“[The apostle Paul] exhibits the two great counterparts of sin and righteousness as equal realities – the one as the world’s ruin, the other as its restoration. The one is a completed fact as well as the other. They are the only two great events or facts in the world’s history, and they confront each other.”

George Smeaton – Nineteenth-Century theologian

One of my favorite books that I have ever read on the Christian Life is “The Discipline of Grace” by Jerry Bridges. One of these days I need to sit down and do a book review explaining why I think this book is so good and helpful. As I am reading through this book for the fourth time, I am doing a book study with a friend, I was really struck by this quote. I think this really gives some very practical advise on how to live by the gospel.

To live by the gospel, then, means that we firmly grasp the fact that Christ’s life and death are ours by virtue of our union with Him. What He did, we did. This is the only sense in which we can understand Paul’s bold statements in Romans 8: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1); “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31); and “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies” (Romans 8:33).

These statements by Paul are objective truths; that is, they are truth whether we grasp them or not. So often, however, we find it difficult to believe them. Because of our frequent failures before God, we do feel under condemnation, we do not feel God is for us but rather must surely be against us, we do think He is bringing charges against us. At such times we must preach the gospel to ourselves. We must review what God has declared to be true about our justification in Christ.

Justification is a completed work as far as God is concerned. The penalty has been paid and His justice has been satisfied. But it must be received through faith and must be continually renewed in our souls and applied to our consciences everyday through faith. There are two “courts” we must deal with: the court of God in Heaven and the court of conscience in our souls. When we trust in Christ for salvation, God’s court is forever satisfied. Never again will a charge of guilt be brought against us in Heaven. Our consciences, however are continually pronouncing us guilty. That is the function of the conscience. There we must by faith bring the verdict of conscience into line with the verdict of Heaven. We do this by agreeing with our conscience about our guilt. but then reminding it that our guilt has already been borne by Christ.

(Jerry Bridges; Discipline of Grace; page 54)

On Wednesday night in our prayer challenge we were challenged with some verses out of Hosea. One of the verses that caught my eye (not the verse which we were being challenged with) was the first part of this verse:
“The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; I will change their glory into shame.” (Hosea 4:7 ESV).

Israel at this time had grown in number, riches and prosperity. The more that God allowed them to increase the more they sinned against him.

Contrast that to what John the Baptist said:
“He must increase, but I must decrease.”” (John 3:30 ESV)

I wonder if John the Baptist was thinking of this verse in Hosea when he said this to his disciples about Jesus.

One more reason on the importance of humility.

Anyone who has been in my “room” knows I have several verses up on my wall. Last night I read about Jeremiah 5:22 and this morning on my wall I saw Isaiah 41:10

“Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me?” (Jeremiah 5:22 ESV)

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10 ESV)

Fear and worry is one of those things that comes with depression and probably a consequence of the lifestyle I lived and most likely a consequence of life in general. Fear is certainly not a pleasant thing and the bible in general tells us very explicitly not to fear.

Doing a word search in the ESV for the words “Do not fear” it comes up with 37 hits in 35 verses.

Gen 35:17; Gen 50:19, 21; Ex 20:20; Num 14:9; Num 21:34; Deut 1:21; Deut 3:2; Deut 20:3; Deut 31:6, 8; Josh 8:1; Josh 10:8; Judg 6:23; Ruth 3:11; 1 Sam 23:17; 2 Sam 9:7; 2 Sam 13:28; 1 Kings 17:13; 2 Kings 17:34; Psa 55:19; Isa 7:4; Isa 8:12; Isa 57:11; Jer 42:11; Lam 3:57; Hos 10:3; Mal 3:5; Matt 1:20; Matt 10:28; Mark 5:36; Luke 8:50; Luke 12:4; 1 Pet 3:6; Rev 2:10

