In Honor of Reformation Sunday

Martin Luther’s account of his conversion:

I had already during that year returned to interpret the Psalter anew. I had confidence in the fact that I was more skillful, after I had lectured in the university on St. Paul’s epistles to the Romans, to the Galatians, and the one to the Hebrews. I had indeed been captivated with an extraordinary ardor for understanding Paul in the Epistle to the Romans. But up till then it was not the cold blood about the heart, but a single word in Chapter 1, “In it the righteousness of God is revealed,” that had stood in my way. For I hated that word “righteousness of God,” which, according to the use and custom of all the teachers, I had been taught to understand philosophically regarding the formal or active righteousness, as they call it, with which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner. Though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was a sinner before God with an extremely disturbed conscience. I could not believe that he was placated by my satisfaction. I did not love, yes, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners, and secretly, if not blasphemously, certainly murmuring greatly, I was angry with God, and said, “As if, indeed, it is not enough, that miserable sinners, eternally lost through original sin, are crushed by every kind of calamity by the law of the decalogue, without having God add pain to pain by the gospel and also by the gospel threatening us with his righteousness and wrath!” Thus I raged with a fierce and troubled conscience.

Nevertheless, I beat importunately upon Paul at that place, most ardently desiring to know what St. Paul wanted.  At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, “In it the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’” There I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith.

And this is the meaning: the righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, namely, the passive righteousness with which merciful God justifies us by faith (implied by Luther is then that that faith, which is a gift, trusts the justifying work of God in Christ as it was accomplished on His cross, wherein, we see most clearly God’s righteousness: as it is poured out on Christ against sin, as it is displayed in the vindication of His name, as it is that Christ’s perfect righteousness is imputed to us, and as God is proven to be both just and the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus), as it is written, “He who through faith is righteous shall live.” Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates. There a totally other face of the entire Scripture showed itself to me. Thereupon I ran through the Scripture from memory. I also found in other terms an analogy, as, the work of God, that is what God does in us, the power of God, with which he makes us wise, the strength of God, the salvation of God, the glory of God. And I extolled my sweetest word with a love as great as the hatred with which I had before hated the word “righteousness of God.” Thus that place in Paul was for me truly the gate to paradise. Later I read Augustine’s The Spirit and the Letter, where contrary to hope I found that he, too, interpreted God’s righteousness in a similar way, as the righteousness with which God clothes us when he justifies us. Although this was heretofore said imperfectly and he did not explain all things concerning imputation clearly, it nevertheless was pleasing that God’s righteousness with which we are justified was taught.

An Amazing Promise

In Luke 11:13, Jesus teaches His disciples that God the Father will give the Holy Spirit to His children when they ask Him.  This is an amazing promise!  It has been burned upon my heart for the last couple of weeks.  The Father loves to give the third member of the Trinity to us when we ask for Him!  Now granted, He already indwells believers on account of God’s grace displayed in the person and work of Jesus Christ; so this is a promise that assures more of Him on a practical level to the children of God, who believing Christ’s words, and the faithfulness of their sovereign Father, act upon it and ask for Him.  How incredible is this promise?

The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ in our hearts and lives; He shows Christ to be irresistibly beautiful – the greatest Treasure, altogether lovely!

The Holy Spirit leads us into truth; He illumines the Bible for God’s children.

The Holy Spirit produces fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control.

The Holy Spirit drives the Christian conscience; He beckons us to holiness.

The Holy Spirit makes us more like Jesus – He sanctifies us.

The Holy Spirit empowers and emboldens Gospel proclamation.

The Holy Spirit grants us assurance that we are children of God.

And much more.  And in this text, our Lord Jesus flatly states that our Father gives Him to us – freely upon our inquiry!  What remains to be asked is “Do you believe this?”  If so, should this not be a major part of our daily conversations with God?  That our Father would lavish us with His Spirit, for in so asking, we are assuredly asking for the benefits that accompany Him!  Oh, then, He should be our utmost desire!  Let us ask God for Him, not once, not twice – a million times would be too few!  And, oh, let us praise the Father who grants Him, and our Lord through Whom He is given.  Arise, Christians, and pray and ask for God’s Spirit; and let us observe our Father’s perfect faithfulness.

