God Loves… Himself

Ephesians 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.

Colossians 1:18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.

The professing Church has not been unified for centuries if not millennia. Before the close of the New Testament we have Paul and others writing to help people get along with each other and to correct false doctrine and other issues. The true Church, while much ink has been used to write tomes on the nature of the Church, is essentially the body of Christ. That is perhaps the most fundamental truth about the Church and perhaps the most important to remember. The most important thing about the Church and a church is not whether it has elders or not or whether the leaders are Bishops or not, the most important thing about Church and churches is Christ.

It is vitally important to some to hold that the Presbyterian form of government is what was instituted by God in the New Testament. For others, it is the Congregational view. For others, it is a strong form of elder rule. Is the form of government really as important as the Savior and Head of the body? Could it be that the form of government in a church is not what is important for people who are truly following Christ? It would seem that if Christ is the Head of the Church, then the preaching and teaching of the churches would be to preach the Gospel of Christ and to nourish and cherish the members of His body. When those who love Christ begin to see that Christ taught that how His people treat others is precisely how they treat Him, some things that were once thought important will dwindle away.

Jesus asked Peter if he (Peter) loved Him. Yes, there is also something else going on there with the various Greek words for love. Nevertheless, when Peter answered in the affirmative he was told to shepherd and tend His sheep. This is rather profound if we could get it. If the ministers of the day love Christ, they should shepherd and feed the sheep of Christ. They are not to use and abuse or lord it over them, but instead the office of pastor should compel a man to feed the sheep of Christ. The Lord Jesus did not order Peter to set up the office of Pope or to set out rules of Church government, but instead He told him to shepherd and feed the sheep. Again, He did not tell Peter to get the people to give more money for bigger buildings, but instead He told Peter to shepherd and feed the sheep. He also did not tell Peter to feed the whole world, but instead he was to feed the sheep.

The Lord Jesus was concerned about His sheep, but He did not set up a specific government while on earth. Instead, He made it clear that His people were to love the truth, love each other, and they were to make disciples. It is also true that Paul did not spend much time in writing about how to set up the government of the churches, but he did speak about teaching sound doctrine and preaching the word. Neither Jesus nor Paul wasted a moment of their time as recorded in Scripture speaking of church politics within the churches. When so much appears to be done in our day as mediated through the politics of denominations and even of local churches, when that is done we can know that we have already lost. The focus has been moved from loving Christ and His people which Christ commanded to keeping rules which Christ did not command.

During the summer months many denominations have their national meetings. There is a lot of discussion about rules and regulations and many plans are made for various things. But it would behoove people to consider what Christ would want done when churches come together. Would Christ want fanfare and politicking going on? Would Christ want so much money spent on extravagant meeting places and motel rooms? Wouldn’t it be much more like Christ to want His people fed with Himself through Gospel preaching and for men to lift up and exalt the glory of God in Christ? Wouldn’t it be more like Christ to want His people to seek humility and lowliness before Him that He would open their hearts and give them grace as He pleases? What would happen if these meetings were indeed judged by how the people of God were shepherded and fed? It may be that they would be utter failures. But, some will say, we made great plans. Indeed, great plans. But where is Christ in all of that?

“While the Calvinistic doctrines were the language of our pulpits as well as of our Articles, the Reformation made a swift and extensive progress. But ever since our Articles and our pulpits have been at variance, the Reformation has been at a stand.” Augustus Toplady

Toplady was given to thoughtful and powerful statements. During the time of the Reformation the sovereignty and glory of God was the very heart of what was written and preached. The Gospel shone forth and a true reviving work was carried out in Germany and other nations as well. In a sense the Gospel shook the world and it was the Gospel of God and the glory of God that changed the world. But then the wisdom of men and the freedom of man began to take back over and slowly (perhaps not that slowly) the Gospel of God’s glory was replaced by the teachings of men which are man-centered. The men of old who spoke with great power still have their writings reproduced at times, but that is nothing more than washing the tombs of the old prophets while the new prophets are excoriated. It can be fashionable to speak highly of those have been dead a long time and yet resist those who believe the same things in the present time.

If it is true, as Toplady believed, that the advances of the Gospel were and are tied in to how we preach and teach Calvinistic doctrines, then this explains why the modern, professing Church is so weak in our day. It has left the glorious doctrines which the Church is supposed to stand for and proclaim. It has left that which God honors and that is the truth of the Gospel which is the truth of God Himself. The Gospel of grace alone is really the truth of God in Christ and how God saves sinners in and through Christ alone by grace alone. Any attempt to move from that truth in theory or practice is a move away from the Gospel.

