God Loves… Himself

1 Corinthians 2:1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

Eph 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Eph 4:11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

It seems as if the real point of preaching has been lost on modern America. It also seems as if the real point of church has been lost on modern America. The goal of preaching is not so that people will have better lives and easier lives, but it is to proclaim Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The goal of preaching Christ crucified is to preach the glory of God in the face of Christ. How is it that so many modern “preachers” are preaching morality, works, happy lives, and so many other things rather than Christ crucified? Apart from Christ crucified there is no morality, good works, and certainly no truly happy lives. It is only in light of the crucified Christ that anything makes sense in terms of who God and who men are to be.

Modern preaching is precisely what Paul described, but it has to do with the things he said that it should not be. Paul said that preaching should not be in superiority of speech or of wisdom (wisdom of men), but that is what we are getting today. Paul said that preaching should not be in persuasive words of wisdom, but that is precisely what we are getting today. Paul said that we should preach Christ crucified and in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, and that is precisely what we are not getting today.

There is a lot of expositional preaching today, but that can be done in a way that is not preaching Christ and Him crucified and is not in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. The expositional preaching that is heard in most parts has no power and no Spirit and other than a mention of Christ a token few times, Christless. The expositions of today are basically given in the wisdom of men and are without power, love, or Christ. One can attend churches that claim to be conservative and expositional but they have nothing to say of Christ and His cross in the sermons.

What do the congregations do when its sermons are more academic than full of Christ and His Spirit of love? It makes for congregations that have no real unity in the faith because true unity must have truth and love. It makes for congregations without knowledge of God or the Son of God and so they do not mature into the fullness of Christ. It makes for congregations who are not growing (spiritually) as they are not building themselves up in love. Academic preaching (expositional is one way of doing that) that is not full of Christ, love for the glory of God in Christ, and His Spirit of love is a form of preaching that leads to pride in the preachers and in the congregation. It is also not enough to preach correct doctrine about Christ, one must preach Christ Himself. People can have all kinds of information about Christ and not know Christ. When preachers do not preach Christ and Him crucified, even if they preach doctrine and conservative morality, they are not preaching in a biblical way nor in the way that they are commanded to preach. The churches are suffering as a result of pulpits and pews being filled with unhumbled and unbroken hearts who love notions of truth apart from Christ Himself.

I visited a professing church today. I think that this professing church would consider itself as conservative and as biblically oriented. This professing church had two services and the one I attended had a few hundred people in attendance. As I sat there in some degree and mixture of sadness and anger, I watches the color of the lights change on the stage as the musicians played and sang the words of songs (high degree of repetition) that had little to no substance or truth to them. The songs were amazingly man-centered and void of truth regarding God. The lady who played at the keyboard and seemed to control the whole show played the keyboard and sang into a microphone fairly loudly in a way that her voice was heard over all others. She also played the keyboard as she talked and as she prayed. It was all interesting enough in one sense, but there was no reverence for God and the absence of reverence and truth meant that the true God was not worshipped.

The “sermon” would with a far greater degree of precision be thought of as a motivational speech. While there was a text that was read, the “sermon” had little to do with the text but was more of a jumping off point to make points and draw conclusions that were not found in the text. As I sat there, I thought of Packer and Johnson’s Historical Introduction to Luther’s Bondage of the Will. They wrote and wondered if the Reformers would even own the modern “Church” at all. It was a sad fact as I sat there with a heavy heart that the Reformers would not have thought of the “service” that I attended as even remotely close to true Christianity.

The last sentence is a severe statement, but I think it is a true representation of reality. The music had nothing to do with the truth of God and the Gospel and the “sermon” as well did not have the truth of God and the Gospel either. By sheer definition a church is not a true church if there is no Christ and no Gospel. When the Gospel is not preached, a church is not present. When God is set forth as nothing more than one who values you and loves you and will meet you where you are in order to help you become the person you want to be, the truth of God and His Gospel are nothing more than a distant memory.