“The Importance of Hell,” an article by Tim Keller

A frequently and (often) intentionally left behind doctrine is the doctrine of hell.  And while it shouldn’t be our favorite discussion piece, it may be one of the most crucial to resurface.  Where it lands upon hearts, there you will often discover the line between authentic Christianity and truly born again people, and, by contrast, those who belong to the cultural Christian movement, who bear the name so long as everything is nice and the content of their lives remains unchallenged by biblical authority.  Keller discusses the “importance of hell” here.

Gleaning #8: Humility, Humility, Humility

This is the most important lesson of the Christian life, a lesson that will never know cessation.  For it is true in some sense, that at the point one thinks that he is humble, and asserts as much, he ceases to be humble; and yet, there is a Moses, there is our Lord Jesus Christ, whom the Bible absolutely affirms, from the mouths of Moses, and again, from the word of Christ, as humble; and thus there is also a sense in which it would be prideful to assert that one is not humble contrary to the truth that one may actually be.

I do not intend for this to be much more than a word or two, but in God’s providence, through the normal activities of the day, through the precious opportunities to pray, and read the bible, to teach and/or preach, to be a Christian husband, a Christian father, a Christian brother, and friend, He humbles me.  And He often does this by, first, revealing to me my pride, and/or the central gravity of my life and thoughts and words – whether I am pulled and tugged by the desire to please man or God; and upon learning of it, I am humbled – with great thanksgiving, I am humbled.

And this must be cultivated by God-centered view of all things, prayer, and the intense contrast between God’s infinite greatness, His love, mercy, grace, justice and wrath – these He holds perfectly together – and our inherent weakness.  From where does our sufficiency or adequacy, ability or talent, the energy for precious Gospel works of faith in love – where does this come from, but from God who is gracious.  Let us consider these things.  And allow me to encourage you – pursue humility, ask God for it.  Brothers and sisters, strive for humility in all things.  God is gracious!

Gleaning #7: A Foretaste of our Joyful Employment Forever

Psalm 145:3 – Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

It is easy to see that the Psalmist desires to communicate the greatness of God.  He does this by stating three certifiable facts: one pertains to the Lord, the other to the proper response of all creation, and the last to the depth of His greatness, and by implication of all three, there arises the eternality of our heavenly occupation.

First, “Great is the Lord.”  We need to be careful what we call “great.”  We are inclined to use words very loosely in this day and age.  Coffee is “great”.  Football is “great”.  Stuffed crust pizza is “great”.  The Coliseum is “great”.  America is “great”.  The Psalmist, however, reserves this word for the Lord.  It is the same idea that can be drawn from those words of Jesus to the rich young ruler, “Only God is good.”  This would exclude everything else from properly fitting this term “good” or, in our text, “great”.  And for ancient Israel, God was displayed as truly great.  He is the Creator, the Redeemer, the Warrior, the Rock, the self-existent and infinitely free God, perfect in justice and mercy, transcendent and immanent.  And has not proven Himself so to His church, blessed in the Beloved Christ.  Our God is great: a great Father, a great King, a great Lord, a great Savior, a great Treasure, the Delight of the Christian soul.  Great is the Lord.  Veneration is the correct response!

Thus, “and greatly to be praised.”  The overflow of beholding our great God is great praise, that is, as God is great, and our hearts behold some degree of His greatness, our response is a degree of praise that equals and arises to that which we have beheld.  There is a balance in the statement, “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised.”  In truth, the statement is remarkably unbalanced, and for this reason, God has granted His children eternity for the same occupation.  Simply put, the Lord is infinite in all of His attributes, and thus it is quite impossible, though good and right and spontaneously essential, to equally praise Him on account of His greatness.  If we were to greatly praise God every second of every minute of every hour of every day for the rest of our lives, we would not come close to the praise that ought to be and will be ascribed to His name in heaven forever.  And so it is a remarkable grace that God requires, grants, and loves what praise we give to Him – and for this He should be greatly praised!

Third, to bring more clarity to the issue, “and his greatness is unsearchable.”  This expresses what I have said.  And here, our eternal occupation is implied.  The logic of God’s Spirit is sweet at this point.  (1) The Lord is great.  (2) He is to be greatly praised.  (3)  But the greatness of the Lord, for which we are to greatly praise Him, is itself “unsearchable.”  Herein, the eternality of our eternal occupation is laid bare.  For God will forever be great.  And His greatness is unsearchable.  This life is certainly not long enough to search out what is unsearchable (though, in His grace, we can praise Him for what He has revealed of Himself).  And with that in mind, only eternity will grant us the time to search out what is of such greatness, such infinite glory and depth, that it is dubbed “unsearchable.”  And so, as we behold ever new vistas of God’s greatness forever, so our employment will forever be the exercise of greatly praising our God.  And thus, our employment now is, by God’s grace, a foretaste of our joyful employment forever.  Let us then be about beholding our God in the face of Jesus Christ, in all of Scripture, and in our lives; let us be marked by a passion for biblical praise.