“Fear Not” comes up 33 more times.
Gen 15:1; Gen 21:17; Gen 26:24; Ex 14:13; 1 Chr 22:13; Isa 35:4; Isa 40:9; Isa 41:10, 13-14; Isa 43:1, 5; Isa 44:2, 8; Isa 51:7; Isa 54:4; Jer 30:10; Jer 46:27-28; Dan 10:12, Dan 19; Joel 2:21-22; Zeph 3:16; Hag 2:5; Zech 8:13, 15; Matt 10:31; Luke 2:10; Luke 12:7, 32; John 12:15; Rev 1:17

Stand Firm a dozen more times
Ex 14:13; 2 Chr 20:17; Psa 89:28; Isa 46:8; Dan 11:32; 1 Cor 16:13; 2 Cor 1:24; Gal 5:1; Eph 6:13; Phil 4:1; 2 Th 2:15; 1 Pet 5:12

Do not be anxious 8 times
Matt 6:25, 31, 34; Matt 10:19; Mark 13:11; Luke 12:11, 22; Phil 4:6

It is interesting to me that close to a hundred times the Bible tells us not to fear about our lives. And yet most of us spend all our time fearing and worrying about all the things we are not suppose to fear. When we worry or fear we are not trusting God. Though there is ONE thing we are suppose to fear and that is God himself.

Fear the Lord 34 times
Ex 9:30; Deut 6:2, 24; Deut 10:12, 20; Deut 14:23; Deut 17:19; Deut 31:12-13; Josh 4:24; Josh 24:14; 1 Sam 12:14, 24; 2 Kings 17:25, 28, 34, 36, 39; Psa 15:4; Psa 22:23; Psa 27:1; Psa 33:8; Psa 34:9; Psa 115:11, 13; Psa 118:4; Psa 135:20; Prov 3:7; Prov 24:21; Jer 5:24; Jer 26:19; Hos 10:3; Amos 3:8; Jonah 1:9

Fear of the Lord 27 times
2 Chr 14:14; 2 Chr 17:10; 2 Chr 19:7, 9; Job 28:28; Psa 19:9; Psa 34:11; Psa 111:10; Prov 1:7, 29; Prov 2:5; Prov 8:13; Prov 9:10; Prov 10:27; Prov 14:26-27; Prov 15:16, 33; Prov 16:6; Prov 19:23; Prov 22:4; Prov 23:17; Isa 11:2-3; Isa 33:6; Acts 9:31; 2 Cor 5:11

In a simple search of the Bible it tells us to fear the Lord as many times as it says not to fear anything else. Maybe we need to take some time and fear and give reverence, honor and glory to the Lord instead of worrying and having fear for the world.

Quoting from the New International Encyclopedia of Bible Words.
Fear of the Lord. This religious fear, or awe, is God’s answer to the ordinary fears that master human beings.
Such fear is reverence for God. We who fear God recognize him as the ultimate reality, and we respond to him. Fear of God is called the “beginning of knowledge” (Pr 1:7), meaning that taking God into account is the foundation of a disciplined and holy life (Pr 1:3; cf. Ge 20:11; Ps 36:1-4). To fear God means to reject every competing deity and to serve him only (Dt 6:13). Fear of the Lord is expressed by walking in all his ways, by loving him, and by serving him with all our heart and soul (Dt 10:12; Job 1:1; Ps 128:1).
While fear of God is closely linked with morality and with obedience to God’s commands, it is also freeing. To fear God means to recognize him as Creator and to know that his plans stand firm forever (Ps 33:8-11). God has a special concern for all who fear him (vv. 18-19; cf. Ps 31:19; 34:9). Thus those who fear God can say with the psalmist, “We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you” (Ps 33:20-22).

Maybe it is time we realign our fears to focus on the one biblically correct fear. What tricks do you use to deal with your fears of the world and help you to realign them to focus on God?

Last night I wrote a blog entry that I am pretty sure no one really understood. Well that is okay. I can live with that. Most people don’t understand what I am thinking about anyway…

The point of yesterdays blog is that EVERYTHING God does is of such a huge scope that it should blow us away. I think most of us understand how bad the wrath and disapproval of sin and where that is going to lead. But do we understand the greatness of God’s love for us?

