Gospel

Why are you doing that? (Romans 10:2-3)

SCENE 1

The squirrels had been in my attic for a while now. I could hear them overhead, running the length of the attic as they played in my insulation. It was driving me crazy. I hated those squirrels. “How are they getting into my attic?” Then one day I was standing in the front yard and saw a squirrel cross the street and head directly toward my house. It climbed up the trunk of a small tree near the house, jumped onto a branch of the tree, which bent under the weight and then sprung back up, catapulting the squirrel onto the roof of my house. “Oh ho! That’s how they are getting onto my roof and into my attic!” So, the next Saturday I was out with my tree saw and started to cut down the tree that the squirrels were using as a catapult. My neighbor wandered over to me and asked,

“Why are you doing that?”

“What do you mean, ‘Why am I doing that?’ I am cutting down this tree because I don’t want squirrels in my attic!” He shook his head and smiled and said, “Cutting down that tree won’t stop squirrels. You know, squirrels can just climb up the brick on the outside of your house and get onto your roof.”

            I began to feel just a tiny bit stupid, realizing that he might be right, but I continued cutting down the tree anyway. “There,” I said, as the small tree sunk to the ground. “That will stop them!” My victory was short-lived, however. About two hours later, I felt chagrined and outmatched as I watched that same squirrel scamper up the corner of my house, using the brick as you or I would use a sidewalk, pop over onto the roof and then disappear into my attic.

            What had just happened? Because of my ignorance of the real nature of the problem, I had employed a strategy that could never get me the results I wanted. I wanted to get rid of the squirrels in my attic, so I cut down the tree. No good. Waste of time. Bad idea.

            Now, other than a little bit of humiliation in the eyes of my neighbor, my blunder had no real consequences. No big deal. Lost a tree and kept the squirrels. Oh, well.

SCENE 2       

For the next scene, we turn to the Bible as Paul is applying the truths of the gospel to his Jewish countrymen in Romans 10. Paul presents a troubling scenario. Paul writes, “For I testify about them (his Jewish brethren), that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge (10:2). For not knowing about God’s righteousness (that is, not knowing about salvation by grace through faith in Jesus the Messiah), and seeking to establish their own (by religious works), they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God (10:3).”

            So, what I want to do is frame this scenario in terms of the incident with the squirrels in my attic, because these scenes are similar. Let’s say that an observer was talking to one of Paul’s friends, who was a Pharisee.

“I see that you are really zealous about doing religious things. You fast twice a week. You tithe from all that you get. You pray long prayers on the street corners. You always wash your hands before you eat, and you never do any work on the Sabbath. Everyone knows that you give to the poor. I’ve heard you even cast out demons and occasionally do a miracle! But . . . “

“Why are you doing that?”

            The Pharisee replied, “Because I want to be righteous, of course!” The observer sadly shook his head and said, “Doing all these religious works does not make you righteous. In fact, no amount of religious works can EVER make you righteous. Do all your works, but your sin will remain.”

            The Pharisee said, “That’s nonsense! Anyone can see that I am more righteous than you! I know that my religious works please God.”

            Once more, the other man tried to get through. “Actually, in Isaiah 64:6 the prophet says, ‘All our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.’ The only way to be righteous is to believe in Jesus the Messiah.”

            For a brief moment it seemed that the Pharisee was considering what had just been said. Did Isaiah really say that thing about the filthy garment? And if he did say that what might that mean for me? Could my Rabbi be wrong? Could I be wrong? Could this guy be right? Then the mental window slammed shut. “I don’t need to be taught by you!” he said. “I will continue to work my works!”

            What had just happened? Because of the Pharisee’s ignorance of the real nature of righteousness, he was employing a strategy that could never get him the results he wanted. He wanted righteousness, but he is trying to obtain his righteousness by his own works. No good. Waste of time. Bad idea.

