Soli Deo Gloria » Scripture

The Birds of the Air

Jay — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:03:03 +0000

“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they?” Matthew 6:26

I am a worrier. I make no bones about it. It’s a besetting sin that I have struggled with most of my life. Anxious thoughts and the feeling of impending doom has plagued me for as long as I can remember. When the Lord graciously saved me a little over five years ago, the darkness lifted but remnants of sinful anxiety remain in the flesh. I’m convinced that most all believers struggle with what the Puritan’s titled ‘besetting sins’. It may be different for you, but for me it’s anxiety and fear.

The verse above from Jesus’ great sermon on the mount has given me great comfort over the years. Like other examples of our Lord’s teachings, He uses a lesser to greater analogy. If God so cares for those little birds how much more will He care for His adopted children who are in Christ? It’s about right thinking theologically which leads to practical living.

My anxiety can stem from ridiculous scenarios I create in my mind to worry about the mundane things of this life. My anxiety can also stem from my sin. But at it’s absolute core, anxiety (no matter the cause) is sinful for a believer. Anxious thoughts and worry is tantamount to telling God, “I don’t believe You and I don’t trust You.” That stings. But the reality is if we didn’t have the sinful tendencies as redeemed children of God then there would be no need for the Lord to tell us not to worry. We still battle the sinful flesh. It’s one of the reasons that for the believer, death is that final step in sanctification that finally and fully releases us from sin. In a way only understood by Christians, death is the doorway to glorification and the removal of this body of sin and death to a new glorified body free from sin. I can’t wait! But until then, the battle rages on. We are called to mortify the flesh. We are called to fight the good fight and set aside the sin that so easily entangles us. (Hebrews 12:1) We do this by walking by the Spirit. And that begins by taking the very sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.

You may deal with anxiety as I do. You may deal with it so severely that you feel crippled by it. (Believe me, I’ve been there.) What our Lord tells us is to trust Him. Realize that the very One who spoke and brought all things into existence from nothing is Your heavenly Father. He will work all things out for good for those who love Him. (Romans 8:28) That may mean experiencing His Father discipline as His children. We must realize that our Father’s concern is not foremost for our happiness but our holiness and conformity to the image of His Son.

Think about what Jesus is telling believers in this passage. When you are worrying, anxious or fearful simply stop and look out the window at the little birds flying about. They neither store nor reap. They simply rest in the care of God. God feeds them. They don’t run about anxious and fearful of where their next meal will come from. Jesus’ point is if God provides for those little birds how much more will He provide for His adopted children. How much more will He provide for the elect whom He has given to His Son. We are co-heirs with Jesus Christ. In Christ, we are adopted into the kingdom and we now, by the Spirit, call God who resides in unapproachable light “Father”. This is enough to bring us to our knees. What glorious grace and love. As John writes in 1 John 3:1, “See ywhat kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”

This my friend is the cure for anxiety. It is only available to true believers – to those in Christ. Yes, we will battle sin until we die or until Christ returns. But we are to fight the good fight and renew our minds on the truths of God’s Word and His promises. Biblical theology produces doxology and right thinking – which in turn produces practical living. I admit that I so often forget these great promises. I am thankful for the Church and for wonderful godly friends and family who remind me of these truths and exhort and rebuke me when needed.

Marvel at the love of Christ to His family. Cast all of your anxiety on Him, for He cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7) Obey His loving command to look at the little birds and be reminded of how much your Father loves you in Christ Jesus.

Soli Deo Gloria

Justification by Christ Alone

Jay — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:30:14 +0000

Enjoy this outstanding lecture by the late John Gerstner as he compares the Biblical understanding of justification by faith alone to the Roman Catholic heresy and the modern day easy-believism.

A Hellish Heaven

Jay — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 03:30:09 +0000

“Heaven would be hell to me without Christ.” – Thomas Goodwin

This beautiful quote from the Puritan Thomas Goodwin also reminds me of a question John Piper asks in his book God is the Gospel: would you be happy in heaven if Christ were not there? Before the Lord saved me I was a professing believer and my desire for heavenly things was strictly carnal. I wanted the everlasting life and of course to escape hell. I wanted the golden streets and the pearly gates but I did not want God. I wanted to go to heaven, I just didn’t want God to be there. I was ashamed of Christ and I never spoke of Him to others. I’m so thankful that the Lord in His sovereign grace turned my heart of stone to a heart of flesh and granted me the gift of repentance and faith in His Son. He saved a man who for most of his life professed faith but possessed it not and was ashamed of the gospel and it’s Author. It’s only through being born from above by His power and grace that I can echo the words of Goodwin that heaven would truly be hell without Christ.

