January 6

GENESIS 6
When I was in grade school I used to have this recurring dream. I can't really tell you what the dream was about. Even after waking up from just having had the dream, I couldn't really tell you the events of the dream. I could only tell you about a few images still in my mind and about the overwhelming sadness still in my heart. I remember an image of a giant tube (like the ones at a drive through bank) and being sucked through the tube, helpless to stop it. I always awoke with a sense of irreparable loss and sadness. Sometimes I awoke crying in my sleep. As the memory flew away, I would wonder why I was crying.
Next to the story of the fall some of the saddest words on earth are Genesis 6:5,6:

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

Beginning with the fall, mankind has been sucked through a tube of irreparable loss. There was a loss of righteousness, a loss of the ability to be holy. There was the loss of the ability to resist the evil thoughts that crept into our hearts. The world was young 6,000 years ago. Life was bursting forth. I think there was a refusal among men to believe that the intent of the thoughts of the heart was only evil continually. The evil was always in someone else's heart. There was no sadness among men over the grief they had brought to the Lord.
Jonathan Edwards once delivered a sermon called Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Often when I sin, I have images in my mind of an angry God. We find from other parts of Scripture that God is indeed angry with sinners. But do we ever stop to consider that He is also grieving over our sin? Whenever we pursue the evil intents of our hearts, God is grieved. The heart of God is saddened. Can God have a sense of irreparable loss? His highest creation, those created in His image, those created for Him, was in rebellion against Him. He was first grieved, then angered.
But in contrast one of the most promising statements is in 6:8--But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Our Lord is full of grace and truth. This story of Noah is such a great picture of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a type of Christ. When Noah entered into the ark, it was like our being united with Christ. God was grieved over the sin of man. His grief led to a righteous anger that produced judgment upon the earth. The earth's population was given a full 100 years to repent and believe Noah's preaching. Anyone who would enter into the ark would have been safe from the judgment of God. But only 8 believed and entered into safety. The judgment of God fell.
God is grieved over our sin. Judgment is coming. There is only one place of safety--it is in the Lord Jesus Christ. There we find grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now that is glorious. All around us we see the effects of our sin and the current judgment warning us of the judgment to come. Why are there hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, droughts, thunderstorms? To some degree they are probably a result of the change in the earth's environment as a result of the flood. Of course the reason for the flood can be traced back to the fall. The people of Noah's day partied to their death. There was no grief for their sin.
In a college class called Modern Short Story I read a book called Sadness. The book was a collection of bizarre and sometimes random thoughts on life. One of the stories had a picture of Jael killing Sisera (Judges 4). The caption below the picture was "Scenes of Domestic Violence." There is now a sadness that prevails over modern and post modern culture. Life on earth is no longer young and bursting forth. Only the most Pollyannic among us can look at the human race and not see that the intent of man's heart is only evil continually. But even in the midst of our cultural sadness, we do not grieve that our sin grieves the heart of God. We only grieve the result of our sin-the war and suffering around us. We are like the thief who grieves getting caught but not that he is a thief.
Oh but there is grace to be found in the eyes of the Lord! When we unite with Jesus, we find His grace and safety from His judgment. At first we enjoy the fact that we are safe from His judgment. But as we look into His grace, we begin to understand the depths of our sin. Gazing upon His grace changes us so that we begin to grieve over sin, not because of the judgment it brings but because it grieves the very heart of God. That pains us because we have found His glory to be too precious to sully with our sin. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 6
I began my first class of seminary when I was 25, almost 26. I walked across the stage to receive my diploma when I had just turned 30, little over 4 years of constant toil. To a 25-30 year-old, 4 years seems a long time. Working full-time, going to graduate school full-time, having a family, and spending 10 hours a week in ministry was very wearying to the body, mind and spirit. When 2 years were completed and there were still 2 more years to go, it seemed that I had been working forever and that eternity stretched out before me. I was weak, and my bones were troubled. The question was, “How long O Lord?”
David was in a worse situation. He knows that he is guilty of sin for he cries out, “Do not chasten me in Your displeasure!” Could this be one of the Psalms that he penned after lusting after Bathsheba or wrongfully taking the census? Or could it be just some other occasion of which we are not informed of his sin? After all, he is a man of bloodshed, a man who had a minimum of 8 wives. He was a man full of passion—not just sexual passion. Perhaps his guilt is in one of those other areas of unbridled passion. Whatever his guilt, it is immaterial to the Psalm. In his misery he cries out, “How long O Lord?”
Tell me, was his question directed toward how long the Lord would put up with his mess or how long until he would be delivered? He desired to be healed of the trouble. Am I troubled by my sin, or do I push it off and cover it up in hopes that it will go away? Do I want to be healed of it, not just forgiven for it, but healed of it? Do I want it departed from me?
One thing that David knows is that it is the presence of the Lord that heals. He cries out, “Return to me!” When all other remedies lead to death, and we recognize that they lead to death, then we can honestly cry out, “Return to me, deliver me!” It is in that time of vulnerability that the Lord returns.
In that self-revelation of truth, that vulnerable moment, he makes the decision, “Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity!” David wants no part in being tempted back into participating in his former state. He wants to walk worthy of the Lord. That is when the Lord meets him and delivers him.
After two years of seminary, it seemed that I had endured an eternity and had another eternity to go. How long? I called upon the Lord and kept on the path that He had revealed. Laura prayed for me and helped me. The Lord met me and enabled me to keep on pursuing Him and His course of action. He delivered me. That is always the case. Even when I am guilty of sin, He waits for me to come again to that point of repentance where I can honestly say, “Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity!” Why? Because only in that state, can I truly be interested in His glory. It is no longer about me and only about Him. There is one day when He will judge the world. Those who have never come to that point of repentance, to them He will say, “Depart from me you workers of iniquity.”
That is His glory. He will exchange my iniquity for His glory if I will repent and believe. He will empower me to live as He directs. He will judge those who do not. That is His glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

