The Longing Finally Fulfilled

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The Longing Finally Fulfilled

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11–13, ESV)

Out of the abundance of His own joy, beauty, and glory God has created all things. His creatures/creation all reflect, and in some sense, participate, in His glory. God has hidden himself in all the joy and beauty that He has made.  We can see Him, sense and experience Him in all that is fair.  

Mankind was made in the image of God as the crowning achievement of all that He had made. God created us with sensors to know Him and to recognize and enjoy all the expressions of his glory, even those glimpses found in the created order.  He has placed eternity in our hearts!  We long for God as we see the various manifestations of his glory all around us.

Yet, we are fallen creatures, partially blinded, and were unceremoniously escorted out of the Garden of God’s delights.  Now, we cannot find out what God has done.  We long for Him, for beauty, for glory; we can taste it and even glimpse it from a distance but it never fully satisfies.  We long for home but we do not know the way. We have lost the map.

CS Lewis calls this longing, Sehnsucht. This German word roughly modified means “the sense of deep, inconsolable longing, yearning, the feeling of intensely missing something when we don’t even know what it is” (Jennifer Neyhart).  From Till we Have Faces, “it almost hurt me … like a bird in a cage when the other birds of its kind are flying home … to find the place where all the beauty came from – my country, the place where I ought to have been born. The longing for home.”

We all have this longing for home, for joy, for satisfaction, for fulfillment.  We try to slake this hunger with other created things; fame, wealth, physical pleasure, etc. but they never satisfy.

CS Lewis in speaking of meaning and joy of his short marriage wrote, “Are no all lifelong friendships born at the moment when at last you meet another human being who had some inkling (but faint and uncertain even in the best) of that something which you were born desiring, and which, beneath the flux of other desires and in all the momentary silences between the louder passions, night and day, year after year, from childhood to old age, you are looking for, watching for, listening for? You have never had it. All the things that have ever deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of it – tantalizing glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear.  But if it should really become manifest- if there ever came an echo that did not die away but swelled into the sound itself – you would know it. Beyond all possibility of doubt you would say “Here at last is the thing I was made for.””

Later, speaking of this longing for home, Lewis wrote, “About death I go through different moods, but the times when I can desire it are never, I think, those when this world seems harshest. On the contrary, it is just when there seems to be most of Heaven already here that I come nearest to longing for a patria. It is the bright frontispiece which whets one to read the story itself. All joy (as distinct from mere pleasure, still more amusement) emphasizes our pilgrim status; always reminds, beckons, awakens desire. Our best havings are wantings.”

Only God himself, his essential glory, can satisfy this longing. The glory that God has placed in the created order are hints, dim reflections, or better, foretastes of the satisfaction that we can only find in God. “Our hearts are restless, until they can rest in you.” (Augustine)

So, the preacher concludes, it is good for us to enjoy the foretastes, the hints of that glory, but not to rest in them short of the God who gave them. “I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.” 

So, enjoy the gifts of God that he has placed in the created order but follow the gifts to the great Giver, and find your rest in Him.  “The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us is we trust to them; it was not in them, in only came through them, and what came through them was longing… For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never visited.” CS Lewis. “One day, soon, we will be home. “What are hearts seek and hunger after is the overwhelming joy of homecoming and reunion with a Beloved.” (Terry Lindval)

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world” (CS Lewis).  Death is not the end. It is The End! The goal, the purpose, the place where our longing hearts will be satisfied.  It is life, finally. It is home.The

Communion Meditation December 2020

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This is a family table.  All of God’s children are welcome here. 

If you are a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ as he is offered to all in the gospel; you are welcome to this table.

If you do not know the Lord, if you have not placed your faith in him alone for forgiveness; do not come to this table.

We are the adopted children of God.

Here we are reminded that all that belongs to the real, natural son, belongs to them as well.

We are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, through faith.

Many parents have adopted children into their family.  They often make that happen with great sacrifice, and it is pursued out of great love.  With every added child, the love of the whole family increases.

