As I was spending time with the Lord on Saturday morning, I had a growing awareness of all my areas of weakness and dependence, of all the ways that failure threatens my life. I think about my marriage and about parenting, about my job and my finances, about relationships and about witnessing for the Lord Jesus Christ. On a larger scale I think about my purpose and about eternity, about sin and evil and death. I think about all these areas of my life where stumbling and failure are ever-present risks, and I realize how much I depend on the Lord every day.

When these threats begin to overwhelm me, my tendency is to seek fleshly ways to manage these risks. One way to manage risk is to limit activity and to limit involvement, the strategy of managing risk by retreat. While there is some initial appeal to this idea, this option is not open to the believer. The believer is commanded to be courageous and act (1 Chronicles 28:20) and is forbidden from shrinking back (Hebrews 10:39). The author of Hebrews declares that “we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.” So I cannot shrink back or retreat or withdraw or disengage because I want safety or simplicity, but instead I must choose to act boldly and without fear on the basis of my trust in the Lord (Psalm 40:4; 84:5, 12). Therefore the believer takes obedient action and presses forward toward the goal, aware of the risks and the challenges and the dangers, aware of the possibility of failure and even the possibility of death, but infinitely more overwhelmingly aware that the Lord is with him as a dread champion (Jeremiah 20:11) and that if God is for him, who can be against him (Romans 8:31-39). Other verses to consider are Psalm 46:1-2; 91 (all); 142:3; 143:3-4.

When the challenges of life press down hard and the fears of failure seem to overwhelm, then continue to press into Jesus Christ and remember that He will never leave you or forsake you, and that it is our calling to be dependent on the Lord, weak in ourselves and faithful in the face of threats, so that God receives the glory when He displays His power.  SDG rmb 12/6/15

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” This is how the author of Hebrews describes faith at the beginning of the eleventh chapter. I wanted to take just a few moments to think about that some more: “What is faith?” Can we describe this a little more concretely, so that we can distinguish a false faith from the true?

A good definition of faith would be “an initial decisive act of trust and belief in Jesus Christ AND a continuing attitude of trust evidenced in action.” Both the initial act and the continuing action are necessary to provide evidence of faith. Marriage would be a good analogy of this faith. On your wedding day you took the “initial decisive act” when you said “I do,” but you continue in the marriage by the ongoing actions of a married person. So there is a one-time unrepeatable decisive act followed by many actions based on that initial act.

Another definition of faith would be “a wholesale surrender and an embracing of Christ that is expressed in actions requiring faith.” The Bible describes the initial wholesale surrender as “being united with Christ” or as “a baptism into Christ.” This latter phrase is not referring to water baptism, but is talking about a spiritual coming together as one.

Faith involves the whole person, so it is not just an agreement to intellectual or doctrinal facts (although you must agree with certain foundational truths). It is not just an emotional response to a compelling speaker (although you may be emotionally moved). It is, instead, an irreversible act of the will that is sealed by the Holy Spirit wherein you unreservedly surrender all of your being into God’s hands and cast yourself on His mercy for salvation. It is hearing the gospel, and believing the gospel, then acting in faith.

How would you describe your faith? Was there a time when you took that initial decisive act to fully and unreservedly trust Christ? When was that? Did that initial act result in changes in your life? In your life since that initial decisive act, has there been evidence of ongoing faith that manifests itself in actions requiring trust in the invisible God? What evidence would someone find in your life that would prove your faith in a powerful God?

Faith that evidences trust in the invisible God is the faith that pleases God and assures us of heaven (2 Peter 1:10-11). This is the faith that gives hope, which becomes an anchor for the soul (Hebrews 6:19). Make sure that you have this kind of faith. SDG rmb 11/27/2015

As we examine the epistles of the New Testament, one of the most common features that we find is the identification of the author of the epistle with the Lord Jesus Christ. As an example, consider 1 Peter 1:1, which starts out with, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ . . .” Notice that the very first thing we find out about Peter is that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ. Peter puts this right at the head of the letter. The most important and most significant feature of Peter’s life is that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ. That fact defines who he is. Ever since Peter met Jesus on the shore of Galilee, his relationship with Jesus has been the dominant fact of his life. Jesus is Peter’s Lord and Master. If you would know Peter, you must know that he is a follower of the Lord Jesus. Peter knew Him when He walked on this earth as a Man, Peter knew Him when He was crucified and buried, and Peter knew Him when He was raised from the dead, and when Peter is writing this letter, Peter still knows Jesus as the ascended King of kings and Lord of lords. Peter’s first point of identification is that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ.

