Humility, Part 66

February 24, 2010

One of the most basic questions that gets to the heart of all things is why did God create the universe. Did God create the universe out of need? Did He bring the universe from nothing in order to obtain something from it that He lacked? Surely just the asking of the question in that way makes the answer obvious. It cannot be the case that God brings something from nothing or from non-being to being in order for it to provide Him something that He could not provide for Himself.

The next question has to do with why God created man. Did God create man so that man could do something for Him or so that man could fulfill some need He had? Once again the answer is obvious. God has no need of anything or anyone. Human beings, despite their pride in thinking differently, are utterly dependent on God for all things rather than God being dependent on them for one thing at all. This is the basis for one aspect of humility. God does not need man at all and yet proves man with breath and all things. God did not need man and yet He created man for a purpose. What could that purpose be?

Hebrews 1:3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities– all things have been created through Him and for Him.17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

In reading these verses, we get the idea that Christ is the center of all things. How much does God really need us and how dependent are human beings on Him? If God truly maintains human beings and all things each and ever moment (also see Acts 17:24-28), then how empty human beings should be of self-dependence, self-sufficiency, and pride. In other words, humility is to be empty of self and a focus on self so that we can rely on God for all things and to look to Him for all things simply we truly live by His mercy and grace. If God does truly maintain human beings each and every moment of each and every day as Acts 17:24-28 declares, then there is no room for pride at all. This teaches us to look to Him as the Creator who created all things for Himself and no other reason. This teaches us that we are utterly dependent on Him for life, breath, and all things. Then when we look at things in the spiritual realm, we can see how dependent we are on Him for spiritual things. This should humble us in the dust to realize how dependent we are on Him and how proud we have been to think that things depended on us.

In light of why God created human beings and how we are dependent on Him for all things each moment, a human being would find its highest good and joy by being nothing more than an empty vessel in terms of self and pride so that it could be filled with God Himself. The soul would then find rest in Christ-esteem rather than self-esteem. The soul would then find that it was created for another and not itself. It would find that it is not to be a selfish and self-centered being, but instead it is to share in the life of God and then in the lives of others as they share in the life of God. This type of soul would find that it is the dwelling place of God and find that its true love is in seeing the glory of God being manifested through it. This type of soul would find that its greatest privilege is to be a vessel of the glory of God and an instrument He uses to manifest Himself through.

The soul that discovers the joy of humility as in fact discovered the goal of that humility and that is to be an empty vessel in regards to self so that it may be a full vessel in regards to God. This is the soul that will learn what it means to hate self (Luke 14:26) because it is that self that gets in the way of its true love which is God. It will learn to despise the noxious fumes of self as they rise because it wants to exalt in the incense of Christ. Oh how this soul now begins to truly live as it has Christ who is Divine life in the soul which is what eternal life really is. How this soul learns that true joy is to delight in God and not the things of self. Now this soul learns that true love must come from God and in fact is for God in all things. This is the soul that longs for and seeks for the enlightening work of the Spirit to show it more sin and more selfishness so that it may die more and more to self so that it can truly live by the Spirit of Christ more and more. Humility is not just a virtue that is added to the soul to make it more righteous, but it is the emptiness of self from the creature that it may share in the Divine life. It is true life. It is looking to Him as the all-sufficient One rather than self.

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Humility, Part 65

February 22, 2010

In the last BLOG we ended looking at I Corinthians 2:10-14 in an effort to show that all spiritual understanding comes from the Spirit of God and is therefore by grace. Only the humble can receive grace. A spiritual wisdom and understanding, therefore, always comes by grace and grace alone and can only be received by the humble. This is disputed and fought by many, but it is a certainty from Scripture that this is true. It is said that academic degrees and human knowledge can bring a great understanding of the Bible, but the Bible itself militates against that. The Bible teaches us that human intellect and wisdom can give a great understanding about the Bible but it is impossible for anything but the Spirit of God to give spiritual understanding of the Bible. If a spiritual understanding of Scripture is beyond the human ability, then it can only come to the soul by the grace of God and it is only the humble who can receive grace.

“For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.13 For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col 1:9-13).

This text is simply full of spiritual truth. It is being filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding (versus human wisdom and understanding) that one may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and please Him in all respects. It is also in view of those things that a person can bear fruit in every good work and increase in the knowledge of God. It is only in spiritual wisdom that a person can bear fruit. That should be obvious since it would require a spiritual wisdom and understanding in order to bear spiritual fruit and to increased in the knowledge (or personal knowing) God. Clearly, and most likely without any real disagreement, there is no spiritual fruit that comes to the soul that is not by grace. Believers bear spiritual fruit by grace and not because of works. True good works come from grace rather than grace by good works. This is hard for many to hear, but it is music to the ear that is in tune with the Divine symphony.