            But it is right at this point that things radically change. For while my blunder with the squirrels cost me a small tree and a little bit of embarrassment, the Pharisee’s error will cost him an eternity in hell. You see, “Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness for all who believe (Romans 10:4).” The only possible way to obtain righteousness before the Holy One, the God of heaven, is to believe in Jesus the Messiah. This is not a preference issue. This is not a question of semantics. This is not an issue where you go at your way and I go at it my way and then we will probably both get there eventually. If the Pharisee does not change his mind and repent and bow the knee to Jesus the Messiah, he will never obtain any righteousness. In fact, he will miss righteousness by an eternity.

SCENE 3

            The final scene is a lunch discussion between me and Jack. Jack is a business associate of mine. We have developed a bit of a friendship and know a little bit about each other. I know that Jack is a Catholic, and we have had a couple of discussions about each other’s religious views. On this occasion, I have steered the conversation in the religious direction again.

            “So, as a Catholic, what sorts of things do you do? In other words, what religious things do Catholics do?”

            “We have talked about this before, Roy, but anyway. We do confession and we do the Mass every Sunday with the Eucharist. We do some ‘our Fathers’ and some ‘hail Marys.’ Some people do the rosary. We pray to various saints. Like that.”

“Why are you doing that?”

“What do you mean, ‘Why am I doing that?’ I am doing these things because I don’t want to go to hell!”

At that moment, I felt like the neighbor who was telling me the truth about squirrels or like the “other guy” who was telling the Pharisee the truth about righteousness. Jack said that he wanted to avoid hell, but he was pursuing a strategy that guaranteed that he would arrive there. He had adopted the Catholic plan which promises that good Catholics will avoid God’s wrath by doing religious things. For Catholics, trying to do your best and obeying the Catholic Church will at least get you into Purgatory. These are the inventions of the Catholic Church that keep people from hearing the truth.

So, I tried to explain to Jack that this was not a preference issue. I tried to tell him that there was no such thing as Purgatory (“Jack, I think you have a hole in your parachute.”) I told him that Jesus died to atone for sin, so there is no longer an ongoing sacrifice needed through the Mass. The priest has no authority to forgive sins or to give you any sort of penance that you can do to remove your sin. But my words fell on hard ground and we basically left the restaurant a tiny bit incensed with one another and probably a little more polarized.

The lesson from this is that we must be clear about what is wisdom and what is absolute truth. With regard to salvation, we must insist that there is no room for compromise or personal preference. When the fireman crashes your door down with an axe, it is not so he can debate with you whether your house is on fire. For everyone of us, our house is on fire, and there is only one way to safety. His name is Jesus.

For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness for all who believe.

Romans 10:4

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What if I am unaware of the disease? (Leviticus 5:17)

                I want to start out this article with a medical question:

MEDICAL QUESTION

            Is it possible for a person who does not know that they have terminal cancer to still die of that cancer?

            Many people in our society today have enough medical knowledge to answer this question. From our common medical knowledge, we know that, unless cured, terminal cancer ends in death. So, the answer to the medical question above is, yes, a person who does not know that they have terminal cancer can still die of that cancer. In fact, if the cancer is not both detected and cured, the person certainly will die of the terminal cancer, whether they know they have it or not.

            That answer was pretty easy. Let’s move into a different field and see if we can answer a similar question. So, let me ask a theological question:

THEOLOGICAL QUESTION

          Is it possible for someone who has sinned against the Law of God without knowing it to still be guilty and condemned by that sin?

            This theological question will probably be more difficult to answer than the medical question because relatively few people in our society have a great deal of theological knowledge. God has given us everything pertaining to life and godliness in His book, the Bible, and yet few people take the Bible seriously. In the Bible is all the theological knowledge necessary for a person to spend eternity in heaven in loving fellowship with the living God, the Creator of the universe, and all the theological knowledge needed to avoid condemnation and an eternity in hell. Yet, again, few people can be bothered.

            In my current Bible study, I am reading through the book of Leviticus, a book that gives careful instruction about the various sacrifices that the ancient Hebrews were to give to the LORD to atone for their sins. Leviticus is a fascinating book, and in Leviticus 5:17 it says this:

“Now if a person sins and does any of the things that the LORD has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, still he is guilty and shall bear his punishment.”

