Humility, Part 48

January 10, 2010

Perhaps it cannot be emphasized too much that there must be a mortification of pride in a soul or it will not be saved and it is not saved. Humility is not just a good idea and not just something that is added on so we can think we are more like Christ, but an important aspect of this is the mortification of pride. The unbelieving soul that comes before God on judgment day will have no excuse for its sin and its mouth will be shut. The unbelieving soul on judgment day will confess its guilt and it will cry out for mercy, but none will be shown to it. The devil himself hates God and knows that he is a wicked and vile being, but he is full of self and pride. Let us not imagine the soul that is full of pride even if it is religious pride has been converted by God.

The following quote is taken from The Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards. The total quote being used can be seen in the BLOG Humility 36.

“Legal humiliation has in it no spiritual good, nothing of the nature of true virtue; whereas evangelical humiliation is that wherein the excellent beauty of a Christian grace does very much consist. Legal humiliation is useful, as a means in order to evangelical; as a common knowledge of the things of religion is a means requisite in order to spiritual knowledge. Men may be legally humbled and have no humility; as the wicked at the day of judgment will be thoroughly convinced that they have no righteousness, but are altogether sinful, exceeding guilty, and justly exposed to eternal damnation-and be fully sensible of their own helplessness-without the least mortification of the pride of their Hearts. But the essence of evangelical humiliation consists in such humility as becomes a creature in itself exceeding sinful, under a dispensation of grace; consisting in a mean esteem of himself, as in himself nothing, and altogether contemptible and odious; attended with a mortification of a disposition to exalt himself, and a free renunciation of his own glory…This is a great and most essential thing in true religion. The whole frame of the gospel, every thing appertaining in the new covenant, and all God’s dispensations towards fallen man, are calculated to bring to pass this effect. They that are destitute of this, have no true religion, whatever profession they may make, and high soever their religious affections may be.”

The soul that loves self and hates God is a soul that has exalted itself in its own mind and desires the honor and adulation of others. This self-centered soul that desires all to be done for it and does all for self is the temple of the devil in the world. So when a self-centered soul that is by definition proud sees that its sin will bring dishonor to self, it will become religious to some degree and perhaps to a great degree. When an unbelieving soul that is full of pride sees that it will go to hell and be put to shame and torment forever, it will desire to become religious thinking that it will receive glory in heaven and not shame. While there is glory in heaven, it is all God’s but the proud soul does not see it that way. The proud soul loves itself and so does not have a hard time believing that God loves it and so it loves God in the sense that it loves those who love it (Luke 6:32). A proud sinner will love God as long as s/he thinks that God loves him or her. But of course that is not true love since the heart has never been changed and God is not loved on the basis of who He is but instead for who the sinner is.

The proud soul that does all for self will become religious and do all for self as well. The proud soul will go to church because it is in the interests of its pride to do so, though indeed it uses other words. The proud soul will study the Bible for the sake of self and all of its prayers are for the sake of self as well. So the proud soul studies the Bible and prays for self and yet it uses the name of God to do so. The proud soul studies theology and becomes quite knowledgeable and so others feed its pride by their comments. The proud soul loves orthodoxy because it now fits in with the elite crowd, but it is still all about self. The proud soul can be a very busy person with church buildings and doing various ministries, but it only does so because of the interests and honor of self rather than the love of God. The proud soul can preach for self in a great orthodoxy as well, though it is proud of doing so.

It is obvious that there must be a mortification of pride or a person is not a converted soul. Until the soul is truly humbled (emptied of the pride of self) it will not have true Christianity at all. A proud soul will utter the words of a prayer but will not have Christ in the soul. A proud soul will make a decision for Christ in some sense but is not humbled to receive Christ Himself in the soul. A proud soul may be very moral but has not been humbled to have the life of Christ in the soul. Until the pride of the soul has been mortified, the soul is still full of self, pride, and the devil. That is not inconsistent with religion, but it is with Christianity and the life of Christ in the soul.

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Conversion, Part 49 – The Conversion of Cornelius, Part 1

January 10, 2010

The conversion of Cornelius is another mark in the pace of the progress of the Gospel into the world and taking it out beyond Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and then to the world. It was shocking for the Jews of that time to think that God would give the Holy Spirit to Gentiles, and yet He did it in undeniable ways. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). In previous studies we have seen how God took a man who was a very religious Jew in Saul and converted him (Acts 9). The man who hated Christians and persecuted them became a Christian and suffered persecution more than them all. He was a thoroughly changed and converted man. But now, in the very next chapter of Acts, we find a very religious Gentile that also needed conversion. He was a good man and did many good deeds, but his heart needed to be converted.

In the modern day the salvation of a Gentile does not astonish us very much at all, especially in America where we have it drilled into us that all men are created equal. But in the biblical days it was not that way. It is said that there was a prayer of Jewish men who prayed each morning something that went like this: “I thank you Lord that I was not born a dog, a woman, or a Gentile.” The fallen human heart will take certain aspects of Scripture and twist them to fit its own desires to be as God. The things that God set out as distinctions to point to the Gospel and the coming Messiah were taken by some and made as ways to foster and continue pride. It is only if we can grasp something of how Gentiles were viewed can we begin to understand the lengths (so to speak) that God went to in order to bring Cornelius to Himself by getting Peter there to preach the Gospel.

An important point in this account of the conversion of Cornelius is that God also taught Peter, other apostles, and many others that He saves Gentiles. This is also very important for people to hear today. We tend to stay in holy huddles and flee from unbelievers as much as possible, which is the same attitude the Jews had toward Gentiles. But the glory of the Gospel was not limited to those that were converted, but shone out to those already converted and those who are not. The Gospel shines brightly with the glory of God and is to be proclaimed to all who will hear. It is not that anyone deserves to hear the Gospel, but that God deserves for people to hear of His glory. God created all things as ways to manifest His glory and the Gospel declares and manifests His glory more brightly than anything else. In the conversion account of Cornelius we have God taking Peter by the hand (so to speak) and showing him that His Gospel went to the Gentiles as well. The lesson for us today is that God saves sinners and not just those that live in holy huddles. A Jewish person thought that touching a Gentile made them unclean, and that is how some believers tend to view unbelievers today. God taught Peter and is teaching us as well.

