God Loves… Himself

Romans 3:24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

Nothing in man doth precede or prevent the grace of God. The light and beams of grace do dispel the clouds of our sins. Not for our sakes, but for his Name’s sake he covereth our sins. It is God’s prerogative to free us from sin by grace, and to remove them far from us. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” {Ps.103:12} He only can remove sin against whom it is committed. He only can cast sin into the depths of the sea, who hath an ocean of grace in himself, in which he swalloweth them up. John Simpson {Perfection of Justification, 1648} Obtained from Supralapsarian.com

It is so hard for me to fathom how preaching has reached such a shallow place in our day and when the Gospel seems to be rarely preached. The Gospel is spoken of, it is said to be the only way of salvation, and people may be urged to pray a prayer or something like that. But the Gospel is not preached (I can only assume) because the Gospel is not known. Christ is not preached because Christ is not known. If Christ is the only food for saved sinners and the only drink for saved sinners, then He must be preached. If Christ is the only righteousness for any sinner, then Christ and His glorious Gospel must be preached.

What goes under the name of “gospel” in our day is full of works for man to do. There are no works for man to do in terms of merit and of making himself more worthy. While I argue that man should seek the Lord to humble him and to break his heart of pride, those are not works that man can do. Men should seek the Lord to convict them of sin, after all, that is the work that the Holy Spirit has been sent to do. A proud heart is a heart that is still fighting God and will not bow to even a false grace much less free-grace. The heart must be humbled and broken from working for salvation and from trying to merit it. The free-grace of the Gospel will not be received by a proud heart, though indeed a proud heart will want to be saved from hell.

Preaching must be strong against pride if free-grace is going to be preached. Preaching must show people that their sin is not just in the actions, but it is primarily of a proud and selfish heart. Hearts must be broken from efforts to obtain salvation by works or by efforts because like Abraham we must have given up all hope in self. The justified sinner has stopped working for merit and rewards. The true Gospel of free-grace is based upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how sinners are saved for the sake of His name and His name alone.

Preaching must show sinners the glorious Person of Jesus Christ and how it is that He can save sinners for His name’s sake and by free-grace. This is not just something that should be stressed once every so often, this is at the heart of the Gospel and proud hearts are greatly deceived into thinking that they know this Gospel because they believe words about it. Preaching must not just be about the Gospel and the doctrines of the Gospel, but preachers should preach the Gospel and the glory of the Gospel. All sinners need to hear the pure Gospel of Christ alone by free-grace alone. But again, this is not something to just speak of in theological words, it must be preached from the heart of a man who has been taught of Christ in the heart of this Gospel.

The preacher is not just there to preach some things that are true, the preacher is a witness of the things that Christ has done because he has learned them from the Bible and the work of Christ in the soul. Preaching the Gospel is preaching what the risen Christ does in the souls of His people in our day as well as in the past. Preaching the Gospel certainly includes the resurrection but it seems as if people in our day preach as if He had not ascended and was not presently at the right hand of the Father. Christ has indeed risen and He works in the hearts of men and He saves sinners by His free-grace. Preaching this cannot be limited to a statement of the facts, it has to be the witnessing words of a preacher taught by Christ in the inward man who tells people of that work as well.

Romans 3:24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

Nothing in man doth precede or prevent the grace of God. The light and beams of grace do dispel the clouds of our sins. Not for our sakes, but for his Name’s sake he covereth our sins. It is God’s prerogative to free us from sin by grace, and to remove them far from us. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” {Ps.103:12} He only can remove sin against whom it is committed. He only can cast sin into the depths of the sea, who hath an ocean of grace in himself, in which he swalloweth them up. John Simpson {Perfection of Justification, 1648} Obtained from Supralapsarian.com

Preaching is such a sad subject, though such a wonderful thing that God has given for Him to call sinners from the dead and give them life. Preaching is also a way that He can use as He pleases to feed His people with Himself as Christ is the food and the drink of true believers. However, preaching is in a sad state of practice in our day. One would think that with such a glorious Gospel that preaching would be setting out the various aspects and beauties of that Gospel and how they reflected the beauty and glory of God. However, this is simply not being done.