I know there are many people who believe they are seeking God. Through church attendance, morality, activities and even a head-knowledge of who Christ is (James 2:19), they believe they are heaven-bound. But Scripture speaks otherwise. Not a single person outside of Christ seeks God. Period. Paul tells us in Romans that people don’t seek God. (Romans 3:11) The reality is that people seek the things of God but they don’t seek Him. They want heaven and all God’s benefits but they simply don’t want Him. They truly could be happy in heaven if Christ were not there. This is why I laugh at so-called “seeker sensitive” churches that model their worship after and for unbelievers. Unbelievers and nominal Christians aren’t seeking God. They are seeking health, happiness and the American dream and in their minds God is often a way to get those things. Seeker sensitive churches simply feed this devilish lie. This is why false teachers like Joel Osteen pack their seats service after service with people who want everything God (and the world) has to offer except true salvation and the ultimate result of that salvation: God Himself. Salvation truly is a means to an end. And that end is unhindered communion for all eternity with God in Christ. John sums up heaven for us in five beautiful words: “we will see His face.” (Revelation 22:4)

The grand reality is that God must seek us before we will seek Him. We love because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) God causes our dead souls to be born from above and then and only then do we come to Him in repentance and faith. Paul describes regeneration as a miracle greater than that of the creation account. (2 Corinthians 4:6)

Do you love Christ or do you love His benefits? One affection is the result of a transformed heart. The other is a natural desire of the fallen nature. If you do love Christ above all things, rejoice in His sovereign grace and be humbled that nothing inherently in you caused this regenerative miracle. (John 1:13) If you honestly can say that you’d be happy in heaven without Christ, cry out to the Lord Almighty to open your eyes to His glory in the face of Jesus Christ and embrace Him in repentance and faith. All who come to Him He will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37)

Soli Deo Gloria

True Revival

Jay — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:53:37 +0000

How often as believers do we want God to change our circumstances but we don’t want Him to change us. I know in my own life I often pray fervently for God to change my circumstances but neglect crying out to Him to change me. How often I forget that God in His mighty sovereignty is using those circumstances to change me and make me more like Christ. I’m reminded as I read through Scripture that God is not primarily concerned with my happiness but my holiness. God’s will for the lives of believers is our sanctification. Far from the false teachings of those like Joel Osteen who proclaim that God wants us to be materially prosperous and happy all the time, Scripture is clear that God’s will for us is to be conformed into the image of His Son. It is appointed for us not only to believe but to suffer for the sake of Christ. (Philippians. 1:29)

Where is the crying out in the church today for sanctification? Where is the mourning over sin and a desire for the Great Physician to take out His divine scalpel and cut away the idols and worldliness in our lives that we think make us happy but actually drive us away from God and from the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14)

We do need revival in the American church today but revival does not come about by a church committee or throwing a tent up on the church grounds. True revival begins when the church returns to the true gospel, declares the full counsel of God’s Word, desires true repentance and cries out to God for conformity to the image of His Son.

I am preaching to myself in this post. I too am caught up in the worldly things and so often desire God to change my circumstances and not me.

Lord, forgive our foolish ways and grant us true, constant repentance and a desire to be holy no matter the cost. Conform us more and more into the glorious image of Your Son and drive us away from self and circumstance and help us not only cling to the cross of Christ but carry our own as we seek to die to self and live to You.

Soli Deo Gloria

Of First Importance

Jay — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:20:25 +0000

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” 1 Corinthians 15:1-4

Full Satisfaction to God!

Jay — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 13:54:19 +0000

Is your heart pressed down even to despondency, under the guilt of sin, so that you cry, How an such a sinner as I be pardoned? My sin is greater than can be forgiven. “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” Remember that no sin can stand before the efficacy of His blood. “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanest from all sin.” 1 John 1:7 This sacrifice makes full satisfaction to God. Bless be God for Jesus Christ.

- John Flavel from The Fountain of Life

Not Slavery, Sonship…

Jay — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:06:39 +0000

“Contrary to popular belief, Christianity is not a form of slavery; it is a kind of sonship. Without Jesus Christ, human beings are captivated by sin an enslaved by the rules of primitive religion. But when they come to Christ, they are released from their bondage to become the sons and daughters of God.

From slavery to sonship – this is the message of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. It is the the transition the Tuyuca people made when they first encountered that message. The Tuyucas live in the eastern jungles of Colombia, along the border with Brazil. As they worked with the missionary Janet Barnes to translate Galatians, they had trouble understanding salvation by grace. “If all we have to do to be saved is believe,” one of them asked, “well, then what? How do we live after that?”

