The Sinful Heart 91

December 2, 2013

We are often more ashamed than grieved and humbled for our sins. Our own consciousness of them, and of God’s being privy to them, does not pain us near so much as it would to have them known to others. See, therefore, whether what you call our penitence is not more pride than any thing else…Not one is a thousand forms his plan of life, and pursues it steadily, from principle and regard to the will of God; if we did, there would hardly be an unhappy man in the world. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

It is so hard to get it beyond the mere awareness of it that men live in the sight of God and that He knows all of their desires, intents, motives, and thoughts. The old phrase, Coram Deo, teaches us that we live in the presence (or face) of God each moment. It is so easy to come to the knowledge of that reality, but it is far harder (even impossible for the natural man) to actually have all things guided by that reality. We are more ashamed of ourselves in failing to live up to our own standards than we have shame before a holy God. We have more shame of our sin being seen by others than of knowing that it is against God and in His presence. But despite our shame for our sin to ourselves and before others, why are we so immune to have shame before God?

The question in the previous paragraph should teach us the nature of our own hearts. We live by sight rather than by faith. We live by what our eyes see and what our five senses can sense more than we live in the presence of the thrice holy God who for all eternity will retain His anger for our sin if we don’t have Christ. For believers, their sin is in the presence of the One they claim to love with all of their being and of the One they say they prefer over all things. When a person lives in such a way that that s/he has more shame to self or before others rather than before God for sin, this is a demonstration of a fleshly heart. One of the things that a Christian must do is to live before God because Christ is the life of the heart of the believer.

It is important to think of faith as something more than just intellectually believing certain things, but instead to think of faith as the spiritual sight of the soul. A soul with faith is a soul with spiritual understanding or spiritual sight, which should show how the soul with faith lives a certain way because that soul lives in the presence of a seen (eyes of faith) God. The soul that has more shame for sin in the presence of other humans rather than God is a person that demonstrates a lack of true faith.

A person of faith, that is, one who lives before God should form all plans and all aspects of life from regard to the will of God. While it may be thought of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6) as something we repeat, it is in fact something we are to be transformed into as we pray. If we truly pray for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, then we will seek His will in all we do on earth. His will is what should guide us in what we do rather than the fleshly heart and desires that we can cover over with pious sounding words. It is to the degree that we have faith that we will live in His presence and seek to do His will in all things. It is to the degree that our hearts are set on the self and flesh that we will live to do our own will in all things. But of course our deceptive hearts will seek to do our own will with pious and spiritual sounding excuses.

For the soul that loves God with all of its being (at least longing to do so), it will want to please God by doing the will and pleasure of God in all it does. This is a soul that wants to be delivered from the hands of a fool (self) and of fools (humans focused on earthly things) and to do and long for the will of God to be done. How can we claim to love God with all of our being if we are not seeking to live out of love for Him? How can we claim to live out of love for Him if we don’t want to do His will rather than our own? How can we claim to love Him if we don’t want to know what His will is, yet if we know His will how can we not seek it? Living in the presence of God to please Him is at the very heart of Christianity. After all, Christ died to deliver His people from sin and what is sin but not living for the glory of God. Christ came to do the will of the Father and for those He dwells in (all Christians in truth) He will work in them to love and do the will of the Father as well. This is something of what it means to live in the presence of God.

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The Sinful Heart 90

November 28, 2013

We are often more ashamed than grieved and humbled for our sins. Our own consciousness of them, and of God’s being privy to them, does not pain us near so much as it would to have them known to others. See, therefore, whether what you call your penitence is not more pride than anything else. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

It would shock the heart of most religious people to be told that their very penitence is more pride than of anything else. It may be that on judgment day the vast majority of people who have had any degree of penitence will be told that their very penitence was nothing but pride. The feelings that arise in our hearts must be interpreted correctly and pride is a great hindrance to correct interpretation. Our pride will always hide itself (pride) from us and so it will hide itself under the guise of religious feeling. Oh the deception of our hearts. When we feel something for sin, we think we are grieved for them but instead we are grieved that we were found out. We may think that we are ashamed before God, but in reality we are ashamed that some other human found out that we sinned.