The text of Scripture moves from the trials of the newly converted Saul who was sent to Caesarea and then to Tarsus (Acts 9:30) to tell us that “the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase (Acts 9:31). Luke, being the historian that he was, wants us to see how Peter arrived in Joppa. He went there to raise a woman from the dead when two disciples visited him and implored him to come visit them. This act “became known all over Joppa, and many believed in the Lord” (Acts 9:42). Then the text takes us to Acts 10 where we are introduced to Cornelius:

“Now there was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, 2 a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had just come in and said to him, “Cornelius!” 4 And fixing his gaze on him and being much alarmed, he said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God” (Acts 10:1-4).

What impresses a person first is that Scripture takes the time to tell us that Cornelius was a devout man and then some of his works. He was a man who had some fear of God and this had spread to his household. He was a Gentile but he understood that the Jews were the people of God and so gave alms to them, but he was also a man given to prayer since he prayed to God continually. The angel that came to him in a vision told him that his prayers and alms had “ascended as a memorial before God.” There is much to learn here if we have ears to hear and are willing to hear. We have been taught against good works and the fact that good works cannot save that we flee from telling unbelievers some important points. Cornelius stands as an example of some things that we can and should tell unbelievers. Unbelievers are also under the hand of God and they should fear Him because He is worthy of fear. Unbelievers should engage in good works and do good things because that is better than doing bad or evil things. It is not that good works that are inherently bad, but it is the heart that is bad and trusts in them.

The reason to think that Cornelius was an unconverted man was that God sent an angel to him to tell him to send to Joppa for Peter. When Peter arrived, he preached the Gospel to this man and all who were there. Though Cornelius was a good man, a devout man, and devoted to good works he was a sinner that needed to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ in order to be converted. Though he was devoted to prayer, yet he needed to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Though he gave money to the physical people of God (Jews), he still needed to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Pharisees were also those who were devout, devoted to good works, feared God in some way, gave alms, and were devoted to prayer. Yet they received the most severe words from Jesus. A man can be devoted to all of these things and not be a converted person. Cornelius was an unconverted man despite his exemplary life.

Cornelius believed in God, but so do the devils and they tremble. Many people in the world today believe in God in some way and yet they do not tremble. The devil believes that all the statements of the Bible are true and that God is worthy to be loved, yet he is not converted. The devil deceives people by having them trust in their good works and so he motivates people to good works in order to deceive them. The fact that the devil is behind good works does not mean that he is converted or that the people doing them are converted, yet so many within the professing Church today are deceived by good works. The devil is quite active in the world today though his work is quite hidden. He deceives some away from good works because they do not save, and yet he deceives many by their doing good works and so thinking that those make them acceptable to God. Cornelius appeared to be a man devoted to good works and yet he did not trust in them for salvation.

We learn from Cornelius that it is right for all people to fear God and do what is externally good. The difference between a converted person and an unconverted person is not morality and good works; it is being a new creature in Christ. Believers and unbelievers alike should do good works in the sense that they should live before God as one who knows that s/he will stand before God and be judged by the deeds done in the body. The unbeliever is treasuring up wrath for the day of wrath (Rom 2:4), yet a life devoted to good works is far better than one that is devoted to bad deeds. The external deeds are things that all should do simply because of who God is. While we teach unbelievers that their prayers are an abomination to God apart from Christ, yet if they are praying in a way of seeking God that is still far better than to live without prayer and a total rejection of His commands over them.

We also see that while the works and prayers of Cornelius did not save him nor gain merit, the text is quite clear that God recognized what he was doing. While people sneer at any sign of preparing a heart for salvation today, this text teaches us that perhaps we need to think through these issues again. Sin hardens the heart and takes a person farther from God, while good works have no merit when they are done in the process of seeking God and not trusting in them yet they do not harden the heart as open sin does. It was far better for Cornelius to be engaged in his good works and in prayer while seeking the Lord than it was for him to be given over to sin and seeking the world. It was to this man that was seeking God in good works and prayer that God sent Peter to preach the Gospel to him. It is the fear of God that keeps people from gross and outward sin (Ex 20:20) and is far better than a hardened heart that does not fear God and goes on in sin. Cornelius had the fear of God about him and he was devoted to prayers and good works as a way of seeking God and not to earn something from Him. In his seeking God saved him by grace alone, yet not because his seeking earned anything. He was saved by grace alone.

This is a forgotten message today and yet it is in Acts 10 and it was the message of the Puritans as well. All human beings should be taught to forsake sin and to seek God. All human beings should be taught to fear God, to pray in some way, and then to be given to good deeds. They are to be taught that these things have no merit but that they should do them as creatures living before their Creator. They are to be taught that these things are far better than living in open sin which hardens their hearts and treasures even more wrath up against them. These are things that may enable a person to seek God with less of a hardened heart. After all, they ascended to God and He did send Peter to preach to Cornelius and then sent the Spirit into his heart. This thought is also in line with the sermon of Paul in Acts 17:

“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children'” (vv. 24-28).

Paul taught people to seek God and Cornelius tells us one way to do it. Despite all of his good works in seeking God he did not trust in them but needed to hear the Gospel. In one very real sense he was seeking God, while in another he was not seeking God in accordance with the truth and love (Rom 3:10). In one sense he was doing good works and yet in the fullest of senses no one does good (Rom 3:11). In one sense he feared God while in the fullest sense no unbeliever truly fears God (Rom 3:18). We must learn the fine line between these “senses” and teach men to seek the Lord while knowing that in the fullest sense they cannot (Rom 8:6-9).

