God-Centeredness & Idolatry 4

September 1, 2006

“Among the sins to which the human heart is prone, hardly any other is more hateful to God than idolatry, for idolatry is at bottom a libel on His character. The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is-in itself a monstrous sin-and substitutes for the true God one made after its own likeness. Always this God will conform to the image of the one who created it and will be base or pure, cruel or kind, according to the moral state of the mind from which it emerges.” (A.W. Tozer)

One reason that people have wrong views of God is not because they are stupid or taught badly, but because their hearts are bad and they suppress the truth about God and then turn the concept of God into something more like themselves. We can see this from false religions in the United States today and from religious from the jungles. We see men developing their ideas of God from themselves. The terrorists today have a God that gives them seventy virgins if they are killed in a terrorist act. Could it be that this “god” has been developed from hearts that want to murder and to have many women? Could it be that the very terrorism that the United States is fighting really has its roots in idolatrous hearts? Could it be that all the basic religions that are found in the jungles and from un-civilized countries are from idolatrous hearts as well? Where is the innocent native to be found? What we really find are idolatrous people who have shaped their gods to be like their own fallen hearts. That is idolatry.

It is easy to go on and blast other countries and religions. But what of the United States and of Christianity in this regard? Christianity has certainly had its share of problems in the past such as those who upheld the trafficking of slaves. Remember that the essence of idolatry, as Tozer sets it out, is to assume that God is something other than He is and then to substitute for the true God one made after the likeness of the one doing the assuming about God. Now, let us consider the possibilities. In the United States there are many picture of Jesus. In one picture of Jesus carrying a man across the sand we have a lily white and yet “hunk” as a picture of Jesus. On the other hand, there are pictures of Jesus as an African American. I have heard of Irish pictures that have Jesus with red hair. Using the pictures as an analogy, we can at least see that everyone pictures Jesus as looking like themselves. However, Jesus was Jewish and as far as His human nature was concerned He was none of the above.

Let us consider other possibilities. There are many who utterly against any alcohol altogether. There are others who have certain moral standards. There are others with certain political positions. For example, there are some more of a liberal mindset who think of Jesus as being liberal. They usually think of Jesus as a Democrat. There are others who think of Jesus as being more Republican. Each of those positions usually thinks that the other is non-Christian. What is the real problem? Both of these positions have made God out to be something like themselves. Could it be that God is neither Republican nor Democrat? The Independents would certainly agree with that. But the point is that we take positions and then mentally conform God to our position. That is a form of idolatry.

Let us go to church. How many churches worship a certain way because they like it. How many hold to a creed simply because it is new or because it is old. How many like innovations in church music or in the way things are being done? That means our worship is acceptable because I like it rather than its being acceptable to God. How many people band together in churches over specifics of how God created the world and how many people band together in churches who school their children at home. How many people are disgusted with people who have been divorced and really don’t know why the divorce happened? How many would welcome a former homosexual much less a present homosexual to eat with them? How many consider anybody who has ever had an abortion as godly? I Corinthians 6:9-11 tells us that “such were some of you.” But God says that He cleanses people and makes them new creatures. Do Christians operate with a different God than the one of the Bible? Have we changed God out to be moral just like we are? Isn’t that pretty much what the Pharisees did too? If God can forgive people like this, shouldn’t we treat them as Christians just like all forgiven sinners?

There are still others who think that all Christians must dress a certain way, drive certain vehicles and follow certain rules despite the silence of Scripture on these. One of the major reasons is that many have developed a morality and exterior niceness that they like and expect God to be like that as well. God commands us to be holy as He is holy, but He does not tell us that He will be holy as we think holy should be. Idolatry in the heart is rampant in the churches, in our homes, our politics, and in our morality. We want things as we want them and not according to God. Surely that is idolatry as well.