Gleaning #6: Read Biblical Introductions Well

Mark introduces his gospel in this way: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  As it is written in Isaiah the prophet . . .”

I think there is a tendency to overlook the introductions to the books of the Bible.  I am beginning to understand that that is unwise, like seeking to build a building without its hermeneutical (interpretive) foundation.  If at any point in the gospel you become stuck as to the meaning of the passage, or perhaps, you begin to wonder what in the world is being communicated, you can always come back to the introduction and see exactly what the author (Mark) intends to communicate as a gloss over everything else that follows.

I would also encourage you to spend time meditating on each verse – yes, even the introductory verses.  By meditation I do not intend the worldwide infatuation with emptying the mind – what possible sense does that make?  Being mindless is generally frowned upon (though ironically, again, most seem to adore the idea when it is attached to “spirituality” of some sort – anyway!).  These first few words of the Gospel of Mark have been extremely sweet to my soul in recent days for at least two reasons:

First, that any man would call Jesus the Christ is absolutely astonishing, and should serve as impetus to the praise of God’s glorious grace.  Having read and studied the Gospel of Luke for the majority of this year, I have noticed a simple framework in the first nine chapters that centers on Jesus as the Christ of God.  At least three times (possibly four), the narrative begs the question through its characters, “Who is this guy?  Who is this Jesus?”  And there is a tremendous build up that peaks at Peter’s confession.  Jesus asks the disciples, “But who do you say that I am?”  And Peter, speaking as representative, replies, “You are the Christ of God!”  And we are meant to explode with joy at that confession!  Why?  Not only because God has given a Christ in Jesus for sinners, but that no human being, that is, flesh and blood, is able to come up or derive or produce or self-reveal that confession.  The parallel text in Matthew 16:17 states as much and presses upon us the reality that only the Father in heaven, the God who sovereignly reveals divine truth, reveals to sinful man that Jesus is in fact the Christ!  If you confess today that Jesus is the God-man, Prophet, Priest, and King, that is, the Christ, the One who reconciles sinners to God by way of His perfect Person and Work, that is the grace of God and your heart ought to soar at the prospect of such mercy!  And here, in Mark 1:1, what is Mark’s confession?  ”The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  Thus, in a word, “Christ”, as it is joined to “Jesus”, is highlighted the revealing, and saving grace of God in the life of Mark.

And secondly, that the gospel which Mark espouses is admirably simple, and in a sense, remarkably ancient and radically new at the same time.  For the sake of brevity, I mean to say that Mark is hardly innovative.  How indeed does he begin the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  With an introduction to an ancient text of the Old Testament!  He literally writes 12 words (The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God), and then goes immediately to: “As it is written!”  Mark is no philosophy major.  He is not interested in starting a new religion, beginning a new cult or sect.  He is not moved to display what intelligence he had at his disposal.  He is not all that creative.  Plainly and simply, Mark is concerned with communicating the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and thus, he turns immediately without hesitation to the Word of God.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is ancient!  His beginnings are from of old.  He is the Ancient of Days!  In one sense, the Son of God has been emanating forward from all eternity, to put on flesh, live sinlessly for sinners, die in the place of sinners, be raised and ascended, to accomplish and apply the salvation of God.  Mark makes this plain when he writes, “As it is written.”  And there is a sense in which the Gospel of Jesus Christ is new.  This Mark simultaneously accomplishes by “As it is written,” for what then follows are quotes from Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3, which without the humiliation and exaltation of Christ, would be somewhat ambiguous.  That is, they find their fulfillment and truest meaning in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the work of God so near to Mark’s own day – and in light of eternity, very near to our own!  In this sense, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is radically new – the escalation and fullness of God’s promises, now dispensed through Him to those who repent and believe in Him.  Is this not a word to us in our day?  That amidst American pragmatism, Mark is inclined to go no further than twelve of his own words before he runs immediately to the text of God.  May we be so inclined!  May the Lord grant us to be men and women of the text, to communicate the old (and glorious) Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ; so long innovation, hello Bible.