For some reason modern “Reformed” preaching, though there is not a single way of doing that, seems set on preaching a text without seeming regard to Christ and His Gospel. It seems to have escaped the notice of preachers that Paul wanted to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified in his preaching. This is not to say that there is only one title or one focus of any sermon, but that Christ and His cross have so many beauties and glories that all the other truths of the Bible reflect back on them and Christ and His cross reflect those.

It can also be said that it is a far different thing to speak things that are true about prayer than it is to pray. Thus, it is one thing to point out what needs to be done to have true preaching and yet it is quite another to truly preach. It is one thing to preach on a text (most likely lecture about a text), but it is quite another to preach Christ and the free-grace of His gospel from that text. There is simply no excuse for preachers to be caught up with so many things and yet not dive into the depths of Christ and His cross in their studies and in preaching. If Christ is not going to be preached then the preachers in name should simply step down from the pulpits until they learn how this is to be done. No, most likely another class at seminary is going to do this. This can only be learned when Christ teaches this to the heart.

True preaching cannot be learned from reading a book (though that can be helpful) or from hearing lectures on the subject (again, that can be helpful). It is only when Christ Himself teaches the heart the truths of Himself in the Scriptures that men will preach from the heart that Christ dwells in and teaches. It is not enough to say the words that Christ saves, it must be explained in a reverent and worshipful manner from a heart that Christ has saved and has taught. It is not enough for men to preach from the brain as that is not true preaching, but they must preach from the whole soul that has been taught by Christ.

We can see this as self-evident when we think of surgeons and their training. The surgeon does not just learn techniques from a book, but instead must learn by others how to do this and then be taught how to actually do it. It is in the practice that the surgeon learns more and more about surgery. This is so true about preaching. The text can only explain things in a certain way, but if the preacher is going to learn how to preach from the whole soul Christ must show Himself and He must teach the truths of Himself to the preacher. The preacher must experience Christ in order to preach Christ. It seems that most preaching today could be done by unbelievers as all that is done is to state things that the Bible says (at best). Of course that assumes that stories and jokes are not the heart of true sermons.

It is a terrible thing that men and women can attend churches and Reformed churches and not hear the glorious teachings of the Gospel beyond a factual approach. John Warwick Montgomery wrote of men being damned because of the professing church. Could this be true in our day? Could it be true that men are so focused on being good preachers, following the proper methods, and treating the text properly that they are missing the main point? They must be taught by Christ in the inward man or they will not preach the true Christ. What will happen if they do not preach Christ and His Gospel even if they use orthodox words? Men and women will be damned while sitting in the pews and they will not hear the true Gospel. The true Gospel can be hidden by orthodox words.

Romans 3:24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

Nothing in man doth precede or prevent the grace of God. The light and beams of grace do dispel the clouds of our sins. Not for our sakes, but for his Name’s sake he covereth our sins. It is God’s prerogative to free us from sin by grace, and to remove them far from us. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” {Ps.103:12} He only can remove sin against whom it is committed. He only can cast sin into the depths of the sea, who hath an ocean of grace in himself, in which he swalloweth them up. John Simpson {Perfection of Justification, 1648} Obtained from Supralapsarian.com

If the doctrines of grace are true, then we are far removed from them in our nation and world today. However, a form of those (though not the true doctrines of grace) seem to have made some form of comeback. If the doctrine of free-grace is true, then one has to search long and wide to find even a hint of it. We are inundated with humanism and a form of humanism that reaches into the historical doctrines of Christianity and twists the truth of God-centeredness to a man-centeredness that speaks of God.
While God is thoroughly God-centered in all He is and all He does, man can speak highly of God and yet speak highly of God and think of Him as being man-centered. It is that man-centeredness that changes the truth of the doctrines of grace into something else. Men have taken grace and have changed it into something it is not, even far from what it is. They do this in many ways and it really crosses all denominational and theological distinctions and boundaries. Men (pastors and theologians) will fight over issues with theology, but if they are never been turned to a thorough God-centeredness they will find a way to get along with each other. The divide between God-centeredness and man-centeredness is far and away broader than the divide between an intellectual Calvinism and Arminianism.