The Divine symphony is the love that the triune God has for Himself and His own glory and He shares that with believers. In Ephesians 1:17 Paul prays that the “God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.” We know that it is the Spirit of the living God that brings enlightenment and so God gives this by the Holy Spirit. Paul prayed for God to give this spirit of wisdom and revelation (enlightenment) to sinners but not because they deserve it. He wants the eyes of the hearts of sinners to be enlightened, but not because they deserve it. The text goes on and it is to show forth the greatness and glory of God. Sinners are not enlightened to the truth so they can feel better about themselves, but this happens so that they can know God and may be used by Him to manifest His glory. After all, sinners are saved according to His good pleasure, to the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph 1:6-7). Sinners are saved so that they would be “to the praise of His glory” (Eph 1:12) and “to the praise of His glory” (Eph 1:14). It is in this light that Paul prays to “the Father of glory” (Eph 1:17) so that sinners would be given a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. He wanted them to know this “so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Eph 1:18). It is all about His glory and His glory only comes to the humble.

The prayers of Paul are utterly dependent on the Spirit giving understanding to people. His prayers for people are utterly dependent on the people being humble before the Lord or they could not even understand what he was praying much less receive that he prayed for. Perhaps we should learn to pray that the Lord would teach others humility so that they could receive the spiritual things that we pray for them. Without denying the sovereignty of God, it almost seems that we would waste spiritual prayers if the people are not humble to begin with. We do not pray for unbelievers to be sanctified, so perhaps we should not pray for spiritual things for people who are not humble and instead trust in their own powers. Nevertheless, we can see once again how the knowledge of God and spiritual wisdom go hand in hand. For sinners to receive those, they must be seeking humility and have some degree of it. God opposes the proud and will not give Himself to them. He will give Himself to the humble alone.

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Conversion, Part 55

February 21, 2010

What follows is an excerpt from Arthur Pink’s volume on Saving Faith. The articles that this book is comprised of were originally written in the 1930’s. They could have been written today. It is also startling to consider that if what he wrote was true in his day, then how bad we must be in our day. Perhaps we are simply blind in darkness and we love it so. We think it is good to keep the presses going and the machinery of organizations oiled and operating. But if the message of the Gospel is truly perverted in our day, we are simply sending out error and false gospels. We are told many times in Scripture to beware of false teachers. Perhaps we should judge and compare what we hear and read to Scripture and to the writers of old. After all, we are dealing with eternal things.

It is generally recognized that spirituality is at a low ebb in Christendom and not a few perceive that sound doctrine is rapidly on the wane, yet many of the Lord’s people take comfort from supposing that the Gospel is still being widely preached and that large numbers are being saved thereby. Alas, their optimistic supposition is ill-founded and sandily grounded. If the “message” now being delivered in Mission Halls be examined, if the “tracts” which are scattered among the unchurched masses be scrutinized, if the “open air” speakers be carefully listened to, if the “sermons” or “addresses” of a “Soul-winning campaign” be analyzed; in short, if modern “Evangelism” be weighed in the balances of Holy Writ, it will be found wanting-lacking that which is vital to a genuine conversion, lacking what is essential if sinners are to be shown their need of a Saviour, lacking that which will produce the transfigured lives of new creatures in Christ Jesus.It is in no captious spirit that we write, seeking to make men offenders for a word. It is not that we are looking for perfection, and complain because we cannot find it; nor that we criticize others because they are not doing things as we think they should be done. No; no, it is a matter far more serious than that. The “evangelism” of the day is not only superficial to the last degree, but it is radically defective. It is utterly lacking a foundation on which to base an appeal for sinners to come to Christ. There is not only a lamentable lack of proportion (the mercy of God being made far more prominent than His holiness, His love than His wrath), but there is a fatal omission of that which God has given for the purpose of imparting a knowledge of sin. There is not only a reprehensible introducing of “bright singing,” humourous witticisms and entertaining anecdotes, but there is a studied omission of the dark background upon which alone the Gospel can effectually shine forth.

But serious indeed as is the above indictment, it is only half of it-the negative side, that which is lacking. Worse still is that which is being retailed by the cheap-jack evangelists of the day. The positive content of their message is nothing but a throwing of dust in the eyes of the sinner. His soul is put to sleep by the Devil’s opiate, ministered in a most unsuspecting form. Those who really receive the “message” which is being given out from most of the “orthodox” pulpits and platforms today, are being fatally deceived. It is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but unless God sovereignly intervenes by a miracle of grace, all who follow it will surely find that the ends thereof are the ways of death. Tens of thousands who confidently imagine that they are bound for Heaven, will get a terrible disillusionment when they awake in hell.

Mark 12:38 In His teaching He was saying: “Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like respectful greetings in the market places,

Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.

Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. 5 “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. 11 “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.

Isaiah 9:16 For those who guide this people are leading them astray; And those who are guided by them are brought to confusion.

Jeremiah 28:15 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen now, Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie.

