Tag Archives: Christ
The difficulty in reaching people in the nation and community in which I live with the gospel is that most people seem very comfortable and really think they don’t need anything. We find ways to block out the bad news and brokenness within our own hearts.
For those who have been redeemed, we see our neediness and the evil of this world. We may wonder why the wicked prosper. We may see the foolish and arrogant rule us. We may become weary under their reign and cry out to God, “How long, O Lord?”
The reply is always this—“Not forever. Wait patiently, dear child. Trust me.”
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This is a particular encouragement to do something regularly. Sometimes the encouragement is to believe a particular truth about God or be reminded of them. Certainly, there are truths that make this action something we should be encouraged to do but the focus is on God’s response to the thing we ought to do. And upon seeing how God responds that just might encourage you to do it with gladness.
As I near the end of the great book of Daniel, I noticed something I had not previously seen. The book of Daniel shows the people of God in a very favorable light. If Daniel and his three friends are representatives of how Israel trusts and obeys the Lord under dire circumstances then you might wonder why they are in exile at all.
However in chapter 9, Daniel prays a prayer of confession. However favorable we saw the people of God is now made clear and the exile makes very good sense. Obviously, this is already clear from Jeremiah which is the backstory to Daniel.
The first 19 verses of chapter 9 are the beginning words of the confession. However in verse 20, while he’s confessing, a familiar visitor comes to see Daniel. It says this—Daniel 9:20-23
[20] While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the LORD my God for the holy hill of my God, [21] while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. [22] He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. [23] At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.
You can hear the setup—while I was praying. We don’t know why until the visitor, Gabriel tells him (and us) there in 23. What he’s saying is, this is how God responded when you started confessing. The word went out and I was sent to speak with you.
Now you might be thinking, God isn’t likely to send Gabriel to see me when I confess my sins. Maybe not but why is there any need of that? Is that the motive to confess? God already knows AND he commands us to confess. We have offended the Holy God of the universe! We ought to confess!
Well, we have the Holy Spirit indwelling in us! We have something greater than Daniel! However notice that before confession, Daniel was troubled and confused about the visions he had seen. But upon confessing his sins, Gabriel is sent to explain them.
Some of our confusion with God’s word is not our lack of effort but rather our lack of repentance. However, don’t miss the point of the encouragement. God loves his people and responds to them quickly and gives them aid! Be encouraged to confess even if there is no obvious return because God hears you and forgives!
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What is giving thanks?
—it’s a response to someone who gave things to you. And the things given were not earned. (For example, our paycheck is something you shouldn’t give thanks for because you worked for it).
—the response is vocalized which should be accompanied by a particular disposition toward the person who gave to you.
—the response of thanksgiving does not require that the person who gave to you be superior to you. Most certainly God is worthy of our thanksgivings everyday but other people who have given to you ought to receive a thankful response too.
—thankfulness requires that you notice these things. You must be aware of what you have been given was undeserved.
—because to be generous here, we can possibly forget. An opposite response to someone who gave is to forget the response of thanksgiving. This could be due to not stopping to think about what has occurred or there’s just too much going on in life therefore you did not remember the kind deeds done to you.
—while forgetfulness is a possibility for not being thankful, more often than not it is out of pride. We think we deserve everything and the world ought to take notice. They ought to be thankful for the opportunity to give to me kind of attitude. On a more subtle note of pride, we might abhor the gift and in doing so we abhor the giver. Now, we will likely respond with the words of thanksgiving but they are just words. The gift isn’t what I wanted or needed and we think there’s no benefit from it.
—though we could breakdown piece by piece the steps from pride to unbelief I don’t think that’s necessary. The major problem with not having a heart of thankfulness is unbelief in God. This is the root of unthankfulness. Because if we trust in the Lord, we of all people know and understand that God has been gracious and merciful to us in every respect throughout our entire life. When we turn our attention on the fact that we deserve the consequences of our sin—the miseries of this life and eternal death itself. But Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners like us. He took the death that we deserved and we get forgiveness and counted righteous by faith in him. To all who have turned from their sins and trusted in Jesus, we will be saved. From that understanding, we of all people ought to be thankful!