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Provocation to Prayer, Part 22

January 8, 2010

The following excerpts are taken from AN ANTHOLOGY OF EARLY BAPTISTS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. It was originally published in 1836 and republished in 2001 by Particular Baptist Press.

A number of young people were now under concern for their salvation. Mr. John Peckins came and preached a powerful sermon; after which, while I was exhorting the people, there was much weeping and sobbing through the assembly, which increased till at length many broke out into a loud cry, which continued for an hour or more. We had something similar at a meeting the next day, but we had to lament over the most of those who made the greatest outcry; for they soon returned to their former courses, but others brought forth fruit.

I felt my heart very much drawn out in prayer for the dear youth. And I was often melted into tenderness while urging upon them the love of our dying Saviour. Not was I satisfied with praying for them in public, but I agonized in secret. There was a delightful water-fall in a pleasant grove, at a little distance from my dwelling, where I spent many precious seasons in prostrating myself before the Lord, mingling my feeble voice with the sound of many waters, in humble supplication for the blessing of God to descend upon the souls of the people to whom I preached the word. But sin was mixed with all I did. I often though that it was presumption to look for a divine blessing to attend the labours of one so weak and unworthy as I was; and yet, if any were brought to rejoice in hope under my preaching, this wretched heart would be seeking self-praise. But the Lord wrought wonders; and by the month of May, a considerable number were made to rejoice in hope, and were ready to offer themselves as candidates for baptism.

The attention of the people increased through the winter, and our prospects were more encouraging… I had strength to preach frequently in different parts of Newbury and Newburyport; and the Holy Spirit attended the word to the conviction of some of the young people…The members of the church were blessed with a spirit of prayer, and our prayer meetings became frequent, and were interesting. I held an inquiring meeting at my house on Monday evenings. In May and June, we had several candidates for baptism and membership, who were received…Thus the good work progressed, so that in about one year, the church had doubled in number.

There are several important points to notice in these excerpts. These all happened in local churches. God has set up the local church and that is His primary means of working through. It was preaching in the local churches and it was prayer in the local churches that God used. Not all of the meetings necessarily took place in a church building as such, but the meetings consisted of the people of God meeting for specific purposes. The minister in the second excerpt spent much time in private prayer for the people of his congregation that the blessing of God would descend on their souls. While he may have prayed for their physical and financial health, what is mentioned here is the blessing of God on their souls. In the modern day prayer meetings focus on health and wealth issues. If we are looking for true revival, we need to be praying for spiritual issues. God has given the vast amount of worldly riches to those His wrath is upon. What we must learn to seek is the blessings of God on souls. That is how Jesus prayed and that is how Paul prayed. They prayed for the work of God in the souls of men as that is true love.

The attention of the people in hearing the word increased and a spirit of prayer was given. God does not move just because churches offer words we call prayer, but only when there is true prayer. True prayer will not occur until He gives us a spirit of prayer, and we have to seek that as well. But when He begins to move in giving these things, the churches are strengthened and grow. Revival is biblical church growth and it is to be sought by prayer at all times and not just when it is convenient and we think we need something. A minister that feels the weight of the work of Satan in his soul with pride and desires for self-praise will be a minister that prays for his own heart and the hearts of others. Our prayers must be for souls and spiritual things because that is where the battle really is.

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Humility, Part 47

January 6, 2010

In the last BLOG we started looking at the importance of knowing at least some of the distinction between legal and evangelical humiliation in terms of evangelism. It is dangerous just to get a person to agree that s/he is a sinner and to do something on that basis. Being aware of the fact that one is a sinner is far from even being legally humbled for sin, but being legally humbled for sin is far from the evangelical humiliation that is necessary for salvation. Legal humiliation in some degree can be nothing more than the work of self, but evangelical humiliation can be nothing but the work of God in the soul by grace. So it is utterly vital that we become physician assistants to the soul while the Great Physician does His work in converting them. It leads to eternal destruction when the patient or the physician assistant takes the scalpel from the hands of the Great Physician to do the work in His place. That is precisely what we do when we stop short of evangelical humiliation.

The following quote is taken from The Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards. The total quote being used can be seen in the BLOG Humility 36.

“Legal humiliation has in it no spiritual good, nothing of the nature of true virtue; whereas evangelical humiliation is that wherein the excellent beauty of a Christian grace does very much consist. Legal humiliation is useful, as a means in order to evangelical; as a common knowledge of the things of religion is a means requisite in order to spiritual knowledge. Men may be legally humbled and have no humility; as the wicked at the day of judgment will be thoroughly convinced that they have no righteousness, but are altogether sinful, exceeding guilty, and justly exposed to eternal damnation-and be fully sensible of their own helplessness-without the least mortification of the pride of their Hearts. But the essence of evangelical humiliation consists in such humility as becomes a creature in itself exceeding sinful, under a dispensation of grace; consisting in a mean esteem of himself, as in himself nothing, and altogether contemptible and odious; attended with a mortification of a disposition to exalt himself, and a free renunciation of his own glory…This is a great and most essential thing in true religion. The whole frame of the gospel, every thing appertaining in the new covenant, and all God’s dispensations towards fallen man, are calculated to bring to pass this effect. They that are destitute of this, have no true religion, whatever profession they may make, and high soever their religious affections may be.”