The “sermon” had nothing to say about the true God and the sermon barely (and I mean barely) even mentioned Christ. The “sermon” had nothing in it about the nature and work of Christ, nothing about His cross, righteousness, and resurrection. The “sermon” had nothing about the law, sin, hell, and a God who hates sin. There was an altar call at the end of the “sermon”, but it was calling people to do things God’s way and to become friends with God. Nothing was said about repentance and faith. The “sermon” had nothing to do with biblical theology and had nothing to do with biblical categories. It was a “sermon” that would likely go over well in almost any setting, whether religious or not and regardless of the denomination. But it was not Christian in any way. It was not Christian because there was nothing of Christ, nothing of the Gospel, and not a word about grace which is how the true God relates to sinners.

As I have reflected on that off and on this afternoon, and admittedly have thought on matters such as these a fair amount the past few years, it hit me with a renewed sense that Ichabod (The glory has departed) has been written across the professing churches of our land. The Reformation was a time when Christianity was recovered (certainly not perfectly) because the truth of God and of His Gospel was recovered. In the United States at the present time that heartbeat (sovereign God, sovereign grace, depravity of man, Gospel of grace alone) that the Reformers had is no longer with us. They would not recognize what goes on in the vast majority of the professing churches because it is no longer Christianity.

It is a sad and disturbing thing to realize that it may be the case that hundreds of people that went to the same professing church that I attended this morning are very deceived about the nature of God, themselves, and the Gospel. It is even sadder to think of how many people in our land this morning attended a professing church and did not hear the truth about God, themselves, and the Gospel of grace alone. Instead, they heard some drivel about how good man is and how much God wants to help man if only man will ask God to meet him. It appears that our land is full of things like that and truth is rare. God has us under a severe judgment and the truth of Him and the Gospel are being withheld. Only God can turn our hearts to Him and He will only do so by grace alone.

Compared with our actually thoughts about Him, our creedal statements are of little consequence. Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is. Only after an ordeal of painful self-probing are we likely to discover what we actually believe about God (A.W. Tozer).

This wonderful and painful quote by Tozer is remarkable with its insight into the human soul. There are many applications of this great statement, but today is December 25 of 2014. It is a day and a time (around Dec 25) where many deluded souls do many things that they think honors Christ but in fact is quite against Him. It is the conventional religious notion that this is a great day and it is done to honor Christ, but the reality is quite different. In much the same way we can easily see how people from the New Testament times until the present thought that by singing, praying, and attending church or doing some form of externally good works that they were honoring God and doing something for God that would please Him. But underneath the rubbish of our conventional religious notions about those religious actions and things is a horrible theology. It is a theology that is driven to think that man can please God apart from grace and apart from the Gospel, though not many would admit that.

If it is possible for so many to be deceived about the Gospel and about what it takes to please God throughout history, is it such a hard thing to think that at least as many are deceived by the activities of December 25 year after year? Why is it that the world which hates Christ is so willing to join together and give presents and set up trees and sing songs this time of year? Why is it that so many liberal organizations that claim to be churches are so willing to join in all the festivities this time of year? I would argue that something that is so popular with the world and so popular with liberal professing churches cannot be something that has a lot of good in it.

In the third commandment, which flows from the first (have no other gods before me) and the second (don’t worship idols), we are commanded not to use His name in vain or in a light and meaningless way. I would argue that the word “Christ” when joined with “Mass) and used so lightly all the time is one way to violate the third commandment. We are to use His name with reverence and awe and we are to speak it with a theology that is true of Him. Even if we think that all the things that go on around this day of the year, surely it should make our hearts ache to hear the name of Christ spoken of with such lightness and vanity.