2 Peter 2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned.

1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

2 Corinthians 11:13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.

Ephesians 4:14 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;

1 Timothy 4:1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,

2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,

Acts 20:29 “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 “Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.

We live in a day where virtually anyone can get a piece of paper with the name “reverend” on it and all sorts of people are called missionaries. As you look at the Scriptures above in light of the quote by Arthur Pink, please don’t just read this and go on with life. We live in an age where many vital things of Scripture have been redefined and so truths have been removed from Scripture while many hold on to humanism that uses the words of Scripture. The truth of Scripture has been so watered down that humanism and man-centeredness has taken over in the local churches in the guise of conservative morality. People are said to be saved if they repeat a prayer or walk an aisle rather than looking at Scripture which tells us over and over again that souls must be converted from being a child of the devil to a child of the living God. Souls must be transferred from the domain and bondage of the devil and sin into the kingdom of the Beloved Son and the freedom of holiness. Souls are told that they can be saved from hell without being saved from sin, which is salvation apart from conversion. It simply cannot be if Jesus is Truth.

If Pink was (is) correct, let us not imagine that it is about other people and not “me.” Maybe it is not just the neo-orthodox, the liberals, and the immoral people who sniffed in the opiate of the devil. It could very well be that the orthodox, the conservatives, and the Reformed have done so as well. Oh how the modern things seem right to men from their views, but we must know that the fallen heart has not an ounce of spiritual perception. The Pharisees were very religious and yet they had no spiritual perception though they thought they did. Oh that God would split the heavens and come down. Oh that God would shine forth His light into the darkness of our souls and wake us up. Our man-centered methods and ways are not moving the Gospel forward but instead the ways of darkness and the philosophy of man. Men, women, and children must truly be converted and God uses the true Gospel to convert sinners. God saves sinners to the glory of His grace and not to the glory of the free-will of human souls. It is the grace of God that converts sinners and the methods of men to get men to make a decision point to the power of self rather than the power of grace. If we are preaching a Gospel that has a fatal omission, then we are preaching a false gospel that blinds others and us. It may hurt our pride to admit that we do so, but since eternity is but a breath away we need to be on our knees crying out to God for truth and for Himself. There is nothing else.

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Provocation to Prayer, Part 28

February 21, 2010

The following two paragraphs are quotes from The Office and Work of the Holy Spirit by James Buchanan.

That such seasons of general religious revival s occurred at the feast of Pentecost were to be expected in subsequent times appears from those promises of Scripture which relate to ‘times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,’ which ensure the continued presence of Christ and his Spirit with the Church in all ages, and which declare that ‘when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.’ And that such seasons of revival have occurred at intervals along the whole line of the Church’s history is a fact which is amply confirmed by historical evidence, and sufficient to obviate any prejudice arising from the idea that such an event is novel or unprecedented… The history of the collected Church resembles the experience of individual believers in many respects, and chiefly in this, that in both there occur seasons of growth and decay, of progress and declension, each bearing a resemblance to the course of nature with its spring and winter, in seedtime and harvest.

Thus is the Reformation of the sixteenth century, a reformation in the outward state of the Church, which had its source and spring in the hearts of a few chosen men, when simultaneously in Germany, and Switzerland, and Britain, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Let there be light; and there was light.’ ‘As in spring time the breath of life is felt from the sea-shore to the mountain-top, so the Spirit of God was now melting the ice of a long winter in every part of Christendom, and clothing with verdure and flowers the most secluded valleys, and the most steep and barren rocks, Germany did not communicate the light of truth to Switzerland, Switzerland to France, France to England-all these lands received it from God, just as no one region transmits the light to another, but the same orb of splendour dispenses it direct to the earth. Raised far above men, Christ, the day-star from on high, was at the period of the Reformation as at the first introduction of the Gospel, the divine source whence came the light of the world. One and the same doctrine suddenly established itself in the sixteenth century at the domestic hearths and in the places of worship at nations the most distant and dissimilar. It was because the same Spirit was everywhere present, producing the same faith.’ A series of local revivals, on a more partial and limited scale, have occurred since the great general revival at the era of the Reformation.

The Reformation was not just a time of a dispute with Roman Catholicism which led to the Protestant view of the Church; it was a time of great revival that God raised up. While indeed Martin Luther was a human agent and perhaps the main human vessel, this was the work of the Holy Spirit. The Reformation was a time when the sovereign God raised up a few men and worked a mighty revival. Luther spent hours (3-4) each day in prayer. He is quoted as saying one day that he had so much to do that he would have to pray an extra hour. He was overheard praying and it was said that he prayed like God was in the room with him. Luther recognized that God must move if man’s work was to have any benefit at all. He recognized that in the busiest of times what is needed is not less prayer, but more. He was a man of great action, but his action started on his knees. The Reformation, while indeed a time of doctrinal reform, was also a time of revival where true prayer was rescued from forms and traditions.

