Promises of Sin vs. Promises of Christ Part 3

What about pride?

Growing in the gospel includes fighting for a sense of true confidence. Pride says trust in your accomplishments, your awards, your approval for worth. Pride says you should have confidence based on your performance.

The gospel says that your confidence should come from the performance of another (Jesus). The gospel says your pride shouldn't be in yourself, your moral record, your job performance, your financial security, etc....Rather, your pride should be in the cross. Your only boast should be in the cross. The gospel says our sufficiency comes from Christ, and Christ alone.

"Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 

Not that we are sufficient ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, 

but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient." 2 Corinthians 3: 4-6

*Much of this is taken from Jonathan Dodson's "Gospel-Centered Discipleship"

The Promises of Sin vs. The Promises of Christ

At the heart of sin is attempting to put something in the place of God. Let's take the example of sexual lust. According to Jesus, sexual lust is clearly a sin, 

"But I say to you that everyone who looks at a women with lustful intent

has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Matthew 5:28

A common misconception of both Christians and non-Christians alike is to assume that sexual lust is a sin because sex is bad in itself. This couldn't be further from the truth. Sexual lust is a sin because it is taking something that God made for our good, and perverting it. Sexual lust is a sin because it is looking to find our ultimate need for intimacy in sex. It is trusting in sex to fill a void only God was meant to fill. 

Sexual lust promises a false intimacy. Lust says, "Long for what you cannot have and you will be happy."

The gospel promises true intimacy. The gospel says, "Rejoice in what you do have in Jesus, and you will be happy."

Our desire for intimacy is not wrong. But, it becomes sin when we look to fill this need with something other than God. Jonathan Dodson points out in his book, "Gospel Centered Discipleship" that we need to continually remind ourselves of the false promises of sin verse the true promises of Christ. Lust will never satisfy. It leaves us feeling empty and craving more. It never truly quenches. Jesus truly satisfies. He delivers on his promises. 

*much of the above was taken from Jonathan Dodson's, "Gospel-Centered Discipleship."

Sex, Marriage, and Fairytales

Jefferson Bethke with a spoken word on sex, marriage and fairytales.

I Will.....

  “Now therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.  I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them.  I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.  I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul."

Jeremiah 32:36-41

The marvelous news is that God has done all of this through Jesus Christ. What a promise! What a Savior! I am simply overwhelmed to be a part of this story; that God has pursued myself (along with all His people) with his whole heart and soul, and has brought me back unto himself. I want to spend my entire life mining the riches of this beautiful gospel. 

Assurance: Objectivity, Promise and Holy Spirit

The following texts are from Christopher J.H. Wright's Salvation Belongs to Our God. It is a short and clear outline of redemptive history, and the story of God's covenant with His people. His section on the assurance of salvation really gripped me, and taught me a lot. He outlines this section as follows.

Assurance comes from...
1. The Objectivity of the Story
2. The Promises of God
3. The Witness and Work of the Holy Spirit

....

The Objectivity of the Story

1. "Salvation is not something we ourselves do, feel, think, wish or achieve. If it were, then we might rightly doubt whether we have done enough to be sure of being saved. Or we might worry that we don't feel saved. But the Bible makes it clear that salvation is something that God has accomplished. That means our salvation is grounded in the objectivity of the story. By objectivity, I mean something that stands outside and independent of ourselves...So assurance of salvation comes not from trusting in my own faith for its own sake, but rather from trusting in the object of my faith - what God has actually done to make my salvation possible."

The Promises of God

2. Hebrews 6: 13-20 "For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."

"And you notice how the writer of Hebrews makes the example of Abraham relevant to us by saying at the end of the passage that we too can have the same rock-solid security in our faith because of the character and promise of God."

Romans 8: 28-30 "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."

The Witness and Work of the Holy Spirit

3. "Is there not also a profoundly personal, internal, emotional and spiritual experience of salvation? Am I not actually supposed to feel saved? And of course the answer is a resounding and joyful 'YES'!...Then, once we have come into that new relationship with God through Christ, it is the Holy Spirit who bears witness within our own minds and hearts that it has indeed happened - that we have indeed been born again and have become children of God. God has made us sons and heirs, objectively. But it is the Spirit who gives us the inner assurance that it is indeed so, and our life of prayer, in which we call God 'Abba Father', as Jesus did, confirms that relationship."

Romans 8: 15-17 "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."

"So, another aspect of our assurance of salvation comes from the way our lives are being changed more and more into the image of Christ, through the work of the Holy Spirit. As we begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit, and to exercise the gifts of the Spirit, and to 'walk in the Spirit', then we grow in our assurance of salvation because the evidence of that salvation at work within us is being seen in our lives."

The Promises Of God Are Our Foundation

"Our relationship with God should not be defined by our feelings about ourselves at any one moment, but by the eternal promises of God that we know throughout every moment."

-Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

….

I often fall into a deceiving and foundationless mindset when I awake in the morning. I am burdened by the "daily doing" that lies ahead of me. My attitude and mood can be entirely dependent on my moral successes and failures of the previous day. I can be filled with so much unrest. I lose sight of where I truly stand with God, and seem to forget the joy of my salvation in the gospel.

