In meditating on Psalm 24 today, I was struck by a number of points that seemed to warrant my writing them down. Psalm 24 is a messianic psalm which contains the victorious ascension of the Lord Jesus after His resurrection, as well as the veiled gospel that tells of how the Lord imputes righteousness to His people. I have chosen to present the study in four points, namely:

• A momentous question;
• An impossible requirement;
• A victorious Savior;
• A redeemed people.

We will see as we make our way through Psalm 24 that, even though obviously messianic (meaning evidently about the coming Messiah Jesus Christ), the psalm leaves Jesus and the gospel of salvation veiled or concealed. This is of necessity, for when David wrote this psalm, God had not yet revealed the fullness of His redemptive plan and had not yet sent His Son into the world. Psalm 24, then, drops clues about the Messiah and about the gospel that have since been fulfilled. This “gospel-veiled” and “Messiah-concealed” ideas will be a large part of our study.

A MOMENTOUS QUESTION

“Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD and who may stand in His holy place?” (24:3) Here is a variant of THE question for every fallen man. “What must I do to be saved? (Acts 16:30)” “What shall I do to inherit eternal life? (Luke 18:19)” “Then who can be saved? (Matthew 19:25)” There is no more important question that can be asked and no more crucial answer that may be sought. All of us have been separated from the Lord because of our sins (Isaiah 59:1-2) and we must find a way back to His holy place. But who is qualified to approach the LORD? Who may stand in the presence of the consuming fire? (Hebrews 12:29)

AN IMPOSSIBLE REQUIREMENT

The psalmist provides an answer to the momentous question, but it does not appear to be very helpful. “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and who has not sworn deceitfully.” (24:4) Alas, on this basis I am disqualified from His holy hill, for my hands are not clean and my heart is not pure. Also, I have often lifted up my soul to falsehood and I have many times sworn deceitfully. I have failed to keep the Law and have instead transgressed. Is there any means of cleansing for me? Is there any path to righteousness? Has forgiveness been forever forfeited?

A VICTORIOUS SAVIOR

The final verses of the psalm trumpet the triumph of the victorious heavenly King. The “gates” and the “doors” (24:7, 9) are certainly the gates of heaven and the psalmist leaves no doubt as to the identity of the King of glory: “The LORD (YHWH) strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle (25:8).” Then further, “The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory (v. 10).” But notice carefully that the King of glory, the LORD is coming into heaven. Twice the doors and the gates are commanded to lift up so “that the King of glory may come in (v. 7, 9).” Now, how is this possible? For if the King of glory is now coming into heaven, it must mean that at some point the King of glory must have LEFT heaven. When in the Bible is there a time that the LORD leaves heaven and later returns? The answer is that here in this passage is concealed the journey of the Son of God from heaven to earth and back again. That journey included the Incarnation, when God the Son took on human flesh to accomplish the Atonement on the cross. After accomplishing His mission of atonement, Jesus was then gloriously resurrected and ascended to heaven to re-enter heaven’s gates as the victorious Savior. The King of glory is coming into heaven (v. 7, 9) as the LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Jesus Christ has accomplished the mission (John 17:4; 19:30) and has vanquished the enemy (1 John 3:8) and is coming back as the conquering King. This psalm, then, is describing the coronation of King Jesus after His victory on the cross.

But there is yet much more about Jesus here in this psalm. Not only did the Lord Jesus purchase atonement for His people and ascend to heaven as the glorious King, but He also perfectly kept the Law of God while He was on the earth. Jesus has perfectly clean hands and an immaculately pure heart (24:4), “who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth (1 Peter 2:22).” Thus, Jesus has met “the impossible requirement” (see above) and His perfect righteousness is now willingly and joyfully (Luke 15:7, 10) given to “the (entire) generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face – even Jacob (24:6).”

A REDEEMED PEOPLE

Now we can see how it is that we are allowed to ascend into the hill of the LORD (v.3). The one who has repented of their sins and who has placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the same as the one here described as “the generation of those who seek Him (v. 6a).” This “generation” is the redeemed people of God, the ones who will “receive a blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation (v. 5).” Notice especially that these people receive righteousness from God. We know from the New Testament that this righteousness is imputed to us. Because we seek the Lord Jesus in repentance and in faith, His perfect righteousness and His clean hands and pure heart have been credited to our account, and we may thus ascend the hill of the LORD and stand in His holy place.

CONCLUSION

Thus, we can see that this psalm conceals both the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel. We see that God requires holiness for those who would come to heaven. Since we lack holiness, we need a Savior to give us righteousness. The Lord Jesus leaves heaven and comes to earth in the Incarnation, dies on a cross, is resurrected and ascends to heaven and from there gathers His people, the entire generation of those who seek Him in repentance and in faith.

SDG                 rmb                 12/31/2018

In Paul’s epistle to Titus, the apostle gives his younger protégé instructions for establishing churches on the island of Crete and for forming these former pagans into disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. These were daunting tasks for this man Titus, because the Cretans were products of a corrupt and immoral culture. Their society was marked by lawlessness and they had been steeped in a host of sins and sinful patterns of life and, until the apostle Paul had visited them, they had known nothing of holiness or of the beauty of the one true and living God and His Son Jesus Christ. But now they have heard the gospel and they have believed and (wonder of wonders) they are being gathered into churches and are being appointed as qualified elders (1:6-9). Some of the Cretans have joined the saints and have become members of God’s family.

In 1:12-13 the apostle says:

One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beast, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. For this cause reprove them severely that they may be sound in the faith.