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Justification 17, Humiliation 1

August 31, 2006

Last week we looked at the idea that saving faith must be of the same kind (though not in strength) as the faith of a faithful and growing believer. We saw from David Brainerd “that the essence of religion consisted in the soul’s conformity to God, and acting above all selfish views, for His glory, longing to be for Him, to live to Him, and please and honor Him in all things.” A little later, Brainerd said that “in like manner, when the soul is fully resigned to, and rests satisfied and contented with, the divine will, here it is also conformed to God.” Now if true religion is seen in the person that is resigned to and contented with the divine will, then surely true saving faith must be in some way like that from the beginning. If that is correct, we must never think that saving faith is apart from turning from a trust in ourselves. This requires a humiliation of soul in which man is humbled to the point that he trusts in nothing of himself. This is required in order to trust in Christ and in Christ alone. This is not an intellectual only belief; this must come from the deepest part of man. There must be a deep humiliation of soul which is being utterly undone in regards to self.The next quote from Brainerd (as promised last week) shows that he firmly believed this. Remember, we are not departing from a discussion from justification at all. But while we are focusing on faith at the moment we are also trying to set out the nature of justification by looking at what faith really is. It is vital to understand something of the nature of faith if a person is declared just if and only if a person has true faith. We deny that a person is converted if a person is way off in his understanding of justification, but surely a person is also unconverted if he is way off with his understanding of faith that justifies. It is also true that a person must have a biblical view of faith in order to have a biblical view of justification. For example, we can imagine a person having a correct view of justification according to a creed. But we can also imagine that a person is so far off in his thinking on faith that of necessity he cannot understand justification in truth. This would be a person that believes that faith is something that he has to work up in order to be saved. He does not really see faith as a gift of God, but as something that is more like a work and he has to work it up himself. One can hold pretty close to an orthodox understanding of justification in a sense and still believe that faith is a work.

While Brainerd was in Boston close to death, he had many visitors that he discussed religion with. He was “peculiarly disposed and assisted in distinguishing between the true and false religion of the times.” His way of doing this is seen from his own words in what he said he discoursed about:

Especially, I discoursed repeatedly on the nature and necessity of that humiliation, self-emptiness, or full conviction of a person’s being utterly undone in himself, which is necessary in order to a saving faith, and the extreme difficulty of being brought to this; and the great danger there is of persons taking up with some self-righteous appearances of it. The danger of this I especially dwelt upon, being persuaded that multitudes perish in this hidden way; and because so little is said from most pulpits to discover any danger here; so that persons being never effectually brought to die in themselves are never truly united to Christ, and so perish. (1949 Moody edition of The Life and Diary of David Brainerd, p. 354)

The above statement is an indictment on our generation and our way of doing evangelism and that is an indictment on the way we treat justification by faith alone without works. A person must really and truly trust in Christ alone for justification and not in anything of himself. Yet in evangelism, which is necessarily connected with justification in reality, men are constantly told of what they must do without telling them that they must not trust in what they do in the slightest. Yet, we are told by many, that if we require people to be humbled and broken so that they will not trust in themselves, we are requiring works. Why is it that the same people who believe that faith is a gift of God think that humility and brokenness which are necessary for faith cannot be gifts of God? Doesn’t it make more sense to think that if faith is a gift of God then the brokenness and humility that precede faith are also His gifts? Pride and faith cannot go together, so if God gives faith as a gift then the humbling of the soul must also be His gift as well. Matthew 18:1-4 still stands firmly against all who would try to say that people do not need to be humbled in order to believe. That is like saying that a person can retain all of his pride and unbelief in his faith. Sorry, but Scripture says that God fights the proud but gives grace to the humble (I Peter 5:1-6). Part of God’s work in the soul to bring it to faith is His gracious work in humbling the soul of its pride that it may trust in Christ alone.