It should chill us to the depths of our souls to realize the depths of the knowledge of sin that the unbelieving soul will have on the day of judgment and yet not be converted. It does not take knowledge of sin alone to be saved, and it does not take a moral change alone to be saved. It takes a mortification of the pride of the heart which is the essence and heart of sin. If the pride of the heart is not mortified, then the person turns from the sins of self in open sin to the sins of self in religion. The same self that flowed out in pride in the acts of outward sin will be the same self that flows out in the acts of religion. Unless that proud heart is mortified, pride remains alive and in control of the heart. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. So the proud live in their pride whether religious or not and the proud will die with non-mortified sin in their heart whether religious or not. Unless pride is killed in the heart by grace it is the life of the soul that will be sent to hell for eternity. God hates pride and He will not bring it to heaven to dwell with Him for eternity. For the person with pride in the heart that person must know that his or her pride must be mortified by grace so when the body dies the soul with grace will live with God forever. God saves souls to the glory of His grace and pride is the exact opposite of that. Apart from evangelical humiliation the soul is full of pride and self and will remain that way under the wrath of God for eternity. On judgment day the soul will realize that it will suffer for eternity, but also that it is just for it to do so.

Oh how we need to wake up in our day to see the awful stench that pride is in the nostrils of God. It is not that He will smile dotingly on us as some parents and grandparents do when they see sin in younger folks, but He sees the deadly poison of pride in the hearts and He hates it. He will not allow a proud heart into heaven as that pride is nothing less than the poison of the devil. If He allowed pride into heaven then He might as well allow the devil in and then heaven would no longer be heaven. Oh no, the Lord Jesus who was perfectly humble must be the life in the souls of all who would enter into the presence of God that the Lord may look upon them and see His own glory shining in Christ who is the life of His people. One ounce of pride would destroy that. So we must see the utter necessity of an evangelical humiliation in our own souls and the souls of others. It is not an option despite what the unmortified pride in our hearts and the hearts of others will say. Salvation is to be saved from self and its pride.

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Humility, Part 46

January 4, 2010

In the last BLOG on humility we looked at the fact that legal humiliation has no spiritual good in it and yet it is necessary to make room for evangelical humiliation. In other words, a soul can go far in this way and yet be deceived to stay in that thinking that it is true salvation. Yet as long as the soul does not have evangelical humiliation, it is without saving grace and the life of Christ in the soul. It has merely been brought down closer to a state of reality from its great heights of pride that it lived in previously. The one with mere legal humiliation has indeed been broken from much of the self that it has trusted in for morality and salvation previously, but the beauty of God Himself who only dwells in souls by grace alone is not in that soul.

The following quote is taken from The Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards. The total quote being used can be seen in the BLOG Humility 36.

“Legal humiliation has in it no spiritual good, nothing of the nature of true virtue; whereas evangelical humiliation is that wherein the excellent beauty of a Christian grace does very much consist. Legal humiliation is useful, as a means in order to evangelical; as a common knowledge of the things of religion is a means requisite in order to spiritual knowledge. Men may be legally humbled and have no humility; as the wicked at the day of judgment will be thoroughly convinced that they have no righteousness, but are altogether sinful, exceeding guilty, and justly exposed to eternal damnation-and be fully sensible of their own helplessness-without the least mortification of the pride of their Hearts. But the essence of evangelical humiliation consists in such humility as becomes a creature in itself exceeding sinful, under a dispensation of grace; consisting in a mean esteem of himself, as in himself nothing, and altogether contemptible and odious; attended with a mortification of a disposition to exalt himself, and a free renunciation of his own glory…This is a great and most essential thing in true religion. The whole frame of the gospel, every thing appertaining in the new covenant, and all God’s dispensations towards fallen man, are calculated to bring to pass this effect. They that are destitute of this, have no true religion, whatever profession they may make, and high soever their religious affections may be.”

Men may be legally humbled and yet have no true humility. Words can deceive us and so we must be careful. As there is a common knowledge of religious things, so there is a spiritual knowledge of religious things. So legal humiliation of the soul is something that can happen to natural men and yet those men still not have true humility that goes along with saving grace. As Edwards points out here, on judgment day there will be many people who will be thoroughly convinced of their sin and of their lack of righteousness. When standing before God and they will see the depths of their own sinfulness and know that they are justly exposed to eternal damnation and know for sure that they are utterly helpless before God. Yet despite all of that the pride in their hearts will remain virtually untouched in terms of the pride being mortified or killed. Pride must die in us or we will perish.

This points us to great danger in the methods of evangelism in our day. If we even realize that a person must be broken from pride in some way and not get the person to just realize that s/he has sinned, we may stop with a form of legal humiliation and try to get the person to pray a prayer or to make some act of commitment. We will evangelize people much differently if we realize that they have to be truly broken from their pride in order to have the life of grace in their souls. We cannot just stop with a person realizing that s/he is a sinner, and we cannot just stop with a person coming to a realization that s/he has no hope in self. We must know that a person is not converted until the person has been changed by grace and loves to exalt free grace rather than self. A person is not converted until that person has what Edwards describes above as parts of evangelical grace. A person can have much of natural religion and be very religious, a preacher, and a Pharisee and not be converted. Jesus taught us that unless a man is turned and receives the kingdom as a little child that person will not enter the kingdom (Mat 18:1-4). Those verses mean something and they have a very important meaning that we will do well not to ignore as so many have done for so long. Edwards is giving us at least part of that meaning in setting out evangelical humiliation. Unless a soul is broken from the self and not just understand that self is helpless to save self, it will not receive the kingdom of God as the kingdom of God. The soul that is in bondage to the kingdom of the devil which consists in self-love, self-sufficiency, and self-centeredness will have a Christ to save it from hell but not from self which is its great idol and love. The soul that is legally humbled is still in the bondage of self-love. The soul that has evangelical humiliation is free in the bonds of love to God. The difference is eternal.