Summarily, read your introductions well – pray through them, meditate and memorize them, and let them set the aroma of Christ all about your heart.

Gleaning #5: God Has Granted a Child

Three weeks ago I noticed a “Big Picture Story Bible” sitting within my bookshelf atop my neatly aligned books.  The “Big Picture Story Bible” is somewhat of a pictorial biblical theology for children – and apparently, useful for adults as well!  Thus, I became immediately curious.  I know every book on my shelf and I had never seen that one.  So with supreme intelligence I asked Jenny, “What’s this?”  She had anticipated my intricate awareness of what is and is not normal within the realm of my library, and as such, had purposely set it there for my inspection.  So she was somewhat furrowed that I had not gone along with her plan; nevertheless, in her kindness, she calmly asked me to open the front of the book, and lo and behold, pregnancy strips – positive!

God has granted us a child!  Jenny is in her ninth week.  As such, the Lord has made us parents for nearly two months, and it is a joy to arise with my wife and pray for our child, to consider her and this baby in all of my thoughts, to carry them around with me in my heart all the day long.  And I praise my God, a merciful and gracious Father to us, right and wise in all His ways; and my Lord Jesus Christ through whom I know Him; and the Spirit of Christ who comforts me in my prayers, bearing witness with my spirit that our baby “lives and moves and has his or her being” in Creator God, my perfect Father.  So praise God with us, and pray for Jenny, pray for this baby, and the Lord knows, pray for me.  God has granted us a child and in this we rejoice with unceasing joy!

Gleaning #4: Be Not Hard of Heart!

When it comes to the hard of heart, my previous Bible study had left me with the impression that this was relegated to the example of Pharaoh’s heart, and the Lord’s sovereign dealing within it (roughly throughout Exodus 4-14).  It was this example that Paul plucked from Exodus to make his point concerning the effectiveness, sovereignty, justice and mercy of God in salvation (Romans 9).  But as when one walks through a vineyard and finds that the farther he goes the more he is privileged to pick, eat and be satisfied, so it is with one’s walk and gleanings through the Bible.  And thus,

the last gleaning dealt with the hardness of Israel’s heart – that which the Lord required, and that which only the Lord can give, Israel did not have but was no less called to have it (see Deuteronomy 10, 29).

In the book of Joshua, the Lord hardens the hearts of the enemies of Israel so that they will come into battle against the Lord and be completely cut off from the earth, disinherited that God’s people might rest in the new Eden (which never materialized and thus purposed to look forward to something greater, namely, Christ, and through Him, the hope of an eternal and new heaven and earth), see Joshua 11:20.  Here also the hardening of their hearts is equated to receiving no mercy from God or the people of Israel in battle.  The hard of heart receive justice only.

We see this previously in Deuteronomy 2:30 with Sihon the King of Heshbon.  The Lord made his spirit hard and his heart obstinate in order that he might fight with Israel and be destroyed.

We see this prior to this in Exodus 14:17 when the Lord hardens the hearts of not one person, but thousands of Egyptians which leads to their destruction in the Sea.

Here is the point: Be not hard of heart!  And do not say to yourselves, “Well who can resist his will,” as they did to Paul in Romans 9, for Paul has already provided any adequate answer.  Suffice it to say that Pharaoh, the enemies of Israel, Sihon, the company of Egyptians, and apparently the majority of ancient Israel, were not doing anything that they did not previously desire to do or would have done, and thus they are responsible.  And yet there is a time in which the Lord also makes the heart obstinate.  This is balanced by the following: that while the Lord hardens hearts, and is just in doing so, you are no less responsible to respond in saving faith to His overtures which require new hearts.  The fact that you live this day should cause you to cast yourself wholeheartedly upon his mercy, and the grace revealed to us in Jesus Christ, in whom a new heart for sinners is promised!  If you do not, the destruction is yours to own, and be do not be fooled, the hard of heart are hardened unto destruction.  Therefore, be not hard of heart!  God has promised in the New Covenant that He will give a new heart, and that Covenant has been ratified by the blood of Christ – it is offered to you today in Christ!  Repent and believe upon Jesus, and God will save you, and be for you!

Gleaning #3: The Bible’s Theology of the Heart

While American marketing and the larger pop culture advertises the human heart as the seat of foolish, comedic and temporary lust (culturally synonymous with love), the Bible reveals a more comprehensive understanding.  The heart, while remaining tied to the affections, is the seat of the person’s thought life, his or her inner life, the character, the personal self.