When they become part of the family, officially full sons and daughters, they often struggle to accept the fact that they are full members of the family; that they are included, loved, and will continue to be loved no matter what the future brings – just like the natural children.

They seem to emphasis the ‘adopted’ part of adopted children.  They fell like second class children, not full accepted, not equally loved.  Nothing pains the parents more than this struggle of their adopted children.

So, they continue to love them, accept them; speaking love to them, giving them tokens and reminders of their continuing love and acceptance.

In part, that is what God is doing in the Lord’s Supper.  He is reminding us that we are His children, with full rights and privileges as sons and daughters, yes, but also as fully loved and accepted as the natural son.

Romans 7:17 “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.”

“Provided we suffer with him.”

To be part of the family is to embrace the joys and the sorrow.  It is to live life together; even the tears and the suffering.

Perhaps nothing proves that you are part of a family than the fact that you feel what they feel, and suffer what they suffer.

So it is in the family of God.  We are family.  We bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. 

Colossians 1:24  Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ‘s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,

But notice also the end of Romans 7:17; “in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

We will be glorified with Christ.  The best is yet to come.  We will enter into his glory.

Matthew 25:34, “‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

Communion Meditation January 2021

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“And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”” (Luke 22:15–18, ESV)

The Lord’s Supper is an intensely personal meal.  It is a family meal.  It is by invitation only.  And the invitation goes out to all who believe; to all his disciples.  If you do not believe the gospel, do not come to this table.  If you are not a Christian, do not come to this table.

Jesus earnestly desired to have the last Passover with his disciples.  He was nearing the end of his painful mission. All was about to change.  Passover would become the Lord’s Supper, the work of Christ would be fulfilled, and the Kingdom were come in a new and powerful way.

Jesus takes an oath of self-denial until it is accomplished.  “I will not eat,” “I will not drink, until…”  This declares his steadfast commitment to finish his work and to complete their redemption. In other words, to fulfill the meaning of Passover and the Lord’s Supper.  To shed his blood to save their souls. “Having loved his own, who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1).

Jesus here proclaims his steadfast commitment to go to the cross and to fulfill his calling from the Father.

“Until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”  “Until the Kingdom of God comes.”  When did that happen?

In his incarnation, in his death and resurrection it came.  It began.  It was initiated.

In the end it will come in fulness.  It will be completed to the uttermost.

The kingdom is here already, but not yet in its fulness.

The blessings of the kingdom are present now, they are accessible, but not yet complete.  

The day awaits when the full multitude, from every tribe, tongue and nation will come to Christ.

This is a supper that we can enjoy today, and in its fullness then. The marriage supper of the Lamb is coming.  Here is a foretaste; an anticipation.

The Kingdom is here, and the kingdom is coming.

We look back, we remember, the finished work of Christ – his shed blood and his resurrection.  The Kingdom is here!  Jesus reigns now!  

October 2020 Communion Meditation

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The Lord’s Supper is a foretaste of the wedding feast of the Lamb.  It is an invitation to the heavenly banquet. To participate in the sacrament is to receive the blessings of the eternal kingdom of Christ.

Every blessing of the Covenant is received, embraced, and enjoyed by faith.  Faith is essential.  If you have faith, even weak faith, faith as small as a mustard seed, come to the table.

If you have no faith, if you do not believe, coming to this table will only bring judgment.  Don’t come.

What are the blessings that are received by faith at the table?

First, pardon for sin, all of them.

Second,  sanctification for sinner-saints.

Here, in this means of grace, the Holy Spirit sanctifies our nature, subdues our sins, and implants in our hearts gospel grace. Here we have access to the favor of God.

Third, communion with God.

What is this sweet communion with God; what does it entail?

According to Samuel Davies, in the Supper, there are “reviving communications of divine love, to sweeten the affections of life; and the constant assistance of divine grace to bear us up under every burden, and to enable us to persevere in the midst of many temptations.”

Fourth, rededication. At the Lord’s Supper, we receive Christ as Savior and accept the gospel. Here, we commit ourselves to Christ; here we renew our vows of the covenant and and recommit to the covenant community.