It may also be the case that our own consciousness of our sin may make us ashamed that we are that way, but can still lead to more pride than it does of true repentance before God. We can feel something about our sin when we realize that our sin is before God, but that does not mean that we are penitent over our sin as in the presence of God. Our hearts can hide behind pride and deceive us that what we feel because we have sinned against God is indeed being grieved and humbled for sin, but the reality of the matter can be far different. We can simply be grieved that we have been caught and so our pride turns it to what we know is best for us.

But how horrible our pride is when our sin is found out by human beings. Oh how much remorse and shame we feel, but it is not true grief for sin, but still just grief that we have been found out. The heart full of pride, however, will interpret its own grief as a true grief for sin as against God. Oh how the heart full of pride and headed for hell will deceive itself at all possible times. The heart that is full of pride is capable of any sin but in a religious heart or a civil heart pride will keep that heart doing what is right out of pride rather than out of love for God. Pride is bad enough as it blinds us to our sin, but it is even worse when it uses religion and morality to hide behind.

Since pride is so hard to see and is such a chameleon to itself, one would think that people would wake up and seek the Lord for a true sight of the heart. The heart is full of self and pride and works hard to deceive itself in order not to be discovered by the light. It can take a lot of time, prayer, and meditation on the Word to begin to see the working of pride in our own hearts. Our wickedness in our self-love is hidden from us with many foul justifications and we just do on in self-love which is nothing less than idolatry. Oh the foul issue that comes from the heart that is full of pride, yet it appears that no one really knows this or wants to know this.

It appears that the modern professing “Church” is full of proud people rather than those that are truly humble. This means that pride is what is running the professing “Church” rather than the humble Savior. When the churches are full of proud hearts are only grieved for sin when they are discovered by men rather than because it is against God, the churches are being run by the devil rather than Christ. The devil functions and operates from a wicked self-love and his children do the same damnable thing. We are commanded to love God with all of our being and that includes our conviction of sin and why we are to be grieved for our sin. But when we are only grieved when pride is pricked, we can know that the devil is in control.

How this comment by Adam shows us the great need of the professing “Church” to seek a deep humility before God and in the presence of God. But then again, the proud heart can seek those things in name though not in reality. How much of our seeking revival is really nothing more than the seeking of self and pride? Oh the depths of our depravity which is hidden from our eyes because of pride! How we must become aware of pride and the fruit of this pride in all of life. But sadly pride will hide this from our eyes as well and we can go on sleepily on the broad road to hell though pride will convince us it is the narrow road. The heart full of pride is a heart that is lulled to sleep and death in the local church and as such is damned in the church.

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Edwards on the God Centeredness of God 8

November 26, 2013

THE END FOR WHICH GOD CREATED THE WORLD

Whatsoever is good and valuable in itself is worthy that God should value it with an ultimate respect. It is therefore worthy to be made the last end of his operation, if it be properly capable of being attained. For it may be supposed that some things, valuable and excellent in themselves, are not properly capable of being attained in any divine operation; because their existence, in all possible respects, must be conceived of as prior to any divine operation. Thus God’s existence and infinite perfection, though infinitely valuable in themselves, cannot be supposed to be the end of any divine operation; for we cannot conceive of them as in any respect consequent on any works of God. But whatever is in itself valuable, absolutely so, and is capable of being sought and attained, is worthy to be made a last end of the divine operation. (Jonathan Edwards, The End for Which God Created the World)

As a holy, holy, holy God the living and true God would always have the greatest and most valuable goal in mind and intent in whatever He did. While fallen man thinks of self as the greatest and most valuable goal to have in his own mind and thinks that God should also have that same goal in mind, it is easy to show that the infinite God should not have a particular and very finite human being uppermost in His mind and affections. God alone is valuable and absolutely valuable and as such God alone is worthy to be the chief end and goal of all that is done in the entire universe.

