How blessed is he who considers the helpless; The LORD will deliver him in the day of trouble.

The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed; In his illness, You restore him to health.

I was meditating on this psalm and considering the goodness of the LORD, that He will deliver and sustain and restore His godly ones who are compassionate and consider the helpless. But as I was meditating on this, the LORD also reminded me of the trouble that comes to those who desire to live godly lives. The same LORD who here promises to restore and sustain in other places promises all His godly ones affliction and suffering. The true paradox, however, is that the LORD gives the blessing of affliction and suffering especially to those who bear them to His glory. Indeed, suffering comes to all men without regard to faith, but suffering for the name of the Lord Jesus is reserved for the faithful, for those chosen by the Lord for sanctified suffering. Think of the examples of Job, Joseph, Jeremiah, Paul, and the Lord Jesus Himself. All suffered to the glory of God, but the mystery of Jesus is that God Himself suffered in the flesh. Is not one of the greatest privileges of being a Christian the joy of sharing in “the fellowship of Jesus’ sufferings?” (Phil. 3:10)

But there is a privilege beyond suffering for the Lord, and that is the honor of being persecuted for the name of the Lord (Matthew 5:10-12; 2 Timothy 3:12). For suffering comes on all men, but persecution must be earned and it is given by the enemies of the Lord. Persecution is allowed by the Lord to come upon only those who have been so bold and vocal in their proclamation of Jesus Christ that the enemies of the Lord have to do something to stop them or to silence them. Are you so bold that the enemies of Christ are compelled to silence you? Do you have it as your aim to be so dangerous to the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ that persecution is a likely consequence? This is the boldness that we need in this age of wickedness and compromise. Be bold and be dangerous, for the Lord has promised to sustain and restore His godly ones and to give them the crown of life (Revelation 2:10). SDG  rmb  1/28/2016

What can we learn from the apostle Paul about the matter of warfare? What can Paul teach us about The Art of War? There is a famous book by that title, but we want to learn what the follower of Christ can know about the subject of warfare.

First, there is much that we can review about the Bible’s teaching on warfare. The believer knows that they are to put on the full armor of God to be able to stand against the schemes of the devil (Ephesians 6:10ff). Thus we know how to put on our spiritual armor. The one who follows Jesus knows that no weapon formed against him can prosper (Isaiah 54:17) and that we are protected by the Lord’s pinions (Psalm 91:4). Even though a thousand fall at our side and ten thousand fall at our right hand, evil will not approach us (Psalm 91:7-8). Those who believe in Jesus are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37-39) and can never be separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

But second we know that the Bible also has warnings to give us about warfare. Most importantly, we know that we must not go to the battle without the LORD by our side, for to go to battle without the LORD is disastrous. The children of Israel went up against the Amalekites after refusing to enter the land and were struck down (Numbers 14:40-45). Again during the time of Joshua, the children of Israel were defeated by the people of Ai because there was sin in their camp and because they had stolen what was under the ban (Joshua 7:1, 10-12). So there is teaching available to us in the Scripture about how to fight the Lord’s battles.

Now we are new creatures in Christ and we have been given new spiritual weapons which are unfamiliar to us. And just like any soldier who is using unfamiliar weapons, the Christian must learn to use the weapons which the Lord has provided and must no longer rely upon the world’s weapons. Indeed, the one who would engage in the Lord’s battles must forsake the weapons of the world, for they are useless in the spiritual battle, and must learn to wield the weapons of the soldier of Christ.

[ASIDE: In thinking of unfamiliar weapons, there is perhaps no clearer picture for us than when David tried on Saul’s equipment as he was preparing to fight the giant (1 Samuel 17:38-40) Here in this passage King Saul, the weak and worldly leader, the one who has already been rejected by the Lord, offers his garments and his weapons to David, the Lord’s anointed, but David wisely rejects them. David was going to fight Goliath the giant in the name of the Lord of hosts with the weapons that the Lord would give him, and he had no need of Saul’s weapons, weapons that could not even prevent Saul’s own destruction on Mount Gilboa. Just so, we enter our spiritual battles in the name of the Lord of hosts and we do not rely on some earthly set of weapons.]

And so here in this passage, the apostle Paul gives instruction to all those who would take up spiritual weapons in order to do damage to the kingdom of darkness. Here the Christian soldier learns “The Art of War.”

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS:

The spiritual battle begins in the mind as we defend our thoughts against the enemy. The goal of the believer is to have a mind that is always alert to defend against the enemy attack; a mind that is saturated with the word of God; and a mind that is fixed on Jesus Christ.

The believer must realize that we are to resist THE SCHEMES OF THE DEVIL (2 Cor. 2:11). We must realize that we have such an adversary and that he has such schemes. The believer must understand THE GOALS OF THE DEVIL. His aim is to neutralize, disarm, render harmless, silence and discredit every believer, beginning with the boldest and most vocal. The believer must also discern THE MEANS AND THE TOOLS OF THE DEVIL. He employs any and all cruel and wicked means to achieve his goals. So he uses discouragement, deception, isolation, lies and feelings of hopelessness to bring about his intended ends. Finally, we must defend against THE PATHS OF ATTACK OF THE DEVIL, which are the world and the flesh.