The sinful heart of man is man-centered even when it is trained well and with terminal degrees in the seminaries. No amount of education or training can turn the self-centered heart of man into a God-centered heart that truly loves God. The only way a heart can become God-centered is if that heart is turned by God and regenerated and the life of God lives and rules in that heart. The religious man, even if his theology is orthodox and Reformed and full of the doctrines of grace, will always have a selfish heart that is man-centered. That man will be at enmity with the true God and true grace as long as he lives and regardless of how many books he writes unless God has mercy upon him and gives him a new heart.
The so-called resurgence of the New Calvinism is not necessarily a good thing. It may be nothing more than a Reformed version of self-centeredness and selfishness expressed in a man-centered version of Reformed theology. These people can be very political in the secular realm or the religious realm, but they will always hate the true teaching of free-grace even if they use the word. They will hate free-grace because they always want to put grace in the hands of men to dispense it to themselves as they please and when they please. They hate free-grace in some circles because grace is in the hands of the priests or the pastors or ministers to dispense it. Some hate free-grace by saying that grace is in the sacraments and that a person receives grace when the person receives the sacrament.
Grace must never be in the hands of men to have at their disposal or it is not free-grace. For grace to be grace it cannot be earned, merited, or in any way be in the hands of men to give according to their own wills or pleasure. The God-centered God alone can give grace and He gives it according to His pleasure and for His own glory. The true and sovereign God never, ever gives grace into the hands or wills of men. If He did, then it would no longer be true grace or sovereign grace.

Jeremiah 14:14 Then the LORD said to me, “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds. 15 “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them– yet they keep saying, ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land ‘– by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end! 16 “The people also to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to bury them– neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters– for I will pour out their own wickedness on them. 17 “You will say this word to them, ‘Let my eyes flow down with tears night and day, And let them not cease; For the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow, With a sorely infected wound. 18 ‘If I go out to the country, Behold, those slain with the sword! Or if I enter the city, Behold, diseases of famine! For both prophet and priest Have gone roving about in the land that they do not know.'” 19 Have You completely rejected Judah? Or have You loathed Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We waited for peace, but nothing good came; And for a time of healing, but behold, terror! 20 We know our wickedness, O LORD, The iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against You. 21 Do not despise us, for Your own name’s sake; Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory; Remember and do not annul Your covenant with us. 22 Are there any among the idols of the nations who give rain? Or can the heavens grant showers? Is it not You, O LORD our God? Therefore we hope in You, For You are the one who has done all these things.

This passage seems to speak to modern America and perhaps the whole world. There are many false prophets and ministers who are using the name of the Lord to speak and they are speaking things that they did not obtain from the Scriptures not by the teaching of the Lord. Instead, they are speaking those things that flow from the futility and deception of their own minds. Over and over again God warned people that prophets and ministers are to speak according to the Scriptures and it is there that they can be checked. These ministers and/or prophets keep telling the people smooth messages rather than the truth of the mind of God. The people are greatly deceived, though indeed they wanted to be deceived.

While the prophets of old tried to tell the people that God would not judge them and send upon them diseases and famine. But this was what God intended to do and yet the prophets and ministers of that day said the exact opposite. The same is true in our day. Minister after minister wants to say smooth things to the people and deny that God will judge them and deny that there is a hell. Those who hear those things from the pulpits in our land must be awakened and told that the Lord did not send the teachers who teach those things. If one listens to those who speak in the name of the Lord it seems that many disqualify themselves by what they refuse to teach.