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Conversion, Part 48 – The Conversion of Paul, Part 3

January 3, 2010

In dealing with the conversion of Paul, even though very briefly, we should be amazed at the brilliance of the beauty of God in saving Paul. The Scriptures do not give a lot of space to his conversion itself, but in terms of how it fits with the rest of Scripture we have enough to fill out hearts with awe and praise. The chief issue concerning all of life and for all eternity is the manifested glory of God. The very holiness of God has to do with His glory. He is bound to do all for the glory of His own name in all He does. The Gospel itself is the display of His glory. II Corinthians 4:4 speaks “of the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Then in verse 6, in the same context, the text speaks of “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” The Gospel is not about how wonderful and valuable human beings are to God; it speaks of the glory of God. We also have I Timothy 1:11, according to a more literal translation, saying “according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God.” Jesus Christ Himself is the shining forth of the glory of God (Heb 1:1-3) and the glory that shone forth in Him as the tabernacle of that glory was the glory of grace and truth (John 1:14-18).

When the light shone around Saul (later Paul) in Acts 9 this was nothing else but the glory of God shining. It took more than a mere suggestion to take this man who was breathing forth threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord (Acts 9:1) to go forth and begin writing in such a way that he would break out in praise in the middle of a sentence or paragraph. This man was such a converted man and a changed man that he was now willing to suffer and die so that Christ would be exalted in his body. He was stoned, given the lash, and suffered all kinds of persecution and yet he suffered it willingly. He did not do these things because of an intellectual idea that he had been exposed to, but because he saw the glory of the Lord. He did not go forth and shake the world because of a philosophical system, but because he was the temple of the Lord and he was filled with the Spirit.

Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.” 13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; 14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; 16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” 17 So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized. (Acts 9:10-18).

Saul was in Damascus for at least three days because the text tells us that he went without food or drink for three days (Acts 9:9). What would a man do for three days after the glory of the Lord had shone around him and in him? We know that “immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God”” (Acts 9:17). Saul, the man who hated Christ and persecuted and murdered believers in Christ, had a revelation of Christ on the road to Damascus. He who was on his way to Damascus to persecute and perhaps murder believers in Christ within just a few days later began to preach this Jesus Christ as the Son of God in Damascus. He was so effective in preaching Christ in Damascus that the Jews plotted to kill him (Acts 9:23) and he had to escape the town by night being lowered in a basket through and opening in the wall. When the persecution was turned up on him within a very short time of his conversion, he did not cave in and turn back. Instead he went to Jerusalem where he spoke out boldly and in the name of the Lord. The Jews once again attempted to kill him (Acts 9:28-29).

Paul was not just a man who prayed a prayer and made a commitment, he was a man who was completely converted and totally changed. He was now a man who was a temple of the living God and the temple of the Holy Spirit. He was a man who was no longer his own and he followed Christ as His Lord and King. Paul was no longer the selfish and proud Pharisee, he was now a humble man who followed Christ. He was now a man who was willing to live and die for His Lord. By grace alone God took this man and turned him from his sin to Christ. By grace alone God took this man and gave him a new heart. By grace alone God washed this man’s sins away and filled Him with the Spirit of love. Paul was now constrained and compelled by the love of God in Him and all he did now was done from the strength of grace. No longer did this old Pharisee pray for the honor given him by other men, but now he prayed for the glory of God in others. No longer did this old Pharisee seek honor from others in his religious deeds, but now whether he ate, drank, or whatever he did he did to the glory of God. This man was a new creature in Christ on the inside and was indeed a new man. Therefore, his name was changed from Saul to Paul and he was now a chosen vessel to take the Gospel of the glory of God to the Gentiles.

When Ananias we told by the Lord to go to Saul and lay hands on him and be used so Saul would regain his sight, Ananias was hesitant. This is very understandable considering what Saul had been doing. But the Lord told him to go because Saul was a chosen instrument of His and that Saul would bear His name “before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel” (Acts 9:15). While it is of interest to focus on Ananias and his willingness seen in obedience to lay down his life in his view to go to Saul, we can simply note that he went because he was told to by the Lord. We don’t have to understand completely and we don’t have to have all the troublesome circumstances removed, but we are to simply obey the Lord in trust. What we do want to do, however, is to focus on the logic of God. Saul, as he was at that time before he was renamed Paul, was not aware of the plans of God for him. He was on his way to Damascus to persecute Christians and now he had met the Lord. He did not seek the Lord, but instead he was sought. He did not know what was going on, but Ananias was told that Saul was a chosen instrument of God. Before Saul knew anything about what he was called to do God had already chosen him to do it. Saul did not choose to do this, but he was chosen to do so.

What follows is the logic of God in how He makes men and women of God. Look at this vital text: “But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; 16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:15-16). Ananias did not want to go, but he was told to for Saul was a chosen instrument of God to bear the name of God to many people. What a blessed position to be an apostle bearing the name of God like that! But the text goes on to show how Saul was going to be prepared for his job and how he was going to be brought before many of these people. Verse 16 starts off with the word “for.” It is linking verse 15 with verse 16 and shows that verse 16 is how Saul is going to bear the name of God before these people. He was to be a chosen instrument of God to suffer in order to bear the name of God before these people. In order for Saul to carry out what he was called to do in verse 15 he was going to have to suffer according to verse 16. Suffering was the means he was given to carry out his call.

In Saul who was to become Paul in Acts 13 we find an amazing story of conversion. God took a Pharisee who was intent on destroying the Church through suffering and persecution and made him a man who through his own suffering was used of God to establish His Church throughout the known world. In His beautiful sovereignty God had this great persecutor of the Church hear the Gospel by a man that Saul was having put to death. In his faithfulness in death Stephen preached the Gospel to Saul who was then converted by God and whose own suffering was used to proclaim the Gospel to the known world. It was God who took this man and changed him by grace. This man who threw so many in jail was now forced to spend a lot of time in jail, but he also wrote a lot of the New Testament while in jail. This man who had others beaten for preaching the Gospel now endured beatings to preach the Gospel. Saul heard the Gospel through a man who was beaten and stoned, so he now knew the value of preaching the Gospel while suffering. He now understood that he had a priceless treasure in his body of clay and that it was the glory of God in the Gospel of Christ that was important.