Before we deal with this quote from Brainerd, we must ask just how many people have agreed with him. The majority of Puritans believed it. It was the standard belief until the middle part of the 19th century. Jonathan Edwards was a big proponent of what Brainerd said as was Solomon Stoddard and the early preachers in New England like Thomas Hooker and Thomas Shepherd. Let us turn back to the quote from Brainerd. The first thing that we see here is that he spoke on the nature of “that humiliation, self- emptiness, or full conviction of a person’s being utterly undone in himself, which is necessary in order to a saving faith.” Surely he would have spoken of what those things are, but he also spoke of the necessity of those things as well. It is not just that those things were good and that believers were to obtain them at some point, but he said that these things were a “necessity” and that “which is necessary in order to a saving faith.” Either David Brainerd was wrong about this (as well as Jonathan Edwards and the Puritans) or modern evangelism and therefore the way of looking at justification has departed from the truth in this area.

Let us look at this yet another way. Let us imagine a man that has been evangelized and not told that he must be humbled, broken, and even convicted to the point of being utterly undone within himself. What will that man believe concerning justification? What does he believe about faith and the source of true faith? If he is not utterly undone within himself, he will believe (regardless of what he says) that it is coming from him and he will be right. He has yet to see anything in reality about the Gospel in its spiritual nature because he is still dead in sin and is an enemy of God. A self-centered person that is full of pride and a prideful person that is full of self will not believe the Gospel of the glory of God because he hates the glory of God that shines from the true Gospel. A prideful person that is told about the true Gospel will hate it. A person of necessity must be humbled in order to even see the nature of the Gospel itself. A person that is still full of pride and self cannot love God or anyone else further than his love for himself and that is not the love from God.

As we think of the person above meditating on justification, we cannot imagine that person understanding what it means to believe in Christ and Christ alone for salvation. God is the One who must raise sinners from the dead if they are going to be and give them life. God is the One who must humble the heart of proud sinners or they will never have true faith. God must break the hearts of the proud or those hearts will never trust Christ alone for justification. A proud and self-centered person will never trust Christ alone though he may adhere to the words of the doctrine. Can a person that is not totally undone within himself of himself trust in Christ alone and not himself? Surely that is nonsense. No one will ever truly trust in Christ alone for justification as long as he trusts in himself for something. Men and women will never love God as long as they are full of pride in their soul. No man will ever trust Christ alone for all things until he has been delivered from trust in himself for anything at all.

Let me be a little bold and controversial for just a moment. Are we preaching the Gospel of the glory of God in the face of Christ if we do not teach men that in order to trust in Christ alone they must be undone within themselves in order to be delivered from all trust and hope in self? Frankly, I don’t think we are. We can be as orthodox as a person can be in the doctrine of justification according to words and yet not be orthodox with our teachings that relate to justification. We must teach people that they must be humbled and broken in order to believe in Christ alone or it is likely that we are not teaching the people how to be justified by faith alone apart from works. The justification that is apart from works is apart from any work of man at all. A man that is not undone within himself through the humbling and breaking work that is done by the grace of God through the law is not believing in Christ apart from any and all of his own works.

My space is almost up, but we will continue this thought for a few more weeks. For the moment, however, I would like to focus on two parallel statements: 1. Justification by faith apart from any and all works of man. 2. A person being utterly undone in himself through humility and brokenness as necessary for true faith. As we look at these two statements, we can easily see the parallel. For a person to be truly justified that person must be justified apart from any and all works that he can do. However, until the person is delivered from his pride and self-sufficiency and is utterly undone in himself, he is not able to trust in Christ apart from any trust in himself. I believe with Brainerd that to really believe the Gospel of justification by faith alone one must be broken from the pride of self through humility and brokenness. Can it be any other way?