On the other hand, the word we use to refer to December 25th is made up of two words. One is “Christ” and the other is “mass.” The word comes from joining the name of Christ with the Roman Catholic practice of the mass. In other words, it was to be a special mass in the celebration of the birth of Christ. In my view the mass is a blasphemous activity and there is no way to join the name of Christ to such an activity and still use it in a way that is reverent and in accordance with the truth of Christ. The mass as Rome uses it is an activity where they believe that in some way Christ is crucified again and in some way the people of the congregation actually eat the physical body of Christ. This is to say that saying the word that many/most use for this time of year is a violation of the third commandment. When we use the word, it appears impossible to say that word and use the name of Christ in a reverent way in truth.

It is true that people laugh at this type of thinking and just think that those who believe like this are nuts. But remember, if people would take the time to look deeply in their hearts and examine their hearts as to why they do what they do and say what they do, they might get a bit uncomfortable. Scripture tells us that whether we eat, drink, or whatever we do we are to do it to the glory of God (I Cor 10:31). Scripture also tells us that even every careless word we speak will be brought into judgment (Mat 12:36). Will that involve the name of Christ that carelessly slips out of our mouths this time of year with “mass” attached to it? Well, people will say, that is not what people mean today. Perhaps not, but what do they mean? If we are commanded to have His name set apart to use in a reverent, honoring, God-glorifying way in love, are we really doing that this time of year? Is that the main purpose of what we do this time of year?

The first petition of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6) is for His name to be hallowed. How can we pray for His name to be treated with reverence and awe while we use it so carelessly? How can we claim to love Christ and all He is when we use His name with such irreverence and so casually and even carelessly? I would argue that we need to read the quote by Tozer and try to cut underneath and dig deeply into what we really believe during this time of year. Yes, it may seem so silly to most, but how can it be silly to search our own hearts to be sure we love the true Christ this time of year? How can it be silly to look behind and underneath all of the religious conventions to see what is really going on? How can it be silly to make sure we are using His name with reverence? Just to be clear, we can also read Scripture and sing songs mindlessly which is also violating the third commandment when we use His name in them in a mindless way. All things were created through Him and for Him. He is absolute Lord of all and we are to love Him with all of our beings, even when it may run counter to religious convention. We are to revere His name and refuse to use it in an irreverent and mindless way even if our families get upset. He is Lord of all and Lord of the heart and we owe supreme allegiance to Him and no one else.

The idea of “free-will” sounds so attractive and it seems to alleviate so many problems, but that is only on the surface. The doctrine of “free-will” and the things that must be true for it to be true are antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to free grace alone. The doctrine of “free-will” is simply at war with grace since the only true grace is a sovereign grace. There is no real middle between “free-will” and free-grace. The two cannot be reconciled and there is no middle ground between the two. It is one or the other. Justification by grace alone will not admit of a work of the “free-will” and a “free-will” cannot admit of a free-grace which saves as it pleases apart from any and all works of men. While we live in a day where people are always trying to reconcile beliefs and find a place in the middle, this cannot be done with these two beliefs. Both cannot be true despite all the efforts of very nice people to do so.

Below are some quotes of men from the history of the Church, though all are after the Reformation. They saw the issue with great clarity and perhaps we need to wrestle with this once again in our time. This is not a simple issue and it is not an issue that we can stand to the side and let it slide. The Gospel of grace alone is at stake in this issue and we must take sides and we must stand strong on this one.

“This false idea of ‘free-will’ is a real threat to salvation, and a delusion fraught with the most perilous consequences” (Luther).

“God has surely promised His grace to the humbled: that is, to those who mourn over and despair of themselves. But a man cannot be thoroughly humbled till he realizes that salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsels, efforts, will and works, and depends absolutely on the will, counsel, pleasure and work of Another—God alone. As long as he is persuaded that he can make even the smallest contribution to his salvation, he remains self-confident and does not utterly despair of himself, and so is not humbled before God; but plans out for himself (or at least hopes and longs for) a position, an occasion, a work, which shall bring him final salvation. But he who is out of doubt that his destiny depends entirely on the will of God despairs entirely of himself, chooses nothing for himself, but waits for God to work in him; and such a man is very near to grace for his salvation.