Some brief comments are in order. Paul quotes one of their own, a fellow Cretan, who calls himself and his fellow Cretans “liars, evil beasts and lazy gluttons.” Not flattering, but the Cretan prophet speaks what is common knowledge. Apparently, the Cretans have a widespread reputation for being a pretty disreputable and disgusting lot. It seems to be well-known throughout the region that Cretans were no-goods. Naturally they were not the stuff of saints. They were under no illusion that they were ‘good.’

Paul has clear instructions to Titus for how to disciple the Cretans and to make them fit for heaven: “reprove them severely.” The diagnosis is clear and so the prescription for treating liars, evil beasts and lazy gluttons is to reprove them severely. Be forceful and strict and direct and leave no room for them reverting back to their former lifestyles. The Cretans are habitual sinners and they must have the sin and the lies and the evil driven out of them by severe rebuke.

APPLICATIONS AND LESSONS

FIRST: In our society, which tends to applaud the lowest performers and appears to accommodate and tolerate lawlessness and criminal acts, the tendency can be to make allowances for people because of their backgrounds and to allow people to continue to live as lazy gluttons and liars and to hope that they will gradually be rehabilitated by gentle urgings. This is not what happens here in this letter to Titus because the gospel of Jesus Christ requires that all disciples of Jesus be holy. Paul would have Titus reprove the Cretans severely to make them holy.

In other words, no disciple gets a pass. You will be holy, regardless of where you came from, and the sooner the better. The gospel makes no allowances for ongoing sin (Hebrews 10:26-27). All disciples are to hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6). “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:16; Leviticus 11:44; 19:2). We know that without sanctification, we will not see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). So, all disciples are to be holy and to pursue sanctification. The true disciple of Jesus must walk (behave) as Jesus walked (1 John 2:6). Notice that none of these verses makes any allowance or exception based on background or based on some personal challenges. Again, all disciples are to be holy, and so you and I are to be holy. We do not get a pass. If your background was immoral and all your role models were disreputable, you do not, for that reason, get a pass. You, too, shall be holy, for all disciples of Jesus are to be holy.

SECOND: The means of sanctification varies according to the needs of the particular disciple, but the goal of sanctification does not vary. What I mean by that is that for some, all that is needed is a gentle rebuke and a few encouraging reminders. But for most, because of our fallen state and because we have come from a lawless and godless past and due to our sinful habits and our ignorance of holiness, the means of sanctification will be more stringent and direct. Severe reproof, strict accountability, strong words and strident demands will be required to correct the course of many. Therefore, we should accept severe reproof as the necessary corrective from someone who loves us too much to leave us where we are. This is so because the goal for each disciple is the same: we are to walk as Jesus walked (1 John 2:6). In this case, the end justifies the means.

THIRD: It is incumbent upon every disciple to identify those specific areas of weakness and vulnerability and sin, and then to devise a defense against an attack in those areas of weakness, so that you will not succumb to “the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13).” How will you personally purify yourself with hyssop (Psalm 51:7) so that you will be clean?

This is a very practical strategy that seeks to identify areas of habitual, in-grained sin patterns and to expose them and to cut them off at the roots. Where has your life and your poor moral choices sown the seeds of potential sin, of a possible shipwreck? Here the disciple needs to look into their past and into the sins of their parents, particularly the sins of their father, and see where the disciple needs to be “reproved severely.”

Let me illustrate this with the example of my own life. Here I will be speaking to men to show how this principle might work. Some of the sins of my earthly father were these: pornography, adultery, anger, greed and pride. The Bible teaches that these sins will naturally be passed down to the sons to the third and fourth generation (Exodus 34:7), so these sins will almost automatically fall to me as my father’s son. In addition to inheriting my father’s sins and moral weakness, I, too, have made many poor choices and have fed and nurtured various sins by those choices. Lust, pornography, greed, coveting, pride and anger have marked a large time in my adult life and, even though I have come to faith in Christ and hunger and thirst for righteousness, these sins and habits have left their mark and have cut their channels.

THE PRINCIPLE, then, is for the disciple to find the sin tendencies and then systematically and intentionally starve and weaken and cut the roots out from underneath these sins so that they have no power in my life and will not lead to shipwreck. The sin must be attacked and the wickedness and iniquity must be rooted out. In Colossians 3:5 Paul says, “PUT TO DEATH, THEREFORE, WHATEVER IS IN THE EARTH OF YOUR MEMBER – immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed, which amounts to idolatry.” The disciple must be in the process of being reproved severely in areas of sin so that he or she will vanquish sin.

Do you have a plan for intentionally reproving yourself severely?

SDG       rmb       12/13/2018

“Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do: Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

• Paul in Philippians 3:13-14

Throughout the New Testament we see that the Apostle Paul is presented as the model Christian. Not only is his life implicitly worthy of imitating, but there are also places where Paul explicitly calls his people to imitate his example. “Brethren, join in following my example” he says in Philippians 3:17. While he acknowledges that he has not yet attained full maturity (“I do not regard myself . . .”), his passion for the gospel mission is intense and focused. What was Paul’s secret? What set him apart from others who also aspired to make an impact for Christ?