            Here in this one verse, in Leviticus 5:17, we find the answer to the theological question that was posed above. From this verse, it is clear that any person who sins and breaks any of the LORD’s commandments is guilty and is under condemnation, whether they know about their sin or not.

            Now, because our sin is against the living God, there is no more dangerous place to be than to be guilty of sin and under condemnation. Just as it is the nature of terminal cancer, unless detected and cured, to end in physical death, so it is the nature of sin, unless detected and removed, to end in eternal death. And because the situation of our sin against the living God is so perilous, the Bible is full of warnings about our sinful condition. Here in Leviticus 5:17 we read one such warning, which tells us that we are guilty of all our sins and liable to punishment, whether we know it or not. Just as the MRI and the CAT scan detect and warn us about our terminal cancer so that we can remove it and live longer physically, so the Bible detects and warns us about our sin so that we can remove it and live eternally in heaven.

            We know, from our medical knowledge, that there are some cures for cancer, but what is the cure for our sin against the living God? If the Bible is full of warnings about our sin, which will lead to eternal death, surely there must also be some instruction somewhere in the Bible about how we can remove our sin. If the Bible graciously tells me about my sin and warns me about my condemnation, doesn’t it also graciously tell me how I can escape from my condemnation? Having revealed to me my disease of sin, doesn’t it also tell me of the cure?

            The Bible does indeed provide the cure for the disease of sin. Having revealed to us the ugliness of our sin and condemnation, the Bible also reveals to us the beauty of our salvation. Or rather the beauty of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. As condemned sinners, we need a Savior who will rescue us, and so God sent Jesus Christ from heaven to earth on a rescue mission. After living a sinless life filled with miracles, teaching and healing, the Lord Jesus was crucified on a Roman cross as an atoning sacrifice for sinners. He died on that cross and was buried. On the third day Jesus rose from the dead, proving that He had conquered sin and death, and ascended into heaven. Now the good news of the gospel is that any person who has sinned and has done many things that the LORD has commanded not to be done, will be forgiven of his sins through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.”

the apostle Paul to the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:31

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A Transformational Event

Without a transformational event in our lives; without an occurrence that fundamentally changes us and redefines us, all of us remain chained to our past and remain defined by the mistakes and failures of our past. But if in our lives there has been a transformational event of such power that it changes who we are and how we define ourselves, we will be freed from our past and will have a new point of reference.

In nature, this is pictured in the caterpillar and the butterfly. The caterpillar’s life is chained to it origin and is therefore defined by crawling on the ground, a worm gnawing on leaves. The caterpillar has a physical birth, but it lacks a transformational event. But now contrast this with the butterfly. The butterfly has gone through a metamorphosis, a transformational event, and now the days as a caterpillar are gone and forgotten. Now the same creature is defined by the results of the transformational event. Life is defined not by physical birth, but by the new transformed creature. Now there is the dazzling beauty of glorious wings, the drinking of nectar for food and the journeys of effortless flight going from flower to flower.

The analogy should be clear, for just as a caterpillar needs to be transformed to experience the life of freedom and beauty displayed in the butterfly, so every human needs to experience a great transformational event to rise above their ugly and sinful natural state. But where is such an event to be found? How am I ever to be transformed and rise from my natural misery and wretchedness?

The Bible gives the answer to this question in multiple places expressed in various ways:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Jesus Christ in John 3:3

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My words and believes Him who sent Me . . . has passed from death to life.” Jesus Christ in John 5:24

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.  2 Cor. 5:17

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up with Him.   Ephesians 2:4-5

“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.” Ezekiel 36:26

In these verses and more, the gospel message is clear: Encountering Jesus Christ and being transformed by Him is the only event that has transformational power. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be transformed. Other events may change your circumstances, but those changes will leave you a caterpillar. Trust Christ and you will be born again and your new transformed life as a butterfly will begin.

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Jeremiah 26:2. Do not omit a word!