“So these truths are published for the sake of the elect, that they may be humbled and brought down to nothing, and so saved. The rest of men resist this humiliation; indeed, they condemn the teaching of self-despair; they want a little something left that they can do for themselves. Secretly they continue proud, and enemies of the grace of God” (Luther).

“Again, ‘tis a disposition of soul natural to all men to have a high thought of their own righteousness. And hence, they are pone to reject those doctrines that teach man’s absolute dependence on the free and sovereign grace of God and salvation by the righteousness of Christ” (J. Edwards).

“Till you feel yourself in this extremity of weakness, you are not in a condition (if I may say so) to receive the heavenly help. Your idea of remaining ability is the very thing that repels the help of the Spirit, just as any idea of remaining goodness thrusts away the propitiation of the Savior. It is your not seeing that you have no strength that is keeping you from believing” (Pink).

Question: Why is it so hard for men to believe that God is really sovereign and that they (men) are really helpless?

The most basic reason is that because of the fall, where man believed the words of the evil one that man could be as God, sinful man wants to be sufficient in and of himself and to determine his own actions and eternal destiny for himself. Man does not want God to rule over him and does not want God to decide what is right or wrong for man. The heart of man has been given over to self and the love of self rather than to God and the love of God and so man is at enmity to God and will not have God to rule over him.

The Scriptures tell us that man does not want the knowledge of God and in the rejection of God man goes deeper and deeper into sin. As seen from the passage in Romans 1:18-31, man is constantly at war with God over who determines what is right and wrong and for who has the right to rule the human heart and behavior. Man does not just blindly enter into sin, but the God he knows is rejected and sin is willingly and lovingly pursued. It is hard for man to understand that he is not free to do good and to love God when he understands that he does what he wants to do and does not do what he does not want to do. What this blinded (to spiritual things) person does not understand is that his very loves and desires are in bondage and he is in bondage to his sinful nature. So a sovereign and holy God is hated by man because there is enmity in the heart of man against the God who will judge the sin that the man loves.

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. 28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

In the verses above we see this enmity against God and His reign and rule (sove-reign rule) over man. God is clearly seen in creation, but man does not honor God and so becomes futile in his speculations. While man does not think he will ever be in gross sin and that there are things he will not do, when man is in bondage to sin God will punish that man by hardening his heart and turning him over to greater and greater sin. God is the One who gives hearts over to impurity, because men exchange the truth of God for a lie. Men who are turned over to degrading passions do not acknowledge God any longer and so they are given over to a depraved mind. These people, though down deep they know that there is a true and living God, hate God and continue on in their practice of things that are worthy of death.

Men, who think that they are in control and can live as their wicked hearts desire, will love “God” as long as they think that God will not run contrary to their desires. But when the heart of man who is his own god runs counter to the living God, man hates the true God who is the sovereign God and wants another god to serve man and that can be controlled by man. Religious man will use religion to try to control God as well.

Amos 8:11 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD.

In prison camps during war (in most nations in history) prisoners are only given enough food and drink to keep them barely alive. Because of their lack of food, they have a severe lack of nutrition. They seem to be sick more than people with a healthy diet and many die. The lack of food is terrible on the body, but also on the mind. In countries where there has been severe famine or perhaps when cities with walls were put under siege for months at a time, people starved to death and some resorted to cannibalism. These things, which used to be frequent, were horrible. However, even more horrible is a famine for hearing of the Word.

A famine of hearing the Word is something like people who can hear about food but cannot eat it. They can see the food, they can smell the food, but they cannot taste it or eat it. The food can do no good for the person who cannot or will not eat it, but neither will the Word do people any good if they have no understanding or true hearing of it. When the Spirit does not open the eyes of people to see the glory of the Gospel or give them hearing of the voice of God, no man has the ability to see or hear the Gospel in truth and reality. The Gospel is a message, yes, but apart from the Spirit working what the words say in the heart and working on and in the heart, it is nothing more than words. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, but it is not just words, but instead it is God doing in the heart what the words say.