William Hauge describes the early eighteenth century church provocatively in his recent biography of William Wilberforce. He speaks of the diluted nature of the Christianity preached in British pulpits, and of the “hypocritical and lackluster way in which it was practiced.” He describes an ecclesiastical establishment “mired in a period of place-seeing, money-grabbing and moral irrelevance.” When William Blackstone, a renowned lawyer at this time, had heard every preacher of note in London he concluded that none of their sermons contained more Christianity than the pagan philosopher Cicero. After listening to sermons in York, Henry Venn similarly concluded that “excepting a single phrase or two, they might be preached in a synagogue or mosque without offence.” One historian of this period candidly asserts that the established religion was regarded by most politician, and many churchmen too, as merely a valuable form of police control over the lower classes. He goes on to conclude that, “It must be admitted that the church of England during the eighteenth century is not an inspiring spectacle. Latitudinarian to a degree which makes it difficult to find any theological justification for its existence, at its highest it was an efficient instrument of statecraft, ad its lowest it was a nest of pluralists and mundane divines.”

The Latitudinarians were men who fought against the philosophical attacks on the Church at the time but that led to the Church becoming rational and moral with little regard for theology. Without theology, the Church has nothing distinctly Divine to proclaim. Without theology, the Church has no basis or standard for true morality or holiness. The Church took up arms in defense, but it did not defend what it should have defended and as such it revealed what it really was and what was really important to it. Theology is an utter necessity for the Church and when it is denigrated the Church will crumble. When the solid truths of Calvinism (the real heart of it) are attacked or dismissed as not that important the true Church will continue on, true enough, but there will certainly be a great weakening in the outer shell and in appearance.

It is vital for elders and preachers to take stands for vital truths for there is no Church and no Gospel apart from those truths. There is not a good reason that one can come up with for not standing on and teaching the vital truths of Calvinism. It is true that if we do so people will leave. It is true that if we do so it may be the reason that people give for there being division in the congregation. But we must understand that if we keep people and yet it is not because of the truth of Christ, then those people may not be converted at all. If we don’t teach solid doctrine because we are afraid that those truths will bring division, we must also understand that there is only true unity in the truth. Saying we believe in Calvinism is a terrible thing if we don’t teach it and proclaim it boldly.

The Church (in name) is in deep, deep trouble. Liberalism has taken the vitals out of most of the professing Church a long time ago. Rationalism and irrationalism has always troubled the professing Church under the guise of scholarship and learning or simply being oriented and led by the feelings. Pelagianism has not gone away and instead is rampant in the modern professing Church. R.C. Sproul said several years ago that if Luther were alive today he would write a book entitled “The Pelagian Captivity of the Church.” While the Reformers were willing to die in their stand against Pelagianism and Arminianism, today those things are not thought of as serious errors.

What has happened? There have been various explanations for the ills of the modern, professing Church in our day. It has been said that the problem is that we have gotten away from the sacraments, have gotten away from confessionalism, or that we have lost our connection with people with not having the right music, the right methods, the right dress, and the right message. Some argue that we don’t have enough expository preaching, enough discipleship, or perhaps we are just not committed enough in our day. While those things may be true to a degree and at certain points, something else may be the real problem.

A book arrived in the mail today from International Outreach. It was (and is) entitled The Existence and Attributes of Satan, written by Thaddeus McRae. As I read the Introduction (written by William Nichols) the problem (at least a major part of it) of the modern, professing Church became clear. The modern, professing Church does not really believe in the devil even though they may confess that they do. Following the Introduction as it quotes the author, “There is a personal devil. He is known by several names:

1. The god of this world, 2 Corinthians 4:4
2. Beelzebub the chief of the devils, Luke 11:15
3. The devil and his angels, Matthew 25:41
4. The angel of the bottomless pit, Revelation 19:11
5. The accuser of the brethren, Revelation 12:10
6. The great dragon
7. That old serpent the devil
8. Satan the deceiver

“He is also likewise represented as possessing character.” He is described in Scripture in these ways:

1. He is a deceiver
2. He is a murderer
3. He is the wicked one
4. He is a liar
5. He is the tempter

The sin which caused Satan to fall was that of pride. It was his exalting himself and wanting to be like God that was his fall, which then became how he tempted Eve in the Garden. Quoting from the Introduction which quoted McGray, “My hearers, consider the devilish nature of pride…Its very essence is antagonism to God. He who over-estimates himself will readily go farther. Being ‘lifted up’ with his own sufficiency, he will soon learn to encroach upon the rights of others. He is all-important, and all things must therefore subserve his interest; and as he ascends in his own esteem, he may ere long aspire to divine honors, and become a rival of his Maker.”