The love that God has for us is of a scope beyond our comprehension. For someone like me, who is only beginning to learn to love, learning to know what it means to be loved by friends and church family, that is scary enough as it is. All of our attempts to love each other combined in comparison to His is like a thimble full of love in comparison to His Universe full of Love which is lavished upon us (1John 3:1 ESV; I like the NIV version better) undeserved rebellious people who deserves the worst of punishments. We love, both God and others because God loved us first (1John 4:19 ESV). God’s love is as intimate as a loving father (Romans 8:15 and Hebrews 12:7,8,11) and big enough to save the world, not only the world today, but those 2000 years ago and into the future until Christ comes again (John 3:16-17)

I hope that we never become jaded enough where we the Love of God becomes a ho-hum experience. I hope we all, those that are still experiencing the newness and those who have grown up being loved by family, church and God, are still blown away at how incomprehensible God’s love for us is. I pray that when people think about God’s love, that it is not just a nice little reminder, but that it is a knee dropping, take your breath away, God praising experience.

Please tell me what part of God’s love takes your breath away and drops you to your knees in praise to God.

This last Sunday Pastor Craig preached a sermon called “From Death to Life“ (I am a little disappointed I have not seen any increase of traffic to my website because of his sermon). The text he was preaching from was 1 Peter 4:1-6. His main points was ”Arm yourself with the intention to suffer, understanding that it is inevitable. To do so is to make a decisive break with sin, imitating the thinking of Christ“.

He asked and answered several questions in this sermon such as:

What is the way of thinking we are to imitate Christ in regards to suffering?

1. Christ accepted suffering as part of being in the flesh.
2. Christ accepted suffering as the consequence of holiness.
3. Christ accepted suffering as doing the will of God.

He asked another question which was very pragmatic. He asked ”Why does it have to work this way?“ Why do we as Christians have to suffer, why is suffering inevitable for Christians?

Paraphrasing Pastor Craig’s answer (even typing on my computer I am not fast enough to keep up with him), he said ”When holiness touches a fallen world there is a violent reaction, there is push back, there are sparks of friction.” They are polar opposites.

With that answer is it at all surprising when Holiness personified (Jesus) touched the world that people reacted the way they did? Jesus was hated by the world but He was never polluted or stained by it.

So again why do we suffer (stealing from my notes again)?

• We suffer because we choose God’s will and we inherit suffering.
• We suffer because human beings hate holiness unless we embrace holiness

If we have been called (Romans 8:30) and we have chosen to follow God’s will, we will be transformed from the depraved lawless idolaters (1 Peter 4:2) to being holy and blameless, conformed into the image of his son (Colossians 1:22; Romans 8:29). The metaphors that describe this process in the bible is anything but fluffy bunnies, comfort and ease.

God knitted us together in the womb to make us the way he wanted us (Psalm 139:13-14). He once again takes up His tools to reshape and transform us into a holy image of His Son. One of His tools of choice is our suffering. God orchestrates our suffering to transform us as the master potter uses a clay knife and potter’s wheel (Isaiah 64:8) or as a metal smith uses a a refiner’s fire (Malachi 3:2-3) or furnace and files to forge and shape metal. (See Proverbs 17:3; Isaiah 48:10; 1 Peter 1:6-7; Titus 2:14)

God uses suffering to purify us from the world. Unlike Jesus we do get polluted and stained by the world. God needs to scrape, file and burn off the sludge of our sin and worldliness. That process hurts. We were born of the world and have always lived within it. Now God is scraping the worldly and sinful things that we have come to depend upon to replace it with His holiness, grace and love.

As God continues to work on me I am beginning to understand why both Peter and Paul see their suffering as a gift and are able to rejoice in it.

Thank you Lord for letting me suffer through my depression and bringing me from death to life. I pray that you continue to teach us all how to trust you especially in our suffering.

John Piper’s response to our President in regards to abortion.
I respect how Piper respects the man and vehemently disagrees with him on abortion.