If we are to see revival today, it will take far more than a recovery of the writings of men and of the doctrine of the Reformers. Our intellects can hold to their doctrines while we savor the old books and yet we might be devoid of the Spirit. Those men tasted and gloried in God and not just in the doctrines of the intellect. Indeed they had the doctrines, but God opened their minds to His glory in the Gospel and the light shone through the darkness once again. But this was a time when men prayed and when the Spirit moved. For several years we have once again had access to the writings of the giants of old. For years we have had people speak and write on prayer, but we have not had revival because the Spirit has not been given and we have not been given to prayer. We prefer to attend conferences where we are given a lot of food and a lot of things for the brain. But we have not been given over to prayer to seek the face of God to pour out His Spirit. Until we do, we will not see revival and the Reformation will be but a system of doctrine to us. Doctrine is important, and even vital, but God Himself is light and life. The doctrines of the Reformation teach us of our sovereign God and that should drive us to true and extended prayer.

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Conversion, Part 54: The Conversion of Lydia, Part 2

February 20, 2010

The Scripture does not give us a lot of information about the conversion of Lydia, but what it does give us is rich in its teaching. Here was a woman who was in business and yet assembled with other women for the purpose of prayer. She was a woman given to seeking the Lord despite the fact that there was no synagogue and that no men appeared to be part of the group that met for the purpose of prayer. God sent Paul to preach the Gospel to them and while Paul was preaching the Lord opened Lydia’s heart to respond to what Paul said. It is easy to deduce that Paul was preaching Christ crucified (I Cor 1:23) and she came to Christ on hearing of the glory of God in that.

And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled. 14 A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. 15 And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, some into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us (Acts 16:13-15).

The Lord has been pleased to give us but a smattering of direct evidence about Lydia. Her name is only mentioned twice in Scripture. One was in the text above (Acts 16:4) and the other is the last verse of Acts 16: “They went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brethren, they encouraged them and departed” (v. 40). What we are given, however, is enough to make some assessment. With what we have we can state that Lydia was a woman who was given a new heart and became a new creature in Christ Jesus. Paul baptized her and so he thought she was converted. It may seem small when Acts 16:40 states that Paul and others entered the house of Lydia, but from the context it is quite a big deal. From the context it shows that she was now a woman who was not concerned about the opinions of others, but instead was concerned about those who were sent from God.

From the time Lydia prevailed upon Paul and his followers to stay in her house (v. 15) until the last verse of chapter 16, Paul had nothing but trials and troubles. First, as he was on the way “to the place of prayer,” a slave-girl followed after Paul and the others who had a spirit of divination and cried out for days that these were bond-servants of the Most High God. Eventually Paul commanded the demon to come out of her in the name of Jesus Christ. The demon instantly obeyed and she was delivered from the demon. However, her masters had made a lot of money with her and her demon and they were not happy when the demon was gone. So they dragged Paul and Silas before the authorities. The crowd rose against them and the chief magistrates ordered them to be beaten and thrown into jail. The situation, then, is that the men who were with Lydia now had virtually the whole town against them and the law thought of them as being troublemakers. The common sentiment was certainly against Lydia.

Paul and Silas were in jail and a great earthquake hit. The jailer was about to kill himself but Paul cried out for him not to harm himself. Eventually the magistrates ordered the men released but this was not good enough for Paul. He wanted to know how it could be that they could just be released when they were Roman citizens and had been publicly beaten and thrown into jail. Now the judges just wanted to send them quietly away. The magistrates then came and kept on begging them to leave the city. It was at this point that Paul and Silas went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia (v. 40). They were still welcome at that house and evidently Lydia had housed the rest of the men who were not put in jail with Paul and Silas because when they arrived at her house “they saw the brethren.” The Gospel was what got Paul and Silas into trouble with the citizens and with the law. But Lydia stood by Paul and Silas. Surely this showed that she was truly converted and now a lover of God and of His children.

What we see with Lydia, then, was a woman who had a heart that had good soil. It was a heart that had been broken up and then renewed by God. It was the kind of soil like the side of the road that the seed landed on and the birds (devil) came and snatched it up. It was not the kind of soil that was on rocky ground and there was no root for the plant to go deep and so she did not fall away because of persecution or affliction. Her heart was not the kind of soil that had briars to choke out the weed with the worries of the world and the deceitfulness of riches. Instead her heart was the kind of soil that had been prepared by God and so it heard that word and it received it. Her heart was opened by God and so she bore fruit. It would have been easy to have told Paul to keep going because of all the trouble and persecution that followed him, but she did not. She had the word deep in the good soil of her heart.

