grace > sin

Grace Greater Than Our Sin

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin.

Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,
Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide.
What can we do to wash it away?
Look! There is flowing a crimson tide,
Brighter than snow you may be today.

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
Freely bestowed on all who believe!
You that are longing to see His face,
Will you this moment His grace receive?

words by Julia H. Johnston, 1911

our rendezvous with Jesus

God directs us to encourage other believers. Here's a specific bit of future encouragement that I'm passing on:

"For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. or this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words." - 1 Thes 4:14-18 ESV

I was struck with the phrase, "and so we will always be with the Lord." How glorious will that be to always be in His presence! Chew on that today.

Read more: The Hope of Exiles on Earth - John Piper

wrath

"...Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come." - 1 Thess 1:10b ESV

I read this today and had a thought:

1. There is wrath to come - judgement day at the end of the age, and
2. There has already been a day of wrath - the Father's wrath for the sins of the elect poured out on Jesus on the cross.

God will never leave any sin undealt with! Either He has poured it out on Christ or will pour it out on individual people at judgement day. In this universe, no sin will ever go unpunished. What an awesome thought.

Hell by Thomas Boston

"Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire." - Hebrews 12:28,29 ESV

assurance, the "p" in tulip

"I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand." - John 10:28

If our religion be of our own getting or making, it will perish; and the sooner it goes, the better; but if our religion is a matter of God's giving, we know that He shall never take back what He gives, and that, if He has commenced to work in us by His grace, He will never leave it unfinished.
- C.H. Spurgeon

For non-reformed theologies..."at the end of the day, the security of the believer finally rests with the believer. For those in the opposite camp [Reformed], the security of the believer finally rests with God -- and that, I suggest, rightly taught, draws the believer back to God himself, to trust in God, to a renewed faith that is of a piece with trusting him in the first place."
- D.A. Carson

Can a Christian Lose His or Her Salvation? by Greg Johnson

fairy tales

"He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." - Colossians 1:13,14

My kids love fairy tales. They love the story of the helpless princess being rescued from the evil queen/king/witch by the handsom prince. And then? They are married of course, and live happily ever after. It's a simple story, but one my kids never get tired of. Me either.

That's Christianity. Jesus has rescued His church - His bride - from the evil clutches of Satan and brought her into a new kingdom, the kingdom of His father, to live (you guessed it) happily ever after.

Let that sink in. Next time you read a fairy tale to children - or yourself - look for those wonderful similiarities.

the church is Israel?

The popular system of biblical interpretation in the church today is Dispensationalism, specifically Premillenial Pre-Tribulation theology. Popularized by Hal Lindsey in his 1970 book, Late Great Planet Earth (15 million copies sold), and recently with the Left Behind series by Tim F. LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins (also 15 million sold). I grew up with Dispensationalism and was never aware of any other view... until I discovered Reformed theology (trumpet sounds). Here's a brief summary of both systems:

DISPENSATIONAL THEOLOGY
Dispensationalism is a system of biblical interpretation formalized in the nineteenth century by John Nelson Darby and later popularized by the publishing of the study Bible of C. I. Scofield and the establishment of Dallas Theological Seminary by Lewis Sperry Chafer. It is the foundation of what is known in eschatological studies as "pre-tribulational premillenialism" and involves the division of history into (usually) seven distinct periods of time known as "dispensations". Twentieth century writers such as John Walvoord, Dwight Pentecost, and Charles Ryrie brought the doctrines of Dispensationalism into mainstream scholarship, which are often summarized by Ryrie's famous "sine qua non", i.e., his statement of the three primary tenets of the system. These are: 1) a clear distinction between Israel and the Church, 2) literal interpretation of Scripture, and 3) the glory of God as the primary goal of history.
- Christonomy.com

COVENANT THEOLOGY
Unlike Dispensationalism, Reformed (Covenant) Theology considers the seed of Abraham, the Israelites, to be part of the body of Christ. The Church did not replace Israel but organically springs out of the same root. God, from eternity, had merely planned, in the fullness of time, to expand His purpose, through Christ, to include other nations as well. All the spiritual seed of Abraham, Jew or Gentile are now one in Christ. Gentiles are a wild olive, grafted in among the Jews, the natural branches. Jesus "has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility." Eph 2:12-14.
- Monergism.com

"This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. - Eph 3:6

Want to read more on this?
Monergism.com's section about Dispensationalism

our advocate

C.H. Spurgeon is one of my favorites. Here's today's morning devo:

"If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."
— 1 John 2:1

"If any man sin, we have an advocate." Yes, though we sin, we have Him still. John does not say, "If any man sin he has forfeited his advocate," but "we have an advocate," sinners though we are. All the sin that a believer ever did, or can be allowed to commit, cannot destroy his interest in the Lord Jesus Christ, as his advocate. The name here given to our Lord is suggestive. "Jesus." Ah! then He is an advocate such as we need, for Jesus is the name of one whose business and delight it is to save. "They shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." His sweetest name implies His success. Next, it is "Jesus Christ"--Christos, the anointed. This shows His authority to plead. The Christ has a right to plead, for He is the Father's own appointed advocate and elected priest. If He were of our choosing He might fail, but if God hath laid help upon one that is mighty, we may safely lay our trouble where God has laid His help. He is Christ, and therefore authorized; He is Christ, and therefore qualified, for the anointing has fully fitted Him for His work. He can plead so as to move the heart of God and prevail. What words of tenderness, what sentences of persuasion will the anointed use when He stands up to plead for me! One more letter of His name remains, "Jesus Christ the righteous." This is not only His character BUT His plea. It is His character, and if the Righteous One be my advocate, then my cause is good, or He would not have espoused it. It is His plea, for He meets the charge of unrighteousness against me by the plea that He is righteous. He declares Himself my substitute and puts His obedience to my account. My soul, thou hast a friend well fitted to be thine advocate, He cannot but succeed; leave thyself entirely in His hands.

more on law & gospel

Most of what I want to say others can say better. Read this great excerpt from Modern Reformation:

When God gives orders and tells us what will happen if we fail to obey those orders perfectly, that is in the category of what the reformers, following the biblical text, called law. When God promises freely, providing for us because of Christ's righteousness the status he demands of us, this is in the category of gospel. It is good news from start to finish. The Bible includes both, and the reformers were agreed that the Scriptures taught clearly that the law, whether Old or New Testament commands, was not eliminated for the believer (those from a Dispensational background may notice a difference here). Nevertheless, they insisted that nothing in this category of law could be a means of justification or acceptance before a holy God ... The law comes, not to reform the sinner nor to show him or her the "narrow way" to life, but to crush the sinner's hopes of escaping God's wrath through personal effort or even cooperation. All of our righteousness must come from someone else-someone who has fulfilled the law's demands. Only after we have been stripped of our "filthy rags" of righteousness (Isa. 64:6)- our fig leaves through which we try in vain to hide our guilt and shame-can we be clothed with Christ's righteousness. First comes the law to proclaim judgment and death, then the gospel to proclaim justification and life. One of the clearest presentations of this motif is found in Paul's Epistle to the Galatians. In the sixteenth century, the issue of law and grace was more clearly dealt with than at almost any other time since the apostles.
- Modern Reformation (May/June 2003: "Good News: The Gospel for Christians")

on free will

"Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God."
- Mark 10:26, 27

"He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."
- Matt 15: 16-17

"If any man doth ascribe of salvation, even the very least, to the free will of man, he knoweth nothing of grace, and he hath not learnt Jesus Christ aright."
-Martin Luther

"To suppose that whatever God requireth of us that we have power of ourselves to do, is to make the cross and grace of Jesus Christ of none effect."
- John Owen

"if the final decision for the salvation of fallen sinners were left in the hands of fallen sinners, we would despair all hope that anyone would be saved"
- R.C. Sproul

"Man is nothing: he hath a free will to go to hell, but none to go to heaven, till God worketh in him to will and to do his good pleasure"
- George Whitefield

"Free will carried many a soul to hell, but never a soul to heaven"
- C.H. Spurgeon

"God’s predetermination of second causes is that effectual working of his, according to his eternal purpose, whereby though some agents, as the wills of men, are causes most free and indefinite, or unlimited lords of their own actions, in respect of their internal principle of operation (that is, their own nature), [they] are yet all, in respect of his decree, and by his powerful working, determined to this or that effect in particular; not that they are compelled to do this, or hindered from doing that, but are inclined and disposed to do this or that, according to their proper manner of working, that is, most freely"
- John Owen

"The will is not destroyed but rather repaired by grace."
- John Calvin; Institutes of the Christian Religion; Book 2, Chap. 5, Sec. 15

valley of vision

I added a new link today to the devotional section, Puritan Prayers. It's a collection of prayers from a volume called The Valley of Vision. I own a copy which I purchased from a thrift store for $1. Prayer doesn't come easy for me, so at those times I know I should pray or confess, I sometimes pick up this little volume and let these words be my prayer. It literally is a treasure trove full of spiritual jewels. I suggest you read them slowly and thoughtfully because they are very rich - not unlike cheesecake. Here's a prayer of confession and petition:

"Holy Lord, I have sinned times without number, and been guilty of pride and unbelief, of failure to find Thy mind in Thy Word, of neglect to seek Thee in my daily life. My transgressions and short-comings present me with a list of accusations, but I bless Thee that they will not stand against me, for all have been laid on Christ. Go on to subdue my corruptions, and grant me grace to live above them. Let not the passions of the flesh nor lustings of the mind bring my spirit into subjection, but do Thou rule over me in liberty and power.

I thank Thee that many of my prayers have been refused. I have asked amiss and do not have, I have prayed from lusts and been rejected, I have longed for Egypt and been given a wilderness. Go on with Thy patient work, answering 'no' to my wrongful prayers, and fitting me to accept it. Purge me from every false desire, every base aspiration, everything contrary to Thy rule. I thank Thee for Thy wisdom and Thy love, for all the acts of discipline to which I am subject, for sometimes putting me into the furnace to refine my gold and remove my dross.