A ONE-THING MAN

While there are certainly several factors that could be named to answer that question, perhaps the strongest of Paul’s characteristics was that he was a “ONE-THING MAN.” When Paul found something or someone who captured his soul, he poured all his resources into that channel and went after that with all his might, holding nothing in reserve. When he was a Pharisee, he went after his religious pursuits with unrivaled zeal. That was his one thing, and he was utterly committed to that life. Nothing was more important to Paul than being a passionate Pharisee. Nothing, that is, until the day he met Jesus Christ on the Damascus road. In an instant, his world was demolished by the appearance of the risen Christ, and never again would Paul pursue religion. Paul remained a ONE-THING MAN, but now he had a new “one-thing” to pursue. Now his world was consumed with the pursuit of Christ; to know Him, to obey Him, to pour body and soul into accomplishing the mission that Christ had given him.

APPLICATION

Since Paul is our example, and Paul is a one-thing man, I must ask myself the question, “Am I a one-thing man?” And if I am a one-thing man, what is the one thing that is consuming me and for which I will gladly give up all?

It is obvious that God would have us all be one-thing disciples. If that is the case, the challenge is to try to understand how to integrate the various activities of life into the mindset of the one-thing disciple. For example, how do I manifest the attitude of a one-thing man in a mundane and often-frustrating job? How do I discipline my children as a one-thing man?

Part of my task is to identify my unique mission and then focus on accomplishing that mission. Also, however, I need to do that with grace such that I am a winsome witness for the Lord as I am pressing toward the goal for the prize.

I desire to be a one-thing man like Paul. Have I effectively forsaken all for the sake of the gospel? Would those who know me best agree that I am a ONE-THING MAN?

Let’s pour all that we have into the one channel holding nothing back so that we might win the prize.

SDG      rmb      11/29/2018

This rather long article is the second in a series of articles I began back in June encouraging us to proclaim Christ to a world that ignores Him.

The primary task of the disciple of Jesus Christ is to proclaim Him and His salvation to the entire world. As followers of Jesus, we are to manifest His saving power by living holy lives and, from that essential foundation, we are to “tell of His glory among the nations” (Psalm 96:3) so that men and women everywhere will worship Him both now and for all of eternity.

The purpose of this series of articles/studies is to examine the various pictures of proclamation presented to us in the Bible and develop those into practical ways to proclaim Christ to a world that is blind to His glory, deaf to His voice and indifferent to the work that He has accomplished by His death on Calvary’s cross. I hope that these articles will equip disciples of Jesus to think through how they can become bolder proclaimers of the Lord.

Part 2 – The Watchman (Ezekiel 33:1-20)

Ezekiel 33:1-6. The sword is coming and the trumpet must be blown.

In Ezekiel 33 the prophet tells of the task of the watchman, and it is here that we will encounter the second picture of what it means for the disciple of Jesus Christ to proclaim Him. As we carefully read through this passage (33:1-20), we will see that, as the watchman is charged to warn of approaching disaster and urge the people to flee to safety, so the disciple of Jesus is to warn men and women of the coming judgment and is to urge them to flee to Christ.

As the passage opens, the LORD is bringing a sword upon the land (33:2). The “sword” represents a genuine threat of death and in this verse (33:2) it seems to be threatening the entire land. More ominous than that is the fact that the LORD Himself is the one who is bringing the sword upon the land. In the Bible, the LORD will bring a threat of disaster (“sword”) upon a people for punishment or for testing. The sword that comes for testing comes upon those who are obedient to God and who are walking with the LORD, whereas the sword that comes to punish and to bring judgment comes upon the wicked and the disobedient. This is clearly a sword that is coming for judgment and punishment. So a sword from the LORD is coming to bring judgment upon this people and the people, who seem to have anticipated this coming sword, appoint a man to act as “watchman” to warn of the sword when it comes so that the people can escape.

It should also be noted that, when the watchman sees the sword approaching, then he is obligated to blow the trumpet loudly so that the people can be warned. To warn the people is the watchman’s sworn and solemn responsibility. If the watchman fails to blow the trumpet and to warn the people, then the people will surely die by the sword, but the LORD will require the life of the watchman because he did not blow the trumpet (33:6).

Let’s take a moment at this point (Ezekiel 33:6) to make sure we are all on the same page so that we can see how this story of the watchman and the sword is actually a very clear picture of the disciple of Jesus and his or her obligation to tell the good news. “The sword coming upon the land” is the fast-approaching day of judgment, the day of the Lord, when God through Jesus Christ will judge all mankind for their deeds. The “trumpet” is the gospel of Jesus Christ, which warns the people of their sin and of the coming judgment, but also declares to the people the way of escape through repentance from sin and faith in Jesus. The “watchman” is the disciple of Jesus Christ, the one who has been saved from the judgment and who has been entrusted with the gospel message and who has been called by the Lord Jesus to be His witness (Acts 1:8). The watchman knows that the sword is certainly coming upon the land and he knows that the gospel message of salvation must be proclaimed (Romans 1:16; 10:14-15), so he knows that he must blow the trumpet if any of the people are going to avoid the sword.

Ezekiel 33:7-9. The watchman is appointed to warn the wicked

This episode continues with the LORD declaring to His messenger that he has been appointed as a watchman. The role has now moved from the theoretical to the concrete, from the general to the personal. The watchman has been appointed by the LORD and has been given a message from the mouth of the LORD to warn the people of the coming judgment. He is obligated to tell the wicked man to turn from his ways (33:9) and if the wicked man does not heed the warning and “turn from his way,” he will die in his iniquity (33:8, 9).

Note that the message from the LORD to the wicked man is both urgent and dire: “O wicked man, you will surely die!” (33:8), and the LORD has entrusted that urgent message to the watchman to communicate to the people. The watchman has been specifically and personally chosen to carry the message and the LORD is expecting him to proclaim the message to all the people.