In the last newsletter article we looked at the fact that Lydia’s heart was opened by God and so she responded to the things Paul spoke. In the first part of this article we looked at the proof of her conversion in the sense that she loved the people of God even in the midst of persecution. It seemed as if the whole town and the magistrates were against Paul because of his message, yet she welcomed him into her house. While it is understandable from a human view that she would have asked him to keep going, from the view of a true conversion her hearts shows evidence of being changed. She did not just pray a prayer or make a commitment of the moment, but instead her whole heart was changed. The divine stamp of God was on her soul.

What we see in this text, then, is the promise of God stated in Acts 2:

37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” 40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” 41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. 42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

In accordance with verse 39 Lydia was one of the far off who was called to the Lord. The people in Acts were pierced in heart while Peter was preaching and asked Peter what they were to do. They were told to repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We are told that Lydia had her heart opened to respond to the things Paul preached. We can be quite sure that Peter and Paul did not contradict each other in terms of the Gospel message. Part of the whole Gospel message is repentance. God grants repentance to sinners and turns them from their sin that comes from a sinful nature and unbelief. God gives sinners new hearts and so they have a new nature which is a believing heart. When Lydia responded to the Gospel that was preached by Paul, this is to say that the Holy Spirit convicted her of her sin and gave her a new and believing heart.

Acts 16 goes on to say that Lydia was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, which was part of Peter’s message in Acts 2. If we make the assumption that she was a convert to Judaism, this would have been an enormous step for her. Turning from the Jewish faith to being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ was simply a change of life for her. True enough she was not a Jew by birth, but it would have been very hard to turn from a religion like Judaism to Christianity which was new and even scorned. As we can see from Acts 16, the message of Paul was scorned by all those in the area, but Lydia had a new heart and did not turn back. The hand of God was upon her.

In Acts 2 the result of the conversion of the people was that they devoted themselves “to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” This is what a truly converted heart looks like. The converted heart longs to have the teaching of the apostles and to fellowship with God’s true people. The converted heart longs to break bread with the people of God and to pray. A heart that has been broken from seeking the things of self is a heart that seeks the face of God in prayer. As a baby cries out for food and the touch of its mother, so a child of God wants the pure milk of the word and for the face of its Father. In persuading Paul and Silas to stay in her house, she demonstrated her hunger for more of the word that Paul preached. We cannot imagine that Paul would have stayed at her house and not have preached and prayed. This woman seemed to want the things of God above the opinion of others. Her soul had been made alive and she wanted the things of God.

When conversion is thought of as a soul that God has changed and made it focused on Him in love rather than on self in self-love, our view of the Gospel, of salvation, and of evangelism changes. Lydia and all who hear the Gospel when called by God are not just saved from hell and are not just called to make a decision, but their souls are truly translated from the kingdom of the devil to the kingdom of God. Those souls are now united to Christ and they are beloved in Him. These souls now have the love of God dwelling in them and they partake of His holiness (Heb 12:10). These are souls that are now “partakers of the divine nature” (II Peter 1:4). While we have little evidence from Acts about Lydia directly, we have the whole Scripture to describe what happened to her. This woman’s heart was opened by God and she became His dwelling place. That is true conversion.

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Provocation to Prayer, Part 27

February 20, 2010

The following quotes are from The Office and Work of the Holy Spirit by James Buchanan.

We have been so much accustomed to look to the more slow and quiet and gradual method of maintaining and extending the kingdom of Christ, that we are apt to be startled, and even listen with some degree of incredulous surprise, when we hear of any sudden and general work of the Spirit of God; nay, we cease even to expect and to pray for any more remarkable or more rapid change in the state of the Church and world than what is usually observed under a regular ministry….Often, in the history of his Church, has he been pleased…to manifest his grace and power in a very extraordinary and remarkable manner; partly to awaken and arouse a slumbering Church; partly also to alarm and convince gainsayers; and, most of all, to teach them at once the sovereignty and the power of that grace which they are too prone to despise.

Could you then doubt that the preaching of the Gospel, accompanied by the power of the Spirit, is sufficient to revolutionize the world, to overturn the kingdom of darkness, and to erect on its ruins that kingdom of God which consists in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost? While such was the experience of the Church of God, both under the Old and the New Testament dispensations [periods of time], it remains to inquire how far we are entitled to expect the same, or similar results, from the preaching of the Gospel in modern times. It might seem that, being far removed from the age of miracles, and being left, in so far as the use of means is concerned, to depend on the mere preaching of the Word, it would be unreasonable, if not presumptuous, in us to anticipate any such remarkable success as attended the preaching of the apostles on the day of Pentecost. Yet there are some weighty considerations applicable to this question which may serve to abate the supposed improbability of such an expectation…’Ask of me,’ says the Father to his beloved Son, ‘and I will give thee the heathen for thine heritage, and the uttermost part of they earth for they possession.’ ‘In thee, and in thy seed,’ said he to Abraham, ‘shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’