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God-Centeredness & Idolatry 3

August 29, 2006

“Among the sins to which the human heart is prone, hardly any other is more hateful to God than idolatry, for idolatry is at bottom a libel on His character. The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is-in itself a monstrous sin-and substitutes for the true God one made after its own likeness. Always this God will conform to the image of the one who created it and will be base or pure, cruel or kind, according to the moral state of the mind from which it emerges.” (A.W. Tozer)

It seems as if most people think idolatry is bowing to a wooden or metal figurine of some sort. Tozer declares that idolatry is really of the heart and the “idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is.” He goes on to call this a “monstrous sin.” Notice what the heart does when it assumes that God is other than He is. It “substitutes for the true God one made after its own likeness.” Simply thinking of God other than He is, as Tozer says, is a monstrous sin. But the idolatrous heart goes even deeper and then substitutes for God one like itself. In other words, at the core of the idolatrous heart is a remodeling of the concept of God and that is a trading the true God for something like the fallen creature. This is a horrible blasphemy to think of God as being like a fallen creature. It is to make God in the image of fallen man.

Let us think of some rather “innocent” examples. Let us imagine a person denying the doctrine of hell because he cannot imagine a God of love sending people to hell. On the surface that rather common position does not sound bad at all. However, let us dig a little deeper. What standard do people go by when they think of God as love? What standard do people have of love? Ah, now it is clear. People determine what they consider as love based on themselves and perhaps the culture around them. So they are judging love by themselves and attributing that to God. Can this so-called innocent and common example really be anything but a case of vicious idolatry? It is simply man turning from the truth of God to another God of his own imagination and living by that. This can be nothing else but idolatry. But again, to refer to some earlier statements of Tozer, what drives our theology is really our concept of God. A weak and effeminate theology is really the result of an idolatrous heart.

Let us think of a second “innocent” example. People refuse to believe in a thorough God-centeredness in theology because of free-will. For example, many believe that God is so sovereign that He allows man free-will. A statement like that is, as Wittgenstein said, “language gone on holiday.” It is simply a ridiculous statement when looked at closely. For example, to say that God is sovereign is to say that He reigns and rules over everything to such an extent that nothing happens apart from His plan and will. To say that He is so sovereign that He allows free-will is to say that He is so sovereign that He is not sovereign at all. A free-will is a will that God is not really sovereign over. The word “free” means something in the term. A free-will is not free if it is free from the reign and rule of God, yet God is not sovereign if men’s wills are completely free like that. The root of that issue, however, is the desire for man to be free of God. It is not as crass as the first example above, but it is still idolatry. It is exchanging the clear declarations about a sovereign God with a view of God that allows for man to be sovereign. Any time man puts something or man in the place of God that is idolatry. The teaching of free-will gives man the freedom to access grace as he wants and the power to successfully resist the Almighty Himself. That is idolatry.

Let me quote from John Owen. “Our next task is to take a view of the idol himself, of this great deity of free-will, whose original being not well known, he is pretended, like the Ephesian image of Diana, to have fallen down from heaven, and to have his endowments from above. But yet, considering what a nothing he was at his first discovery in comparison of that vast giant-like hugeness to which now he is grown, we may say of him as the painter said of his monstrous picture, which he had mended or rather marred according to every one’s fancy, “Hunc populus fecit,”-it is the issue of the people’s brain. Origen is supposed to have brought him first into the church; but among those many sincere worshippers of divine grace, this setter forth of new demons found but little entertainment” (vol 10, p. 114). Owen thought of free-will as a horrible teaching and as that which was an idol. Why did he think this? Because the power attributed to free-will is such that it is a power that should only be attributed to God alone. The doctrine of free-will as taught by many if not most is indeed an assault on the character and rights of God. It is idolatry. Let me leave this with a bit of a teaser. If Reformed people practice evangelism in much the same way as Arminians, what does that say about their true belief in God and of the power of fallen humanity? Is God assumed to be something He is not in our very practice of evangelism? Could it be that not only is our worship idolatrous, but our evangelism is too? Are we the blind leading the blind?