In the modern day we have many words about the Bible and perhaps many words about the Gospel, but we have no power. God has withdrawn the power and energy of the Word and preachers are preaching dead words that are coming from dead hearts. The real issue of not hearing the Word, then, is that God has withdrawn Himself and is not saving sinners and is not giving people a true hearing of the Word. We are as helpless as we can be and we have no ability until God comes in grace and gives hearing and gives new hearts.

As long as the modern day keeps focusing on the words of the Gospel and not the God who gives power to the Gospel and is the One who must work these in the heart, we will be a people who cannot hear the Word. The modern professing Church is in the midst of a famine and it is sickly and without nourishment at best. Most likely, in reality, most of the people in the modern professing Church are dead in sins and trespasses while they go on thinking that they are converted.

The point is that we must be broken from all of our supposed ability and seek the Lord for grace. We must be broken from thinking that we can say a prayer or walk an aisle and that God will save us. We must be saved from thinking that if we can come up with faith God will save us. We must be broken from any help or hope from self and turned to look to grace alone and that must happen by grace alone. We must bow before the God who saves by grace alone and His Spirit blows as He will. Oh for preachers who would preach the power of God in the Gospel rather than the power of the sinner! Oh for preachers who would preach the utter inability of man so that they will look to Christ alone! What a terrible famine of the Word we are in while we live in the lap of plenty in external things. Perhaps all of our plenty is God’s way of blinding us to our utter poverty in the spiritual realm. Where oh where is God? Where are those who will seek the Lord and nothing else? Are they too busy with planning a new building? Are they too busy with planning some outreach? Perhaps, but the famine goes on.

Amos 8:11 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD.

We know from the text that one form of judgment that the Lord sends on a nation is a famine of hearing the Word. I would argue that this is perhaps His most severe judgment that He brings. When He withholds the hearing of the Word, people can still have a desire (selfish, but still a desire) to hear something and yet He withholds the Word and they have no access to Truth. We also know from the New Testament that Jesus spoke in parables in order to harden people rather than to give them understanding. While this does not sound like the loving and kind Jesus that is spoken about in the modern world, it is the biblical Jesus of the Bible.

Matthew 13:10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” 11 Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. 12 “For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. 13 “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 “In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; 15 FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.’ 16 “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.

Understanding the Scriptures and the God who shines forth in Christ is not a right and is not solely the product of hard study. Unless the Spirit of the living God opens the mind and shines His light in the mind and on the spiritual understanding of Scripture, it is a closed book even though scholars can spend their entire lives in a close study of the background and of the letter of the text. Apart from work of Christ and His Spirit there is no understanding of the truth (Christ) of the Scriptures.

The greatest blessings are spiritual blessings, so when there is a judgment the spiritual blessings cannot be obtained. People who are wounded in spirit have no access to ways to relieve their burdens. Misery piles upon misery and the hearts of men may search and search but there is no way to feast the soul upon God when He holds back the blessings, treasures, and wealth of understanding. If Christ Himself is the greatest grace and blessing that there is, then when God withholds understanding of it then it is a severe judgment.

While it is readily apparent that the US (perhaps the world) is under a great judgment because of a famine of hearing the words of God, we cannot overcome the judgment of God in any way. We can only seek Him for grace. It is by grace that God gives understanding to a soul. It is only by grace that a soul will have any spiritual understanding at all. It is by grace that a soul can have a taste of the wonder of Christ. If it is all by grace, then God is under no obligation to anyone to give the grace of light and understanding. We must learn to seek God for the grace of drops and crumbs to feed our souls. We must learn to seek the living God for life which only comes by grace. We must learn to seek God as fallen human beings who are totally dependent on Him rather than commentaries for understanding. Commentaries are helpful as far as they go, but only the Spirit can shine in the soul and the text and give a spiritual understanding of it. When God sends a famine, only God can reverse it. We must seek Him by grace and for His glory.