As can clearly be seen the problem in the modern, professing Church has two heads. One, it dismisses the activity of Satan unless it is in a confession where it must be confessed. But on a practical level, the practice of church goes on like he does not really exist. Two, Satan has breathed forth his poison, the poison of pride, into the modern, professing Church. He has done this in numerous ways, but he has done it. The modern, professing Church is shot through with proud ministers. They are proud of the external success, proud of their education, proud of their suits, or perhaps proud of what they know. The churches are full of proud deacons, proud elders, and proud committee members. The churches are also full of proud members because proud leaders have been deceived and now the churches are full of proud unbelievers. When the churches are deceived by the deceiver, souls murdered by false gospels, full of wickedness from the wicked one, full of lies from the liar, and being tempted by the master tempter, the churches are more like synagogues of Satan than the Bride of Christ. The only answer is to seek the Lord Himself and seek Him for humbled and broken hearts. There is no answer for pride but humility. There is no answer to the tempter but from Christ Himself who defeated the tempter.

The modern, professing Church has been lied to, deceived, and assaulted with false doctrine and the abuse of Scripture. When the evil one tempted Eve he twisted the words of God. When the evil one tempted the Lord Jesus he twisted the application of the Scriptures. As one who appears as an angel of light, he is always trying to deceive people about what good and evil are. This is how he turns professing churches away from the true Gospel and gets them to proclaim a false gospel. This is how he turns ministers away from preaching the truth and instead preaching easy and popular messages. He nurtures pride in the guise of humility, twists niceness to be thought of as love, and makes it appear that believing truth and knowing God is to be proud. He turns true unity into people seeking to be ecumenical. He turns sovereign grace into something that men can apply to themselves by an act of the will. In short, the evil one has hijacked the modern, professing Church to a great degree. We must seek the Lord for humility and light. We must seek the Lord to teach us rather than trust in our own proud hearts or the proud hearts of others.

This first variety of hyper-Calvinism denies the general, external call, and insists that the gospel should be preached in a way that proclaims the facts about Christ’s work and God’s electing grace—without calling for any kind of response. This is the worst form of hyper-Calvinism in vogue today. I’d class it as an extremely serious error, more dangerous than the worst variety of Arminianism. At least the Arminian preaches enough of the gospel for the elect to hear it and be saved. The hyper-Calvinist who denies the gospel call doesn’t even believe in calling sinners to Christ. He almost fears to whisper the gospel summons to other believers, lest anyone accuse him of violating divine sovereignty. Phil Johnson

With all the issues going on today and the confusion over what hyper-Calvinism is or is not, I was reading through what Phil Johnson thinks hyper-Calvinism is. While I have read his stuff on this before, for some reason the statement that hyper-Calvinism (at least one aspect of it) is more dangerous than the worst variety of Arminianism struck me as odd. He then goes on to say that “at least the Arminian preaches enough of the gospel for the elect to hear it and be saved.” Again, this struck me as quite an odd statement in any context.

What does it mean for someone to preach enough of the Gospel for others to hear and be saved? What does it mean for an Arminian to preach enough of the Gospel for others to hear it and be saved? How is it that this variety of hyper-Calvinism is such an extremely serious error that it is more dangerous than the worst variety of Arminianism? If Martin Luther was correct, one was not even ready to hear the Gospel until s/he denied free-will. John Owen thought of those who believed in free-will as idolaters. Could it be that Phil Johnson is not as Reformed as he thinks? While it is easy to understand a person standing against hyper-Calvinism, when a person thinks that the worst variety of Arminianism can preach enough of the Gospel it makes me wonder if that person understands Reformed or Arminian theology.

The only kind of grace that there can possibly be is sovereign grace. The Arminian cannot preach sovereign grace because by definition the Arminian believes in the sovereignty of the free-will. The Arminian cannot tell the sinner to look to God for a new heart and the gift of faith, but instead the Arminian can only tell the sinner to look to self in order to make a choice. Romans 11:6 is so clear that any work added to grace makes grace no longer to be grace. The best of Arminians cannot preach a Gospel of grace alone if he is to be consistent with his system, so we can be assured that the worst of Arminians have no Gospel at all.