EZRA 6
There are many times when I have experienced great joy, graduations, my wedding day, the birth of my children, the weddings of my sons. I could go on and on. But one expects joy on those days. One peculiar time stands out in my mind. It was a time where I had been through great disappointment. Yet in the midst of that disappointment, I chose to worship Him with all of my heart, soul and strength. When I did, He flooded me with His joy. The disappointment and pain were still present, yet His joy continued to flood my soul. What a paradox!
Wow, once again the Lord moves upon the heart of the pagan King to establish His temple and His people. Twenty years after their return, they finish the temple. They celebrate the Passover. Look at verse 22: “And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy; for the LORD made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.“ The LORD made them joyful. That is the wonderful thing about knowing the LORD is that when we are obedient, He makes us joyful. It can be the worst of circumstances, yet when we are obedient, He makes us joyful. Thank you Lord for your joy! It is indeed part of your glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

Matthew 5:27-48
The Lord of glory continues to demonstrate the high standard that must be in the heart of His followers. He begins with one that cuts to the heart of every man who is in puberty or beyond, "If a man looks on a woman to lust for her, he has committed adultery with her in his heart." In a culture where women are encouraged to visually promote their bodies so that men will desire them, most men don't even try anymore to be pure in their hearts. Some estimates place pornography addiction as high as 1 in 3 men.
The next standard that Jesus lifts up is divorce and remarriage. The divorce rate in our culture has risen above 50%. Most of them remarry.
Our Lord's high standard for the heart of His subjects goes straight to a simple agreement. I am told that there was a time in our culture that a man's word was his bond. Today even legal contracts are up for grabs. Jesus says that the purity of our hearts should be such that a simple, "Yes," from our mouths means, "Yes," and "No," means "No." Have you ever gone back on a yes or a no?
The glory of His standard is seen in His demand that we cheerfully serve others even when common thought is that we should retaliate against them. We should even love those who hate us and seek our downfall. Can anyone honestly say that their hearts have always and always will reflect this high of a standard?
Yet the glory of our Lord is that He alone can say, "My heart always has and always will reflect this standard." Indeed, when on earth, Jesus was pure in heart. In spite of Dan Brown's putrid imaginations in the DaVinci Code, Jesus was pure in all his relations with women and never married. Jesus' 'Yes' & 'No' could always be counted upon, and always will be. Jesus was slapped in the face at His trial, and He did turn the other cheek. He allowed Himself to be beaten until He was almost unrecognizable. He prayed for those who were mocking Him as they crucified Him. This is our Lord! He is the perfection of character. He demands nothing from us that He, Himself, has not already done or is able to do and as He lives in us, He enables us to do the same. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John