The Scriptures are quite clear that this is the true goal of God in all things. In reality, a thinking person can easily see that it is utterly preposterous for man to think that God would have a lesser goal and end than God.

Isaiah 43:7 Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”

Isaiah 48:11 “For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.

Romans 9:23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,

Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

1 Peter 4:11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Revelation 4:11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.

A cursory reading of these verses will show the same thing that a deep and prayerful reading shows, though not to the same depth. God created all things for His glory. God saves sinners to make known the riches of His glory and to the praise of the glory of His grace. God created man with a mouth so that man may speak to the glory of God. God created man with some strength so that man may do all he does with the strength which God supplies in to the glory of God. In all things, then God has set out the standard for man that man is to do all he does to the glory of God. This is the standard of man because it is the standard of God and as such it is a holy standard. Man, as the image of God, could have no standard other than God. Since God does all for His own glory and as thrice holy can have no other standard or goal, this is the goal and standard for man himself and all that man does. It is sin for man to have himself as his goal and end in anything (Romans 3:23) and when man does this, he is at odds with his Creator. What a beautiful thing it is for man to have purpose and a goal in the universe for himself and all that he does. It is a goal far higher and far more worthy than himself as it is living to the glory of the living God.

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Regeneration by God 10

November 23, 2013

John 1:13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” James 1:21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

Titus 3:3 For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. 4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

The passage in Titus 3 (just above) shows the depths of sin and then focuses on the grace of God. The description of unbelievers in verse 3 is a universal description in that it describes all unbelievers, but even more it sets out the necessity of regeneration. How can a foolish heart become wise unless that heart is regenerated and Christ becomes the wisdom of that heart? How can a disobedient heart become submissive and obedient unless it is born from above? How can a deceived heart become one that is no longer deceived but has Christ and truth as part of its very nature? Only be regeneration and the indwelling Christ. How can a person be delivered from slavery to lusts and pleasures? It can only happen by the mighty hand of God in giving that person a new heart and freedom in Christ. How can a person repent of living in malice and envy and seek the good of other human souls apart from being granted a new heart in regeneration? How can a person be turned from being hateful and hating others apart from receiving a new heart in which the love of God dwells? Regeneration is an absolute and utter necessity.

The language of holy Writ is so beautiful and so clear in this passage. How wicked and unlike God man is in his sin and self-centeredness in all things, yet the kindness of God (as opposed to the malice and hate of man) and His love appeared. How did the kindness and love of God appear? They appeared when Christ appeared and lived, died, and was resurrected for the glory of God and the good of His people. Christ saves, not based on anything that a person can do or actually does, but only according to His mercy. But note how this text sets out this mercy. God saves according to His mercy and does so BY “the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.”

Poor sinners who are enslaved can come to the point where they realize that they need mercy, but mercy for a sinner is in regeneration of that sinner. Sinners do not just need someone to be nice to them, they need a real and powerful mercy that will regenerate and renew them. Sinners must have the work of the Holy Spirit whom Christ purchased for the elect on the cross (Galatians 3:13-14) to regenerate and renew them. Regeneration and renewal is not something that can happen apart from what the Holy Spirit does and no one can have the Holy Spirit apart from Christ purchasing the Spirit for them. Oh how beautiful it is to behold the glory and wonder of grace when we see it mediated through the cross of Christ in purchasing the Spirit who regenerates the people Christ died for.

The Holy Spirit is pictured as being poured out upon believers, but not just a casual pouring out, but being poured out upon them richly. This is all done through Jesus Christ. But notice how the beauty and delightfulness of this just keeps coming. This was done so that sinners could be justified by His grace and be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Regeneration is connected to justification by grace alone. Regeneration is connected to the possession and hope of eternal life. Apart from regeneration there is no justification and apart from regeneration and justification there is no eternal life. The soul must be regenerated in order to be united to Christ and apart from unity with Christ there is no basis for justification. The soul is not declared just because it is regenerated, but because it is united to Christ. So regeneration precedes justification, but it does not cause it. Christ has purchased the Holy Spirit for His people who regenerates them and being united to Christ they are declared just. The glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not apart from regeneration. How we need to set out this teaching to the glory of our God in Christ Jesus.