So, is it more dangerous to preach Christ and the sovereign grace of God without calling for a response (though who knows for sure that that means) or to preach a grace that is not sovereign at all? Jesus told us that the will of His Father was “that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life” (John 6:40). He did not say that he who hears a preacher urge him to respond and he does will have eternal life. What we see, then, is that preaching the Gospel is to set forth Christ in His glory and in beholding this Christ one believes and as such has eternal life. The fear is that the Arminians practice is that the focus is on a response that men can actually carry out in their flesh and so as they focus on the response they are not truly lifting up Christ. The worst of Arminians don’t truly have a Christ to lift up but instead they have man to lift up and man to urge to do something in order that he will be saved. The worst of Arminians cannot preach Christ as a sovereign King, so no real grace to preach.

Scripture also sets out that the Gospel is the power of God to salvation. It does not set out that man’s response to something offered is the power of God to salvation. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17). The text does not say that faith comes by being offered Christ, but faith comes by hearing the word of Christ. Romans 16:25 also tells us that God “is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ.” Could it be that God’s method for men to come to Christ and to be established in Christ is for men to preach Christ rather than to stop preaching Christ and urge men to respond in some way?

A man who loves his wife, and for some reason has not seen her for months and months, does not need to be told to run and embrace her when he sees her after such a long time. In a similar manner a sinner who feels the weight of his sin will flee to Christ when Christ is truly preached and held up. The Arminian of the worst kind (and perhaps the best kind as well) do not hold up Christ as He should be preached as One who saves apart from anything we do but by grace alone. He will also stop preaching and start trying to get men to look to their free-will (as if they had one) to choose Christ. That is not only dangerous, it is fatal to the Gospel of grace alone.

Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and try me; Test my mind and my heart.

Jer 12:3 But You know me, O LORD; You see me; And You examine my heart’s attitude toward You.

Lamentations 3:40 Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the LORD.

1 Cor 11:28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

1 Corinthians 8:1 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. 2 If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; 3 but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.

The very hard job of examining the heart is necessary if we are going to see pride and self that remains in our hearts. If we never take the time to look at the intents, purposes, and attitudes of the heart we will never take time to know our own hearts. The scribes and Pharisees were satisfied with the externals, but they never went to the depths of their own hearts to understand that they were hypocrites. As Jeremiah 12:3 points out, our attitude of the heart toward God is vital. After all, the Greatest Commandment is to love God with all of the heart, mind, soul, and strength. If we don’t examine our hearts, then how are we going to know if we are loving God at all? If we are simply satisfied with a good feeling about ourselves as we do external duties, we will never know if we love God from the heart (to any degree) in what we are doing. That is simply dangerous.

It is easy for professing believers to simply be satisfied with an external study of the Bible and of the historical creeds. It is easy for professing believers to read books and think that they know what they have read. It is easy, regardless of what we read or study, to become convinced that we are believers and growing Christians based on the things we know about or the degree or level of information that we have. The Scriptures (I Cor 8:1) are quite clear that knowledge alone can simply puff us up or make us arrogant. Are we ever warned about that? Are we ever warned that Bible Study can make us arrogant? Instead of that, however, we are told that we should study or read the Bible each day as part of our devotion. But what if all we are doing is making us more proud and arrogant each day as we gain knowledge? What if we are given to memorize Scripture and do so with great success and people notice this and praise us? Have we thought that if we don’t interpret what we have memorized that we are memorizing error? If we don’t love God in truth as we memorize we are simply puffing ourselves up with more information and knowledge?

Some have started book reading clubs (of various sorts) as a way of spiritual growth. But even if we read the older authors, and admittedly they are far better, do we realize that apart from “spiritual digestion” we can simply be growing in arrogance and pride? Apart from examining the heart, which can also become a means of growing in arrogance and pride if we don’t examine the heart in dependence upon Him, there is nothing that we do that cannot be a means of our being puffed up in pride. All the spiritual disciplines (so-called) can be a means of our growing in arrogance and pride. Seeking humility can be a way of growing in arrogance and pride if we are not careful. That one phrase in I Corinthians 8:1 (Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies) should drive us to an examination of our hearts.