The lessons from this are numerous. We can certainly see that God used suffering in the life of Saul/Paul to both temper and train him and also to display His glory through. The Gospel is the Gospel of the glory of God in the face of Christ, yet it is this Gospel that was lived through and preached about in Paul. As Jesus learned obedience through suffering, so Saul/Paul learned obedience through suffering as well. As the glory of God shone forth through Christ on the cross as the Son of God suffered the wrath of the Father, so the glory of God shone forth as Paul suffered for the Gospel. Paul stated that he wanted to share in the fellowship of His sufferings (Phil 3:10), and the Lord granted that to him. As Jesus agonized in prayer in the Garden before He bowed in submission to the Father and yet for the joy set before Him He endured the cross, so Paul counted all things but rubbish to in order to gain Christ (Phil 3:8) and rejoiced in all things. The suffering he endured showed the extent of his conversion.

The glory of God shone through Christ as He suffered on the cross and the glory of God in Christ shone through Paul because it was Christ who was the life of Paul. Paul said that he had been crucified with Christ and that he no longer lived, but instead it was Christ who lived in him (Gal 2:20). In this we understand, then, how the glory of God works in the conversion of sinners. He changes sinners from living for self to where they die to self and it is Christ who lives in them. His glory is such that they behold that glory and are changed into that glory from one degree to another (II Cor 3:18). As sinners are changed more and more by beholding His glory, they become more and more like Him. As they suffer in their flesh it is His glory that shines through them more and more. Paul suffered so that the glory of God would shine through his crucified self. The same is true of us. Until self is crucified the glory of God will not shine through us no matter how much personality we have and no matter how well we speak and no matter how much we know. If we wish to see the glory of God shine through the Gospel, we must be willing to suffer so that the glory of God would shine through us. His glory will not shine through men who do church and preach for the honor of self. But instead we are to look to Saul and understand that God really converts sinners so that His glory would shine through them. That is, after all, the reason God converts sinners in the first place. If that is the reason for conversion, then it helps us to understand what must happen in conversion. Paul was truly a converted man since he was willing to suffer so much for the name of God and not self. In conversion he died to self and Christ was truly the life in him. The kingdom was in him and it must be in us too.

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Humility, Part 45

January 2, 2010

As we continue to look at the vital importance between legal humiliation and evangelical humiliation, we should take note that we are looking at the difference between the ugliness of the devil shining in the soul with the beauty of Christ shining in the soul. The devil is the original self (self-centered opposed to God-centered) in the universe which was the poison that he injected into the human race when he deceived Adam and Eve. Jesus Christ, on the other hand, shines forth with the beauty of non-self or humility. The devil loves religion when it serves his hideous purposes of self. We see the contrast with Jesus who loved God even when the Father poured out His wrath on Jesus while He was on the cross suffering for the sins of others. While the devil desired to be like God, Jesus who was eternally and fully God humbled Himself to take human flesh. Then while in that human flesh He humbled Himself to go to the cross. The difference between the devil and Jesus are quite clear. They are also quite clear when looked at in their children. The children of the devil do all out of a love for self and that includes religious and moral activities. The children of God do all out of love for God because self has been renounced and denied.

The following quote is taken from The Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards. The total quote being used can be seen in the BLOG Humility 36.

“Legal humiliation has in it no spiritual good, nothing of the nature of true virtue; whereas evangelical humiliation is that wherein the excellent beauty of a Christian grace does very much consist. Legal humiliation is useful, as a means in order to evangelical; as a common knowledge of the things of religion is a means requisite in order to spiritual knowledge. Men may be legally humbled and have no humility; as the wicked at the day of judgment will be thoroughly convinced that they have no righteousness, but are altogether sinful, exceeding guilty, and justly exposed to eternal damnation-and be fully sensible of their own helplessness-without the least mortification of the pride of their Hearts. But the essence of evangelical humiliation consists in such humility as becomes a creature in itself exceeding sinful, under a dispensation of grace; consisting in a mean esteem of himself, as in himself nothing, and altogether contemptible and odious; attended with a mortification of a disposition to exalt himself, and a free renunciation of his own glory…This is a great and most essential thing in true religion. The whole frame of the gospel, every thing appertaining in the new covenant, and all God’s dispensations towards fallen man, are calculated to bring to pass this effect. They that are destitute of this, have no true religion, whatever profession they may make, and high soever their religious affections may be.”

The souls that have legal humiliation still have nothing in them that is spiritually good because there is nothing in legal humiliation that is has the nature of true virtue in it. True virtue, as set out in I Corinthians 13:1-8, is Christian love which begins with a love from God and then to God. It is a love that is shown not because the other person is worthy or has merit, but because it is the love of God in the soul. So a person brought low enough to see that self cannot help self at all is not necessarily a person that has love in the soul. But the person that is a believer has evangelical humiliation and so is a soul with the beauty of the grace of God in the soul. Legal humiliation can be in a very religious person and yet with no saving grace (like the Pharisees). Yet legal humiliation is useful and even necessary. A person must be brought to despair of self and all the help that self can give (legal humiliation) in order to be driven out from self so that Christ would dwell in that soul by grace (evangelical humiliation).

As Edwards points out in his quote above, it takes a common knowledge of religion in order to have a spiritual knowledge. God uses the word of God preached to bring the light that only the Spirit of God can bring into the soul. It takes some degree of legal humiliation to bring the soul down from the height of its own self-sufficiency to even see its need of total grace. The proud soul may see its need of help, but the proud soul is blinded by its own pride and cannot see how dead and helpless it is. The proud soul must have some legal humiliation for it to begin to seek the Lord for grace. Until the natural man has legal humiliation and is broken off from his pride to see that it is grace alone that saves, that man will look to self in some way to help self. As Habakkuk 2:4 tells us, the proud man’s soul is not right within him, but the righteous man lives by faith. Pride stands in opposition to faith so the soul must be broken from its pride in order to make room for faith. Humility is not just a name for something that a person may or may not have, but instead it is something that must be there for faith and love to be in the soul. The Lord works in mysterious ways many times, but in this there is a logical causation in most cases. He works a legal humiliation in the soul in order to prepare for the grace of evangelical humiliation which is true humility.