The continued agency of the Spirit of God in the Church…is a doctrine which teaches us to expect great results from the faithful preaching of the Gospel…Take away the grace of the Holy Spirit, expunge those passages in the Bible which contain the promise of his enlightening, renewing and converting grace, and then you leave us with none but natural means to accomplish a supernatural work; you leave us, by our mere persuasion and importunity, to convert enmity into love, to quicken the dead to life, to raise a fallen world to heaven, then, indeed, our hopes were deluded, our expectations visionary. Our aims abortive; but leave with us the promise which God has given; grant that the Gospel is an instrument in his hands, and that the Holy Spirit is the every living and ever activeTeacher and Sanctifier of souls, then, in the strength of this truth, we can face all difficulties and rise above all discouragement; and stand unmoved amidst the mockery of the world; and preach the Gospel with confidence of ultimate success, both to Greek and barbarian, to savage and to civilized men; for the Gospel is adapted to every human heart, and the Spirit of God has power to make it effectual…Can it be doubted by any professing Christian, either that such a revival is possible, or that it is desirable?…And is not our privilege to expect, that for these things our prayers will be heard and answered?

The revival we are to expect and seek in prayer is the work of the Holy Spirit in awakening and converting souls. We are not just to do our duty in doing these, though we are to do that, but we should have an expectation that the living God will do as He has promised. While we do not know for sure the extent of what He will do in our day, we can know that our labors are not in vain. We may see revival today or tomorrow, or God may be using us to prepare the next generation for true revival. Either way, it will happen as it cannot fail to happen. The earth will be full of the glory of the Lord because the Lord has promised. We should give ourselves to prayer and preaching that is accordance with the power and the sovereignty of the grace of God. Let us not give up on God, but simply on our own wisdom and power. The Spirit of God is able to send true revival. Let us seek Him by believing prayer.

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Humility, Part 64

February 20, 2010

In the last BLOG the effort was to show how vital it is to understand the nature of Scripture as having spiritual meaning as its primary meaning and then to show that humility is at the heart of all of that. When Paul prayed for the Colossian people to be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, he was not praying for them to understand things intellectually. He was praying for them to understand God and His glory in a spiritual manner which has to do with the Holy Spirit and has to do with grace. Anything that a saved human being receives from God is by grace alone and God only gives grace to the humble.

“For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.13 For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col 1:9-13).

Paul does not just tell the Colossian people that he prayed for them to be filled with the knowledge of His will, but he told them why. It was so that they would walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects. Now, if all spiritual understanding comes by the Holy Spirit, and all that He gives is by grace and only the humble receive grace, then we can see how it is true that walking in a manner worthy of the Lord requires humility. We can also see how it takes humility to please the Lord. Once again, however, it is so hard for the human mind to see its utter dependence on God in all things. We strive to set out how much ability man has by saying man is responsible in order to avoid hyper-Calvinism, but we don’t see it as much of a concern to avoid Pelagianism. What we must be concerned about is to be biblical in this area and Jesus said without equivocation that apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5). There is no spiritual fruit regardless of the religious exercises done apart from abiding in Christ and Christ abiding in us. There is no walking in a manner worthy of the Lord and there is no pleasing the Lord apart from Christ in the soul working in the soul so that it would walk and please the Lord.

“10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. 14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” (I Cor 2:10-14).

Colossians 1 speaks of a spiritual wisdom and understanding that is necessary to please the Lord. The passage just above speaks of how no one can (has the ability) know anything spiritual except by the Spirit of God. It is the Spirit that knows the depths of God as it is the spirit of man that knows (rather than other humans) the spirit of man. Who can reveal spiritual things and the thoughts of God but the Spirit of God? Only those who have received the Spirit can know the things given to human beings by God. Paul said that he spoke, not in words taught by human wisdom, but with spiritual thoughts with spiritual words taught of the Spirit. The natural man cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God. The text says that “he cannot understand them.” In other words, the natural man has no ability to even understand spiritual things. Only those who have the Spirit can understand the things of God. But even there we must be careful because those who are not walking with God at the moment He will oppose and not give them greater understanding. A spiritual understanding only comes by grace and God will only give grace to the humble. The proud, and in this context it would mean those who trust in man’s wisdom, cannot understand the things of God even if they are ordained ministers and even if they have taught Sunday School for years. It takes humility to understand the things of God regardless of a person’s brilliance, personality, or education level. The Spirit of God alone can give understanding into the things of God and that is spiritual wisdom and spiritual understanding. How badly we need to learn this.

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Humility, Part 63

February 18, 2010

The issue of humility is so vast that one could write about it for a hundred years and not scratch the surface. In the last BLOG we started looking at Colossians 1:9-13 in order to look at the spiritual nature of truth and of why humility and the glory of God are two correlating truths that run throughout the whole Bible and are necessary and assumed in virtually every teaching of Scripture in places they are not explicitly talked about. In the text below we can see this as true of this text but it is also true of Scripture as a whole if this text is true (which it is).