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The Glory and Beauty of Christ 5

November 21, 2013

John 17:24 “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

So we now have great numbers who oppose the person and glory of Christ under a pretense of sobriety of reason, as they vainly plead. Yea, the disbelief of the mysteries of the Trinity and the incarnation of the Son of God—the sole foundation of Christian religion—is so diffused in the world that it has almost devoured the power and vitals of it. Not a few, who dare not yet express their minds, give broad intimations of their intentions and good will toward Him, in making the object of their scorn those who desire to know nothing but Him and Him crucified.    John Owen

It is important if not vital to note the importance Owen puts on the person and glory of Christ. It is not necessary to deny the important teachings of Christ openly, but instead if people don’t stress them and don’t teach them as Scripture sets them out they are denying them in practice. II Corinthians 4:3-4 sets this out quite clearly for us.

3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

It would appear from this text with that the devil fights and blinds people from the glory of Christ and His gospel by blinding people to the glory of it. It does not say that he blinds them to the intellectual awareness or knowledge of it, but to the glory of it. When the Gospel of Jesus Christ is drained of its glory by well-meaning people, they are doing the work of the devil as much as if they intended to do so. Christ prayed for people to see His glory, yet pastors will not preach the glory and so many academics deny it outright. There is no Gospel of the glory of Christ or the Gospel of the glory of God apart from the glory of God in the face of Christ being declared and set out.

The intrusion of fallen reason into theology starts off a chain of destruction. It is not just that unbelieving theology can be destructive to true Christianity, but professing believers and conservative professing believers can be destructive as well. It matters not what a person claims to believe or actually believe, fallen reason that has not bowed to the authority and glory of Christ can intrude into theology. The higher fallen reason is lifted the lower it will cause (in perception) the glory of the Gospel to fall. We must never forget that human nature is fallen and that includes its reasoning powers and the desires that drive the practice of reasoning.

Any doctrine or theology as such that is not primarily flowing from and back to the glory of God is false. The Gospel flows forth from the internal glory of God and is intended to point all hearts back to the glory of God. A so-called gospel that does not do that is false at some point if not all points. Preachers and those who practice something called evangelism can preach Christ crucified in such a way that it is nothing but a transaction and is not the very glory of God on display. Yet, when this is done the heart of the cross is gutted and the devil has succeeded in blinding people from the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.

Yes, it is true; there are many, many people today who deny the Trinity and the incarnation of the Son of God. In doing so, they have denied the very heart and glory of Christianity. Yet there appear to be many who do not openly deny the Trinity and the incarnation of Christ and yet they do deny it by not openly and clearly teaching these things. But again, it is possible to preach, teach, and evangelize of a crucified Christ and yet leave out the very glory of the cross by not setting out what makes the cross glorious. It is not just a man on the cross; it is the very Son of God on that cross fulfilling His promise to the Father to save the elect. At the cross we see the very glory of the triune God on display and so the glory of the cross is not just that Jesus went to the cross, but that the Father from all eternity had covenanted with the Son to be sent and that the Son covenanted to take human flesh and suffer and die on the cross. How easy it is to simply set aside the glory of the cross, the Gospel, and Christ Himself while preaching the basic truths of Christianity. How many pulpits across the land preach the cross each Sunday and yet the glory of Christ is simply not set forth? Satan is pleased when that is done.