In the early days of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet telling the LORD’s appointed messenger to speak “all the words that I have commanded you to speak to them. DO NOT OMIT A WORD!”

Here Jeremiah is to proclaim a message that is so important that the LORD dictates the very words that must be used. This message from the LORD cannot be modified or shortened or embellished. No parts of the message can be left out and no other parts can be inserted. The messenger must communicate the LORD’s message and no other. “Do not omit a word!”

The point of this blog post is to consider the message that Jeremiah preached to the people of Jerusalem in the days before the Chaldeans destroyed that city and see that, in Jeremiah’s message, there are foreshadows and parallels with the gospel of Jesus Christ that we are called to proclaim to the nations.

The essential message that the LORD’s appointed prophet was to herald to Jerusalem is contained in 26:2-6 and 26:12-13. Consider, then, the message that Jeremiah proclaimed.

  • It was a message of warning, declaring to the people that their destruction was approaching. Whether they believed it or not, they would soon be destroyed;
  • Jeremiah’s message told that this destruction was a judgment on them from the LORD because of their sins and because of the evil of their deeds;
  • This was also a message of mercy, for Jeremiah had been sent by the LORD to these people who were doomed to destruction for the express purpose of announcing how the LORD would stop the calamity He was planning to bring on the city. The LORD was willing to be merciful;
  • If the people would listen to the LORD’s voice and would repent of their evil deeds and return to the LORD, then the LORD would spare the city;
  • If the people did not heed the message and did not repent and return to the LORD, then destruction and judgment were certain.

Does this message sound familiar? It should! This outline of Jeremiah’s message is a foreshadow of the essential gospel message of salvation through Jesus Christ that believers proclaim today. Let me show you the parallels:

  • In our gospel, we proclaim a warning, telling sinners that God’s judgment is coming soon. Whether they believe they are sinners or not and whether or not they believe that our holy God will judge sin, our gospel warns all sinners that they are under God’s condemnation and wrath and will be judged;
  • Our gospel message declares that God’s judgment and wrath are the result of sins and the result of the evil of their deeds;
  • Like Jeremiah, we proclaim a message of God’s mercy, for we have been sent out by the Lord Himself (Acts 1:8; 1 Peter 2:9; Acts 2:38-39; Luke 24:46-49; 1 Timothy 1:15-16; 2 Corinthians 5:20) to a people doomed to judgment for the express purpose of announcing to them that Christ is a great Savior and that God will forgive all those who place their faith in Him;
  • If our hearers listen to  the message and repent of their evil deeds and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31), God will remove His wrath and condemnation from them and will forgive their sin and will give them eternal life;
  • If our hearers reject the Lord’s message of salvation and do not repent of their sins and do not believe in the Lord Jesus, then God’s destruction and judgment are certain (Hebrews 9:27).

So in this passage in Jeremiah we have seen the gospel clearly foreshadowed. But I wanted to think for a second about the sentence in which the LORD tells Jeremiah, “Do not omit a word!”

In the case of Jeremiah’s message, the prophet was speaking to a relatively small group of people in a single city about a temporal destruction and a temporal deliverance. The Chaldeans were threatening Jerusalem with destruction, but if Judah repented, the LORD would deliver them from physical death and destruction. And yet in this situation, the LORD gives Jeremiah the command, “Do not omit a word!” The message must be exactly the LORD’s message.

But if the LORD is that serious about the accuracy of this word spoken concerning temporal salvation to a small group of people, and declares that the message must be exactly what He intends, how much more serious would He be about the accuracy of the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the only means of salvation available for all of mankind for all time, a message that delivers anyone who believes from the eternal condemnation of God and brings them into eternal life. In other words, if the LORD wanted strict faithfulness to His message of temporal salvation (Jeremiah 26), how much more important is it that the gospel message be accurately proclaimed (Acts 2).

The lesson, then, is that we must faithfully proclaim the whole council of God’s gospel with accuracy and boldness. “Do not omit a word!” When we are faithful with the message that God has called us to proclaim, we will see God glorified and will see God bring people to Himself.

SDG       rmb       7/10/2017