“For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.13 For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col 1:9-13).

The spiritual wisdom that Paul prayed for will not be found by Bible study alone. That may sound heretical to some, but a spiritual understanding can only come by the Holy Spirit who does His enlightening work in the mind. Indeed He uses Scripture, but that shows that an academic understanding of the Bible is not what Paul prayed for and is not what people should seek primarily. The scribes and the Pharisees were quite learned in the external meaning of Scripture, but they did not have a spiritual understanding of Scripture at all. They knew the letters of the Bible and they were reputed to have memorized large parts of the Old Testament Scriptures, but they did not understand the real point of Scripture. There has to be a spiritual wisdom and a spiritual understanding in order to be filled with the knowledge of His will.

1 John 5:20, combined with John 17:3, shows how this is true: “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” John 17:3 tells us that “this is eternal life, that they may know You.” When we see how these verses come together, it is quite clear that eternal life is by grace alone and that the Spirit is responsible for these. Eternal life comes from an understanding and eternal life is not distinct from spiritual life, but instead they are the same thing. Eternal life is to know God and spiritual life is to receive all life and all things from the Spirit. It is from the Spirit that all spiritual fruit comes and yet eternal life is all about spiritual fruit and sharing in or partaking of the holiness of Christ (Heb 12:10) and also to be partakers of the divine nature (II Peter 1:4).

Human beings do not become God and they do not share in the essence of God, and if Scripture put it in any different terms it would be blasphemous to say that human beings partake of the divine nature. However, when we understand something of the spiritual nature of Scripture we know that when the Holy Spirit works in believers and they have the fruit of the Spirit, which is partaking in the divine nature. There is no love in the universe apart from the triune God who lives in perfect love within the Trinity and He shares it with His children who receive it as the fruit of the Spirit. The very love of God is poured out in the hearts of believers by the Spirit and so believers love God with the love that He gives them for Himself. This is to share in the divine nature. I John 4:7-8 is quite explicit when it says that God is love and the only ones who love are those who are born of God and know God. Then it goes on to say that the one who does not love does not know God. In other words, there is no love in the universe apart from a love that comes from God.

Underlying all of this simply glorious teaching of Scripture is a God-centered God and the humility of human souls. Human beings do not deserve salvation and eternal live. Part of that salvation and eternal life is to share in the love that the Father has for the Son and the Son has for the Father. This is what it means to be united to Christ. The love of God shines out of Himself and is sent from God not on the basis of any human merit or work. It comes to the praise of the glory of His grace. It is only the humble soul that will receive this totally as grace. It is by grace alone that souls share in the divine nature and receive the divine love. Spiritual wisdom and understanding are given by grace to those who love God. This wisdom and understanding are spiritual and they are by grace alone.

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Humility, Part 62

February 16, 2010

The biblical teaching on humility is obvious in many places, but it is not seen as clearly in all the Scriptures as the prominent place it truly has. It is my view that there is a spiritual understanding of Scripture and this spiritual understanding would include things like humility. Part of the world values humility but they don’t see it for what it truly is. A correlating truth with humility is that of the God-centered God of Scripture. Scripture is girded and intertwined with the glory and beauty of a God that loves Himself within the Trinity and does all things to His own glory. A person that has not been humbled to some degree in accordance with Scripture will not see either truth in its beauty and glory. We speak of spiritual truth and at times don’t realize that spiritual truth is always related to the Holy Spirit. The two correlating truths that we must grab tightly and not let go are: 1) the God-centered God that Scripture drips with the glory of all through it and 2) the humility that human beings must have as creatures, sinners, and perhaps saints. These two core truths are woven throughout Scripture whether they are openly discussed or not.

True and biblical humility has to do with the emptiness of the human soul of self-centeredness, self-love, and pride on what it does not have and then the life of Christ in the soul in terms of the positive life of it. Until the soul has been turned from its pride and self-centeredness, regardless of how religious it is and how many church functions it does or attends, it is locked into itself and does not serve God in other than name only. An unhumbled soul is full of self and will do many things for God in name, but the heart of that soul will do nothing but serve self. The unhumbled self will read Scripture and see it as all about itself and perhaps the things it must do, but the humbled soul sees the glory of God in Scripture and of what He must do.

“For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.13 For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col 1:9-13).

This passage of Scripture sets out some basic truths that are both God-centered and require humility. In verse 9 Paul starts off telling the people that he is praying for them and what he is praying for. He is praying that the people will be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. While one may think that a cursory reading of Scripture is enough to find out the will of God, that is not what Paul says here. Paul labors in unceasing prayer that the people would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. But, as he goes on to say at the very least by implication, it is not just any will of God that he prays for. He prays for the knowledge of the will of God that comes in spiritual wisdom and understanding. Where does spiritual wisdom and understanding come from? Is it what a professor has in a scholarly study of the Bible?