Again, we will pause briefly to review and to consider the progress of the passage and see how it reflects the gospel and the disciple’s task of proclaiming the salvation of the Lord Jesus. First, then, it must be understood that all those who have been called to faith in Christ have been called as watchmen. The “watchman” in 33:7, then, is none other than every believer. It is also obvious that “the message from the LORD’s mouth (33:7)” is the gospel of salvation, which includes a very severe warning of coming and eternal judgment (33:7b). The believer has been appointed as a watchman to warn the wicked man to turn from his way (33:8). Unless the wicked man hears the message of warning and turns from his way, he will die in his iniquity.

Ezekiel 33:10-20. “How then can we survive?”

It is hard to not go verse-by-verse through the passage, since the verses are so packed with meaning and they so clearly foreshadow the gospel message and the gospel call.

In 33:10, the watchman’s hearers have understood and believed the warning from the watchman’s mouth, and they make the correct response: “Our sins and our transgressions are upon us (‘we know ourselves to be guilty sinners’) and we are rotting away in them (‘our sins condemn us and we know that the LORD’s wrath rests on us’); how then can we survive (‘what must we do to be saved?’ Acts 2:37; 16:30; etc.)?” The watchman’s warning has brought conviction and the hearers have cried out for mercy. Does the LORD have a ready answer for them?

Indeed, He does! “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways!” (33:11) Through His appointed watchman the LORD calls to the wicked to turn from his way and live. And this is exactly the same message that the New Testament watchman also proclaims: “Repent!” But now the New Testament watchman proclaims repentance and also calls the sinner to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and he will be saved.

The passage goes on to say that no human righteousness is righteous enough, because one single sin will ruin all accumulated righteousness and in that sin the person will die. But also, no sin or even an accumulation of sin is enough to condemn a man or a woman the day that they repent of their sin, turn from their wicked ways and put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. No human righteousness is good enough to be accepted by God, but no human sin is wicked enough to withstand the atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ when a person confesses faith in Him.

Throughout the Scripture there have been these same great themes and these urgent messages: The “sword” of the LORD’s judgment is certainly coming one day (Where will you hide to find refuge from that sword?) and the LORD has appointed His people to proclaim the news of salvation; but the huge, over-arching question of the Scriptures is: “How can the wicked survive?” Who can stand before a holy God on the day of judgment? What defense can any person offer? How can anyone be counted righteous before this holy God? The good news that every Watchman has to proclaim is that now we have the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and we know that, through faith in Him, we can be forgiven and reconciled to God.

What is distinct about the role of “the Watchman?” Each different role in which we “proclaim Christ to a deaf world” is somewhat distinct from the others. We have talked about “the Sower” whose role is to scatter abundant seed extravagantly and somewhat indiscriminately in the expectation that some will find good soil to bear much fruit. The Watchman is one whose ministry and preaching lean heavily toward a warning of approaching judgment. The Watchman brings an urgent message of warning. The unique role of the Watchman is the emphasis on imminent judgment and the need to flee from the wrath. This is a “John the Baptist” type of person, more passionate about rescue from hell and less concerned about being winsome. “Flee to safety, even if you despise and loathe my presence. Disregard me, but please pay heed to my message!” When the building is on fire, you don’t care about the looks of the fireman or the sound of his voice. Just so the main task of the Watchman is to announce with trumpet sound and crystal clarity the approach of the sword.

APPLICATION OF THE WATCHMAN:

How do we take these ideas of being a Watchman who warns and convert them into practical action steps for the believer to implement?

First, there must be a determined boldness and a settled courage. The Watchman must decide that he (or she) is going to warn of the coming sword of judgment regardless of the consequences. The Watchman has decided to speak and has thought about what they will say. They have also decided that they will not shrink back or shy away from declaring the truth of the coming judgment. The hearer must know about their peril and about the need to escape, and the Watchman is going to communicate that warning. This resolve and determination is found probably alone or with a strong and courageous partner who will blow the trumpet with you. However your task is done, you must decide that you will not shrink back.

Second, I would suggest a planned approach to the warning task complete with knowing the Scriptures that you will proclaim and how you will proceed to the need for a warning.

Then begin and don’t turn back.

Have those you are trying to evangelize heard that there is a terrifying judgment that is coming on every person who does not know Jesus? Do your hearers know that if they delay and are taken away suddenly by death, there will be no end to their misery and their punishment? Have they heard from your lips not only the blessings of forgiveness that accrue to all those who believe in Jesus, but also the misery and unceasing agony that awaits all those who do not place their faith in Christ?

For those who follow Jesus, there is the sobering responsibility to be a watchman for Jesus. “Knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men (2 Corinthians 5:11).” As we proclaim Christ to an increasingly deaf world, we must make sure that we are watchmen who warn of the fast-approaching sword of God’s judgment.

SDG       rmb       11/18/2018

Righteousness is required if one is ever to see God and is ever to enter into heaven. Righteousness is required if there is ever to be peace between you and God. The Lord demands that those who dwell with Him possess an inviolate righteousness. Saul the Pharisee firmly believed this to be the case. As he climbed his way up the ladder of religious success, Saul the Pharisee knew that a holy God required that those who would approach His throne must be righteous. For this reason, Saul strove with his entire strength and energy to obey every jot and tittle of the Law of the Jews. Saul was determined to earn his place in God’s kingdom. He was determined to earn his righteousness. Didn’t the Law promise that those who worked the hardest would earn God’s favor? Thus, Saul the zealous Pharisee would obtain his righteousness before the Holy One by his works of the Law. He would be acceptable to God through earned, man-made righteousness.