It is true that there is a huge difference between a professing church that is God-centered and one that is man-centered, it is also the case that fallen humanity can preach and teach in a way that is externally God-centered and do that for the sake of numbers and offerings in the desire to appear God-centered. That is to be God-centered in a man-centered way. It is also possible to be very confessional and Reformed and so on and yet be man-centered in it all. For example, regardless of a person’s creed one can speak of grace as centered upon God and His glory or one can speak of grace as all about man. The difference is huge and the difference is the Gospel as well.

Man tends to start with himself and think of God as being all about man. Quite the opposite is true, in actuality, because God is God-centered and it is only God is truly God-centered does man have hope. It is only a God-centered God who has all of His motives and loves within Himself that can save man by grace alone. It is only a God-centered God who is totally self-sufficient and has no need of man or anything from man. This God-centered God saves man for His own glory and not because of anything found in man or anything that man can do. This wonderful and glorious grace of the Gospel is all about God and is done despite of who man is. It is only this God-centered God that man can look to for salvation by grace alone.

The fallen heart of man is depraved and has fallen into the love of self as his chief and only real love. In doing this man is trying to be like God who exists in perfect love within Himself, but of course God is triune and man is not. When man loves himself and is focused on himself he does all things for himself and this does not allow man to truly be concerned about others. But when God (as triune) is focused on Himself in His eternal and infinite love within Himself, it is only then that God will do anything that takes man into consideration. If man is the chief love of God, then God is an idolater. Since God is not an idolater and loves Himself with all of His own Being, God must be a God-centered God and do all for Himself and His own glory.

While this may sound weird to some, this is the heart of Christianity. A god of a different kind could not have created all things and could not have saved sinners to the praise of the glory of His grace. Man must cry out for grace to turn him from himself and the idol of self that by grace alone he may share in the love of the triune God that is within Himself, for Himself, but He brings men to share in His eternal love. This is a God worthy of all praise and adoration.

I have been visiting “churches” for the past few months for a few reasons. It has been shocking (angered?) at what I have seen and endured at the “hands” of these “churches.” What I have been hearing from the pulpits and from the pews have been anything but Christ and Him crucified. What I have heard has been moralism and being nice and doing things to get people in the doors so that churches can grow. Many of the modern professing churches should simply drop the pretence that they are serving God and simply think of themselves as another business. That is what they appear to be. But of course this is true of professing Reformed groups as well.

The modern professing churches (generally speaking) are so far from being biblical that they do not resemble anything found in the New Testament. In fact, even professing Protestants appear to have more in common with Roman Catholicism than they do with the Reformers of the 16th century. We must be awakened. It appears to me that the way untold numbers of people are going to hell is in and by the “evangelical churches” and “evangelical pulpits.” Until we are awakened and we are no longer afraid to preach God as sovereign, man as truly dead in sin with total inability, and God giving grace at His mere pleasure, we will continue in a downward spiral.

1. A God-centered church would seek God, but modern groups seek man.

2. A God-centered church would long for the presence of God, but modern groups long for the presence of men.

3. A God-centered church would long for spiritual blessings, but modern groups long for buildings and money.

4. A God-centered church would preach on sin and the sins of the heart, but modern groups are more of the therapeutic model where man can simply become better.

5. A God-centered church would preach the helplessness of man, but the modern groups stress the ability of man to do what is needed.

6. A God-centered church would preach the wonders of God, but the modern groups stress the goodness of man.

7. A God-centered church would preach the glory of God in the face of Christ, but modern groups stress the glory of man and what he must do for God.