It is not until the Lord awakens people and shows them how deceptive their teachers are will they be awakened to what is really going on. The very thing that these deceptive teachers ignore or clearly deny is actually the thing that they should be warning people about. God judges sin each and every day and will judge it for eternity as well. It is so odd that there are so many warnings about these things in the Scriptures and yet these deceptive teachers refuse to accept those things and then teach the exact opposite of those things. Deceptive teachers, in terms of what is at the deepest part of their hearts, are children of the devil and we must always remember that the devil wants to be like God. He wants to deceive people as to who the real God is and distort the truth. This worked with Eve and continues to be a real issue of the day.

Our only hope is the same God who has judged us and is judging us. Our only hope is that He would by His great and marvelous grace give us hearts to seek His face for Himself and to seek Him on the basis of His own glory. We should learn to plead to the Lord to give us hearts that love Him and His glory so that we can really and truly seek Him. We should seek Him to show us how blind we are and how self-centered and prideful we are so that He would show us these things and drive us to the cross which alone can give light by Christ and His Spirit. We should seek Him asking Him to protect us against deception and grant us truth. We should seek Him to deliver us from the desire to have our ears tickled to the practice of our ears of hearing the truth with love.

Genesis 2:17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

Hebrews 9:27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,

Ecclesiastes 7:1 A good name is better than a good ointment, And the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth. Col 1:13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son

Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus

I found out today that a man I knew of and had a high appreciation for had died. Perhaps it sounds rather morbid to think on these things so much, but since all will die it is important to think on these things rather than just dismiss them and think on frivolities. It is appointed unto man to die and after that comes judgment. That is what has happened or will happen to each and every person that has ever lived. They have an appointed time to die and they will die, and then comes judgment.

As we think upon what will happen to people after death, it is not like those people pass into non-existence, but they enter into a state that they will be in for all eternity. This is not a denial of the bodily resurrection or the passing out of rewards or a last day, but all enter into a state of torment or a state of heavenly bliss. The degree of torment will change and the degree of the heavenly bliss will change on the judgment day, but the basic issue is settled once a person dies. This is so vital to realize.

All are born dead in sin and under the slavery of the evil one, yet by the grace of God people are delivered from that slavery. The glory of the grace of God is set with the background of the evil and despair of sin and the evil one. While it sounds so strange to say that people are born dead, that is to say that they are born spiritually dead and without the slightest bit of spiritual life to them. They must be born from above and be made spiritually alive or they will remain in death forever. The state of that death is the same in a sense, though when one dies physically one passes on to the second death where one remains in a state of spiritual death for eternity. This is the state where the person has no experience of the greatness and glory of God in His love and grace.

For those that God raises from spiritual death and grants spiritual life, they have that eternal life and that life is Christ. Those people taste life in this present world and when they die physically they will have a fuller and more blessed life for eternity. It is so hard for people who are consumed with the world to grasp these things, but these things are more real than the world we live in. It is like we live in a bubble (so to speak) before conversion and all we experience is a lie. As those dead to spiritual things we are fed lies about the reality of eternity, pleasure, God, and ourselves. Those who are dead have no sight and no sensibility at all of eternal things beyond what they can logically conceive of. It is horrible to live without God (sensible awareness and knowledge of) which is to live/exist without true life.

Men and women die and we have sorrow and we wonder why. But God is sovereign over all things even the day of our death. He is sovereign over the causes of how people leave this world. He loves His people far more than we ever could and as such He is not treating them with any cruelty. He has an eye to their eternal good and the eternal good of all that He has granted love for Himself, which is ultimately His own glory. We should not grieve as those who have no hope, but instead behold their deaths with spiritual eyes. Those to are for the glory of God and we should behold His glory in the Gospel in the saving of sinners when His people die. All die in accordance with His perfect wisdom and perfect timing. It may not feel like it, but we are to behold these things and interpret them in accordance with the character of God. The death of His children is precious in His eyes and He has transported them away from a place of suffering to a place where there can be no suffering. Let us bow and worship.