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Provocation to Prayer, Part 21

January 1, 2010

The following quotes are from the book SCOTLAND SAW HIS GLORY which was published by International Awakening Press in 1995. The quotes are intended to show the nature of true revival, the necessity of preaching and prayer for spiritual awakening, which takes note of the sovereignty of God in sending spiritual awakening.

Once he [John Carstares] assisted at a communion in Kirkintilloch, and the evening proving very stormy, the people lingered in the church. He addressed the waiting congregation “upon believing in Christ; and there was such a mighty power came along with it that either two or three hundred dated their conversion from that discourse.” Upon another occasion about the same time, he was helping at a sacrament at Cadder. “Upon the Sabbath he was wonderfully assisted in his first prayer, and had a strange gale throu all the sermon; and there was a strange motion upon all the hearers.” When he came to serve the table, “all in the house were strangely affected, and glory seemed to fill that house.” Such incidents were not isolated.

Many serious people…were longing much to partake of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and having been at much pains in public preaching and from house to house to prepare them for it…he administered that holy ordinance at Obsdale in the house of the lady dowager of Fowlis. Two ministers assisted, for which one of them had to pay dearly. At the last sermon “there was a great many present, and the eldest Christians there declared they had not been witnesses to the like. In short, there were so many sensible and glorious discoveries made of the Son of Man, and such evident presence of the Master of assemblies this day and the preceding, that the people seemed to be in a transport, and their souls filled with heaven and breathing thither while their bodies were upon the earth; and some were almost at that, whether in the body of out of the body I cannot tell. Even some drops fell on strangers.”…Praying societies had existed since the earlier days of the century; they became exceeding precious when fiery persecution was rolling over the land. The whole time, however, was not propitious for an open movement of religious revival, but whenever the pressure of persecution was removed, the life that was in the people showed itself in the usual way.

It was amazing, he exclaims, “To see a congregation sit with looks so eager, as if they were to eat the words as they came out of the mouth of the preacher; to see the affection which they hear, that there shall be a general sound of a mourning through the whole church upon the extraordinary warmth of expression in the minister, and this not affected and designed, but casual and undissembled.”

He told me himself (and he was a man incapable of vain boasting) that for years afterwards he never preached on the Lord’s Day but some of his people on the ensuing week, at times as many as six or eight, came to him under conviction of sin, asking the way to Jesus….I remember asking him what were the truths in his preaching which seemed to have been specially blessed for producing the awakening, and I could never forget his answer….He told me that the truth which seemed above all others to impress and awaken his people was the dying love of Christ.”

These few stories should help us connect a few dots and turn our minds and hearts to see how God works. We see that praying societies existed from early on in the century and we must not dismiss that point. If we truly desire to see revival in our day we must seek the Lord individually so that He will grant us the desire to pray in groups. If the Lord moves His people to pray then we must count the cost and deny ourselves in order to seek grace at the throne of grace. Until we are a praying people we will not have preaching that will feed the souls of the people and they will then come eagerly to be fed with the words of the living God. People do not want to hear the bare words of a text, they want to hear living words from God. When people are praying, thirsting and hungering for the words of God, the Spirit of God is not far from being poured out. When the Spirit of the living God is poured out, then heaven comes down and glory fills the souls of the people. If we don’t long for that, something is wrong with our souls. If we will not seek the Lord for this, we have to wonder if we have ever tasted and seen that the Lord is good. May the Lord who alone can give revival awaken us to see the true means of revival. We need hearts to seek the Lord and not more man-centered methods drawn from man-centered hearts. He will comes in His own ways.

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Humility, Part 44

December 29, 2009

The importance of the teaching of Jonathan Edwards on the distinction between legal humiliation and evangelical humiliation cannot be overstated. This is so vital and yet seems to have been lost for quite some time. The distinction drawn here is between the religiously unconverted and those who are truly converted. The distinction he makes, then, is really the difference between eternal life and eternal death. Those with nothing more than legal humiliation will have nothing but that which they have worked in themselves and so they have not been delivered from the life of self and so have death in them. Those with a true evangelical humiliation of the soul have that which grace has worked in the soul and they have eternal life dwelling in them. Legal humiliation is the life of self being brought to see something that a natural man can see. Evangelical humiliation of the soul is what happens when Christ Himself dwells in the soul and opens it to the spiritual truths of the glory of God.

“In a legal humiliation, the conscience is convinced; as the consciences of all will be most perfectly at the day of judgment; but because there is no spiritual understanding, the will is not bowed, nor the inclination altered. In legal humiliation, men are brought to despair of helping themselves; in evangelical, they are brought voluntarily to deny and renounce themselves; in the former, they are subdued and forced to the ground; in the latter, they are brought sweetly to yield, and freely and with delight to prostrate themselves at the feet of God.”

It is important to understand that even though a person is brought to despair of helping self in legal humiliation, that is not an infallible sign of conversion. Indeed a person must be brought to despair of helping self in order to trust in grace alone, but just having a form of despair of helping self is not a sign of salvation in and of itself. The command of Jesus was to actually deny self and not just come to a point of despair of helping self. In evangelical humiliation the soul must go much deeper. It must renounce self and deny the rights of self as self-centered to exist. If self is not renounced, then Christ will be renounced in reality. If self is not denied its rights, then Christ will be denied His rights. So this is not just some small issue that bounces around the periphery of salvation, it gets to the very heart of justification by faith alone because it gets to the issue of resting in Christ alone. Until the soul despairs of any hope in itself, it will not look to Christ alone as its only hope. Until the soul despairs of self as having any merit or help, it will not rest in grace alone. But it is also true that until the soul voluntarily denies self it has not been renewed with life from above and so does not have eternal life or Christ in the soul. In legal humiliation the soul is, as it were, brought to a point and forced to see that it cannot help itself, but in evangelical humiliation the soul renounces self without force but with freeness and joy renounces self as the enemy of the soul. Self is denied with joy and even detestation because Christ is the king and life of the soul and all pretenders to His throne and kingdom in the soul must be rejected.