8. A God-centered church would preach Christ and Him crucified, but modern groups only want to talk about Christ in a positive way and as loving all and just waiting to save all.

9. A God-centered church would focus on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but modern groups focus on the gospel of the ability of man which is really just moralism and being nice.

10. A God-centered church would focus on justification by faith alone, but modern groups don’t even bring that up and stress how men should be moral and do good.

11. A God-centered church would focus on the absolute need of regeneration, but modern groups focus on man’s need to exercise his faith.

12. A God-centered church would focus on the freeness and sovereignty of God in saving souls by grace and His grace in working sanctification in men, but modern groups are so focused on man that grace just helps man some to fulfill his potential.

Romans 3:16 DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS,
Job 10:15 ‘If I am wicked, woe to me! And if I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head.
                  I am sated with disgrace and conscious of my misery.
Psalm 107:26 They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths;
                      Their soul melted away in their misery.

We live in times where technology is expanding its control on the things of life at an astounding pace and wealth seems to know no bounds, but those things may be nothing more than a drug (analogically speaking) that makes us think things are well. Are people happier or better off in the long run? Does it help them escape the inner pain brought on by sin? Does it help them fulfill their purpose which God has placed man here for? Does it help them love others and have true compassion on others?

Despite all the medical care that people can have, there remains no cure for the soul that is sick with self and sin. No physician can touch the real sickness, illness, and death of man other than the Great Physician Himself. No instrument of technology can help man defeat the real nature of sin that man is born with. No psychologist or psychiatrist nor any academic discipline can defeat sin or help man with his most basic spiritual problem.

Souls that God touches with conviction of sin are miserable. Souls that have walked with God and then He withdraws His presence from them can be very miserable. There is nothing that can help a soul that is in misery because of spiritual things other than God Himself. It may be the case that some may receive medication that may give them a sense of elation or happiness, but the weight on their soul will soon be more than the medication can help. In cases like this medication may simply prolong the agony of the soul as it wrestles with spiritual issues.

There is a lot of depression in the modern day, yet many seem to assume that medication is the real answer and that the problem is limited to chemicals in the brain. Yet the Scriptures teach us and our major Confessions teach us that sin brings misery and death. But in our day, misery is not dealt with as if sin brings it, but it is thought that a pill will take care of the problem. While it can be argued that there is such a thing as depression that is brought on by situations in the brain that medicine is warranted, we must also look in our own hearts and know that our own sin will bring much misery if we don’t seek the Lord for repentance.

We live in a day where souls that are sick of sin or sin-sick are sent to “professionals” who will feed them with humanism and then perhaps medication. Again, there are times where medication may be warranted, but let us remember that medication will never get rid of soul misery. The misery that sin brings on the soul cannot be easily gotten rid of. The misery of sin can only be taken care of by the blood of Christ and that alone. The misery that sin brings on the soul is put there by the hand of God and no one can but God can take that away if He puts it on the soul.

Pastors are called to be ministers and physicians of souls under the authority of King Jesus the real and only Physician. There are many people who are desperate in their lowness and in their despair and they need spiritual help rather than just turned over to those who may help the physical man feel better in some way, but have no answer and no help for the spiritual man. Pastors and believers must learn that spiritual sickness can only be helped with spiritual medicine, which is Christ Himself. While it may not be easy to do this in the present climate, it is yet absolutely necessary. There have been those in history (even modern history) who were thought to be deranged and yet when they were converted they became “normal” once again. Conviction of sin and the weight of sin on the soul can be greater than bodily problems.

We are told that the use of medications is on the rise, but yet a simple observation will also tell us that each and every person is a sinner and sin brings misery to many of those souls. There seems to be hardly anyone out there today who is preaching a Gospel of grace alone by the righteousness and blood of Christ in such a way that sinners are healed of all of their spiritual sicknesses and maladies. The Lord Jesus is the great Physician of souls and we must never forget that or we will have blood on our hands from the misery of others that we have not dealt with.