Archive for February, 2007
Some More on Christian Armour
Look closely at the label to see whether the armour you wear is the workmanship of God or not. There are many imitations on the market nowadays. It is Satan’s game, if he cannot keep the sinner satisfied in his naked, lustful state, to coax him into some flimsy thing or other that by itself will neither do him good nor Satan harm. Perhaps it is church attendance, or good works, or some self-imposed penance by which he intends to impress both God and man. Do such impersonators believe in God? Oh, they hope they are not infidels. But what their armour is, or how they came by it, and whether it will hold up in an evil day, they never stop to question. Thus thousands perish who supposed they were armed against Satan, death, and judgment - when all along they were miserable and naked. These people are worse off thann those who have not a rag of pretense to hide their shame from the world’s gaze.
To most of us, a careful copy of a masterpiece looks quite as good as the original. But when the master himself appears, he can tell in an instant which is real and which the imposter. It is the same with that self-righteous hypocrite who is a pretender to faith and hope in God. Here is a man in glittering array with his weapon in his hand. With the sharp sword of his tongue he keeps both the preacher and the Word of God at arm’s length: ‘Who can say I am not a saint? Name one commandment I do not keep, one duty I neglect!’ he demands indignantly. Many are impressed by his seeming piety. It takes the Spirit’s discerning eye to expose him because Satan has so cleverly tampered with him already. He must first be disarmed and unclothed of his own filthy self-righteousness, because God’s armour can never be made to fit over the suit he fashioned for himself. On the other hand, the soul that stands naked and humble before God is fully aware of the magnitude of his need for help. Which would you say is easier: to set a freshly broken bone, or to attempt the repair of one that has already been falsely mended?
Oh, pious hypocrite, either deny the name of Christ, whose insignia you only pretend to march after, or throw away the phony armour of self-righteousness and come to Him in true repentance. Do not dare to call anything the armour of God which does not gloriy Him and defend you against the power of Satan.
-William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour
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ATTN: Unbelievers, Unconverted
Bear with me, if you will. Consider this text in Scripture:
Mark 10:17-22
And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
To All:
Salvation is free, but it ain’t cheap. Salvation is free, but it’s gonna cost ya something. Salvation is free, and if you’re one of the hell-deserving, law-breaking, darkness-loving, light-despising sinners whom God has so graciously given His free gift of salvation, then you should be aware of the high cost you may someday face because of Christ. To those of you who’re yet to be confronted by the Gospel…I want to address you.
However it is you’ve happened upon my blog, I don’t know. Whether it was a google search, an “accident”, or whatever, I ask you don’t turn a blind eye to this. Everyone will be accountable one day. You can be sure of it. Whether you think Christians are quacks, or not, that’s really irrelevant. The question is, what do you think of Christ? Better yet, Who do you think Christ is?
Elsewhere, I’ve written the following. Please consider its content…
I exhort you to heed the command of God to repent and believe on His Son Jesus Christ as revealed in the Scriptures. This is not a hokey, “God loves you and has a plan for your life” thing, nor is it a plea for you to “find your purpose.” The Bible says in Proverbs 16, “The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of doom.” Does that send chills down your spine? The God of the Scriptures hates sin, and yet He loved the world so much that to those who believe, follow, and obey Him, He gives eternal life. With this change of mind (repentance), comes a change of action (sanctification) as secured and guaranteed by the power of the Holy Spirit. If you know not Christ yet, cast yourself at His mercy, for it is your only hope. No trust can you put in yourself or your goodness, for you have none. You are deserving of only hell, but God will never cast out any who come to Him.
How’s this to be done? Well, in Scripture God has given us a revelation of Himself and His standards. Originally God had made a covenant with Adam, the first of all mankind and, thus, the Representative of all mankind. Adam was created upright and holy, but when he sinned he plunged himself and all mankind (remember, he was our representative) into sin.
In this regard, all men are born spiritually dead and separated from God. Yet, even right after Adam’s transgression, God spoke of His plan of redemption. The seed of woman (Christ) would crush the head of the serpent (Satan). Genesis 3:15 is the first time the Gospel is preached. You can read more about this here. Moving on to the crux of the matter. After Adam introduces sin into the world, mankind has the sinful misconception that somehow he can earn salvation with God. “Well, I’m better than so and so.” or “My good outweighs my bad”, etc. This is the mentality of our natures.
As has been noted, God had a standard with Adam. Adam broke covenant. There is a portion of Scripture which sums up all the law/standards of God. In this portion of Scripture we learn about the 10 Commandments. Guess what? We’ve all broken at least one of them. Repeatedly. Now, if this is God’s standard for “getting in”, then where does that leave all of mankind? On the way to hell. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. So, if you answered “No” to question 1, you’re in the same predicament as everyone else. You cannot earn the salvation of God. You have nothing to offer Him. He will accept nothing less than perfection . . .THAT’S SCARY, HUH? Yet, my friend, there is hope.