As I thought about this, I realized that this should be true for every disciple of the Lord Jesus. Every disciple of Jesus should seriously consider how to make sure that everyone in their sphere of influence is aware that they obey Christ. The fact is that a Christian is defined by their relationship with Jesus Christ and this should be public information.

A believer in Christ is born again, according to John 3 and 1 Peter 1. A Christian is united with Christ (Romans 6:5). A Christian has died and been raised up with Christ (Romans 6; Galatians 2:20). For the believer, Christ is your life (Colossians 3:4). There are many more teachings in the New Testament that make clear that the follower of Christ, the Christian, is defined by their relationship with Christ.

The follower of Jesus, therefore, should be bold to identify with Jesus and should make sure that their relationship with Jesus is their first point of identification. SDG rmb 11/27/2015

I just read a friend’s latest email about her trip to Nigeria, November 21- December 17, where she is going to be doing more things with mobile technology and getting the Scriptures out to the people and the tribes of Nigeria. These people live in remote areas of Nigeria and they may not even have a written language, but many of them have access to mobile phone technology, so they are in this way accessible to the gospel.

The reason that the people in remote and unreached places are so fascinated by the Bible and are so interested in the Bible is that they have nothing else in their language or in their experience that is remotely like the Bible. There are no books or magazines or songs or poems in their language, and then the Bible explodes onto their eyes or into their ears. In fact, in many of these remote and unreached areas, the very first book written in their language is the Bible. Can you imagine how wonderful this is, that the first book, and at least for a time the only book in their language is the word of the living God! And so the Bible or a portion of the Bible appears in their language. Suddenly in the Bible the people have access to fascinating stories about how our great God has related to and interacted with real men and women since the beginning of the world. For centuries the living God revealed Himself to ordinary men and women and the Bible tells these stories to us in the pages of Scripture. There is story after story of God reaching down from heaven and acting in the lives of men and women like you and me. Then in the New Testament there are the amazing narratives about the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who does miracles and accomplishes deeds of power before being crucified and then rising from the dead. And simple people read these stories and believe them, for they are not “sophisticated” enough to reject them, and they come to faith in Jesus Christ. They see Jesus as He is, the Son of God and the conquering King, and they want to worship this great conquering King who has risen from the dead. Who would not want to worship a King who has conquered death and has provided for the forgiveness of sin and who promises His followers heaven and who gives to His followers the privilege of knowing the Most High God of the universe? And so the simple people of Africa and of South America and of Asia read the Bible and they believe and are saved. Here in this context Satan’s strategy is to prevent the Word from ever getting there in the first place. He wants to keep the people ignorant and in the dark, benighted in their illiteracy and not knowing that there is a Book that tells of how God has reached out to man in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and has offered them eternal life with Him. Satan wants to keep the Bible from ever getting to their ears.

But Satan’s scheme in America and in the “West” is different. Instead of doing everything that he can to prevent the Word from getting to the people, he floods all the available media outlets with meaningless media and books and noise so that people will not heed the Bible or see that the Bible is unique in all of the world, the only book that contains all truth and nothing but the truth. Since the Bible is already released and is readily available in every imaginable form, Satan must now make the Bible appear simple and unsophisticated and outdated. Satan floods the bookstores with all kinds of fantasy novels and fictions and competing voices that sound cool and that appeal to the fallen flesh, and his plan is to drown out the voice of God in the Bible and to create so many distractions that the people remain in the dark. Because of so many other books and media outlets, the Bible, the very word of the living God, is lost in obscurity. That is Satan’s plan here in America, and that plan is largely working. SDG rmb 11/27/15

“Have you ever walked with Jesus in the midst of the fire?”

In Daniel 3, the three Hebrew men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, defied King Nebuchadnezzar and so were thrown into the furnace of blazing fire. But there in that furnace, King Nebuchadnezzar saw four men walking in the furnace and one looked like the son of the gods. We know that this fourth man in the furnace was the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ. In a few minutes, the three Hebrew men emerged from the fire completely unharmed.