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God-Centeredness & Idolatry 2

August 27, 2006

“Among the sins to which the human heart is prone, hardly any other is more hateful to God than idolatry, for idolatry is at bottom a libel on His character. The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is-in itself a monstrous sin-and substitutes for the true God one made after its own likeness. Always this God will conform to the image of the one who created it and will be base or pure, cruel or kind, according to the moral state of the mind from which it emerges.” (A.W. Tozer)

Tozer says that idolatry is one of the sins “which the human heart is prone” and John Calvin said that the human heart is an idol factory. Jesus Christ said that no man can serve two masters. Man is born in sin and opposed to living to the glory of God as a life of worship. All that man does is an offering to his chief love which is his real God or god. If man does not love God in what he does, then man is really offering what he does in worship of himself. Man cannot escape the inner pressure to have a primary or terminal love in all that he does. As seen in Romans 1:18-32 every sin that man does is an exchange of the truth of God for a lie. All that man does in seeking his own glory is really exchanging the glory of God for idols. In other words, finite and sinful man is constantly in full worship of himself and in doing so he is rejecting the real and true God. That is idolatry.

While many want to focus on the outward works of man and leave the heart untouched, the heart is really the seat of worship. The outward man is simply the offering of the inward man. The outward man is the activity that expresses the intents of the heart. If this is correct, then we must examine what worship in the church really means in light of idolatry. It is imagined by many that worship is singing words to God that are correct and have at least an element of praise in them. There is a bit of truth there. However, the heart is the true seat of worship. A person can be singing with energy and excitement a song with great words and have zero worship in the singing. The focus of the heart can be on the feelings generated and how wonderful the person feels. The person can also be mindful of his own singing and what others are thinking of him. The person’s mind can be far away dwelling on the things that he truly loves. That is idolatry.

The reason, I think, that idolatry is worse within Christendom than anywhere else is because it is choosing self and things for self over God with more knowledge of God. While the un-churched unbeliever rejects the truth of God as revealed in nature, those who attend church are exposed to a greater amount of revelation about God. Their idolatry, then, is worse since it is a rejection of more information about God. It would appear from the Old Testament that God hates it when true worship of the external kind is offered up and the heart is not fully His. In the New Testament we see the stringent outward morality and religiosity of the Pharisees and yet Jesus condemned them with the harshest words. Christians claim to bear the truth of God through Christ. When they choose ways and attitudes that do not honor Him, they are in idolatry.

Preaching is also idolatrous when it does not focus on God and His glory. It seems as if idolatry in the pulpit may be the worst kind of all. The preacher is to be proclaiming the truth about God and yet he would rather fill the pews by tickling the ears of the people. I heard R.C. Sproul say in a lecture one time that a woman came to him and with anger or frustration said that it appeared to her that her pastor was trying to hide the truth of the character of God from the people. Whether she was right or not is not the issue, but we can say with great sorrow that this does appear to be the case in many places. Why are preachers so afraid to stand up and declare with conviction that God is really God? One reason might be because they will lose their position as CEO and lose the honor and the salary. Paul said that he was innocent of the blood of all men because he had preached the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:26-27). That is an incredibly powerful statement. We could also say that not to preach the whole counsel of God is to be guilty of being ashamed of God and His Word. This would make preachers guilty of idolatry and of the blood of men. If a man is not going to preach the whole counsel of God, then he should simply get out of the pulpit so that he would stop his idolatry and be guilty of less blood. While these words may sound harsh, I believe that I am trying to declare the whole counsel of God on idolatry. Religious people are guiltier of idolatry than anyone. Preachers are even guiltier than them all because of leading others into idolatry by not declaring the truth about God. Perhaps we need fewer preachers rather than more if this is the case. Let us remember what God says about false prophets in Jeremiah. How wicked it is to be an idolater leading others in idolatry all the while smiling and proclaiming something that is wrong as the truth of God. That is idolatry. Another Reformation is needed.