Then one day Saul met Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). There was blinding, blazing glory all around him that roared, “RIGHTEOUSNESS!” The glory and holiness and overwhelming presence of the righteousness of the risen Jesus Christ drove Saul face down into the dirt. Now here was a righteousness that was worthy of the name. There was nothing artificial or man-made or earthly about this. Saul, soon to be Paul, felt the palpable presence of divine, inviolate, inherent, glorious, limitless righteousness, and the cheap man-made counterfeit that he had so vigorously pursued was consumed in an instant. Now Paul understood this powerful gospel truth: There are two kinds of righteousness.

“. . . I count all things but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.” – Paul in Philippians 3:8-9

Of all people, Paul may have been able to build the most convincing case for meriting his own righteousness. He had all the credentials and he had done all the works. He was as zealous for the Law as a man could be. According to the Jewish religion, he had, indeed, earned his righteousness. So, Paul did have a righteousness, but it was a righteousness of his own derived from the Law. It was awarded by men to men on the basis of man’s scale of righteousness. While this might impress some people and gain the admiration of some, this righteousness had no value in heaven; had no power to deal with sin; could not change a person’s heart and could not deliver the “blameless one” from the full and terrifying fury of the holy wrath of the Lord God Almighty. This kind of righteousness is “rubbish / dung” in the sight of the living God (consider Isaiah 64:6).

Is this the righteousness that you possess? Knowing that the Lord requires righteousness from those who would approach His throne, have you tried to earn your way to righteousness? Are you trusting that your church attendance or your baptism or your giving or your mission work or your witnessing or your Bible reading or your token attempts to “be good” will earn you God’s favor and will satisfy His holy demands? Consider carefully if yours is a works righteousness. Do you rely on this kind of righteousness? Do you put confidence in the flesh and what the flesh has been able to achieve? You need to know that this kind of righteousness is a stench in the Lord’s nostrils and appears to Him as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). You are in serious trouble if this is your kind of righteousness.

The righteousness that we require is one that will meet the holy demands of the Holy One, a righteousness that fulfills the requirements of the Law and merits the approval and the acceptance of the Lord. This kind of righteousness is available from only one source: it must be received by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a righteousness of God since it comes from God. It is imputed, not earned, when anyone places their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus.

So, let me ask you again: Which kind of righteousness do you possess?

SDG       rmb       11/15/2018

The Bible is a book that is full of heroes of the faith. As we turn the pages of Old Testament and New we find stories of men and women who placed their faith in the LORD and who chose to act on the basis of that faith. And we also see that the LORD not only gives genuine faith, but He also tests genuine faith. This is because faith can be real and genuine and received from the living God, but faith is only proven (“justified” – James 2:21, 24) and revealed when it is tested. It is the test that displays the presence or absence of faith. So the LORD brings tests into the lives of His people so that their saving faith can be demonstrated, both to themselves and to the watching world so that God is most glorified.

Thus in Daniel chapter 3, we see the three Hebrew men who have faith in the Most High God facing the test of the furnace of blazing fire. Before Nebuchadnezzar builds his golden image, and before he stokes his furnace of blazing fire, and before he makes his idolatrous decree, and before all the music plays on all the instruments, these three “rulers of the provinces,” Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, have a solid faith in the one true and living God of the Hebrews. At least we strongly suspect that this is so based on their prayer life (chapter 2) and their friendship with Daniel, but the truth of their faith is largely hidden, only suspected, but not tested and proven.

How is the genuineness of their faith to be revealed? The LORD, the Most High God, ordains a golden image and a furnace of blazing fire so that the faith of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego can be boldly displayed and so that the LORD can display His power and His glory as He personally goes into the furnace with His people to deliver them from Nebuchadnezzar’s hand. The furnace revealed the faith. Through the furnace of testing, the faith that was hidden is revealed in blazing brilliance.

But this is the case throughout the Bible. Heroes emerge from the furnace of testing. Trials and tests reveal true faith and prove that what is professed is actually possessed. Abraham believed God (Genesis 15:6), but his faith is proven in the test of Genesis 22. Job is declared righteous and blameless (Job 1, 2), so we know that Job has saving faith, but the LORD ordains a long and difficult time in “the furnace” to prove that Job’s faith is not in word only, but that he possesses the genuine article of a faith that cannot be shaken. In the end, Job comes forth as refined gold (23:10). The heroes of the faith endured the furnace of testing: Joseph, Moses, David, Elijah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Paul, Peter. Our Lord Jesus Christ, even the Lord of glory, “the author and perfecter of faith,” suffered more than any man, yet His glory was never diminished and He perfectly endured the furnaces that the Father had ordained for Him. The point is that the LORD ordains furnaces in the lives of His people to reveal genuine faith and to display God’s worth and glory.

APPLICATION:

When we understand this principle, then we are prepared to endure and even welcome the furnaces that the LORD places in our lives. If I am to walk as Jesus walked (1 John 2:6) and if I am to follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:21-24), then I am to expect that my faith will be tested. I will not ever be mentioned in the Bible, but if I am to imitate the faith of the great cloud of witnesses, and if I am not to shrink back, and if I am to prove the infinite worth of Jesus Christ, then I must endure the trials and shine forth as gold.