Romans 9:13 Just as it is written, “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.” 14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! 15 For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.” 16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.” 18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. 19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” 20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? 21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? 22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

It seems that while there are many articles and books written on hermeneutics (science of interpretation), there are few that really deal with one of the main issues at hand. It also seems that books on apologetics seem to miss some of the major points made by Paul. The real issue with interpretation and with apologetics is God. This may sound elementary and perhaps even silly to some or perhaps even many, but we must start with God, who God is, and His sovereign rights over all of His creation. It is not necessary to come up with a fancy philosophical argument to convince the fallen reason of man or to jump through hermeneutical hoops to arrive at a correct conclusion. Perhaps we just need to get our interpretations in line with the character of God.

It is true that during the Reformation that the Reformers went by the thought that Scripture interprets Scripture and that was a tremendous principle. However, we should also know that there is another major thought that we should go by and that is the character of God interprets Scripture. We must bring our theology and our interpretations of Scripture to the character of God first and foremost. It is also true that Christ reveals the character of God by His Person and works, but we must learn to look for the Divine nature shining forth in and through Him. After all, He came to manifest God and His glory. The point, then, is that while Scripture interprets Scripture, the testimony of Scripture to the true God should lead us to study Scripture in light of who the true God really is.

In Romans 9:13 Paul writes that it is written “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.” Of course we have heard the immediate and impassioned arguments of men that God is unjust if He does that in a literal way. But how does Paul answer that argument? Yes, He goes to Scripture, but He goes to Scripture to show how the character of God is such that He is not unjust. What pounds the argument that God is unjust into the dust is the fact that God will show mercy on whom He will. God is sovereign over those He shows mercy to and is under no obligation whatsoever to show mercy to anyone. The living God is sovereign and that is supposed to still our mouths and our hearts. It is the character of God that is to shut the mouths of men.

Paul moves on in the passage (vv. 17ff) and speaks of how God raised up Pharaoh for His own purposes and He did so that His name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. Paul then continues the earlier statement (God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy) and now says that God will harden whom He desires. Oh how people argue that this is not fair and how God should not find fault with us then. However, Paul takes us back to the potter and the clay and tells us that the potter has the right to make one lump of clay as he pleases. In other words, Paul takes the person who is arguing back to the character of God and sets forth God as sovereign. God both has mercy on whom He desires and also hardens whom He desires. He is extensively sovereign.

Taking men back to the character of God in His glorious sovereignty is not popular in our day, but it is biblical. It is also the only real answer to those who bring up these questions. If we will take note a lot of times people do question the character of God in issues like these. The way to answer their questions is not to find a philosophical loophole as such, but to show them the true God. In a very real sense all theology is about God and it is the study of God and what He has revealed about Himself. It is God, His beauty, and His glory that shines forth in the Gospel. After all, it is the good news of God and the good news of the glory of God. We cannot preach the true Gospel apart from preaching the true God in the Gospel or the true God as set forth in and by the Gospel. These little canned messages centered on getting people to pray a prayer or make a decision out of nothing but self-love is quite foreign to the Gospel of God. God is to be our most basic hermeneutic and our most basic apologetic.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.

1 Corinthians 15:19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

Psalm 16:11 You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.

The world offers no real hope at all and what pseudo-hope it offers is but for a moment. How men pursue the things of the world and they cannot possibly fill the soul but for a short time and the world will not fill the soul at all in eternity. Neither political party has any answers that the soul that seeks the Lord for His presence can possibly be satisfied with. The soul with the life of Christ in it cannot be satisfied in any longer term sense with anything but the presence of God.

The world is nothing but darkness and those who seek it are bankrupt and empty despite their outward appearances. How hollow, empty, and vain are the riches and fame of the world. How big and powerful men can appear to be while inside their very souls are empty and miserable. They can seek to stuff their souls with the candy of the world, yet they do nothing but increase their misery as their soul withers. As the United States continues to slide down into the pit of darkness and misery the politicians try all sorts of things to stop it. While it is true that there are things that will make the slide into the pit appear to stop or at least slow down, only God can stop the slide and He will only do so at His good pleasure.

