Two years ago I started reading Volume 1 or The Works of John Newton. Newton wrote the words of the hymn Amazing Grace. Newton’s mother was apparently a believer. She had desired him to become a minister of the gospel. She died before he reached 7 years of age. His father remarried. Neither his father nor step-mother were believers; although, they were moral people. His father, a sea merchant, tried to direct him in learning the skills of being a sea merchant. He was left to his own spiritually. He vacillated between trying to be a Christian and living the immoral life of a sailor. The leprous infection of sin took hold of his life. At times he desired the integrity of a godly life, but he constantly fell back into dissipation. I have not yet reached reading of his conversion point, but I know that it eventually happened.
The instruction for the cleansing of a healed leper, which is found in this chapter, is such a picture of what happens when a sinner finds amazing grace. Only after 8 days of no leprous condition would the priest declare the leper cleansed. Then a series of sacrifices were made in order to declare the miraculous cleansing. The ex-leper was to present himself to the Lord via the priests. Then a ritual was performed which spoke of His cleansing. This ritual is a picture of the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ and His cleansing of our lives. Our baptism is like the ritual which declares that we have died with Christ and risen to walk in newness of life. It declares our cleansing. Our walking in newness of life is proof that it has happened. Like Newton, we are unable to cleanse ourselves of the spiritual leprous infection of sin, but Jesus can. He delivers me from the habitual sin. What I cannot break, He can. He is the bondage breaker. That is the glory of my Jesus. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
Psalm 100
You know that there is only one reason a sheep would enter into the gates of the temple. There is only one reason that a sheep would enter the court. A sheep comes to die, to be a sacrifice. He first tells us that we are His people and the sheep of his pasture. Then He commands us to enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Hmmmm. . . Why in the world would I ever want to do that? I can only do that if I am convinced that He is good, merciful and true.
How can a God who is good, merciful and true ask me to die for Him? Doesn’t that seem kind of incongruent? If He were good, would he not protect me from death? Does not goodness protect from unpleasantness and death? Does not goodness seek pleasure for its object? If God the Father loved God the Son, how could He ask Him to die for us? Sounds like a pretty awful thing to ask of your beloved son. Does love require the preservation of goodness, the expression of mercy or the enforcement of truth? If so, then perhaps it would change the way we view the expression of love. What if those three elements were more important than providing comfort or pleasure for the object of love?
Did you know that www.Dictionary.com has 47 separate entries for the definition of “good?” Its first entry is, “morally excellent; virtuous; righteous; pious: a good man.” However, its nineteenth entry is, “agreeable; pleasant: Have a good time.” Can a certain circumstance be morally excellent but not pleasant? If so, then it can be both bad and good at the same time. Can a certain time be morally excellent but not pleasant? Is the death burial and resurrection of our Lord a ‘good’ thing? So while He was hanging on the cross, was it a ‘good’ time or a ‘bad’ time for Him? Well, it was both. It was bad. It was not pleasurable. It was not agreeable. It was good. It accomplished our redemption. It made it possible to restore us to a morally excellent state.
While Jesus was upon the cross, He cried out, “My, God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” He was enduring the moral punishment for our sins. He was enduring the full wrath of a righteous God against our sin. At the point in which He cried out, He was not experiencing the mercy of God, but the wrath of God. Whether you agree or not, the moral excellence of God, (his goodness) was on display. There is goodness in justice, and His justice was being meted out. But His goodness led to the showing of His mercy. Dictionary.com defines mercy as:
1. compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence: Have mercy on the poor sinner.God accepted the sacrifice of His Son and had mercy upon Him, raising Him from the dead.
2. the disposition to be compassionate or forbearing: an adversary wholly without mercy.
3. the discretionary power of a judge to pardon someone or to mitigate punishment, especially to send to prison rather than invoke the death penalty.
4. an act of kindness, compassion, or favor: She has performed countless small mercies for her friends and neighbors.
5. something that gives evidence of divine favor; blessing: It was just a mercy we had our seat belts on when it happened
His death, burial and resurrection are also evidence of His truth. Since truth is the actual state of a matter, it is impossible that the Creator could be anything but truth. However, truth also refers to faithfulness to a standard. That the Son should die for us at the request of the Father clearly demonstrates that He is true. He remained faithful to His love for the Father, and they remained faithful to their love for us.