When we receive the Supper, we are brought into the presence of our Great King and we celebrate the reality that we, who were outsiders, have now been brought into the family of God.

As you come, remember Jesus. Remember his willing sacrifice.  Remember the spotless lamb of God whose blood cleanses you.

The bread is the body of Christ, freely given for you and your salvation.

The wine is the blood of Christ, shed for the forgiveness of your sins.

All things are now ready, come.

November 2020 Communion Meditation

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Coming home. The whole of redemptive history can be summarized with this theme of coming home. You can be yourself in the presence of a holy God.

We were created by God to know him, to enjoy him, to image him in all the world.  We were welcome guests at his table of creation in the garden of Eden.

Yet, we sinned.  Our sins drove us from the presence of God. They drove us from our home with God.  Our created purpose, to be at home with God, was placed out of our reach.

We longed for home, but could not go home.

We looked for a place where we could be with God. Something to fill the empty place in our heart that waw left by the absence of God.

Then God came to us. He spoke to us.  He entered a covenant with us.  “I will be your God, and you shall be my people.”

“When you worship, I shall be there.”  You can taste home in worship. You can reach it from there.

He then gave us the tabernacle, then the temple. God and man can meet together there. Heaven and earth come together there, they overlap in that place. It is the family gathering.

Then we forgot; again.  We rested in the temple, not in the God who met with us there.  So our sins drove us from home again – into exile this time.

But there was a promise of coming home again.  God would provide a way.  God would sen d his Son, the seed of the woman, to reconcile us to God, and bring us home again.

And so he did. The blood was shed, the tomb was empty, and the front door stands wide open for our return.

Today, in communion, we come home.  We are at home with God.  We dine at his table, with the whole family.  We are ourselves in the presence of God, again.  We are home, again.  We can taste home from here.

The one requirement is simply this; that you rest in and trust the God who has spread this table.  The God who has fulfilled his promise and reconciled us to himself.  The God was has invited us home through faith in Jesus Christ.

If you do not have that faith; don’t come to this table.

If you have that faith, come.  Come boldly, come joyfully, come just as you are.  Be yourself in the presence of God.  Here, at this table in the midst of worship, heaven and earth overlap.  You are in the presence of God again, you are home.

A Father-Son Baptism Dialogue

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A Father-Son Baptism Dialogue

Let’s listen in on a Covenant Keeping Father tucking his 10 year old son in for the night.

Come on sport it is time for bed. Mom will be home late from Bible study.

Ah Dad, can’t I watch the rest of the game, I want to see the Yankees lose, again.

It is only the seventh inning and you have school tomorrow. Get ready for bed and I will tuck you in in five minutes.

Yes Dad.

(I just love it when they say that. Five Minutes later in Junior’s bedroom.)

What is the score Dad?

Yankees are still down by 3 but they are rallying. So I am going to pray with you quickly and then watch the rest of the game.

But Dad, Mom always lets me ask one question before prayer and before bedtime.

Ok sport, one question.

Daddy, why did you baptize me?

Wow! That is a big question. Why don’t you ask Mom tomorrow night? Do you have another, easier, shorter question?

You don’t know do you.

Sure I know! How’s this; God told us to in the Bible.

You really don’t know do you?

Yes, I know, but it is a long and difficult answer and I would rather watch the game. Plus, you may not understand.

Try me, Dad; I am smarter than you think.

Ok, we baptized you because you are a member of the Covenant of Grace.

What is a covenant?

It is a relationship that God sets up with his people. In the covenant God requires faith and promises blessings.

Why am I a part of this covenant?

Do you remember when Spot had puppies? Yes. Spot is your dog, right? Yes. So, when Spot had puppies, to whom did the puppies belong? Me.

Right, now Mommy and Daddy belong to God and are in covenant with God and when we had puppies, they belonged to God.

But Dad, you and mommy have faith. I didn’t have faith when I was a baby, did I?