There is no doubt that we are in a dark time and we need men who will stop dancing around answers and will go straight to the heart of the problem. The greatest issue in our day is that God Himself has given us over to the desires of our heart. This is to say that He has hardened us and has turned us over to our sin. There is absolutely nothing we can do to soften our hearts when God has hardened them anymore than men could open the door to the Ark after God had shut it. Bluntly speaking, religion will not help and professing Christianity will not help. Lukewarm religion and lukewarm versions of Christianity will not help. Even real Christians cannot help either. Prayer will not help as long as it is prayer offered up as religious people do.

Christian conferences and religious conferences will do nothing to help as long as they do nothing but speak of this and that. Prayer conferences will not help as long as people think of prayer as their own work and as trying to talk God into something. All the church services in the world will do nothing but heap up wrath upon wrath as long as we are not seeking the true God in humility and brokenness of heart. All the Bible study without humble hearts seeking the Lord Himself as the greatest treasure and true love will do nothing. We must seek the Lord Himself in prayer and Bible study and for the Church and the nation or all we do is for the wrong reasons.

No, this is not some despairing and hopeless post; it is just saying that unless we seek God Himself all we do is vain. There is no hope in the prayers of self and the works of self, there is only hope in the living God. We must seek Him in prayer or we seek self in prayer. We must seek broken hearts and humility from His hand or we seek it from the works of sinful flesh. There is only one way to truly seek the Lord and that is the path of the denial of self, the broken heart, and the humbled heart. Oh how people mock this, but they mock the only way. It is true that these things in and of themselves cannot please God, but these are things that God works in the soul that He is pleased to dwell in and work through. We must seek the Lord for the spiritual strength to deny the forms of self that we must deny if we are to seek Him out of true love. We must seek the Lord for spiritual strength for a broken heart (from self and pride) that we may have Him dwell in that broken heart. We must seek the Lord for humility (the life of Christ in us) that we may have grace to seek Him and His glory.

There is nothing that man can be or do that can move God to come down and turn our hearts to Himself and to turn the hearts of the professing churches and our nation to Himself. He can only do these things when He is moved by Himself and then we behold free-grace. God can only be moved (so to speak) by Himself and His own glory. We should not want God to move apart from His free-grace. If we love true grace then we can only love free-grace. Our hearts can only be moved to true prayer for His glory out of love for Him and His glory by free-grace. We should seek the Lord to break our hearts and make them to where we ache for Him and His glory. Until He breaks our hearts and humbles us to desire His glory of free-grace, we must not deceive ourselves that we are truly praying. Only broken hearts can truly pray. In other words, it costs the very self in order to pray. Do we really want to pray? Do we truly want the presence of God? Do we truly desire the true glory of God? If not, all the empty prayers we offer with proud hearts will simply not do it. We must seek the Lord to make us in those who truly pray for His presence and glory.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.

Eph 2:12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Job 19:25 “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. 26 “Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God; 27 Whom I myself shall behold, And whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!

1 Corinthians 15:19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

A worldview can be defined as a set of beliefs through which we view the world and the events that happen in the world. It is a basic set of beliefs that our minds work to conform all events and other events to fit. A worldview can also be said to determine how we view and interpret events. This is a view that explains a lot of how the world operates and how it is that people can see the same event and yet interpret it so differently. This also shows us how a true Christian will view the world so differently from non-Christians and how professing Christians who are not true Christians can see the world just like non-professing Christians (unbelievers).

The true Christian views those who die in a certain way and the non-Christian most likely will view them in a different way. In the United States there are many, many people who think that there is a heaven and a hell, but they seem to think that all nice people or basically good people will end up in heaven. The only people that seem to be consigned to hell in their view are those who disagree with them. There are also those believe that all people will end up in a good place, though they don’t necessarily think it is heaven. Then there are those who believe that when people die they pass into non-existence and it is over. Of course there are those who believe in reincarnation, but that is really just another system of denying hell or works for a better life.