God put Barak Obama as our president for a reason. A man who we disagree with in a lot of ways. One of our challenges is to learn to respond to him in a God honoring way.

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.”
(Romans 13:1-2 ESVS)

After constant badgering and a lot of peer pressure… Okay after one pretty well thought out comment, I have decided to do the “in thing” and work on memorizing 1Peter with some of the men at PLBC.

I have several reasons why I capitulated to the demands of my peers.

• PLBC is preaching through 1Peter. It may help me understand and maximize the preaching on Sunday morning better.
• I have always struggled with Peter’s writing. I seem to be able to work through Paul’s writing.
• My pastor has reminded me that by memorizing extended text it will allow me to meditate on the text. Something which I struggle to do.
• Pastor Craig said so, and I always do what he says.

Knowing that verse memorization is important, I struggled on what I should spend my time memorizing.

I have decided that I am going to focus my memorization on the Fighter Verses from Desiring God.

Since I do not have a lot of Bible experience, I think it will be good for me to memorize verses from assorted places in the Bible, verses one long passage. In time I will want to do some long passages such as Romans 8, but for now my focus will be on the Fighter Verses.

Barak Obama today has been sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. The roles have changed, the media who spent the last eight years hating the presidency and looking for every excuse to slander President Bush, begins their love fest in earnest with President Obama.

What is a Christian to do? We are angry, we are frustrated and we are concerned. It has already begun, I’ve watched my friends get more and more engrossed in watching and criticizing everything Barak Obama does. Are we going to spew the same hatred, vileness and vitriol that was spewed at us? Are we to become like those who hated us? Is it time for our revenge, to get back at those who hate us?

Right now I am sure many Christians want to question God about what is going on. Why is this man president? Someone who seems to disagree with many of the things that God cares about. Why is this man so successful, why did this man win the election?

I imagine the answer that we might get is the same answer that Peter got, when he questioned Jesus about what is going to happen with the beloved disciple John.

“When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!””
(John 21:21-22 ESV)

So what about this man Barak Obama, if God wills him to be President, what are we suppose to do? We are to do what we always are suppose to do, and that is to follow Jesus.

We have a choice, we can either obsess over everything President Obama does, get angry, get frustrated and become fruitless. Or we can continue to do what God has commanded us to do.

The Jews were looking for a powerful political messiah, the same as people today. Jesus refused to involve himself in the politics of the day because his mission was much more important. The Jews wanted to be saved from the Romans. Jesus saved us from ourselves, our sins, death and the wrath of God.

From the little I know of the New testament, neither Jesus nor the other New Testament writers often criticized or disrespected the governments that were in place. I think the story i below helps us understand how His focus was never to save us from the government, but we are to respect it.

“Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances.Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites?Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius.And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?”They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.”
(Matthew 22:15-22 ESV)

In fact his respect for the government authority placed by God took Jesus right to the cross (John 18:33-36 ESV)

Okay so what do we do?

1. Decide that our focus is on the ONE TRUE MESSIAH, we follow Jesus Christ.
2. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.This is the great and first commandment.And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.””(Matthew 22:37-40 ESV)
3. Love your enemies and pray for them. We cannot become like many on the left became. (Matthew 5:43-44)
4. Remember that there is going to be people who hate us not only because we maybe conservative or republicans, but most of all because we are Christian (Mark 13:13 and John 15:18)
5. Remember we are being watched and the way we act reflects on Jesus Christ. See these posts: They Are Watching… and The Day After…
6. We realize that the field are white for harvest and we go out and make disciples (John 4:35 and Matt 28:19-20)
7. Barak Obama is “preaching” about unity, love, charity, and sacrifice as if they are new ideas. Take those openings and teach people about where those ideas came from, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We are exiles here in the United States of America, our ultimate authority is not the government of the United States. We don’t necessarily have to like our new president, but we have to remember it is our responsibility to do everything to honor and glorify God.

P.S. I definitely am not saying that we cannot question see this blog post by John Piper.