Maybe not, but you did not have to. You still belong to God and you are in covenant with him. You see, we baptized you not because you had something to say to God, (See God, I have faith) but because God had something to say to you (remember Junior, I am faithful.)

What did God say to me at Baptism?

God was saying, Junior, you belong to me, you are my child, and I promise to save you through faith and to give you all the blessings of being united to Jesus Christ.

What are the blessings of being united to Christ?

God promises to give new life to those who believe, that is regeneration, and forgive all their sins, and adopt them into the family of God and to raise them up at the last day.

Wow, God promises all of that in baptism?

Yes. And we receive every one of them by faith.

Dad, you know Jim Bob Billy Bob from school?

Yes, the bully.

Yea, he is so mean. He even swears. But he is baptized, does he get all that united to Christ stuff for free? Will I have to spend eternity in heaven with Jim Bob Billy Bob?

I don’t know son, does he believe the gospel?

I don’t know.

Why don’t you ask him?

It’s kind of hard to talk when you are chewing on a knuckle sandwich dad. But he is baptized, doesn’t that mean that he is saved?

No, son, not everyone who is baptized is saved. Only those who believe the gospel are saved.

So then, baptism doesn’t really mean anything then does it?

That is where many people get confused. Baptism means exactly what God intended. It is a sign and seal of the Covenant of Grace. Some people think that if it does not mean everything, that you are saved, that it can only mean nothing. It means a great deal. It means that we belong to God, that we are in a covenantal relationship with him and that God has promised to save us through faith. It means that we are under obligation to be children of God and walk by faith.

So there is a catch isn’t there. You have to believe in order for all this stuff to work.

Yes, faith is required to know the blessings of the Covenant. God demands that we believe in him. God promises blessings in the covenant, but he also places demands on us. In fact, my baptism still places me under obligation to walk with God in faith.

You said that Baptism is a sign and seal. What is a sign?

A sign is a picture of something. It points to where the real thing can be found. Like a Burger King sign. You don’t stop at a Burger King sign and expect it to give you a Whopper, but you follow the sign to the Burger King, and order there. The sign points to where the real thing can be found.

Baptism is a sign that points to Jesus; he is where salvation is found.

Dad, I know that there is water in Baptism, but is there enough for a seal?

It is not that kind of seal, son. A seal is a guarantee, or an assurance. God is guaranteeing that he will give Christ and all his benefits to those who believe in him.

I remember when I was courting your mother.

Oh yuck, you are not going to talk about kissing and where babies come from, are you Dad?

No, but you can ask your Mother tomorrow night where babies come from.

When I was courting your mother, I knew that I wanted to marry her. So, I went to the Jewelry Store and bought an engagement ring. I asked her to marry me that night and gave her the ring as a seal, a guarantee, that I would marry her if she said yes.

That is kind of what God says to us in baptism. He will unite us to Christ and forgive us our sins as we believe.

Daddy, will I go to heaven when I die?

I hope so son. You are in covenant with God, he has made promises to you, you belong to him. He has separated you from the world. We have prayed for you, we have taught you about God and the gospel and tried to live a Christian life before you.

It would be strange and disappointing for you not to be in heaven. You are baptized. But the real question is; do you believe the promise that God gave you at baptism that he will save those who believe in his Son?

Yes, I do, I believe that Jesus died for my sins; that he is my savior

Then you will be in heaven one day.

But Dad, sometimes I do really bad things.

I know son, so do I.

So, we can go to heaven even if we do bad things?

That is an awkward way of putting it, but yes. No one is perfect. We all still sin. That is why we still need to look back on our baptism. It reminds us of God’s promise that he will forgive all who trust in him for forgiveness. It is our assurance, our engagement ring from God. We know that we will be forgiven, because we believe and because God promised.

So your baptism is still working, right Dad?

Yes son. I am still walking in the grace offered in my baptism.

I still remember that God set me apart at birth to be his very own child.

I remember the promise that he made to me even before I could understand.

I remember that I am under obligation to walk by faith as a child of God.