The trials (“furnaces”) will take varied forms, but we are to endure the trials until the LORD decides to deliver us. This is the subject of a future blog, but there is often a temptation to take the exit of expedience rather than enduring the furnace until the LORD has ordained its end. Divorce is easier than persevering in a difficult marriage. A difficult boss or a miserable job can be relieved if you quit, but that is not the path of heroes of the faith. The LORD ordains our tests and it is the LORD who determines their end, because He is the one who knows when deliverance is appropriate. Our flesh loathes physical suffering, but we are putting the flesh to death (Colossians 3:5, etc.) and are enduring the trial so that our spirit can be strengthened. Therefore, it is not automatic that even physical suffering is to be relived.

In fact, it could be said that the existence of furnaces in our life gives evidence to the hand of God in our life. We desire to be conformed to Christ and God uses furnaces as shaping mechanisms to bring that about. If we lack furnaces, does it mean that we are illegitimate children (Hebrews 12:8)? As we approach maturity, we as believers embrace trials and tests as demonstrations of God’s love, for He has personally designed and has now personally brought into our life a furnace to drive away the dross of sin. Is it not appropriate to rejoice when the God who spoke the universe into existence and who made man out of the dust of the ground personally touches and directs our life?

The principle, then, is that the believer is to embrace the trials the LORD brings into his/her life because these are the way that God reveals and makes visible genuine faith.

SDG     rmb     10/10/2018

 

The first four verses of Acts 8 present to us a profound change that takes place in the history of the church. We will examine this passage and see that at this point in the history of the church, the church fully entered the gospel age and became “the church militant.” By that I mean that the church was no longer under the illusion that its mission would be accomplished quickly or be accomplished without great cost. At this point in the narrative, the church enters the context of “the gospel age,” and it is still in that context today and the church will remain in that context until the return of her Lord and Savior.

What defines this new context? That is, what do we see in this passage at the beginning of Acts 8 that describes the context of the gospel age? There are three things that are obvious from the text that define the church in the gospel age:

1. The church will be persecuted in the world, and the more faithful the church is to her mission in the world, the more she will be persecuted by the world.
2. The church will be scattered among the nations so that the church can win the nations to Christ and can declare God’s glory throughout the earth.
3. The church is to preach the word of the gospel and the word of the Lord wherever the church goes. Individually and collectively the church is to preach Christ and to proclaim the word of the Lord.

What makes this particular passage so significant is that it inaugurates the scattering and the perpetual persecution of the church. Up to this point in Acts, the church has enjoyed relative peace, although the storm clouds of opposition have been gathering and the pressure against the church has been increasing. Now, however, with the martyrdom of Stephen and the wholesale attack against the church in Jerusalem, the church’s relationship with the world has been forever shattered. The church has been called to carry out the mission which Christ gave her, and that mission draws hostility from the world.

From this point on until Christ returns, there will be persecution against the church. “And on that day a great persecution BEGAN against the church . . .” The persecution will not be of the same nature in all parts of the world and it will not be of the same intensity all the time. There may be times of apparent peace, but this is just a temporary illusion and not a cease-fire. Wherever the gospel is boldly preached and wherever the church is fervent about the mission of proclaiming the gospel, the enemy will attempt to bring persecution on the church. This is the case today in many places in the world. Wherever the gospel is making inroads into territory held by Satan, there the church will experience heat and persecution. It cannot be otherwise, for Satan hates the gospel and will oppose it and the church is compelled by her Lord to tell the good news. So the church will be persecuted in the gospel age.

From this point on until Christ returns, the church will be scattered. “. . . and they were all scattered throughout the regions.” In the gospel age, the church will be continually scattered so that the aroma of Christ (2 Cor. 2:14-17) continues to spread farther and farther and into more and more enemy territory. The enemy attempts to scatter the church so that our impact will be dissipated, but the Lord allows this scattering because, like stomping on a kerosene fire, the more you attempt to stomp it out the more its flames are scattered. The church scatters so that more tongues and tribes and people and nations can be reached. Missionaries scatter to foreign lands. Churches divide and go get planted somewhere else. Tentmakers scatter into the marketplace to quietly proclaim the world to those who will listen. And so it goes and so it will go until the return of Jesus. So the church will be scattered in the gospel age.

From this point on until Christ returns, the church will preach the word and proclaim Christ to as many as will listen (Acts 8:4-5). This is the primary task of the Lord’s people during the church age. Her Lord has given her a mission, to preach good news to all the nations, and the church is obligated and compelled to carry out that mission no matter the cost or the difficulty. Whatever else the church is doing is secondary to accomplishing this task. From this point on it became clear that preaching could be costly and that the world would be hostile to faithful and bold preaching, but it was also clear that preaching was not optional. The church was scattered so that they could preach and they were persecuted so that they could proclaim. This means that, in the gospel age the church will proclaim Christ.

APPLICATIONS:

• Are you/we being persecuted? If not, are we sure that our presence and our message are clear enough and Christ-centered enough to draw the enemy’s fire? Am I willing to accept persecution and isolation for being identified with Jesus? Do I shrink back (Hebrews 10:39) or do I allow the Holy Spirit to lead my action?
• Am I willing to be scattered for the sake of the gospel? That is, will I go into my work/job as an individual missionary for Christ? Am I willing to go into a difficult or different context in order to be scattered as a messenger? Have I considered radical relocation for the sake of the gospel?
• Do I vigorously proclaim the word of the Lord and the word of the gospel? Do I try to proclaim everywhere I am? Do I make the most of the time and the circumstances to preach the Word? Am I intentional in this regard? That is, do I consider how I can be faithful in this call of my Lord to preach the word and to make disciples?