But, I am brought back to peace when the scripture is spoken to me. God's word empowers me to believe in someone outside of myself, Christ Jesus. When you look at the person of Jesus, his life, death and resurrection, you begin to see He is the only answer to yourself. His life is the only explicable and powerful being that can deal with me. May we stay reminded that the Bible's truths are personal. They are corporate. They are defining. They are applicable. They are unchanging, and they are transcendent through all of time. If we embrace each and every moment in light of the truth of the Bible, I believe we will see more and more how they prove to be true!

Alienated Enemies

"For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in yours minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation"

Colossians 1:19-22

These verses reveal such a great deal about the Biblical story as a whole.

First, in verse 19, we get a glimpse of the cosmic scope of redemption. God is reconciling ALL things to himself, whether things on earth or in heaven. If we recall, God is the creator of all. He is sovereign over all. All of creation displays His glory and His greatness. In the beginning, God created the earth, the heavens, day and night, the land and sea, plants and animals. They were all good. Lastly, He created man. Although God loves His creation, and His creation was 'good', man had a special place in God's heart. To reflect His very presence on His created earth, God made man in His own image. How amazing is that? We were created in His likeness. We were created with a special capacity, to know and be intimate with our creator. We were created with a special capacity to reflect His glory, to love and be loved. We walked with God in harmony. We were created to be the caretakers of His creation, to mediate His presence. It was very good.

Secondly, these verses present the magnitude of the fall. While God's creation was good, and He so freely and lovingly made man in His own image, and graciously walked with man in utter harmony, Man rebelled. Man turned. But, the fall of man didn't just effect one man (Adam), it effected the entire creation. The Woman (Eve) would experience pain in child bearing. The ground was cursed, and Adam's work would bring him pain and toil. Harmony was broken between Man and God, between Man and Woman (relationships), between Man and earth (nature). That is why 'ALL' things are to be reconciled. Not just individual souls. The Gospel is about God bringing about a complete restoration or reconciliation to 'ALL' things. God redeeming a people for himself is the center of this complete restoration.

It is important to notice the words Paul uses to describe our previous fallen state. He says that we were 'alienated' and 'enemies'. When Paul says 'enemies' he isn't merely stating a passive disruptance between us and God. It is not 'God hated you', where we have passively received this conflict. Rather, we are actively enemies. The fall shows our rebellion. It is us turning our backs on God, not God turning His back on us. We are actively hostile towards God. It has been that way from the beginning. The Bible tells one story, where time after time, this theme of restoration is found. I'll probably make another quick post in a few days trying to show how, from since creation, to the fall, God through various covenants has been bringing about the restoration, or re-creation of His original good creation.

Thirdly, this passage shows the magnificent means by which peace is reestablished. Given that we have openly rebelled against God, and whether we think so or not, have declared in our hearts our autonomous hostility towards God, it is amazing to think that God would even try to win us back. But that is why the Gospel is so amazing. We play the part of the undeserving. The Bible tells time and time again, of God begging His people to turn back to him, to believe unto Him, to follow his guidelines. Yet, just like in the garden, when God told Adam not to eat the fruit, we repeatedly choose to disobey, we repeatedly choose to rebel. This is open hostility.

But, along the way, God promises us something unbelievable. He says,

³¹ "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ³²not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. ³³ But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

God promises to make a way to re establish peace. It will come through a new and better covenant. Whereas before, God's people, Israel, repeatedly broke the covenant, God says in the new covenant, He will put His law on our hearts, and that they will truly be His people again. He will forgive their iniquity and forget their sins. This is the Gospel. From the beginning, God had a marvelous plan to restore His people once and for all. Jesus was the answer. The Son came to earth, and lived the perfect life, and died the death in order to forgive our sins. He died the only death that could possible bring peace. More so, God gives His Spirit to His people, so that they are continually transformed. The law of God no longer condemns us, but is written on our hearts. This is reason to praise God. Though I was in constant rebellion, constant hatred towards God, though I never upheld my end of the bargain, though I was unfaithful to my call to bear God's image, Jesus died to reconcile me. I was at war with Him, yet He crossed enemy lines and took the sting of death, so that there would be peace. Praise be to God!

The Robe of Christ's Righteousness

I have no robe to bring to cover my sins,
no loom to weave my own righteousness;
I am always standing clothed in filthy garments,
and by grace am always receiving change of raiment,
for thou dost always justify the ungodly;
I am always going into the far country,
and always returning home as a prodigal,
always saying, Father, forgive me,
and thou art always bringing forth the best robe.
Every morning let me wear it,
every evening let me return in it,
go out to the day's work in it,
be married in it,
be wound in death in it,
stand before the great white throne in it,
enter heaven in it shining as the sun.

- Valley of Vision: Puritan Prayers and Devotions

Great is Thy Faithfulness

The following comes from Finding Peace in Life's Storms by Charles Spurgeon...

"If you have been sailing on the great waters of life for any length of time, you must be well aware that if it were not for everlasting truths, which continue to hold you securely, your spirit would quickly have been thrown into everlasting darkness long ago, and the proud waters would have gone over your soul long before this. When the mighty waves rose, it must have seemed to you as if your poor boat had gone down to the bottom of the sea, and if it had not been for the unchanging love and immovable faithfulness of God, your heart would have utterly failed. Nevertheless, here you are today, convoyed by grace, provisioned by mercy, steered by heavenly wisdom, and propelled by the Spirit's power. Thanks to the anchor, or rather to the God who gave it to you, no storm has overwhelmed you. Your ship is under way for the port of glory."