I remember that my sins are forgiven by Christ through faith just as surely as water washes my body.

I remember that I am saved through faith alone.

So, when I am tempted to mess up and do bad things, I need to remember that I am baptized. That God is with me and will forgive me and help me?

That’s right son. You do not belong to the world, and not even to yourself. You belong to God.

Dad, I am going to have my kids baptized.

Why is that?

God told us to in the Bible.

That’s great son.

Dad.

Yes son.

Do I have to kiss my wife when I am married?

When the time comes, Junior, I think that you will probably want to.

Good night, son.

Who won the game Dad?

It doesn’t really matter. Goodnight son.

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To Understand Baptism, we must understand:

That the whole Bible is the Word of God, even the OT.

That Salvation comes from God, it is his free gift.

That God gives this free gift of salvation through the Covenant of Grace, which

finds its fulfillment in Jesus the Christ.

That the Covenant of Grace declares to us the good news that we are justified by

faith in Christ plus nothing. In order to be saved we must believe this

covenantal promise, the good news, the gospel.

That pursuing Godliness is a required delight in the Christian life.

Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.

Christians, disciples of Christ, must pursue godliness.

That godliness and baptism are profitable for all of life.

Just as the pursuit of godliness does not end, the effect of baptism does not end.

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Understanding our Great Salvation: (Part 5) Safe in God’s Hands

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Understanding our Great Salvation: (Part 5) Safe in God’s Hands

Can we lose our salvation? If salvation is entirely in the hands of God and we can add nothing to it, if salvation is based on Christ and him crucified plus nothing, if salvation is offered to us whole and complete on the basis of the work of Christ on the cross, then our salvation is not in our hands. We cannot lose it.

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” (John 10:27-29)

Who are the sheep that have eternal life, that shall never perish, and that cannot be snatched out of the Father’s hand? They are the people of God, those whom God has chosen to save with an everlasting salvation. Christ knows them and they follow him. Those who by a true and saving faith trust in Jesus Christ as he is offered in the gospel will follow him and show their love by keeping his commandments. That is the obedience of faith.

Many things that we trust in this life can disappoint us. We place trust in the schools to educate our children, but they can fail to teach even the basics. We trust in the stock market to multiply our retirement nest egg, but stocks can lose value. We trust in our cars to bring us to work each day, but batteries can run out of juice. But Jesus Christ and the salvation offered in his name is one thing we can trust and never be disappointed. Our salvation is safe in the hands of the Father and the Son. When we believe we receive eternal life.

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 13-14)

Jesus has prayed for you as a believer in Christ. What has he prayed? “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” (John 17:24)

What about those who appear to be believers but fall away from and reject the faith? There are many that profess faith in Christ but do not follow Christ unto the end.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)

“They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” (1 John 2:19)

Those who walk away from Christ never really belonged to or trusted in Christ.

What a great comfort it is to know that our salvation is eternally safe in the hands of the God of our salvation. Here is a word o fadvice. Don’t try to take your salvation out of God’s hands and into your own. You remember the boldest of the disciples, Peter. He had such a zeal for Jesus. At times he was commended for his bold faith. When Jesus asked His disciples the question, ‘Who am I?’ Peter boldly proclaimed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” (Matthew 16:16) Jesus commended Peter, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17)

On the night that Jesus was betrayed Jesus told his disciples that they would all fall away on account of him. Peter replied in great pride and confidence, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.” (Matthew 26:33) He was taking salvation into his own hands, he had faith in his faith and not in his Lord. In fact he was contradicting the Lord Jesus by his very words. And that night Peter did deny that he even knew Jesus three times.

As Peter matured in the faith, he put less and less trust in himself, and more and more in the power of God. We read of this in 1 Peter 1:3-6:“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-6)

Your great salvation is safe and secure in the hands of your God.