If should be readily seen that a different belief will lead to a different life. However, it is not just a minor belief that guides the life, but instead it must be the major belief. Of course Christians are not just guided by a set of beliefs as such, but they are guided by the life of Christ in them. The very life of the believer is Christ who dwells in them. But what must be seen as behind acts of violence and acts of terrorism are beliefs about a higher power and of life after death. It is also clear that those who die as a result of acts of terror or violence will be thought of as innocent or good or something on that order.

It is also the case that those who view those who die have beliefs about life and death that guide how they view people and events. Those who grieve as those who have no hope are really grieving for themselves. One can hear people interviewed who have had those close to them die and all they can talk about is how much this has hurt them and caused them pain and what a loss it is. It is true that some talk about what a loss it was to others because a person of promise was taken.

But where is the basic belief of a sovereign God in all of this? Religion does little good in times of distress, but only a true hope in the living God stands in the times of distress and trial. While people go around in their religious acts with some acknowledgment that there is an existence after death, that is not a firm hope in the living and sovereign God who holds all things, events, and beings in His sovereign hands. Those who are truly separate from Christ, regardless of their profession, have no real hope and live without God in the world.

While the politicians talk about serving humanity and doing good as the heart and unifier of their religions, the Christian must stand firm against that sort of thing. It is not doing good and it is not serving humanity which demonstrates true religion, it is loving God and having the true God manifest His glory through Christ who dwells in His people that does. The life of Christ dwelling in the believer changes the believer and only the believer can be a worker of true good in the world because only the true believer can truly love (I John 4:7-8). All the works of the unbeliever are simply acts of hate toward God who is the greatest good. How can acts that do not come from God and point to God who is the greatest good for people be good for people? Christ is the only true hope for any person or the world at large.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.

Eph 2:12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Job 19:25 “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. 26 “Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God; 27 Whom I myself shall behold, And whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!

1 Corinthians 15:19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

It is an astonishing comment that Paul makes regarding that if we have hoped in Christ in this life only then above all men we are most to be pitied. If we think of the beatings and hardships that Paul and those who were with him went through (the “we”), that is clearly true. If we only have a time on earth and during that time on earth we are abused for our belief in another life beyond the grave, then his statement is clearly true. However, for those who do not suffer much we don’t quite get the point of his statement beyond the logic of it. We see the misery that sin brings on people and we know that we have joy in Christ and as such we don’t quite get the point of Paul.

It is also likely the case that those who have no real suffering in this present world will understand Paul when he longed and panted for the next world. It is also likely that those who suffer little or seemingly none will not long for the time when they will be with Christ and He will comfort them and wipe away their tears. It is also highly likely that those who suffer little will understand that those with Christ do not grieve as those who don’t. It is through suffering and hardships that Christ works faith in our souls and it is by faith that we see the unseen world and know it as more real than this one.

It is so clear with the television coverage of the killings that have taken place that many people grieve as those with no hope. Indeed they may have some foggy notion of a better world, but that is not the same things as living in a certain hope of being with Christ in eternity. When Christ is your life here and now (Galatians 2:20), there is the hope of having more and more of Christ in eternity. It is Christ who is our joy and it is Christ Himself who is our hope. As the Psalm says, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth” (Psa 73:25). When the true hope, love, and desire of the soul is for Christ on earth, then that soul knows that there is nothing greater in heaven but more of Christ. He is our hope both here and there, both now and then.

The focus of the news, the politicians, and seemingly the vast number of the clergy is on the here and now. Whether it is on events, life and death, or whatever goes on we are blasted with views about those things from a worldly perspective. Whether the coming election gives us one party or the other, it is the sovereign hand of God behind it. Whether the coming weeks give us more ambushes or not, it is the sovereign hand of God hardening or softening as He pleases. If the near future brings terror attacks in this country and/or others, we can know that God is either judging or protecting and that His eternal purposes will be brought forth. Our hope is not in the government and our hope is not in men or the weapons of men. Our hope is in God and in Him alone.