It must also be said that examining the heart and various methods of doing that can also become a way for the heart to grow in arrogance and pride. We must be taught of God to examine our hearts and seek Him for light in what is being done. We must ask Him to open our hearts to us and for Him to make us willing to accept His verdict and the verdict of Scripture on our hearts. God alone can show us the nature of our pride toward Him at all times. It is true that this can be very painful as our self-righteousness is crushed and all of our supposed ability is seen to be a mirage, but this is necessary to see how Christ is all at all times. It has been said that the human heart is an idol factory, but it is also a factory that is incessantly given to arrogance and pride before God and man. The heart that is always leaning toward pride must have the grace of God in Christ Jesus to protect it from that or all it will do will puff it up with pride. Religious activities will not protect from pride alone, but instead they seem to be what makes pride grow faster than anything else. Bare knowledge and study, whether at home or in a seminary or school, will make one arrogant. Only the humble Savior can teach us humility in the inner man. Anything else we do apart from the work of the Savior in the inner man puffs us up. Indeed, we can do nothing apart from Him.

Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and try me; Test my mind and my heart.

Jeremiah 12:3 But You know me, O LORD; You see me; And You examine my heart’s attitude toward You. Drag them off like sheep for the slaughter And set them apart for a day of carnage!

Lamentations 3:40 Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the LORD.

1 Cor 11:28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

One of the reasons that so little respect is given to Christ in our day is because people do not examine their own hearts in our day with any seriousness. Unless we can see our helplessness in sin, we will not look to grace alone to deliver us from sin. Until we see that sin is with us in the depths of our soul in terms of power, motive, and intent, we will not understand our great need to have Christ as our Mediator Who is Prophet, Priest, and King. Until we arrive at a deep conviction of our need to have Christ work in us in order for us to do one good thing, we will not understand our great need to have Him as our life.

In terms of church people, so to speak, Jesus is thought of as one who did miracles and died on the cross. But there is very little understanding of that. Even in Reformed circles the need to examine the heart and then to think of the sins of the heart as needing to be cleansed by the blood of Christ and to have Him as the life of the believer seems to be largely ignored. In Reformed circles the stress is put on expository preaching which basically amounts to an academic study of the Bible with information about things given out. In Reformed circles there can also be a stress on doctrine or the creeds, which are important, but those things can be studied and stressed in a way where it is nothing but information given out. There is also a stress on morality in Reformed circles, but morality is not the same thing as living by Christ and it is far from examining our hearts to see where there is sin and how to have Christ as our Savior from present sin and how to have Christ as our life now.

As Lamentations 3:40 (above) states, “Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the LORD.” Can there be a returning to the LORD without examining and probing our ways? Could it be that far too many are simply satisfied with outward doctrine, orthodox creeds, and external morality and so they will not return to the LORD because they don’t see themselves as far away? Could it be that apart from a true examination of our hearts and ways that we will not see how far off we are from the LORD? I Corinthians 11:28 (also above) is quite clear. We are to examine ourselves before we take the Supper. I would argue that the text is meaning something more than spending a few minutes with our head bowed and thinking about our lives and state of commitment or something like that, but instead we are to examine our hearts thoroughly and its intents and motives in what we do and why we do what we do.

In centuries past people would come to the Supper with days of preparation. They would have a special speaker come in and they would start with sermons about preparing the heart and examining the heart. These would last for three to four days with a day of thanksgiving and praise after the Supper. The people in those days did not take the Supper lightly, but instead they were very serious about examining hearts before they took it. They were serious about examining the heart because they took the Scriptures seriously which teach us that when people then did not take it seriously God judged them with illness and death.

While it is true that examining the heart sounds so negative in one sense, it is also the path to the presence of the LORD. This is not to say that it is a path of works that lead us to the LORD, but it is a way of using Scripture and prayer to seek the LORD Himself. It is a way of dying to self and a true renouncing of self that we are opened to the depths of the soul and we see how much we need to grow. We need to grow in our dying to self and being a complete and utter sacrifice to Him. We need to grow in holiness of heart and mind. We need to grow in joy. We need to grow in love for God and man. We need to grow in wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. It is in the deep realization of the true status of our hearts that we die to our own abilities and look to grace alone. It is in this inability that we can see for anything good to come from us it must come as fruit from Christ. It is in this way that we begin to take joy in the Lord as we grow in brokenness, humility, and contrition. The emptier we are or self, the more we have room (so to speak) for more of Christ. Yet this comes by way of self-examination and probing if we seek those things by the Spirit out of love for God.

Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and try me; Test my mind and my heart.

Jeremiah 12:3 But You know me, O LORD; You see me; And You examine my heart’s attitude toward You. Drag them off like sheep for the slaughter And set them apart for a day of carnage!

Lamentations 3:40 Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the LORD.