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There’s a common phrase used to describe that people’s lives have changed over the passage of time—How it started; How it’s going. From pictures of dramatic weight loss to financial gain, the comparative pictures show that life has gotten better.
I could create a few of this memes myself but I would avoid follow-up memes where things had gone south. It’s often the Instagram vs. reality struggle. There are moments where we can muster up a photo of ourselves that looks beautiful on the outside while there’s chaos within. The attention from the comments sweeten up the reality only briefly but they diminish pretty fast.
I finished reading Ezekiel this morning and it could be somewhat explained with the meme—How it started; how it’s going. The story begins with the city of God ransacked and the people of God hauled away into exile.
All along the way God speaks clearly to his people in ways that have this purpose—and you will know that I am the LORD. Everything he said and did through Ezekiel was for this end.
Why? Because even though how it started and how it’s going were disastrous what matters in each moment is that you know the LORD. And that’s important because judgment is coming for all. And for those who know and love God there’s a magnificent ending.
The book ends like this—Ezekiel 48:35
[35] The circumference of the city shall be 18,000 cubits. And the name of the city from that time on shall be, The LORD Is There.
His glory may have left the temple because they had broken the covenant with God but there was a path to redemption for those who turned their hearts back to him and trusted the Lord. And one day there will be an eternal—how it’s going—in the city of God and he is there forever.
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As the story of Lazarus wraps up at the end of John 11, there are different responses to this amazing resurrection. Some believe. They see the signs as from the only place they could be—God. That makes Jesus unique in some way to them. At the very least they believe Jesus is from God.
Others do not believe. In fact they begin to plan his death. They say it out loud if you were wondering why—John 11:47-48
[47] So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. [48] If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
They didn’t see the evidence that others saw. What they wanted was to keep their place and nation at the expense of not believing that Jesus was the Son of God. They should have seen it through the many signs. The evidence is stacked against them. Anyway, they gave up trusting in God to keep the temple and nation. These were not to be substituted for God himself but it seems that’s what they had become.
Instead of seeing God through the obvious signs Jesus was showing them they looked to the temple and nation as evidence or maybe something else. Are you satisfied with a dead building as evidence of God? I’m not. And you shouldn’t either.
So how do you get people to see Christ for who he is? How do you cause people to hear the gospel and believe? Warnings or wooings? Or both?
This Lazarus event was a clear example of wooing. They should have seriously wrestled with the signs not against them. God has used both with the people and Pharisees. Why did neither of them work with some?
Notice this statement by Jesus about warning and wooing—Matthew 11:16-19
[16] “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates,[17] “‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ [18] For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ [19] The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”
To simplify what Jesus is saying here—I came wooing you with wonderful signs and John came warning you to flee the wrath of God through repentance. Jesus played the beautiful flute and John sang the funeral song (a lament—dirge).
Why did they not listen? There are a few possible answers but only one satisfies to me. What is it?
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1 John 4:4
[4] Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
This could stand alone without any explanation and likely encourage you. However there’s more to consider here than only thinking, “I’ve got this! God is in me!”
This verse is in the context of deciding who to listen to. It began in 4:1 by saying do not believe every spirit. You might ask, what is a spirit? Well, he defines what he means. Spirits in the plural here means people who speak or attempt to speak on God’s behalf.
False prophets would be an example of a spirit that you should not believe. Then you might ask, how do I know whether this is a false spirit or not. John says this—1 John 4:2-3
[2] By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, [3] and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.
My guess is that you might think, can someone confess Jesus Christ has come from God to deceive me? Well in fact they can. There a tons of examples throughout the bible showing us that.
The next test is this—1 John 4:5-6
[5] They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. [6] We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
People/spirits that do not listen to God’s word are not of the Spirit of truth. They are the spirit of error. They may say they love Jesus but it usually shows up very clearly in their actions. Like the previous encouragement, you can say you love your brother but if you see him in need and refused to give him what he needs then the love of God is not in that person.