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Understanding our Great Salvation: (Part 4) The Spirit’s Overpowering Work – Grace

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Understanding our Great Salvation: (part 4) The Spirit’s Overpowering Work – Grace

We have heard the bad news that we are sinners who cannot save ourselves. And we have begun to hear the good news that God has made a plan to save his people from their sins and that Jesus has come to pay for sin and to save his people. But now the question arises, how does that finished work of salvation which the Father planned and which Jesus completed come to me? How is the saving work of Christ applied to my needy soul?

John 16:5-11 “Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.”

Jesus was about to leave his disciples and return to his Father. The disciples of Jesus were grieved and Jesus was comforting them. He makes one of the most astonishing statements in Scripture in verse 7. “But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7)

What is Jesus saying? It is better for you to have the Holy Spirit, or counselor, than to have my physical presence. Why? What is the Spirit going to do? He is going to bring to the world a full and free salvation. Jesus goes on to explain that the Spirit will convict the world of guilt.

He will convince those in the world of three things: sin, righteousness and judgment.

  • He will convince those in the world of the sin of unbelief.

  • He will convince those in the world of the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

  • He will convince those in the world of the defeat of Satan and the forces of evilby the cross of Christ.

When a sinner is under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, three things will be true of him.

First, he will see the foolishness and the sinfulness of not believing in Jesus Christ. One commentary put it this way, “When you think of it, it is an amazing thing that men would put their trust for all eternity in a crucified Jewish criminal. What convinces men that this crucified Jew is the Son of God? That is the work of the Holy Spirit.”

Second, he will confess that he is not righteous in himself and he needs the righteousness of Jesus Christ in order to be right with God. The Holy Spirit will convince those in the world that there is only one who is righteous, and that is Jesus. Many think that they are righteous; or at least that they are better than most people and they are hoping that God will judge on a curve. Many people try to build a ladder of good works up to heaven and then climb up that ladder themselves; but all such attempts to win the favor of God by our feeble good works are impossible. Salvation depends not on our works but rather on Christ’s work. This is what the Spirit will come to convince us of. There is righteousness acceptable to God to be found only in Jesus Christ. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus,” (Romans 3:23 ) and, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Third, when the Holy Spirit convicts a man, he will confess that he is under condemnation because he belongs to the unbelieving world and the defeated devil.

“He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.” (Matthew 12:30) and, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” (Ephesians 2:1-3)

In short, a man under conviction will confess that he is a sinner and stands condemned for his sins before God, and that he needs Jesus to pay for his sins and to give him a righteousness that will stand before God.

Conversion, in other words, is the work of the Holy Spirit. He pulls the blinders off from our eyes that we might see our sin and shame. He strips us of all our self-righteousness and self-sufficiency and shows us our need of Jesus Christ. He finds us spiritually dead and gives us new life in Christ. “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins.” (Colossians 2:13)

As the hymn writer puts it, “I know not how this saving faith to me he did impart, nor how believing in his Word wrought peace within my heart. I know not how the Spirit moves, convincing men of sin, revealing Jesus through the Word, creating faith within. But I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto him against that day.” (Trinity Hymnal #705, “I Know Whom I Have Believed”, by Daniel Whittle.)

Have you been convicted of the sin of unbelief? Have you been convinced that Jesus alone is righteous? Have you been convinced of the judgment to come? Has the Holy Spirit begun his saving work on your sin-sick soul?

If you believe and rest in the work of Christ, you are a Christian. The Holy Spirit has worked a miracle within you. God the Holy Spirit has taken away your stony heart and given you a new heart. And if you are a Christian today, give thanks to God for his precious gift of salvation.

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Understanding our Great Salvation: (Part 3) Jesus Saves!

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Understanding our Great Salvation: (Part 3) Jesus Saves!

We have heard the bad news, that we are helpless, guilty sinners. And we have heard the beginning of the Good News, that God has decided to save some. But now the question is how can God save? What will God do to clean up the mess that our sin has caused? Today’s Good news is that Jesus saves.

