious in their behavior, and so clearly hirelings in character that the lessons from their failures are ineluctable.

The Levite who was hired to superintend the worship of a household idol received a substantial pay raise when he was he was stolen by a band of raiders who offered him the role of “chaplain” to their band of 600 (Judges 17-18). The Scripture says of the Levite (upon receiving his “promotion”), And the priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod and household idols and the graven image, and went among the people (Judges 18:20).

The tragedy of the Levite’s compromise is captured in the final verse of the chapter, So they set up for themselves Micah’s graven image which he had made, all the time that the house of God was at Shiloh (Judges 18:31). So fully did the Levite become the puppet of this murderous band that the priest’s actions proved to be the catalyst that established regional idolatry in the city of Dan.

Balaam is the most well-known prophet for hire in the Bible. 2 Peter, Jude, and Revelation all refer to him as teaching wickedness for pay. His negative example is so vivid and hideous that it’s unlikely that we see much relevance in his account to the kinds of temptations that assault us.

King Balak somehow knew in his heart that the prophet Balaam was corruptible.

His pleas to allow Balaam to be enriched by him finally prevailed. Yet, Balaam’s initial testimony to King Balak is at first impressive, Whatever the Lord speaks, that I must do (Num 23:26).

The king’s offer of wealth and honor lodged in Balaam’s heart like a serpent’s egg ready to hatch. Once it hatched, Balaam ran with the same madness that was at first restrained by the “obstinate” talking donkey.

The second time God did not restrain the prophet. The prophet, mad for his reward, ran to King Balak and sold him a wicked plan that would make Israel stumble. We marvel that the holy prophecies that passed through Balaam’s mind and lips were not believed by the very prophet who spoke them. Scripture says that Balaam loved the wages of unrighteousness (2 Pet 2:15).

Sometimes the cost of standing between the dead and the living is to take no reward. Our Lord is the highest example of this kind of sacrifice. Christ Jesus indirectly warns his disciples that fidelity to Him may put us in situations where foxes and birds may have better accommodations than we do (Luke 9:58).

Repentance is like defying gravity. Nature opposes every effort. True repentance is always a miracle – it is Holy Spirit induced and enabled -- through the agency of God’s Word in the mouth of the prophet. The mind of man raises a thousand arguments to delay repentance yet again. The prophet cannot afford to have anything in his manner of life one of those thousand reasons not to repent. For repentance is the business of readiness for heaven.