The answer, the Tuyucans learned, is that Christians live out their faith by obeying the will of God. They do this not because they are slaves who must satisfy their Master, but because they are children who want to please their Father. “I understand now,” said one of the Tuyucans, finally grasping the gospel message of Galatians. “My grandfather said it is better for a son to obey his father out of love that out of fear of being punished. That is how God wants us to obey Him – out of love.”

- Phillip Graham-Ryken from his commentary on Galatians

The Lord Reigns!

Jay — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:18:29 +0000

The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed; he has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved. Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring. Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty! Your decrees are very trustworthy; holiness befits your house, O LORD, forevermore. Psalm 93 (ESV)

Grace or Presumption?

Jay — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 20:27:15 +0000

“This is not a day of faith but of presumption. I ask you “Are you a Christian?” You start telling me what you’ve done. I didn’t ask what you’ve done. A Christian is a product of God’s grace. A Christian is the result of what God has done; He is always the giver and we are the receiver. There is no merit in receiving; you wouldn’t brag about receiving would you?

Preachers are telling people to accept Jesus as their Saviour and be saved. According to the Scriptures, that is not true. You have to surrender to Jesus as your Lord, and as your Lord He saves you by establishing His blessed rule in your life. We must give God the glory. Salvation is of the Lord. We are to say, “I am a Christian because God saved me. All I did was to benefit; He shed His blood to make atonement for my sins; He did all the giving, all I could do was to receive.” ~Rolf Barnard.

In Whom I Am Well Pleased

Jay — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 01:09:41 +0000

“… and behold, a voice out of heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17

Oh the grace of our God! Not only did God demonstrate His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ came and died for us but even here at the baptism of our sin Substitute God graciously offer words of grace and comfort to the ears that will hear. I agree with Martin Luther that these words of Scripture and the spoken words of God from heaven were not for the benefit of Christ. Christ needed no encouragement of His sonship – that has been a reality for all eternity and forever will be. There is no doubt that these glorious words are for those who heard and for us today to remind us and assure us of glorious truths.

God is pleased in Himself. Only His righteousness can satisfy His holy requirements. Because of His perfect holiness, anything less than His righteousness demands punishment for it falls short of the His glory. Perfect righteousness is the requirement for God – nothing less. Oh to hear the sweet words from heaven that there in that water is God in the flesh – very God in whom the Father is well pleased. There is no spot or blemish in Jesus Christ.

To be married with Christ – to be found in Him through repentance and faith allows our hearts to hear the same words from the Father. That through the miracle of regeneration and adoption into the kingdom through Christ we are seen by God as having His absolute perfect righteousness. A true believer can also share in the heavenly herald of “in whom I am well pleased” because of that glorious union with Christ. The believer becomes and will always be well pleasing to the Father only because of the glorious imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. For “He made Him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf so that we may have the righteousness of God in Him”. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Oh to rejoice in the glorious doctrinal truths of Scripture! Do we truly take the time to simply meditate on the glorious truth that “God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son”? A world that hates God and covered with sin. And when we come to the reality that one sin against God is infinitely worse than all worldly tragedies combined the magnitude of Christ choosing to come to save His bride is astounding. Isn’t it time we truly put amazing back into grace?

Let us also treasure this great truth and realize that if we are in Christ, not one thing we do good or bad changes are legal standing with God. Our performance (or lack thereof) has nothing to do with our justification. Christ and His performance has everything to do with our justification. What an amazing truth. And when we rightly understand this grace we will seek to live for Christ and seek to mortify sin all the more. For “how shall we who have died to sin continue to live in it?”

May we rejoice that in Christ we are safe and secure. The cross is truly the “double cure” as the hymn writer sings. Christ’s life, death, resurrection and ascension not only save us from the penalty of sin, which is God’s wrath and eternal damnation, but also from the power of sin – a changed life being progressively sanctified to be made more and more into the image of the very One who saved us. Because of Christ, and all because of Christ God is well pleased. There is peace between God and man all because of the merit of the Lamb who was worthy to be slain.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Bible Minute: Part of the Family

Jay — Wed, 04 May 2011 00:58:02 +0000

The Bible Minute is a short audio program featuring a Bible topic each week.

This week’s topic focuses on just how significant it is when believers address one another as brother and sister. We’ll look at why that is theologically significant and how that should impact the lives of believers. The Scripture reference is 1 John 3:1.

Listen to this week’s episode.

For the Lord is Good

Jay — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 13:21:34 +0000

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves: we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations. Psalm 100