When Joseph found out that his fiancée, Mary was pregnant, and he knew that he was not the father, he decided to break the engagement quietly. Then an angel appeared to Joseph to encourage him to marry Mary. The angel instructed Joseph to name the special child Jesus. Matthew 1:21: “You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” This whole series of meditations is summarized in that verse. We are entangled in sins and we cannot free ourselves. God has chosen to save His people from their sins, and now he has sent Jesus to save them from their sins.

Jesus saves. He does all the work, he cleans up all the mess caused by sin. He suffered on the cross to pay the price for sin. Like the old gospel hymn says, “Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe; sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow.”

Many are confused on this very point. They think that faith saves. They think that when they make a commitment to Christ, or when they publicly profess their faith, when they accept Jesus, that that faith saves them. Your faith does not save you. Jesus saves you through faith, or by the instrument of faith.

Remember the bowl of cereal in “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”? The shrunken children were wallowing around in a bowl of soggy Cheerios®. When the father finally noticed them, he scooped them out with a spoon. Now, would the children thank the spoon, or the father? So, too, with faith: it is the spoon that the father uses to save us. Faith does not save; Jesus saves through faith.

We call Jesus the Savior with good reason. He saves his people from their sins. Jesus has not died to make salvation possible, but to make it certain. “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.” (John 17:1-2)

Jesus came to save his people from their sins, all of his people from all of their sins. And Jesus has achieved that objective; he has truly saved his people. When he uttered from the cross, “It is finished,” (John 19: 30) he meant what he said: the price for our salvation had been fully paid.

We cannot add anything to the perfect salvation of Christ, nor do we have to. Jesus has paid it all. Salvation is a complete gift; nothing needs to be added.

We don’t add our goods works to Christ’s death for our salvation. Christ’s death is our entire salvation. When I ask my young children to clean the dishes, I check their work and I often have to add a little work of my own in order to finish the job. If you check into Jesus’ work, you will find nothing that you have to add. His work was done well, and it is complete. Jesus saves.

We don’t even add our faith to the work of Jesus on the cross. Rather, faith rests in what Jesus has done; it doesn’t add a thing. Faith, as Francis Schaeffer has said, is the open and empty hand by which we lay hold of salvation that is freely offered in the gospel.

You need a savior, a complete savior. All those whom God has chosen to save from sin Jesus has come to die for. When Jesus died on the cross he had the names of all his people engraved on his hands. “You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

Christian, rejoice that all your sins were paid for on the cross, that Jesus saves his people from their sins.

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The Darkness of the Rebellious Mind

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The Darkness of the Rebellious Mind

The structure of sin in the human personality is something far more complicated than the isolated acts and thoughts of deliberate disobedience commonly designated by the word. In its biblical definition, sin cannot be limited to isolated instances or patterns of wrongdoing; it is something much more akin to the psychological term complex: an organic network of compulsive attitudes, beliefs and behavior deeply rooted in our alienation from God. Sin originated in the darkening of the human mind and heart as man turned from the truth about God to embrace a lie about him and consequently a whole universe of lies about his creation. Sinful thoughts, words and deeds flow forth from this darkened heart automatically and compulsively, as water from a polluted fountain. “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5) This is echoed in Jesus’s words: “Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruits. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.” (Matthew 12:33-35)

The human heart is now in a reservoir of unconscious disordered motivation and response, of which unrenewed persons are unaware if left to themselves, for “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) It is as if they were without mirrors and suffering from tunnel vision: they see neither themselves clearly nor the great peripheral area around their immediate experience (God and supernatural reality). At the two most crucial loci of their understanding, their awareness of God and of themselves, they are almost in total darkness, although they may attempt to remedy this by framing false images of themselves and God. Paul describes this darkness of the unregenerate mind: “now this I affirm and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer lives as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to the hardness of heart.” (Ephesians 4:17-18) The mechanism by which this unconscious reservoir of darkness is formed is identified in Romans 1:18– 23 as repression of traumatic material, chiefly the truth about God and our condition, which the unregenerate constantly and dynamically “hold down.” Their darkness is always a voluntary darkness, though they are unaware that they are repressing the truth.

Richard Lovelace, Dynamice of Spiritual Life, p. 88-89.

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