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The Sinful Heart 89

November 19, 2013

When men love and admire us, we think it is for some merit in ourselves, and for a natural working of pride can love them again. It is for the same reason that we love God so little, notwithstanding his superabundant goodness to us in Christ, because it lays us low, strips us of all excellence, and can only be received in a deep sense of our own unworthiness. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)                                   

“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

When men love and admire us, we think it is for some merit in ourselves, and for a natural working of pride can love them again. It is for the same reason that we love God so little, notwithstanding his superabundant goodness to us in Christ, because it lays us low, strips us of If it is true that men love those who love themselves and love those who build us up and speak highly of us from selfish hearts of self-love and pride, then surely this is clear why men love the true God so little and are so excited to hear of a false god that loves them like they want to be loved. God is opposed to all the selfish hearts of men who are taken up with themselves in self-love and pride. God is opposed to the proud and yet gives grace to the humble. God stands in battle alignment against the proud and will bring all the proud down to their faces in humility or will bring them down to an eternal hell.

Men are so taken with themselves, their thoughts about and esteem of themselves, and of what others think of them that they are in essence playing god in some way. Men are to love God with all of their beings and they are to treat the name of God as holy and are to pray that His name would be revered, yet men are so tender for their own name and are so hardened to how people speak ill of the name of God. People laugh at the television and movies when people use the name of God as common and throw it around and treat it as nothing more than to obtain money and laughs. But let someone slight them but a little and things are so different.

Men are repulsed at seeking the true God because it requires them to bow in utter submission and deep humility. A person that seeks the face of the true God must start with humility first. But this is exactly what the proud heart of man will not do and has no desire to do so. Proud man wants to keep his pride while he seeks the living God and he would have God do for him what he desires and when he desires. Oh how it is so hard to get men to see their desperate need of humility and lowliness, but instead resist this and hate the true God who would bring them down while they love the modern god that is preached because that god loves them as they are with their pride.

Men want a god that is like them and will give them what they want while leaving their pride and self-centeredness basically untouched. Christ tells men that they must die to self, but men think that surely he did not mean that and so they tell themselves that they must deny things that they give to self. But Christ said that we must die to self and all of its so-called rights. Christ teaches us that we must be turned and become like little children to even enter the kingdom, yet we still fight to keep some control regardless of how utterly absurd it is to do so.

For a person to receive Christ a person must receive Christ by grace alone and this teaches us the utter necessity of being emptied of self and pride and all the proud thoughts of our worthiness. The great and glorious doctrines of Christ alone and grace alone bring all the hearts of proud men crashing to the ground as grace will not stand with any hint of pride and worthiness in human being. Grace reigns and will not have any hopeful contenders standing around its throne. Oh the depths of lowliness and humility that are necessary for a person to give up all hope in self and look to grace alone. Oh how men must see that they must be utterly undone in themselves or they will not love the God of the Bible who does all for His own glory and His own worth. Oh how men should seek the Lord to be stripped of pride, self, and high esteem of self rather than seeking a god that allows them to have such poisons in the heart. Oh how we must see that pride and self are poison to the doctrines of grace, but also that those who love the god of the modern day don’t love the true God but instead just love themselves.

It is easy to fill the professing “churches” and the bank accounts of the same when self and pride are allowed to remain untouched and preachers make men think that God loves them as they are. Instead of teaching men that the love of God will change them to make them like the humble Savior, it makes them think that god loves them and so they will love that god rather than the true God. But true believers must understand this as well. The true God works true love for Himself in the hearts of His true people as He disciplines them. The false gods leave men in their self-love and pride and they do nothing but love themselves as they are deceived into thinking that the true God loves them. Believers must learn to strive for a deeper humility as they seek God to give them a love for Himself based on grace alone rather than love for Him based on worldly things He gives them.

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The Sinful Heart 88

November 18, 2013

When men love and admire us, we think it is for some merit in ourselves, and for a natural working of pride can love them again. It is for the same reason that we love God so little, notwithstanding his superabundant goodness to us in Christ, because it lays us low, strips us of all excellence, and can only be received in a deep sense of our own unworthiness. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