No trial is so hard to bear as a sense of sin. If Thou shouldst give me choice to live in pleasure and keep my sins, or to have them burnt away with trial, give me sanctified affliction. Deliver me from every evil habit, every accretion of former sins, everything that dims the brightness of Thy grace in me, everything that prevents me taking delight in Thee. Then I shall bless Thee, God of jeshurun, for helping me to be upright."

before the throne

This is one of my favorites. It was written by Charitie L. Bancroft in 1863.

BEFORE THE THRONE OF GOD ABOVE

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

law and gospel

What is the role of law and gospel in the Christian life? Here's a great hymn written by Isaac Watts in 1709 to help us understand this relationship:

The Law commands and makes us know
What duties to our God we owe;
But ’tis the Gospel must reveal
Where lies our strength to do His will.

The Law discovers guilt and sin
And shows how vile our hearts have been;
The Gospel only can express
Forgiving love and cleansing grace.

What curses doth the Law denounce
Against the man that fails but once!
But in the Gospel Christ appears,
Pard’ning the guilt of numerous years.

My soul, no more attempt to draw
Thy life and comfort from the Law.
Fly to the hope the Gospel gives;
The man that trusts the promise lives.

today is a good day to die

"Today IS a good day to die!" is a phrase used by Worf, a Klingon in the Star Trek universe. That line popped into my mind yesterday. It's one of my favorites because it says alot about this race of aliens. Why do we like Klingons? Well, if you've seen any of the Star Trek episodes or movies, you'll notice the Klingons are unique. They're fierce, warlike and full of honor. I think what appeals to us is the fact that they'll actually die for something, and by doing so, uphold the honor of their family lineage and their race.

Not unlike the Jewish people, the Klingons refer to themselves by their family line, ex: "Worf, son of Mogh". Compare this to 2 Samuel 3:3b: "Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur;" (there are many more examples). They're very concerned about their family lineage - as is the Bible concerning Jesus' human ancestry.

Death plays a big part too in the Klingon culture. They are willing to die, placing honor above their individual lives. Well, this got me to thinking... in the Christian life, we are called to die as well:

"So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace." - Romans 6:11-14 ESV

"Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated-- of whom the world was not worthy--wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect." - Heb 11:36-40 ESV

ready, set, grow!

If you read yesterday's post and thought to yourself, "Ok, but what about the Christian life?", then this is the post for you. The phrase, "snow-covered dung" is a bit rattling if you've never heard it before, and I talked about it to point out our position in Christ - fully justified, yet still sinner.

Fine, but don't we grow in our Christian life? What about sanctification? Isn't there some kind of change that takes place?

Yes. But I want to stress the point that sanctification (the Christian life) flows out of, and is motivated by our justification (declaration of "not guilty"). Interested in reading more? I highly recommend this article:

Gospel Driven Sanctification by Jerry Bridges

Here is the section on sanctification from the Westminster Confession of Faith:

Chapter XIII
Of Sanctification
I. They, who are once effectually called, and regenerated, having a new heart, and a new spirit created in them, are further sanctified, really and personally, through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection, by His Word and Spirit dwelling in them: the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed, and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified; and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces, to the practice of true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.

II. This sanctification is throughout, in the whole man; yet imperfect in this life, there abiding still some remnants of corruption in every part; whence arises a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.

III. In which war, although the remaining corruption, for a time, may much prevail; yet, through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part does overcome; and so, the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

snow-covered dung?

It was Luther who coined the paradigm "simul iustus et peccator" as a nutshell description of the state of the Christian believer. Simultaneously justified and yet sinner. This is a controversial statement to say the least, even among Christians. Some say, "Don't be so hard on yourself! You're not a helpless worm, you're a child of God!" Still, others would take the other side and fall into a helpless state of despair - not unlike Luther when he was a monk. What is the state of a true believing Christian? Is it not both?

I happen to believe the Bible clearly states that both are applicable to Christians. We are, as Christians: dirty, rotten, stinking transgressors of the law of God. Even our own 'righteousness' must be repented of. Our motives are never pure, there remains in us remnants of sin (flesh) till our death, and it can at times bring us very low.

However, there is a bright side: the gospel! How wonderful to read in Romans 7 of Paul's "normal" Christian life. A life of struggling to do what he ought, but not doing it; or trying not do disobey, but nevertheless sinning.

How is that wonderful?

Because that was the Apostle Paul's experience! He struggled with sin too. When he finally gets to Romans 8 he declares triumphantly, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." And at the end of the chapter he says, "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" Did you catch that? "ALL THINGS". We are blessed as Christians beyond all measure, and God holds nothing back. We are His beloved children, His bride for whom He died, was raised, and will return one day for. Christians are sinners, but they are covered with the spotless righteousness of Christ, a righteousness we never did nor ever will deserve. We are snow-covered dung.

"But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it--the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," - Romans 3:21-24