1 Cor 11:28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

We live in a light and airy day where deep thought is rare, but perhaps the rarest of all is a professing believer who will take the time to examine his or her own heart. How many people really want the LORD to examine their hearts and to try them? How many people really desire to have their corruptions opened and to now the depths of their own souls? This is not to say that this is an easy practice nor that a person can just do this on a whim, but it seems to be rare that a person would even think of this and even rarer for it to actually happen. If we do not examine ourselves, it could be that we simply hardly know ourselves at all.

The Scriptures are said to be “living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12). Our hearts are said (Jer 17:9) to be “more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” But in verse 10 it tells us who can know our hearts: “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.” The Scriptures were not given to us so that we can know a lot about the Scriptures and go on puffed up in pride. The Scriptures were given to us to read, study, and to examine our hearts with by the power of the Spirit. The Scriptures were given to us as a means of stripping us bare of our self-righteousness and to leave us empty of self-reliance and pride while looking to Christ alone.

The Scriptures, when applied by the Holy Spirit, will examine us as we have never been examined before. This is not some high-tech machine which may miss things and will miss things of the past and future, but the Holy Spirit knows every single thing about us and goes as deep as our deceptive hearts go. It is easy to listen to orthodox preaching Sunday after Sunday as long as it never pricks the conscience and upsets our ease, our pride, and our self-righteousness. But if a preacher comes alone who goes after our ease, pride, and self-righteousness he will not be popular very long. The Holy Spirit goes far deeper than any preacher can, but the Spirit uses preaching for that.

This self-examination must happen and we should seek the Lord for a heart that truly desires to be laid bare before Him. Our pride will want to cover up the parts that need to be opened by Scripture and the Spirit, but we must cry out to the Lord for strength and desire to want this examination. After the first prick of the Spirit in showing us our hearts we may want to flee from the pain, but we must continue to seek the Lord to open us up before Him and before ourselves. If we love the Lord in truth, then we should want to have our hearts opened to us so that we could repent of the things He is not pleased with. Yes, this may sound morbid to some, but it is a way of true sanctification. It wants Christ to cleanse our hearts that He may dwell in them more and more. It wants the Spirit to convict of sin that it may turn from all that darkness and filth which brings misery with it so that it may have the joy of the Spirit.

It is not possible for a person to walk with God without examining the heart and probing the heart for things that displease the Lord. It is not possible for a person to love God and yet not bother with things in the heart that oppose Him and war against Him and His kingdom. We see David wanting to be examined. We see Jeremiah wanting to be examined. We see Paul telling us that we should examine ourselves before the Supper. But when we see the Scriptures telling us that our hearts are more deceitful than all else and they are desperately wicked, we should be moved to examine our own hearts. As lovers of God we should take His side against ourselves and our own hearts and seek Him to show us our hearts. We should be horrified to think that it is highly likely (perhaps almost certain) that we are deceived about many things. Yes, it is an awful thing to behold our own hearts when the Lord shines His light in and shows us the dunghill of sin that resides in us. Oh how our proud and self-righteous hearts will fight against the sight of our own hearts, but it is necessary for us to truly be repenting. It may make us want to tear at our own hearts to get rid of that horrid sin we see, but this is a work of grace. It must drive us to Christ and Christ alone.

Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.26 “Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. 27 “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

The Sovereignty of God is the stumbling block on which thousands fall and perish; and if we go contending with God about His sovereignty it will be our eternal ruin. It is absolutely necessary that we should submit to God as an absolute sovereign, and the sovereign of our souls; as one who may have mercy on whom He will have mercy and harden whom He will” (Jonathan Edwards).

I attended a meeting last night that had a panel of four and it was an interfaith dialogue. The four panelists were representatives (sort of and in some say) of the Greek Orthodox, Jewish, Baptist, and a Muslim. The dialogue was held at a Presbyterian (PCUSA) building and the moderator was a “pastor” of a Lutheran group. The main speaker was American Baptist so an American Baptist “pastor” introduced her. Christianity, however, did not have a voice on the panel and was not discussed. It is more accurate to say that this was a non-faith dialogue.

This particular dialogue was interesting in that nothing of substance was really said. No differences were discussed and no real theological issues were brought out. It was just a group of nice people (externally) who were highly educated trying to say nice things about each other. No reference was made to the Bible and the name of God was mentioned just a few times, though of course when it was brought up it was in the context of an assumption made about how God wants us to love each other.