In conclusion, these four verses relate a major transition in the life of the church. The church will never be the same again. From now on, the church will continue on her mission with the world’s comforts and safety behind and the cross of Christ before me, accepting persecution and opposition as being the price for preaching the word of the King.

SDG        rmb         7/5/2018

Psalm 32 is one of the Bible’s great passages on the heaviness of sin and on the joy and relief of forgiveness. David begins the psalm with shouts of joy: “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity!” David then concludes the psalm with another outburst of praise: “Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones, and shout for joy all you who are upright in heart!” The psalm is about the blessing of forgiveness.

But what sin is it that David has in mind? We can speculate that David is celebrating his forgiveness from his sin with Bathsheba and with the murder of Uriah. While those may very well be the sins that David has in mind, I think it is significant that David does not mention any particular sin. Notice that all the references to sin in the psalm are general references. There is no specific sin identified. Why is this significant? It is significant because it allows the psalm to apply to all sinners. If the psalm mentioned adultery or murder, then the covetous man or the thief could find no joy in the psalm, because the sins mentioned would not apply to him. There would be no sense of conviction for the idolater or the liar, because the sin identified was not their sin. But there is intentionally no sin identified in the psalm and thus the psalm applies to all sins.

Because of the way that Psalm 32 is written it can apply to any sin. Do you have any transgression that needs to be forgiven, or do you have any sin that needs to be covered? In Psalm 32 you will find that even your sin can be forgiven.

All sin causes you to waste away as with the fever heat of summer. All transgression and iniquity bring the LORD’s hand of heaviness and guilt pressing down upon you. This is the case no matter the sin or transgression. But if you will acknowledge your sin and if your iniquity you will not hide, then no matter what the sin is the LORD will remove the guilt of your sin.

This is the beauty of the Scripture and this is evidence of divine authorship because the Bible brings conviction, no matter the sin and it brings the hope of forgiveness, no matter the sin that is plaguing a person.

Because no sin is specified, all sins are included.

SDG       rmb       6/27/2018

Read Psalm 32 and we realize that 1) in this text the gospel is clearly proclaimed, for David writes of forgiveness and imputation of sin and righteousness and confession and repentance, and we realize that 2) this psalm and countless other passages in the Old Testament require the death of Jesus on the cross.

As we read the Old Testament and consider the writings of these godly men, it is apparent from the way that they wrote that Old Testament saints knew that they were righteous before the LORD and that the LORD loved them and defended them and forgave them of their sins, but they did not, they could not understand how this could be. By that I mean that they sensed a deep intimacy with the LORD and they enjoyed a close and personal relationship with Him without being able to explain how that intimate relationship had come to be. They could not explain how God forgave them of their transgressions when He did not forgive others. The OT saints could not articulate any reason why they sensed that they were righteous before the Holy One when at the same time they knew of their own sins and iniquities. There must have been at least some tension within the mind of the OT saints as they knew of the evil thoughts and sinful words and acts they had done, while unshakably sensing an acceptance and an intimacy with YHWH. And what is remarkable is that this tension never seems to have created any doubt in the mind of the OT saint. The fact that they could not explain or defend their sense of righteousness before the LORD does not lead to any doubt about that righteousness, even when the saint fell into great sin (David) or was fiercely attacked by his closest acquaintances because of their “unjustified” claim of righteousness (Job). David falls into great sin and there are severe consequences from the LORD for his sins of adultery and murder (2 Samuel 12), but never is there even a hint that David has lost his relationship with the LORD or that the LORD has rejected David. The LORD disciplines those He loves, but He never releases or abandons those He loves. In the example of Job, Job insists on his righteousness even under fierce accusation and rebuke from his three friends. Job cannot explain why he is righteous when he and his three friends all know that all men are sinners, but Job will not let go of his absolute conviction that he is righteous before the LORD and that the LORD has fully accepted him. Taunt, ridicule and character assassination from his friends will not persuade him that he is unrighteous and that now he needs to confess his sin and work his way back to a right standing with God. Job knows that the LORD loves him and nothing will change his mind.

Another observation is that no Old Testament saint ever appeals to the Law for his justification. The saint does not point to their performance of the Law to justify their right standing before God. The reason for this is evident: The Law condemns and only a fool would appeal to the instrument of condemnation for their acquittal. It is interesting that the Pharisees appealed to their law-keeping as the reason for their right standing before God.

The points I am trying to make are these two: 1) the Old Testament saints were completely convinced of their right standing before God and were at the same time aware of their own personal sins and transgressions and were nevertehless confident that God was going to reveal a way that their justification was accomplished; and 2) the fact that God justified the ungodly (Romans 4:5; 5:6) required the death of the sinless Son of God on the cross to provide the necessary atonement for sin. That is, the cross of Christ is necessary if God is going to ever forgive even one sin of one Old Testament saint.

So when David say, “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered; How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity,” we know that the LORD is going to send Jesus Christ to pay for those sins. When David confesses his sin to Nathan after Nathan has just told him of his heinous sins, his subsequent forgiveness (2 Samuel 12:13) requires the death of the Lord Jesus. When Job claims righteousness and also acknowledges his own sin, the sacrifice of the Son of God is required and thus guaranteed. Every mention of forgiveness in the Old Testament requires the death of Jesus Christ. If there is any mention of any person being forgiven or any person being righteous or good, be assured that these declarations require the death of Jesus.