The definitions all sound rather cold and factual, but grasping His goodness, mercy and truth are very important in my motivation for entering His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise as a sheep. I can joyfully enter, knowing that I will die, because His goodness means that upon my sacrifice, He will produce the highest form righteousness in me. My death releases Him to build righteousness in me, ever expanding His glory. As His goodness is displayed in my death, He pours His mercy upon me resulting in my resurrection as He was raised. His goodness and mercy showered upon me yields faithfulness in my relationship with Him allowing me to fully enjoy His love. Immersed in the bliss of His love, I cannot but help to bring great glory to His name! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
ISAIAH 7
I had an English prof in college who seemed to want to make a big deal out of the fact that the Hebrew word translated as virgin in this passage can also be translated as a young maid. She felt that as a Christian, she did not have to insist upon a virgin birth. I guess it made Jesus more palatable to her if His was of just an ordinary birth. While the lexical range of the word may fit that interpretation, that line of thinking just does not fit the context.
Ahaz was stuck between a rock and a hard place. The mightiest nation of the world of his day was threatening invasion to Syria, Israel, Egypt and his own, Judah. Consequently, his neighbors were threatening him to join them in an alliance against Assyria. It appeared if he did not join the alliance, then he would be invaded by his neighbors. If he did join the alliance, then he might be invaded by Assyria. Which would be more palatable to believe, join your neighbors and stand against the mightiest nation on earth, or stand alone against the mightiest nation on earth? In the midst of this decision Isaiah gives him this instruction to trust only in the Lord. As a miraculous sign to encourage faith, he tells him that the virgin will conceive and bear a son. Now what is the greater sign, that a maiden would conceive and bear a child, or that a virgin would conceive and bear a child? It seems to me that the greater sign is that the virgin would conceive. I mean after all, maidens get pregnant everyday, but the only sure route to not conceiving is maintaining virginity. Hmmm. . . If I had to make a choice to believe for a miracle, I think I would want a miraculous sign, not an ordinary everyday event.
750 years later Matthew quotes this Isaiah passage as speaking of Jesus. It is a scriptural demonstration that Jesus was virgin born. As virgin born, One conceived apart from sexual intercourse, He would not have received genetic material passed on to him from Joseph and eventually from Adam. He would have be a new creation inside the womb of Mary. As a new creation, a new Adam, he would not have inherited the sin nature that all of us would have received. When we were bound and dead in our trespasses and sins, He came as a new creation, a perfect God-man, sinless, Immanuel, God with us. When we were between a rock and a hard place, invaded by sin and destruction, He entered our world through a virgin birth and brought us victory. Now that is glory! Where do you need freedom from sin? That is why He came! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
LUKE 10:25-42
I’ve met people who have at one time been great servants of the Lord whose faith somewhere along the line found shipwreck. I’ve heard testimonies before of people who had loved ones murdered. The Lord showed His glory to those people in such a way that they were eventually able to go to the murderer in prison and take the gospel to them. Forgiveness fell like lightning. Now there is glory for you!
It is the glory of God to change us from a people who hated Him and murdered His Son to a people who love Him. It is the glory of God to change us from a people who have enemies to a people who love our enemies. Some how I think that change only comes from dwelling on the glory of God. What would cause a Samaritan, one deeply hated by the Jews to risk his life to save a Jew, one of those who hated him? What would cause him to take from his own income to provide healing for a man whom he had never met. Surely that can only come from spending time thinking upon the greatness of God and out of that mindset grew a compassion for people in need.
On the heels of that story comes the story of Mary & Martha. Mary chose to sit at the feet of Jesus and hear His word. This bothered Martha who was busy meeting the needs of the group. It was noble that she was concerned about meeting needs, but there is also a time when we need to sit and gaze upon the glory of Jesus. It is out of that understanding and experiencing His glory that comes the power to truly serve others. That is why it cannot be taken away. Deep inside there is always that shining of the glory of Christ that gives strength to keep on giving. It is His glory that motivates us in the hard times. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
No comments:
Post a Comment