The only real honest statements about reality were made by the Muslim gentleman. He said that with Muslims there was a clear beginning (creation) and a clear ending (the hereafter) and what was done in between was so that people could merit something for the hereafter. At another point he also said that we should work here in order to ensure out hereafter. Now this was something that a real Christian could have discussed with the man or at least brought out a real difference and distinction. But nothing was said and he was affirmed in what he said.

The rest of the time was spent on talking about things that do not really matter. Things were brought up about how people were to get along and how they should seek real dialogue so that they could have peace with each other, but I am not sure how there can be real peace without discussing the real issues of how people differ from each other. Religion appeared to be thought of in terms of tradition and the Baptist in the group said that while the Christian tradition was true, that did not mean that other traditions were not true. Well, so much for the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ and of the law of non-contradiction. It is also the case that the one and true God who has revealed Himself in and through Jesus Christ would be gone. We can say goodbye to the doctrine of the Trinity and the Gospel of grace alone. After all, getting along with each other is far more important.

As I listened and watched the people around me nod in approval, it was so striking that these people were clueless to the Gospel of Jesus Christ alone and the Gospel of grace alone. These people would certainly not agree with the sovereignty of God in saving sinners as He pleases to the glory of His own name. Yet these people were all highly educated, religious, and even religious leaders. God has clearly hidden the truth from these people and in their hatred of Him they are going on their religious ways building a false righteousness in trying to get alone and find a unity that is neither in Christ nor in the truth. It was truly an amazing night watching men and women trying to use the name of religion to excuse their rebellion against the living God and the true Messiah. But of course they would not put it that way, but these things have been hidden from the wise (in their own eyes). “No one knows the Son expect the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” I saw a lot of blindness last night among those who claim to see. Things like this should help us see how utterly necessary it is for God to open eyes and yet how blinding humanistic religion can be.

The facts are that man has a great need if he is to be saved and that man is utterly helpless in saving himself. The facts are that the Church is to be proclaiming the helplessness of man and the absolute sufficiency of God in saving sinful men. The Church is not to go about its task with a casual indifference, but it is to have some degree of urgency about it. Men and women should be encouraged to flee from sin as they would flee from fire and they should be encouraged to seek the Lord Himself. Men and women should hear these things from the pulpit and they should hear those things with some degree of intensity, or at least a modicum of concern. Dry and orthodox lectures do not seem to be used of God to awaken men to their danger. Who would stand outside of a neighbor’s house as it burned and with no feeling, no show of concern, and in a monotone simply recite from a book the danger the neighbors are in if they do not awaken and get out of the house?

The prophets of old wept over the people. The prophets of old would get angry and do all sorts of things to get people awakened to at least hear the words they were speaking. It is true, however, that the prophets of old were thrown into holes into the ground, they were burned, they were sawed in half, and they were mocked and abused. All of those things were done to them because they spoke as dying men to dying men and so they spoke with fire and conviction. They spoke things that men did not want to hear and yet it was what they needed to hear. The fine and effeminate preaching of today would awaken no one and communicates nothing but what can be read in a creed or a commentary. As the scribes and Pharisees of old would quote the rabbis and learned men of their day, so preachers today seem to find their information and base their authority on scholars of our day. Jesus, on the other hand, spoke as one with authority as He spoke the truth of Scripture. We must have men who will speak the truth of Scriptures while resting on the authority of God and so speak with real conviction.

1 Corinthians 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,

2 Corinthians 4:5 For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.

Galatians 1:15 But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood,17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus.

It is Christ who must be preached. It is the cross of Christ that must be preached. It is Christ Jesus as Lord who must be preached. It is not just what the creed says about Christ that must be preached, but it is Christ Himself who must be preached. It is not just what commentaries say about Christ that must be preached, it is Christ Himself who must be preached. It is not just what an exposition says in its own context about Christ that must be preached, but it is Christ Himself who must be preached. Yes, we are told to preach the word. But the Scriptures point to Christ Himself. So many seem to preach as if Christ was executed on the cross and He is still there in history in some way. But Christ was resurrected and He is NOW alive and NOW reigns in glory. People need to hear of a crucified Christ, but of course, and they need to hear of the resurrection of Christ that happened in history. But they also need to hear of the present, living, and sovereign Lord Jesus Christ.