There is a profound and deep theology and understanding of the heart in the quote above. It is a saying that is most likely based on Matthew 5:43-47. We love to think that men love and admire us, but when we see them saying good things about us (whether to us or to others about us) instead of that turning us to think of the grace of God that has been given to us, we tend to admire out own merit. When we “love” them in return, it is in reality nothing but pride working in us to do so and perhaps simply wanting them to continue to think highly of us so we can continue to think highly of ourselves. Clearly, however, this is not Christian love, but is instead something that fallen men can do. It is simply self-love extended toward others in order to gratify self-love.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ 44 “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 “If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

The teachings of Jesus often reached deeper than the skin and went to the very heart of man. Why is it that the command of Christ was (and is) to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us? Jesus gives us the reasons. One, it is so that believers would demonstrate themselves to be sons of God. Two, for those who only love others who love them, there is no reward in that. Three, even the worst of sinners (tax collectors) can do that and so one does not need an omnipotent power of love in the soul to do that. Four, if you are only civil to your brothers, then what are you doing more than even the Gentiles or anyone else?

The person that only “loves” others when they are nice to him or her so that they will continue to be nice is a person that is self-serving and proud. That is a person that wants people to think highly of him or her as opposed to thinking highly of Christ. It is, in other words, to be like Adam and Eve after the fall and it is an effort to be like God. Only God has the right to have all others love Him as the focus of all things and yet we live in a way to get people to love us rather than to love God. The reality of the situation is hard and perhaps even harsh when we see out true motives and the true intents of the heart come out in the open.

It is so hard to see ourselves as those who only love out of self-centered motives (which is a vicious pride) when we know that Christ loved others and went to the cross for others out of love for God and not because of any love sinful men had for Him. In fact, sinful men were at enmity with Him and yet He still suffered and died for them. Sinners are totally reliant upon God for a love that can love the unlovely and even those who are at enmity with them. Oh how wicked the heart is and how utterly unable the unregenerate person is to love in any real sense of the word. Only the triune God is the source and origin of true love, yet man wants to do something he thinks of as love and do that based on himself. Oh how man must have a new heart and have grace in the heart to truly love another. But before then, even the best of what a man can do is nothing but filthy rags as it comes from a wicked heart that loves self rather than God.

Perhaps, however, this also shows us one more and a very deceitful thing about the hearts of men. Fallen humanity can love God when it thinks that God loves it. Fallen humanity will do religious things and deceive itself about how it loves God when the real fact of the matter is that the is that the love of God is not in the soul and the soul only “loves” God because that soul thinks that God loves it. Oh how deceptive the heart is and how many appear to think that they love God when in fact they are only loving a god that they imagine loves them.

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Regeneration by God 9

November 15, 2013

John 1:13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” James 1:21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

The absolute and utter necessity of regeneration is set out for us in Colossians 1:13 as well. “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.” In this text we can see that salvation is set forth in terms of people being under the domain of darkness, but they are rescued from that darkness and transferred to the kingdom of His beloved Son. While the words seem to set this out as an external kingdom, the reality is that the domain of darkness is in the inward man and the kingdom of Christ is also in the inward man. Both are primarily issues of the heart. It is not just that the behavior or deeds must change, but the heart must change. If the heart is in darkness because of what it is, then it must be changed in order to be under the rule of another. The kingdom of Christ is the reign of Christ in the heart and Christ will not live and dwell in a heart that is not changed. Thus we can see the absolute and utter necessity of regeneration.

2 Corinthians 4:4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

The god of this world is speaking of the one who reigns in the hearts and lives of those who in the world or are part of the worldly system. That god (the devil, Satan) works to blind the minds of the unbelieving from the light of the Gospel. Those who are in the domain of darkness (from Col 1:13) remain in darkness because of the work of the evil one and so they are blinded to the light of the Gospel. But note that this light of the Gospel is the light of the glory of Christ. Satan works feverishly to blind the eyes of sinners to the glory, though not necessarily to the facts of the Gospel.

Colossians 1:13 shows us so clearly that sinners have to have one greater than themselves rescue them and take them from the bonds and domain of darkness. The text tells us that it was God who rescued believers from the domain of darkness. It was not that sinners could do this themselves or that a priest or a group of priests could do this, but instead it was God who rescues His people. He rescues them from the domain of darkness, which shows that the unregenerate are slaves, though willing slaves to darkness. Darkness dominates them and domineers over them and controls all that they do, but God rescues them.