EXEGESIS OF THE PASSAGE:

10:3 – We are mere men, limited in power by the weakness if our flesh. In our flesh, we are no match for our spiritual enemies and no threat to the kingdom of darkness. But as wise warriors of the Lord Jesus Christ, we do not wage war “according to the flesh.” That is, we do not rely on the dull swords and the blunt arrows of the physical warfare.

10:4 – Because our enemies are spiritual, we forsake the physical weapons of this world and instead wield the divinely powerful spiritual weapons issued to us by the Captain of the Lord’s host (Joshua 5:14-15), Jesus Christ. When we came to faith in Christ and joined the armies of the Lord, our great King of kings gave us His Spirit and gave us heavenly weapons specifically designed to destroy the strongholds of the enemy. God “trains my hands for battle (Psalm 18:34).” “He trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle (Psalm 144:1).” That is, since the day that I came to faith in Christ and entered the battle with the adversary, the Lord has been training me in the use of the weapons of spiritual warfare. Now in prayer and in worship, in fellowship and in fasting, in praise and in persecution, in witnessing and in meditating on and proclaiming the Word, the fortresses of the enemy are being destroyed.

10:5 – Ours is a spiritual battle for the minds of men and women and there are offensive tactics and defensive tactics that must be employed in this battle. “We are destroying speculations.” This is clearly an offensive tactic, for one rarely destroys anything when on the defensive. “Speculations” (NASB) is the translation of “logismos” in the Greek. Now while the exact meaning of these speculations is difficult to determine, the context of 2 Corinthians and the context of the city of Corinth itself would suggest that Paul is referring to the musings of the wise and the influential and the powerful, musings and philosophies which obscure the truths of the gospel that God has made plain in His word. Consider that Paul intentionally forsook eloquence of speech and philosophical wisdom (weapons of the flesh and of the “old man”) when he first came to Corinth (1 Cor. 1:18-2:5) so that he could proclaim the gospel, proclaim Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and nothing else. Speculations, then, are the ongoing reasonings of worldly-wise people seeking to obscure the gospel with more eloquent or more erudite or more spectacular options for what God has already established as truth. As an offensive tactic in the battle, the believer seeks to destroy these speculations by refuting them with the truth. (Titus 1:9) We oppose these speculators and seek to stop them in their tracks so that their talk will not spread like gangrene (2 Tim. 2:17) and will not confuse and hinder those who are coming to Christ (Matthew 23:13; Acts 13:8, 10).

10:5 – We are also to be “(destroying) every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God.” The Greek word for “lofty thing” could also be translated “lofty tower” or “fortress.” If “speculations” OBSCURE THE TRUTH OF GOD by making it appear as just one simple option in the midst of many educated and sophisticated possibilities (“Any religion will get you to heaven” and “Christianity is just one possible option;” “There have been many religious leaders like Jesus, so He’s just one of many;” “The God of the Bible is just one god, but there is also the Allah of Islam and the many gods of the Hindus and so every person must make his own choice.”), then the “lofty things” OPENLY OPPOSE AND DENY THE TRUTH OF GOD, which has been uniquely revealed in the Bible and by the Incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. These “lofty things” are constructed and are defended by those who know the truth that has been stated by God on a matter and who nevertheless willfully and consciously oppose God’s truth with their own lie. As an offensive tactic, the believer must directly oppose those who defend these lofty towers by discrediting the ideas they endorse and by discrediting these people as false teachers. These fortresses must be torn down and demolished so that the truth of the gospel and of Christ may shine clearly. This is an offensive tactic that involves confrontation and it must be fought with the spiritual weapons of the proclamation of the Word and of being on our knees in prayer.

What are some examples of these “lofty things?” evolution vs. creation; no resurrection of Jesus; relative, moveable morality vs. God’s definition of sin.

SUMMARY:

The believer appears to be just like everyone else, since their outward appearance and manners hide the radical transformation that has taken place in their life. The believer has been born again and everything has changed, including the battles they fight and the way they fight them. Using the powerful and divine weapons of prayer, holy living and proclamation of the Word, the believer is actively destroying the “speculations” which obscure the profound truths of the word of God; he is opposing the “lofty things” which are raised up by the philosophies of the world to directly oppose the truth of the gospel; and he is controlling his own thinking so that only those thoughts which honor Christ and which reflect the truth of God are allowed to dwell in the mind. SDG rmb 1/26/2016

Over the last few months I have been working on a passage from Hebrews 12:15-17 that describes Esau as a godless and immoral man who lost first his birthright and then lost his eternal soul when “he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.” How is it that Esau could find no place for repentance? How is it that his tears made no difference? The warning of the author of Hebrews seems to be this: There is apparently some point beyond which a person’s most fervent and tearful cries for repentance go unheeded. Is there some point beyond which the Lord will not listen to a perishing man’s cry? And if there is such a point, what do we do to make sure that we are never found in that terrifying place of “no repentance?” That is what I explore in a paper I have written and added to the site as a page.