You see, the first Adam failed in his covenant with God. But there is a second Adam. And He did not fail. His Name is Jesus Christ. As Adam represented all of mankind and plunged all mankind into sin, Christ represents His people and has secured all of them into God’s salvation. So, we’ve found that God requires perfection for entrance into His kingdom. But we’ve also learned that all mankind is sinful, thus no one is perfect. Scripture itself says, “There is no one righteous. No, not even one.” and “. . . all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” If we are to stop here, there is no hope for any of mankind. But the Gospel means “good news” and it doesn’t stop here! We can never be perfect, thus we cannot merit God’s favor or salvation. But Christ can and did! He is the second Adam, the one Who crushed the head of the Serpent.
He came into this world, without sin, lived a perfect life according to the law of God, and then fulfilled all righteousness to be a sacrifice for those who would believe on Him, satisfying God’s requirement of perfection on their behalf! What glorious news! Do you believe yourself to be hopelessly lost and destitute, and sinful? Do you realize that in your wickedness you have offended the thrice holy God who knows no sin? Do you want entrance to His kingdom, forgiveness of sin? Then acknowledge your great rebellion against Him, cast your sinfulness aside, and plead to God for His mercy according to the merit of Christ! There is no mystical prayer that obligates God to do this. It is simply His offer of salvation for those who believe on His Name by faith, not trusting in anything of themselves, and who repent of their sinfulness, following Him, loving, knowing, and obeying His Word, and, if need be, dying for Him.
Will you?
We began this post with a passage in which a man was not willing to give up everything for the sake of Christ? Don’t go away sad because you want to hold on to something…or even, anything.
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The Book of Job and the Sovereignty of God
God owes no man explanation of any sort, for anything. Sometimes He graciously gives it, but he owes it to none.
Many times in my life, when afflictions, trials, or temptations were sent my direction, the book of Job was one of my most comforting reads. The onslaught of his perceived misfortunes seems almost incomprehensible…especially to me, an untouched, unpersecuted American Christian, nestled deep within the safe, suburban neighborhoods of the so-called ”Bible Belt”. Also worthy of note is Job’s faithful (but not perfect) perseverance beneath seemingly insurmountable odds.
His suffering was immense, no doubt. And yet, that’s not the primary theme of this holy account, nor is Job the star protagonist of this intriguing biography (from his perspective, anyway). No, the highlight of this book, the glory displayed from these scriptures, the majesty, splendor, and awe-inspiring focus of this portion of the Holy Writ is that of the Almighty Sovereign God, the Lord Himself, Who is alone worthy of praise.
The pious and venerable Matthew Henry writes:
Were ever the being of God, his glorious attributes and perfections, his unsearchable wisdom, his irresistible power, his inconceivable glory, his inflexible justice, and his incontestable sovereignty, discoursed of with more clearness, fulness, reverence, and divine eloquence, than in this book? The creation of the world, and the government of it, are here admirably described, not as matters of nice speculation, but as laying most powerful obligations upon us to fear and serve, to submit to and trust in, our Creator, owner, Lord, and ruler. Moral good and evil, virtue and vice, were never drawn more to the life (the beauty of the one and the deformity of the other) than in this book; nor the inviolable rule of God’s judgment more plainly laid down, That happy are the righteous, it shall be well with them; and Woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with them.
As the days hurry along, I look forward to sharing some thoughts on the Sovereignty of God as displayed in the Book of Job. Blessings to each of you this Lord’s Day.
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Shut Up, Fool!
Plato once said:
“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.”
And another has said:
“Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt”
Which was no doubt derived from one of the wisest of the wise, writing in Scripture:
“Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.” - Proverbs 27:28
Which brings us to a related text:
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. - James 1:19,20
In a previous post, we disucssed Peter’s lil’ Foot-in-Mouth problem, and I also conceded my own problem with that dreaded foe. Isn’t it amazing how the same subject is addressed all throughout Scripture? I mean, it’s almost like all the books of the Bible have the same Author (hint, hint, ;)). This same observation lets us know that diarrhea of the mouth is no small problem.
I think, though, we can deduce more than just foot-in-mouth issues with what James is addressing here. A cursory glance at the text tells us something about how presumption and impatience leads to unfounded anger. An immediate example which comes to mind can be derived from just perusing an internet message board…even a “Christian” one (gasp!). The misunderstandings that can ensue are boundless sometimes, it seems.
The instructions given by James need to be applied in most of our dealings, but especially are dealings with fellow believers. May we keep these words of James in mind while conversating, communicating, and discussing with those around us. I’ll leave you with a quote from another great Puritan, Richard Sibbes:
It would be a good contest amongst Christians, one to labour to give no offence, and the other to labour to take none. The best men are severe to themselves, tender over others.
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