What is the believer to make of this?
We need to realize that the only place where we can walk with Jesus in the fire is here on earth. In heaven we will experience no fire and no trial, and in heaven we will never experience Jesus delivering us out of the fire. That experience is only available in this life on this earth. So many believers long for a life of safety; of no fire and no suffering and no trials, and they intentionally avoid those fiery experiences when they can meet Jesus in the fire. Many believers live as if they want to be in heaven now, forgetting that they are still in the war as the church militant. Many believers live intentionally safe lives, forgetting that the only way to meet Jesus in the battle is to risk the flames and the lions and the sword.

Jesus met Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego in the fiery furnace because they had obeyed Him unquestioningly and had trusted Him unconditionally.

(Acts 18:9-10, when Paul received personal encouragement in Corinth; Mark 4:35-41, when Jesus showed His power to His obedient disciples; 2 Timothy 4:17, when “The Lord stood with me” in Paul’s time of testing)

How do you want to live? Do you want to get to heaven via the safest way possible, carefully avoiding risks and steering clear of confrontations with unbelievers? The one who would follow the safe path does not need a God who can deliver them from furnaces or dungeons or swords or lions’ mouths. The one on the safest path will never look up in the midst of the fire and see Jesus walking with them in the flames. The one who would walk the safe path does not really need much faith and does not really need a God who is mighty to save. So do you want to live on the safe path?

Or do you want to live boldly and radically for Jesus and trust Him to deliver you from the flames and from the lion’s mouth? In my opinion, it is the believer’s privilege to walk with the Son of God in the midst of the flames throughout life. Since I have a Savior who will be with me in the fire, should I not live without fear of the furnace? Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego abandoned all safety and accepted the furnace of fire, believing that Yahweh would deliver them. Because they trusted in Yahweh, they walked with Jesus in the midst of the furnace. Only in this life can we be thrown into furnaces of blazing fire. Only in this life can we trust Jesus and tell unbelievers of His power to deliver.  SDG rmb 11/21/2015

In chapter 12 of Hebrews, the author turns to the subject of our suffering and of Christ’s suffering and of how the Lord God is using this as a form of discipline to increase our righteousness.

In verse 3-4 the author argues from the greater to the lesser. He argues that since Jesus has endured the horrors of the cross with joy, should we not for His sake endure with joy our much milder sufferings? Consider also that Jesus’ sufferings were those of a sinless Man for the sake of helpless sinners (1 Peter 3:18; 2 Cor. 5:21; Romans 5:8; etc.) and that Jesus’ sufferings were to result in His death, whereas our suffering and trials are from the loving hand of God the Father and are intended to result in practical holiness, sanctification and righteousness. Christ’s suffering was unto death for our atonement; our suffering is unto life for our sanctification.

But now on to the “discipline” section. The Greek word used repeatedly here in this section is “paideia,” which can be ‘discipline’ or it can also be training or instruction or teaching. So the purpose is training, but the means employed is suffering. God brings trials into the life of every believer for our testing and for our training so that, in the end, after we have endured the tests, we will display the peaceful fruit of righteousness. (In fact, there is a problem if you do not have trials and suffering is your life, because that indicates that you do not have a father to discipline you; 12:8) SO THE MEANS GOD EMPLOYS IS SUFFERING FOR THE INTENDED GOAL FOR THE BELIEVER OF SANCTIFICATION.

Thus the Christian ANTICIPATES trials in his life and RECEIVES trials as given from the gracious hand of God, and then the believer ENDURES trials, knowing that this training will result in sanctification. These trials are the God-appointed means for burning off the dross of our life and for producing greater holiness and practical righteousness. An interesting note here is that the flesh detests and hates all discipline, trial and testing. Thus one of the best ways to keep the flesh subdued and under control is to accept and even EMBRACE the Lord’s discipline. While the new man grows stronger from discipline, the flesh is beaten down.

Trials are the normal course of the Christian life and are to be expected and are to be met head on. God has designed a unique training plan for every individual believer and the believer is to receive this training as coming from a loving God, as He sanctifies us and purifies us with His hyssop (Psalm 51:7).            SDG rmb 11/13/2015

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” Matthew 16:24

When the believer takes up the cross, then he knows he cannot return, for the cross is always terminal. The cross ALWAYS ends the life of the one placed on it.

When Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem (Luke 9:51), His goal was the cross of Calvary (Luke 13:32-33). The cross was going to accomplish its awful work, for the cross always kills its victim. Jesus knew that His goal in life was His own death on the cross (John 17:4; 19:30). In eternity past, the Son of God was destined for the cross and there was nothing in heaven or on earth that could alter that destiny. So when Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem, He knew that there would be no turning aside and that He would not return. For the cross is always terminal. The cross always kills its victim. Once a person takes up his cross, he knows he will not return and that his destiny is sealed.

And thus we arrive at the sober reality of what Jesus is saying in Matthew 16:24 (Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23), for He is stating the absolute terms of what it means to follow Him. Let there be no mistaking what Jesus means when He says, “If anyone wishes to come after Me . . .” He is giving the only path to heaven. “If anyone wishes to call themselves a Christian . . .” “If anyone wishes to have a relationship with Me . . .” “If anyone wishes to be saved from hell . . .” “If anyone believes he is going to heaven . . .” “If anyone wants to be forgiven of their sins . . .” Jesus is saying that the ONLY way for ANYONE to get to heaven involves taking up a cross. You must take up the instrument of your own death if you would go to heaven. And once you take up the cross of Christ; once you take up the cross that He demands you to carry, there is no returning. This is an irreversible decision that will mean your death. (Consider Colossians 3:3) By following Jesus you are committing to take up the instrument of your own death. This is the cost of following Jesus. You give the Lord Jesus a blank check to the rest of your life and you sign the check with your own blood. Taking up your cross means saying, “I will actively follow You, obey You and testify of Your glory from now on, regardless of the path and regardless of the cost.” The cross is unconditional in its demands. There is no fine print. You can write in no hidden clauses in this contract. Jesus demands that you take up your cross and commit to His path, not knowing where it will lead or what it will cost, and knowing that from that path you will never return. “As You took up Your cross, Lord Jesus, so I now take up mine.” This is what it means to follow Jesus. Following any other path will end in destruction and eternal death.

SDG rmb 11/13/2015

In my last post I talked about the main point of Galatians, which was that “circumcision” is directly opposed to the cross of Christ. Only the cross of Christ provides the righteousness that God requires. I had a few more ideas on the subject.

REVIEW: I had said that in Galatians “circumcision” serves as a metaphor for all the man-made attempts of achieving righteousness through man’s efforts and for all the religions which teach that man can become acceptable to God through his works. In Paul’s day, the only religious system that made any attempt at earning righteousness was Judaism, but today there are many such systems. All these religious systems that attempt to achieve righteousness by means of what a person does and that rely on anything that a person is or does would fall under the heading of “circumcision.”

And we had said that “righteousness” as used in the Bible is the required condition of a person where he/she is viewed by God as being completely without sin AND where his/her every thought, word and deed are perfectly in accord with the will of God.

NEW: “Circumcision” points to the self and to what I have done to earn my righteousness, but faith points to the cross of Christ and to what God has done to provide for my righteousness.

“Circumcision” 1) grossly underestimates the offense of your sin and the amount of your sin. My first small sin was an intolerable stench in God’s nostrils and sealed my condemnation. Can any number of religious works erase the offense to the Holy One of even one of my sins? 2) “Circumcision” pathetically overestimates the value of any number of “good deeds.” Do we really think that any number of good works can possibly atone for even the smallest sin? (Micah 6:6-7; Psalm 51:16-17) and 3) MOST IMPORTANT – “Circumcision” despises and rejects the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, on the cross as God’s only means of atonement and believes that my sin-stained human works are just as effective as Jesus’ sinless, holy sacrifice to make me acceptable to God.

Why do people naturally prefer “circumcision” over the cross of Jesus Christ? The path of religion and of a righteousness that can be earned appeals to many people because religion (“circumcision”) requires no true confession of sin and no recognition of a person’s abject wretchedness (Luke 18:9-14). There is no self-loathing required and no need for repentance. I don’t have to do any embarrassing begging for forgiveness. I can keep all my pride and my dignity and my good reputation intact. No need to be plunged in the waters of baptism like those sinners. I can continue to be a clean and respectable pew-sitter, admired by others for my holiness and my goodness. The flesh loves “circumcision” and the flesh hates the admission of and the exposure of all of my most filthy sins.

But only the cross of Christ can atone for sin and only the shed-blood of the Lord Jesus Christ can wash away my wickedness,

Galatians 6:14.  “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”