There are likely people who can put on a show over some period of time. But eventually and usually in private they are who they really are. I’d pay attention to the people who listen to them. The world listens to these people but God’s people do not. They like people listening to them and that weakness usually exposes them.
But remember, he who is in you is greater than those false spirits that are in the world. The Lord will protect you. And I would strongly suggest that you know the Spirit of truth by knowing the Spirit inspired Word of God.
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I suppose that it’s easy to doubt the things we believe about God. We have an enemy that is working to deceive us. It seems that there is a passive deception in the world when we see so many things that are evil and wrong. The glimpse of reality is darkened by the clouds of doubt that actively or passively seek to hide the truth.
There’s a clear connection between our confidence in God and our obedience to the Lord’s commands. When people who claim to believe the truth do not do what he commands of us that actively and passively hides the truth and attempts to deceive us.
When we gladly obey the good things God has told us to do such as loving our brothers not only word but in deed then we not only display that we believe the truth but we also know that we are of the truth. This assures our hearts before God. No doubt it also assures others that we and they are of the truth. Instead of deceiving your fellow brothers by disobedience you encourage them actively and passively.
1 John 3:16-21
[16] By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. [17] But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? [18] Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
[19] By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; [20] for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. [21] Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God
Let us know the love of Christ in that he didn’t merely say he loved us but proved his love by laying down his life for us. So too, prove your love for Christ by loving your brother and then you will also prove your love for your brother. And you will be confident in the truth because his love and truth have become visible and abides in you.
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After preaching and hearing a strong warning from Hebrews 6 on Sunday, it is fitting to hear the assurance offered to those who believe. However one works out assurance of salvation, we must at least hold to that the promises of God are only for those who believe.
And if you believe which was a work of grace through the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Good Shepherd that laid down his life for the sheep then assurance is available because of the Good Shepherd.
John 10:14-16
[14] I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, [15] just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. [16] And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
He’s not like the thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy. He’s not like the hired hand who abandons the sheep when the wolf comes. He saves the sheep by laying down his own life for them. The thief and hired hand always seek to save their own lives but not the Good Shepherd.
It might seem strange that the sheep are saved by way of the death of the Shepherd. It seems normal to think that the life of the sheep lie in the life of the Shepherd. In this analogy, the life of the sheep that is eternal life rests in the death of the Shepherd but this Shepherd doesn’t remain dead.
John 10:18
[18] No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
He died but was raised to Shepherd his sheep to eternal life. Because he’s alive, we will be kept safe forever by our loving Good Shepherd.
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This might be a strange encouragement but I needed it this morning as I face the uncertainty of events today. Not uncertain to God but to me. The Lord decrees that which is so and we have the opportunity to believe and gladly obey or not.
The encouragement came from John 8 where the Jews (“God’s people”) were arguing with Jesus (God’s Son). They said to him in John 8:48 The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
Obviously that doesn’t seem very encouraging for God’s people to say that God’s Son is a Samaritan and has a demon. It’s incredibly strange and altogether real that Jesus could live his life in perfect obedience to God the Father and reveal the Father exactly as he is but God’s people who claim to know God do not even notice him.
Jesus calls this what it is in John 8:54-55 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom *you say, ‘He is our God.’ But *you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word.”
It very possible and quite likely that if you have faith in Christ and gladly obey him you will be perceived as having a demon and as 8:59 says they will pick up stones to throw them at you.
Now, you can avoid being thought of as a friend of the devil and being stoned to death *now by not believing the truth but it will eventually and eternally catch up to you. I would be encouraged to trust Christ and let the stones fall where they may. There are better things coming for those who do.
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“O my great High Priest,
pour down upon me streams of needful grace,
bless me in all my undertaking,
in every thought of my mind,
every word of my lips,
every step of my feet,
every deed of my hands.”
Valley of Vision, After Prayer [277]
Christ is with us and ministering to us as our great high priest. Pray this for yourself and each other! He will pour down grace upon us.
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The Word Is Not Imprisoned 