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God-Centeredness & Idolatry 1

August 25, 2006

“Among the sins to which the human heart is prone, hardly any other is more hateful to God than idolatry, for idolatry is at bottom a libel on His character. The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is-in itself a monstrous sin-and substitutes for the true God one made after its own likeness. Always this God will conform to the image of the one who created it and will be base or pure, cruel or kind, according to the moral state of the mind from which it emerges.” (A.W. Tozer)

The sin of idolatry is a libel on the character of God. No one really likes to be spoken of as worse than he is, so how much worse is it to libel God? Man is the image of God and is to shine forth the character and glory of God. With each sin man not only breaks the Law of God, man lies about God to humanity as well as those in the spiritual realm. Since with each sin man is lying about the character and glory of God, it is clear that man is really choosing things or people over God. With each act of idolatry man is also having another god before God and as such is also violating the first commandment which is a violation of the Greatest Commandment. Each time a man profanes the name of God, that man is also an idolater and has another god (himself). Each time a man breaks the Sabbath, that man violates the first three commandments. Each time a man dishonors his parents (not to mention the Father who is in heaven), he is an idolater and also a violator of the other commandments. The covetous person (10th Commandment) is a person that in his heart is given over to greed and idolatry. The covetous heart desires money, sex, power, and many other things. Within that covetous heart is a heart that does not love God but is fixed on other things as being good for self. In this sense, then, the idolatrous heart is in worship of self. The human heart is given over to idolatry to the degree that the heart loves things for self.

Clearly, then, we can see how idolatry is a libel on the character of God. Men do not usually go around committing idolatry on purpose, they simply create the god they want in their minds and pursue that. The truth of God is hidden beneath piles of notions from the secular or religious world and people go on in life without any real regard for the majesty of heaven. They live as if God really was just as they want Him to be. However, that too is idolatry. There is as much if not more idolatry within the walls of religious institutions as without. In fact, if I may be so bold and perhaps arrogant, there appears to be as much idolatry if not more within the walls of Christian (in name anyway) churches as anywhere else these days. If I am correct, idolatry within Christendom is worse than in the world. I base this on how God treated the Israelites and the Pharisees in the respective Testaments of Scripture. They had more revelation and yet they were still idolaters. They had more light and yet they still abused the holy name of God by their worship and lives.

If idolatry is simply assuming that God is something other than He is, then it is hard to believe that there are more than a few true Christian churches in America. Can it be the case that the majority (if not vast majority) of churches in the United States (even conservative ones) are really in the full practice of idolatry when they meet? If Tozer was correct about the state of the Church in 1961 and its low view of God, then how low of a view of God do we have now? How utterly bankrupt the Church is in our modern day of a truly high view of God. We are given over to glib songs and jokes during the so-called worship (singing). Preaching has degenerated into a mixture of jokes and stories. Even when some preach a text of the Bible it is almost as if God has been forgotten. Where is the true God exalted and declared with reverence and love? Where is God declared as sovereign over all? Where are the churches that desire to have the visitation of God more than human visitors with thick wallets?

In this user friendly day it is clear that idolatry is far more common than true worship. The teaching of sin and of the glory of God has been rejected in favor of ear tickling sermons so visitors will come back and hopefully tithe. Let us be honest, even brutally honest. That is nothing but idolatry and a vicious form of it. The desire to have numbers and visitors at the expense of God’s glory and truth is a hideous form of idolatry. Yet this is probably the most common form of church growth material and perhaps what is taught at the vast majority of conferences. God is not pleased with our man-centered methods to get people in the doors of a building. He is never pleased with idolatry. While we may not be able to read the signs over the doors, yet it is clear that many “churches” have “Ichabod” (the glory has departed) written over them. God will not dwell in idolatrous places and there is simply no other way to term what a place is that is so focused on bringing people in that it has forgotten the truth about God. Not only that, they are not afraid to offend Him in order not to offend human beings. That is idolatry.