While the entire world, all events, and every human heart is in the hand of God to do with as He pleases, we must not forget that He does work through means or second causes (so-called as to appearance). It is not that elections are unimportant and it is not that police and military actions are inconsequential. It is simply saying that God is sovereign over all of those things and we must learn to seek the Lord to give us spiritual eyes to behold these things which is to say that He will give us eyes to see His hand in all things. While the world appears to totter and appears to be completely falling apart, it has done so many times before. God is in control despite the appearances and nothing is happening that He did not ordain to happen from all eternity. We must hope in God for eternal things in the midst of our hope in Him while we live in the here and now. We must seek Him for grace to be content with Him and what He brings to pass.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.

Eph 2:12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Job 19:25 “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. 26 “Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God; 27 Whom I myself shall behold, And whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!

1 Corinthians 15:19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

In the last few weeks there have been a lot of protesting and a lot of policemen being killed and still others shot. We see people in deep grief and others in deep anger if not rejoicing. It is sad that people will not wait until all the facts are in and investigations are complete, but that is not the point of this post. It seems as if people want to make the deduction that because my relative, my friend, or my whatever has been shot that this person will go to heaven. On one side people seem to think that if a person dies in an unjust manner (whether real or perceived), that person is in heaven. On the other hand, many seem to think that if a policeman is shot then he will certainly go to his great reward. While this may seem calloused to many, the point is to point all to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It seems as if the doctrine of salvation by death is rampant in our nation. It seems as if the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been hidden from the eyes of so many and this is seen by what people say and of their actions as well. Whether a person is a policeman, a criminal, a housewife, an athlete, or anything else there is only one way of salvation. A person does not enter the gates of heaven because of his or her job, but the only way is the narrow gate and that gate is Christ Himself. A man or woman may be deeply religious, but being deeply religious may mean nothing more than being a Pharisee of sorts. Christ is the only way of salvation. A man or woman may be a minister of some sort, but that is not a way of salvation either. A person must really and truly have Jesus Christ and not just be religious or a member of some form of clergy.

As the media reports about each person that has died, the most important parts are missed because they are not going to report about spiritual realities and of the eternal destiny of the person that has died. The media will report on how great an athlete was or on how wonderful an actor was, but they never report on the adulterous relationships and things like that. We want a nice and sanitized view of things. However, I am not sure Christians are given that luxury. We are to look at these events through spiritual lenses and we are to see the hand of the sovereign God of the universe in all of these events. God is sovereign over all of these events in that He either brings His child home or He brings a person into eternal torment. We must see these things or we don’t see reality at all.

We must pray and ask God for eyes to see the reality of what is going on. As a nation we are reaping the consequences of our sin, but for individuals things may be different. Each person that dies is not dying by some cosmic accident, but each person dies at the exact moment that God has chosen for that person to die and that person dies in accordance with His eternal plan and purpose. With each murder that is committed, the One that is truly sinned against is God as each person is made in His image. I have never heard one person in the media ever say anything like that. However, with each murder God is attacked. When policeman are murdered, the rule of God through law is attacked. When we see open season on policemen, what we are seeing is a nation being turned over to hard hearts against God.

We see private persons and the police alike crying out that we must stop the violence. Why should the violence stop? Well, so that people would not be hurt so much and so that we can live in peace. Yet, we teach our children that they have evolved in a purposeless universe and are headed toward eternal extinction. When the children are taught that, they have no real reason not to be violent. They will have a short life and when they die (they try to convince themselves) they will have no consequences. While it is true that those people are deceived and have deceived themselves, let us also know that as a nation we have set out the foundation for all of this violence because we have turned from God. To be rude and blunt about it, yet quite biblical, when we hear people say we should pray, let us not deceive ourselves in this matter too. Why would God hear our prayers? We have turned from Him, we have rejected Him, and we have demonstrated hate toward Him. The professing churches need to repent as they are far from God as well. We need to return to God and yet we cannot in our own strength. We are in His hands to do with as He pleases.