It is not possible to preach Christ crucified in truth as if His cross was only part of history and has nothing to do with the present. But that is what dusty orthodox sermons can do just as much as the liberals do. We must preach the cross in such a way where people need the blood of Christ and the living Christ to apply that blood now. We must preach Christ in such a way as for them to understand He really was resurrected and He really lives now to intercede for His people now. It is because Christ really and truly lives that He can really and truly intercede for His people now. It is because Christ really and truly lives that we have a throne of grace to go to now and for eternity. Somehow ministers must be awakened to the real and present reality of Christ so that they can preach the real and present reality of Christ. Somehow they must do so or Christ will be ignored in reality in the churches and in society. The only way this will happen is for ministers to be broken before God and become instruments of His glory by His grace. Then and only then will ministers begin to preach the living Christ instead of giving lectures on doctrine that are based on the quotes of scholars rather than on Christ Himself. Until then, we languish.

All human beings are born in sin and are by nature children of wrath. All human beings must be born from above (again) and have Christ as their all if they are to enter eternity in anything but a nature that will suffer the wrath of God for all eternity. But it seems as if the professing churches have forgotten those basic truths in our day. It seems as if preaching is aimed at happiness in this life and in a carnal way for the most part. In the modern day it seems so hard to find a place that has conservative views about the Bible, but to find the clear and clarion call of the Gospel of God (Gospel of the glory of God, Gospel of the glory of Christ, Gospel of the kingdom of God) seems nigh impossible. It is easier to preach morality than it is to explore the depths of the sin of the human heart. It is easier to preach a nice message about God than to explore the depths (to the degree that our finite beings can) of the glory of God and His sovereignty.

With the state of the nation (United States of America) headed downward at an alarming rate, when one cast an eye at the state of the professing Church there is no need to wonder why the nations is plunging to ruin. The professing Church is caught up with numbers and with trying to be approved by men. The true Gospel is rarely heard and men go out the doors of the church buildings as lost as when they came in, though they may be hardened by what they have heard. Where is God in all of this? Is God truly in control of this nation and the professing Church? It sure seems as if God is not in control and that the world and the professing church are in the full power of the devil as both plunge to temporal and eternal ruin. It is easy to understand why people don’t give much thought to God in our day as they are consumed with the things of this world, though indeed those are things of the bondage of sin.

As the world (and the professing Church with it as it is part of it) is rushing on its way to eternal damnation, the weak and effeminate voices of preachers tell us that we are to make decisions for Christ and to be good little boys and girls. We hear those voices telling us to give them money and to believe the right creeds and take the right sacraments from them. We hear those smooth and soothing voices telling us that we just need more and more conservative or liberal instruction from their expositions of Scripture. We are told that we need to be more submissive to pastors or elders. We are told that we need to give more to building programs. We are told that we are doing the work of the kingdom as long as numbers are larger and buildings are bigger.

Where is God in all of that? Where are the ministers that will tell us that we need Christ with longing in their own hearts? Where are the ministers who have been to the cross of Christ and are so broken that they don’t dare give us dry information in a long exposition of Scripture that is devoid of a living Christ? Where are the ministers who have been in the presence of God during the week and want the people to come and be in the presence of the living God with them on Sunday? Where are the ministers who have been in the presence of God and have received a little fire from the Holy Spirit during the week and want others to have a little of that flame? Where are the ministers who love the glory of God and the people enough where they want the people to admire God and not themselves? Where are the ministers who have had enough of information alone and want God Himself? Where are the ministers who are tired of giving sermons that sound like the minister has spent all of His time with commentaries rather than praying over the text and seeking God Himself? Where are the ministers who are like Paul in wanting to preach Christ and Him crucified and in doing so are afraid of preaching with words of the wisdom of men?

Could it be that God is judging the professing Church by the ministers He is giving it? Could it be that God is judging the professing Church in many ways, but one of them is to give it up to conservative ministers who are more concerned with tithing herbs and jots and tittles rather than the glory of God and the good of people? Could it be that ministers no longer love the people enough to point them to Christ Himself but instead settle for dry portions of bread (dry expositions of Scripture without the resurrected Christ)? Where are the men who are broken of heart in our day? Where are those who don’t trust in their being conservative and their commentaries in their preaching? Where are those who will seek God for a heart while they study and for fire in their bones while they study so that they might preach from the heart and with fire? But the people appear to be satisfied with the externals of religion with the life. The people appear to be satisfied with the true and living God being hidden from their sight. The people appear to be quite satisfied to only hear of Christ as if nothing more than a proposition. The people appear as if they are satisfied with conservative teaching that might tickle their ears and leave their hearts untouched. Oh woe to the ministers who are like what was said above and the people who are satisfied with that! Let us be more like Moses who cried out with a broken heart to see the glory of God! Give us Yourself oh Lord!