The basic idea is that the Lord’s offer of salvation (the opportunity for repentance) is extended to sinners as an expression of His grace, but it is not extended forever. The Lord is gracious and compassionate and great in lovingkindness, but nevertheless He can and sometimes does withdraw His offer of salvation, and when He does withdraw His grace, it is forever withdrawn and the person without Christ is thereby doomed. God is sovereign in salvation and the sinner needs to come to Christ as soon as the offer is recognized, for you do not know when you will find yourself in the place of ‘no repentance.’ Esau trifled with the Lord and indulged his own sinful flesh and ignored the opportunity for repentance until his condemnation was sealed and there was no longer any hope of turning to the Lord. Thus Esau serves as a warning to us not to do the same thing.

Anyway, I have put that new page on the site for you to read. Let me know what you think.

The name of the page is: “Hebrews 12:15-17 – No Place for Repentance”

I have just added a page to the site that is a fairly lengthy study of Genesis 27, where Jacob and Rebecca conspire together to deceive Isaac and get him to give the family blessing to Jacob instead of to the first-born, Esau. In this narrative that tells how Jacob gets the blessing by lying and deceiving, I maintain that the gospel is hidden and awaiting discovery. Here is a short excerpt from the page: Isaac asks Jacob, “Are you really my son, Esau?” Jacob is wearing a clumsy Esau-disguise, but Isaac is willing to believe that the person before him is really Esau. And likewise, God the Father allows the robe of righteousness that Christ has wrapped around us (Isaiah 61:10) to disguise Him from our true identity. “Are you really My Son Jesus? Because you look to me and you sound to me an awful lot like that sinner, Roy Britton. But if you confess to Me that you believe in My Son and that you will obey Me forever, then I am willing to accept this clumsy disguise as good enough to merit My blessing. If you have on a Jesus-disguise, then I will give you His blessing regardless of how sinful you are.”

This captures the idea pretty well. Go to my pages and read the entire study. I think you will enjoy it. SDG rmb 1/16/2016

“I sought the LORD, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces will never be ashamed. This poor man cried and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.” Psalm 34:4-6

January 6, 2016 quiet time:“I sought the LORD . . .”

What does it mean to seek the LORD? And what is it that you seek when you “seek the LORD”?

You are to seek the LORD Himself, not what the LORD gives or what the LORD is able to do. Here is the command: Seek an eternal relationship with the most amazing and wonderful Person that exists! If you will seek the LORD Himself; if you will seek a relationship with Him and will come to Him on His terms and if you will worship Him as Almighty God, then you will receive not only the richest relationship that a human being can have, with immense joy and love and peace, but you will also receive all the benefits of what the LORD can provide to those who fear Him (which is Old Testament language for “those who love Him”).

BUT if instead you “seek Him” so that you can get from Him His benefits, and if you only call out to the LORD for what He can provide; if you only need the LORD to change your circumstances and give you a “blessed life;” ***

[ASIDE: 1) In Exodus 33:15, Moses says to the LORD that if His presence does not go with the people of Israel, then Moses does not want to leave that place. “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.” Moses was declaring that all the temporal blessings of place and possessions would be utterly meaningless if the LORD’s presence was not there with them. “If You don’t go with us, then I am not leaving this place!” 2) The Bible declares that it is the LORD Himself who gives us all our circumstances. Since that is the case, why should the LORD change your circumstances just to get you out of trouble, when He brought that troubling situation into your life in the first place?]

*** if you are indifferent to the LORD and are not ready to love Him at all times and regardless of circumstances (Matthew 22:37-40), then you will get neither His benefits nor His fellowship. Instead, your sky will be bronze and your land iron, etc. (Deuteronomy 28:23) and there will be no blessings from the LORD.

David “sought the LORD.” What did David mean by this? His soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the LORD (Psalm 84:2). David stretched out his hands to the LORD as a parched land (Psalm 143:6). There was nothing restrained or cool about this seeking. David passionately and unreservedly sought the face of the LORD and he would not be denied. David wanted to know the presence of the LORD, to know the voice of the LORD, to know the strength and the peace and the power and the glory of the LORD. David wanted to be as close to the LORD as a human being could be. “I sought the LORD . . .” The LORD answers those who seek Him with their whole heart. The LORD honors those who call upon Him and who trust in Him.

And what does David seek? David seeks a relationship with the most overwhelming and awesome Person in the universe. David indeed seeks an intimate relationship with the Creator of the universe! It is not what the LORD can give that David seeks. Rather, it is the LORD Himself that David seeks.

Does this passion for knowing the LORD mark your life? The true believer’s life is marked out by a passionate seeking after the LORD of glory Himself. The one who will seek the LORD in order to have a relationship with Him will find that the LORD’s other benefits will also come into their life. Do you seek the LORD passionately? Do you seek Him so that you may know and enjoy Him as your God, and may obey Him as the sovereign LORD?

This is what it means to seek the LORD. Do you seek Him? SDG rmb 1/6/2016