The salvation of every Old Testament saint requires the agonies and the punishment of Calvary. “Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22) and there is only one pure and sinless blood that will be accepted as atonement for sin, and that is the blood of the Lord Jesus.

SDG       rmb       6/24/2018

The primary task of the disciple of Jesus Christ is to proclaim Him and His salvation to the entire world. As followers of Jesus, we are to manifest His saving power by living holy lives and, from that essential foundation, we are to tell of His glory so that men and women everywhere will worship Him both now and for all of eternity.

The purpose of this series of articles/studies is to examine the various pictures of proclamation presented to us by the New Testament and develop those into practical ways to proclaim Christ to a world that is blind to His glory, deaf to His voice and indifferent to the work that He has accomplished by His death of Calvary’s cross. I hope that these articles will equip disciples of Jesus to think through how they can become bolder proclaimers of the Lord.

Part 1 – The Sower (Matthew 13:3)

In Matthew 13, the Lord Jesus tells a series of parables which describe different aspects of the kingdom of heaven, and He starts out by telling His disciples a parable about a sower of seed. “Behold, the sower went out to sow.” The parable goes on to tell of different kinds of soil into which the seed fell and of the different results that the seed produced, but for our purposes we are going to focus our attention on the sower of the seed.

Notice that the sower is defined by what he does. No other characteristic of the person is mentioned in the parable, other than the fact that the person sows seed. This defines the sower. The sower sows seed. Apart from this task, the sower has no definition. Although this is an obvious fact, it is far from trivial, especially when we realize that we are the sower. What I am suggesting is that the disciple of Jesus Christ is a sower of the seed. We are defined by the task of sowing the seed. I believe Jesus intends for us to understand that His disciples are the sowers. (But what is the seed we are to sow? See below.)

Now, if the Lord Jesus Christ intends for me to be a sower, then sowing of seed immediately becomes a high priority activity for me and other activities will receive less time and attention. I will commit to learning all I can about sowing and I will make it my aim to be the most effective sower of seed that I can possibly be.

Another fact may be obvious but needs to be stated at this point: The disciple of Jesus Christ is not sowing physical seeds, but rather is sowing spiritual seeds. In fact, if I am to be an effective sower, it is critically important for me to understand what the seed is. Here the Bible is very clear: “The seed is the word of God (Luke 8:11).” Now, while we know that the whole word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12), a thoughtful reading of this parable of the sower in Matthew, Mark or Luke makes it clear that the “word of God” that our Lord has in mind in this context is the gospel. So, before we go on to consider how to put this into action and into practice, let’s be sure we have the completed idea in mind:

Every disciple of Jesus Christ has been given the task of sowing the gospel and it is incumbent on every disciple to make it their aim to be the most effective sower they can be.

Since I am pre-occupied with the task of sowing, I must think about how I am to sow.

How do I sow?

I sow daily. Part of my daily activity is sowing. I look for opportunities to sow and, when there are none presented, I may even create those opportunities. Sowing is a daily routine. It is part of my daily life.

I sow persistently. I scatter seed whether it is good weather or bad weather. I scatter seed even if I do not think that the seed will sprout. I persist until I see a harvest.

I sow consistently. I do not sow for a brief season and then take a break or give up or slow down. Rather, I sow day in and day out, steadily scattering the seed on the soil anticipating a crop and a harvest.

NOTE: The GOAL of my sowing is not to empty my sack of seeds. I am not merely going through the motions just to accomplish a task or check off a box. Just as the purpose of the one who literally sows seed is to reap a harvest, so I sow seed with the objective of reaping a harvest of souls for the Lord Jesus. The goal of sowing is not to fill the ground with seed but is to reap a harvest. The goal is a harvest, but one of the means to reaping a harvest is to sow the seed.

I sow generously. One of the surest ways to reap a small harvest is to sow little seed. (2 Corinthians 9:6) Therefore, since I want a large harvest and since the seed can be endlessly replenished, I sow the seed generously.

I sow broadly. Since in the parable in the gospels the sower throws seed everywhere, not knowing which seed will find good soil and which won’t, I will likewise scatter seed everywhere and trust that the Lord will direct the seed to the good soil. This suggests that, while sowing the seed is definitely an evangelistic strategy, it is not strategic. By that I mean that sowing is large numbers, but low impact. The tactic throws out many offers but expects limited results. It is not relational but is informational. It is random messages seeking a few responses or a few seeking additional information.

I sow patiently. The seed takes time to germinate and to begin to grow and to reach maturity. These things are not in my control, so I must wait patiently for the seed to bear fruit.

I sow hopefully. I believe that the Lord will take some of my seed and use it for bringing souls to salvation.

Having explored what the seed is (generally, the word of God; specifically, the gospel of salvation) and how we are to go about “sowing the seed,” it would be good to spend just a little time suggesting some practical examples of sowing the seed. Remembering the nature of sowing, that sowing is large numbers with low impact and that It is not relational but is informational, two particular methods of sowing occur to me.

• Saturating a geographic area around a church with gospel tracts; and
• Going door-to-door in the geographic area around a church so that the populace is made aware of the church and is made aware of what the church does and believes. The point is to introduce the Lord Jesus by introducing the church. The purpose is to make much of Jesus Christ, but the most visible and most common means of doing that is through the local church.
• Obviously you could combine 1) and 2)

The gospel tracts and the conversations going door-to-door should focus on the person of Jesus Christ and should introduce people to the gospel. Consistently sowing these things will hopefully bring some seed to the point where it sprouts.

SDG       rmb       6/22/2018