What does Scripture teach us on this issue?

“For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.” 20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (I Cor 1:18-20).

From the text above we see a wisdom of the world and a wisdom of God. The wisdom of God has made the world’s wisdom utter foolishness. The cross itself is foolishness to the world, but to those who have the wisdom of God they see the very power, glory, and wisdom of God at the cross. The same thing is true of Scripture as a whole. The Gospel itself is hidden to those who are perishing (II Cor 4:3). We have the hidden wisdom of God (I Cor 2:7) which those of this world do not understand. Is it because believers are smarter or wiser? No, it is because God shows the humble Himself and His ways. The very glory of the only God who is a God-centered God shines when people are humbled from seeing their own glory and are then enabled by His grace to see their own pride and His glory. It is a spiritual wisdom since it comes from the Spirit.

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Humility, Part 61

February 14, 2010

Humility also has to do with the Divine life in the soul. It has to do with Christ Himself dwelling in the soul and living His life in the soul. The soul is born dead in trespasses and sin and by nature is a child of wrath. That life that it lives is the life of self and pride. But the Divine life, Jesus Christ Himself, humbled Himself to take human flesh and be born as a man. The Divine life while clothed in human flesh humbled Himself to perfect obedience to the Father and went to the cross to suffer and die. This Divine life is seen in the glory of humility and in that humility He overcame pride and self. Salvation occurs in a human soul when that soul is released from the bondage of the self and pride and the Divine life which includes humility then lives in that soul. This is the same Lord Jesus Christ who humbled Himself to come to earth, walked in perfect humility on earth, then humbled Himself to death and was then resurrected. Since it is the same Lord Jesus Christ we can expect and know that the life He lives in His people will constantly be moving them toward humility.

In his magnificent book on humility, though not perfect, Andrew Murray gives us a view of humility not often presented. In the preface he makes the point that there is the humility of the creature, the humility of the sinner, and then the humility of the saint. This is a very important distinction to make. The humility of the creature tells us about the humility we should have simply as creatures. There is no need to bring sin in at all points to instruct us about humility as Jesus Christ Himself was the most humble of all time and He never sinned. Simply as creatures bowing before their Maker human beings should be emptied of self and set apart for His purposes of displaying His glory. The humility of the sinner points to how humble sinners should be since not only have they been created but they have sinned against their Creator and have no way of satisfying justice for the demands against them on account of their cosmic criminality. The humility of the saint is in some ways a combination of the previous two with an added dimension, however. The saint is both a created person and a sinner. But the saint is one that has the Divine life dwelling in him or her. The humility that dwells in the saint is in many ways one with the life that dwells in the saint because that humble life is Christ Himself. This is the life of grace in the soul.

To truly understand humility we must understand to some degree all three of these aspects of humility. The creature can never bring the Creator into its debt and can never force or deceive the Creator to do anything. The creature is always at the mere mercy of the Creator for its life, breath, and all things. Yet the creature could never have the power to please the Creator in its own strength. The creature would always have been utterly dependent on the Creator for any ability to please God since God is never pleased with anything or anyone apart from His own glory shining in it. That is not in the hands of the creature to do. The sinful creature has sinned against the Creator and is at enmity toward Him. It must have its heart of enmity turned to love or it will perish. It must have its infinite debt that it owes because of its sin taken away. If that sin is not removed, the creature will never have the indwelling of Divine life that will enable it to please God. The humility of the saint is that it has been shown how utterly dependent it is on God. The saint is a creature and the pride of the creature has been broken so it sees to some degree just how dependent it is as a creature on God. The saint also sees the depths of its sin and so sees how utterly dependent on God it is to take away its sin and have the Divine life dwelling in it. The saint lives each moment by grace and would not have it any other way. But the saint must constantly fight pride and self and die to pride and self so that faith may live in it which receives grace. Thus it should be seen how these three aspects of humility are important for the believer to walk in true humility. Each of these three aspects also reflects on the other two aspects so that a believer can see what utter dependence s/he has on grace.

Humility is far a far deeper topic and far more important to the spiritual life than is thought in the modern day. It is far more important than church growth topics and of all the things that take up air and cyber space today. Without humility no one will be saved. Without humility no one will have the life of Christ in them. Without an increasing humility there will be no spiritual growth. Without humility there is no true understanding of Scripture. Without humility there is no prayer. Without humility there is no spiritual sight, no spiritual hearing, and no spiritual feeling or taste. Without humility there is no spiritual fruit. Without humility there is no repentance and turning from sin for the unbeliever or believer. Without humility there is no communion with God. Humility is inextricably tied to the Divine life in the soul since the life of the soul is Christ and He lived and lives a humble life. Oh that believers would grow in their understanding of humility so that the life of Christ would shine through them and the glory of the Father would be seen shining in the face of Christ as He dwells in His people.

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