In legal humiliation there is no spiritual understanding and so those who are brought to despair of self don’t see the beauty of what is happening and are in a sense have this forced upon them. They do not arrive at this despair of self willingly, and in fact they hate it. Their self-centered inclinations have not been altered in the slightest and though they are forced to see that they cannot help self, they don’t like it even a little and the enmity they have against God in their hearts is still there. The will of this person has not been bowed to where this is a delight to him or her, but instead the will is still stubborn and obstinate against God. One thief on the cross was still obstinate in death even though his guilt was obvious and he was dying a just death. The other thief submitted to the truth and simply wanted to be with Jesus when He came in His kingdom. The first thief saw the truth but hated it. The second saw the truth and bowed to it.

The believing soul loves to bow with delight and prostrate itself at the feet of God. It loves to be in the dust so as to deny self and the honor to self so that His glory would shine through it. The soul that has evangelical humiliation longs to be in the dust rather than to be honored on this earth. Its desire is to delight in the glory of God as it shines through it and for others to see His glory rather than its own. This soul sees that as long as others look at it and want to honor it that others will not be looking to the glory of God. So this soul longs to be in the shadows of the limelight so that Christ would stand forth. The truly humbled soul that has denied self hates it when self gets attention because that is attention taken from Christ. The truly humbled soul has delight in being forgotten or even despised if the glory of God shines through it. That is, after all, what the concept of true humility consists of. It is the emptiness of self. It is not just pretending that self is nothing; it is the nothingness of self in the sight of God.

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Humility, Part 43

December 26, 2009

The distinction between legal humiliation and evangelical humiliation (as termed by Edwards) is vital to some form of understanding of true humility and then true conversion. He says that “this is a great and most essential thing in true religion.” He then goes on to say “they that are destitute of this, have no true religion, whatever profession they may make, and high soever their religious affections may be.” This distinction, while not talked about in our day much at all if at all, is vital to salvation and sanctification. We must return to the days when men wrestled with Scripture and the nature of their own hearts and others in order that our day would do the same thing.

The quote from below is from Jonathan Edwards’ Religious Affections and the longer quote can be read in the BLOG Humility 36.

“In a legal humiliation men are made sensible that they are nothing before the great and terrible God and, that they are undone, and wholly insufficient to help themselves; as wicked men will be at the day of judgment; but they have not an answerable frame of heart, consisting in a disposition to abase themselves, and exalt God alone. This disposition is given only in evangelical humiliation, by overcoming the heart, and changing its inclination, by a discovery of God’s holy beauty. In a legal humiliation, the conscience is convinced; as the consciences of all will be most perfectly at the day of judgment; but because there is no spiritual understanding, the will is not bowed, nor the inclination altered. In legal humiliation, men are brought to despair of helping themselves; in evangelical, they are brought voluntarily to deny and renounce themselves; in the former, they are subdued and forced to the ground; in the latter, they are brought sweetly to yield, and freely and with delight to prostrate themselves at the feet of God.”

In a legal humiliation the conscience is convinced. This tells us something that we should have known and yet have not taken into account in the most serious of ways. In many methods of evangelism we are told that we are to get sinners to admit that they are sinners. But that is not enough. The unhumbled and unbroken soul can admit that s/he is a sinner and even have the conscience feeling the weight of sin to some degree, but we must not stop there at all. As Edwards notes, and we have looked at in earlier BLOGS on this issue, all will have at least this level of stricken conscience on the day of judgment. But there is no spiritual understanding to go along with this. The conscience, then, is nothing more than what a natural man has. The natural conscience can be pricked with no true spiritual understanding and without the will being bowed to Christ. The natural conscience can be pricked without the inclination being changed and altered at all. In other words, the soul with a convinced conscience is not necessarily a soul that is under a true conviction of sin. We can be under a form of conviction and yet that be no more than a criminal that was caught in the act.

This is vital for men and women in the modern day to grasp for the sake of the souls of others as well as their own. There is a massive distinction between what the unregenerate and non-spiritual soul is capable of and that of the believing soul. The externals may appear to be the same, but inwardly there is a massive difference. But if we are only trained to think according to the externals, we will be guilty of misleading souls and perhaps deceive ourselves. In the modern day Christianity is not seen as the inner life of the soul, but instead it is caught up with morality, good actions, and for a few it is all about doctrine. But true Christianity is all about the state of the heart and of the life of the soul. Edwards forces us to think that way. Humility is of the inward man and not just of the external person as true Christianity is. God does not dwell with the proud.

This is where we see the root of the false conversions of some in Scripture and then many in our day. They were convicted of sin in an external way and yet they were not convicted in the deepest parts of their souls in a spiritual manner. Instead of those evangelizing them trying to discern what is truly going on in the soul, instead they try to get the person to pray a prayer or to do some act of the will. This leads the person with an external conviction of sin to make an external act of faith toward Christ. The person was never truly humbled and so is going on in his or her proud state and never truly come to Christ. The person is never taken into the spiritual realm in understanding, conscience, and affection and so this person’s will is not truly bowed to submit to Christ and so is still in his or her pride. This unhumbled and unbroken person’s inclination has not been altered and so that person still is inclined to self-love and self-esteem in all s/he does and this is not just lack of love to Christ, it is enmity toward Him. Until a person is broken from self-will that person is not ready to seek the will of God. Humility is utterly vital to seek God and for sanctification. Apart from it a person is left in the bondage of pride to the devil.

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