And it is depraved!  That is, it is dead and dying, so to speak.  Thus, the biblical heart, being depraved, implies the rottenness of the person themselves.  The thoughts of the inner man are only in rebellion against God – but God gave what the Bible calls the heart for this express purpose: out of original life and communion with God, the heart of man would at all times assent to God, adoring Him and thus with love and joy obey and praise Him forever.  This we lost in the Fall.

Recently I was reading the book of Deuteronomy which some regard as the “heart of the Old Testament.”  It is a marvelous book!  And it has an explicit theology of the heart – particularly concerning the biblical paradox of the heart.  In several places, the people of Israel are commanded to search for the Lord with all their heart.  In other places, they are incited to put their hearts to His Word.  Elsewhere, they are to love the Lord God will all of their hearts.  Moreover, Moses mentions that the Lord tested them at points to know what was in their hearts (or rather, that it might be made plain to them that their hearts were indeed insufficiently wired for the task).

But in Deuteronomy 10:16, an interesting twist is introduced to the biblical plot.  The people of Israel are told “Circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.”  The point, keeping in mind that they understand physical circumcision quite well, is that their inner selves had to be circumcised or made clean in order for them to do all that the Lord had commanded them to do, and if the heart was not circumcised, then they would not be able to do these things.  Their hearts had to be supernaturally enacted upon by God.  But, in fact, from the history of Israel, and surmising even from what Moses says in 10:16, the people of Israel were a stubborn people, that is, their hearts were hard – no different than Pharaoh’s perhaps?  And thus, as is well documented, they were consistently in rebellion against the God who had redeemed them as a nation.  They had not obeyed His commandments, because they did not have the hearts to do so.  This may sound like a quandry, and perhaps it must get a bit foggier before it decides to become clear.

In Deuteronomy 29:4, Moses tells the people, “But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.”  Thus the people must do all of God’s law.  In order to do so they must have what they do not have – a circumcised heart.  These are God’s words.  But then, through Moses, it is communicated that they very thing the people need, the very thing that the people do not have, the very thing needed to do all of God’s law, is a thing that God gives – which in His sovereignty, He has not given.  Points to be taken?  God has not given them a hard heart.  The people, from Adam, all nations included, are born with hearts of stone, stubborn to the truth and way of God.  And, God has the ability and freedom to give them new hearts, or circumcised hearts.  But, to this point, by and large, He has not given what they need to obey, and yet, still further, they are still accountable to God for the fact that they have not obeyed.

More clearly: The people of Israel needed, as anyone does today, a new heart which they themselves could not affect, but which God freely gives to whomever he wills.  Jeremiah and Ezekiel pick up on this in their prophecies concerning the New Covenant promises: Jeremiah 31:33, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.”  Ezekiel 36:25-27, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.  And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

God gives new hearts.  This is a promise of the New Covenant.  How then may anyone receive such promises?  Matthew 26:27-28, “And (Jesus) took the cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”  As blood ratified ancient covenants, so the life and death of Christ purchased the New Covenant and its promises for all those who enter into fellowship with Him through repentance and faith in Him.  Christ, who had nothing but the new heart died, that what He always had might be given to us.  In Christ, we have received from God the new heart, the heart of flesh that is sensitive to Him, that with joy and love obeys Him.

So be not discouraged nor perplexed at the apparent paradox between God’s divine sovereignty and our very real human responsibility, such that you miss the fact that God graciously gives what He requires of us – a new heart, to the new man, through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

Coming up: Gleaning #4 – Be Not Hard of Heart!

Gleaning #2: A Sermon of Power and Passion by Matt Click

The sermon provided here is one that both believer and unbeliever would do well to give 50 minutes to.  The believer will find himself encouraged, while the unbeliever, who, perhaps, has many curiosities about Christianity, will find himself amidst the wonder of God’s grace to His children, and the hope that we as Christians have and hold.  It certainly blessed my soul and caused me at many points to laugh, cry and praise my God.  If you knew the man preaching it, you would be all the more humbled, blessed, and moved to adoration of God’s great mercies.

P.S. You could not spend your time more wisely today than to pray to God thanking him for gifting the church with a man (saved by grace) like Matt, and then to proceed by praying for him and his wife, Jamey and their quickly approaching ministry.