Not only does God rescue them from darkness, it is God that transfers them to the kingdom of His beloved Son. Here we see the beauty of God on display as He not only rescues people from the domain and bondage of darkness, but He transfers them to the kingdom of His beloved Son. The dominion of darkness is an evil and cruel bondage, but those who are wrenched from the power of darkness are then taken into and granted a new King, the King of kings who reigns in kindness and love, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The necessity of regeneration is so clear from this passage and the context of all Scripture. Each and every human being descended from Adam is either a child of the devil or a child of God. All who are not regenerated are children of the devil and so under the domain and dominion of darkness. All those who are regenerated have Christ in their hearts and so they have been transferred to the kingdom of God. As Jesus said in John 3, unless one is born from above, he cannot see or enter the kingdom. So those who have been transferred to the kingdom are those who are born from above and as such they are children of the living God. It must be declared and asserted with the greatest strength that a person absolutely MUST be born from above to enter the kingdom. Regeneration is an utter and absolute necessity.

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Reflections on and Admirations of God 9

November 14, 2013

Hence we learn [see quote from Reflections on and Admirations of God 6] how all God’s love may be resolved into His love for and delight in Himself. His love to the creature is only His inclination to glorify Himself and communicate Himself, and His delight is in Himself glorified and in Himself communicated. There is His delight in the act and in the fruit. The act is the exercise of His own perfection, and the fruit is Himself expressed and communicated.      Jonathan Edwards

We can also see that works for salvation can be nothing but a seriously false teaching. In this approach, where all is based on the glory of God, there is nothing that man can do to glorify God in and of himself. Man must be thoroughly humbled and emptied of self in order to be an instrument through which the glory of God will shine forth. When men look to their own works, they are looking to themselves as the source of their strength and righteousness. That is nothing less than seeking the glory of self, but the Scriptures are quite clear that nothing that is truly righteous can come from a man.

If we truly believe that nothing that is righteous can come from man or from the strength of self in man, then this shows us (with a moment of reflection) that a subtle form of works has slipped into biblical Christianity and is deceiving many. People can think that they are escaping a works mentality when they do things for the glory of God, but that can be another way of looking at a law and that can be nothing more than a form of works as well. One can be doing things stating the words of doing them for the glory of God and yet still be doing them from the strength of self. One may even have some intent in doing them to the glory of God and yet still be doing them from the strength of self. Saying the words and even having an intent to do things to the glory of God does not mean that what a human being is doing is actually from the strength and working of God in the human soul. In order to actually do something to the glory of God requires that it is actually God manifesting His glory in and through the human being.

I think that it should be clear that people can be taught that they should do all to the glory of God and that they can then convince themselves that they are doing it for the glory of God when they say the words or tell themselves that what they are doing does in fact glorify God. But that can be more deceptive than other forms of deception because it is closer to the truth. Living to the glory of God and doing any one thing to the glory of God is as impossible to do in the strength of man as it is to be perfect. For God to be glorified through a human soul it must be God Himself working in and through that human soul. Only God can manifest His internal glory to where it is now external in the sense where it is manifested and communicated.

Living to the glory of God is not possible by any human act, but instead it can only happen by the grace of God. Living to the glory of God is not what a human being does, but instead the human being must be transformed by the glory of God and then that glory must manifest itself through the human. Living to the glory of God is not a work of man, but instead it is a work of God in the man. Living to the glory of God is not done just because a person decides to do something that s/he may think honors God, but instead a person should seek the Lord to be an instrument of His glory which only happens by grace. Living to the glory of God is not done by the human for God, but it is God doing it through the human for Himself and His own glory. Human beings are privileged to be used as instruments of His glory and this is only done by sovereign grace and sovereign grace alone.

When a person truly longs to see the glory of God, that person must begin to seek humility for Christ to dwell in him or her more and more. Christ will not dwell in a proud heart and He will not share the glory with another which is precisely what a proud heart will try to do. The person that longs to see the glory of God should then long to be an instrument of His glory which means to seek Him to be humbled and broken as clay in the hands of the Potter. God does not use vessels that are used for other purposes, but instead He uses vessels that He has made to be set apart from all other uses and then for His own purposes. Oh how so many have been deceived into thinking that as long as they use the words “for His glory” or think that what they are doing honors Him that they are living to His glory. But instead a vessel must be prepared to be full of His glory so that He may manifest and communicate His own glory by grace and His will and wisdom.

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The Glory and Beauty of Christ 4

November 12, 2013

John 17:24 “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

One of the greatest privileges and advancements of believers, both in this world and unto eternity, consists in their beholding the glory of Christ. This, therefore, He desires for them in this solemn intercession, as the complement of all His other requests in their behalf: “That they may behold my glory,” that they may see, or contemplate my glory.       John Owen

It does not appear that people think of beholding the glory of Christ as one of the greatest privileges in this work and then unto all eternity. If they did, they would seek a sight of His glory. Moses is said to have considered “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt” (Heb 11:26). Moses then went on to cry out to God with His desire to behold His glory. The glory that Moses caught a glimpse of is that glory that believers are privileged to behold with greater light. Christ Himself is the glory of God shining forth in the new creation of God. Christ Himself is the very glory of the Church. Christ Himself is the very shining forth of the glory of God in the Gospel of God. We are told that God is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (II Cor 4:6).

People will go to great extents to see a particular sporting event, a movie star, or a politician. But the greatest privilege is to behold the glory of Christ. The most a football player can do is to catch, throw, or run a football for a short distance. The most a basketball player can do is to throw a ball through a hole. The most a baseball player can do is to throw a baseball, catch a baseball, or hit a baseball. But Christ upholds the entire universe by the word of His power. Christ has purchased the eternal souls of an entire people. Christ was the tabernacle of the glory of God and Christ is very God of very God. The athlete strives for records and money that last for a few years at the most, but Christ earned and won eternal salvation. There is nothing an athlete can do that can be compared to the glory of Christ.

What is it that movie stars and actors do? They pretend to be someone and act like someone. They play a part that someone has written and that another directs. But what are they really doing that is worthwhile? Christ did not just play a part, but He was and is involved in the greatest drama that can possibly happen for all time in all of creation. The drama of redemption was played out from the Garden of Eden until the cross as the Old Testament gave us little dramas and pictures of the coming Christ. Christ has accomplished salvation and it is an eternal salvation, while a television show may last a few years at most. Movies usually are not popular for very long at all.

What is it that politicians do? They make laws, they have political power, and they put on a show as they run for office. But how is the comparable to the Lord Jesus Christ who raises up and then blows down all politicians as He pleases? He has all power in the entire universe and He does as He pleases. What kind of power does the Lord Jesus Christ who is the King of kings have? The hearts of all kings are in His hand and He turns them as He pleases. Every breath of every king and ruler of all lands are in His hand and He can give it or take it as He pleases. What an absolutely glorious Lord is King Jesus!

Why are men so taken with the world rather than the Lord Jesus Christ? It is because they are blinded by the allure, apparent beauty, and false promises of the fake things of the world and so those things appear so much better than the eternal things which they are blinded to. The things that bring some sense of pleasure to the soul now appear better than words that appear to be only effective for eternity. It is hard to get a person to turn from present pleasures to seek the One that s/he hates (God) for eternal life which appears to be so distant and not all that great. When the scales are removed from the spiritual eyes of the soul, oh how ravishing Christ is to the soul. How delightful the things of eternity appear, but also how delightful holiness and love for Christ are in the present world. If only people would take time and effort to either behold or seek to behold the wonders of Christ perhaps the things of the world would appear dim and ignoble to them. The things that people spend so much time on would appear to be nothing but a waste of time when seen in the light of His beauty.

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