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Justification, Part 16

August 24, 2006

David Brainerd was a man that died young but was used a lot for God. He was a man that was a missionary to the Indians (Native Americans today) that had never heard the Gospel. Jonathan Edwards thought so highly of Mr. Brainerd that he published his biography and journals. The writings that Edwards published have been published in many forms, but the life and labors of Brainerd inspired a vast number of missionaries over the years. We have been looking at justification in general and faith in particular the past several weeks. This week we will be looking at what David Brainerd thought was necessary for a person to be converted which means to come to Christ in faith. His thoughts on this issue were those that helped and encouraged many missionaries and were also in line with the thinking of Jonathan Edwards. We could do worse for our mentors. I will be using the 1949 Moody edition of The Life and Diary of David Brainerd. Mr. Brainerd was in Boston shortly before his death and quite ill at the time. He had many visitors who came to him asking his opinion on certain issues. This man was used of God to reach many people with the Gospel was dying and knew that he was dying. What he gives us is his last view of the essence of true Christianity.

But the third day of my illness, and constantly afterwards for four or five weeks together, I enjoyed as much serenity of mind, and clearness of thought, as perhaps I ever did in my life. I think my mind penetrated with so much ease and freedom into divine things, as at this time. I never felt so capable of demonstrating the truth of many important doctrines of the gospel as now. And as I saw clearly the truth of those great doctrines, which are justly styled the doctrines of grace; so I saw with no less clearness, that the essence of religion consisted in the soul’s conformity to God, and acting above all selfish views, for His glory, longing to be for Him, to live to Him, and please and honor Him in all things…Thus I saw, that when a soul loves God with a supreme love, he therein acts like the blessed God Himself, who most just loves Himself in that manner. So when God’s interest and his are become one, and he longs that God should be glorified and rejoices to think that He is unchangeably possessed of the highest glory and blessedness, herein also he acts in conformity to God. In like manner, when the soul is fully resigned to, and rests satisfied and contented with, the divine will, here it is also conformed to God.

I saw further that as this divine temper, whereby the soul exalts God and treads self in the dust, is wrought in the soul by God’s discovering His own glorious perfections in the face of Jesus Christ to it, as His own work.

If Mr. Brainerd was right about what true religion is, then justification and the nature of faith and conversion must fit or correlate with what true Christianity is. This is utterly vital to recognize. If true Christianity consists in being conformed to God and acting above all selfishness and self-centered things, then the nature of conversion must correlate with that. If true Christianity is discovered and lived by the soul exalting God and treading self in the dust so that God may discover His own glorious perfections in the face of Jesus Christ in the image of our souls, then the nature of conversion must correlate with that too. Clearly justification as a work of God is linked and tied with whatever God does in the soul and that includes sanctification and glorification (Rom 8:29-30).

Let us reflect on this for a few moments. True Christianity does not consist in works and the exaltation of self. It does not mean that the more a person loves him or herself that the more a person will love others. It does not mean that Christianity is some path to financial success or self-realization. No, it means that Christianity is about treading self-centeredness, selfishness, and self-love in the dust so that the glory of God would shine through. God’s glory does not dwell and shine through people who are full of self, but in people who are empty of self. God’s glory does not help people to some form of higher self-actualization or self-esteem, but that glory only dwells where it has no rivals for the glory.

One might wonder where all of this is going since we are ostensibly discussing justification and faith. One, I am trying to set out what the life of true Christianity is so that we can better see what flows from a justified believer. Two, I am trying to set out what true Christianity is so that we can see that the kind of salvation that flows through faith must in some way teach or inform us of what it takes to have true faith. If Christianity consists in the glory of God dwelling in a person through faith to the degree that self is trod in the dust, then saving faith must be something that is consistent with treading self in the dust as well. To put it another way, a faith that saves must be the same type of faith that is seen later on (Col 2:6). The kind of faith that is clearly consistent with Christianity in a mature believer is the kind of faith (though in a different degree) that God will use in order to justify a person.

A few weeks ago I tried to show that all men are born in sin and that means that humans are born in pride and full of confidence in themselves in one way or another. In order to trust Christ, therefore, a person must be brought to the point of not trusting in him or herself. This is exactly what David Brainerd appears to be teaching as well. The soul must be fully resigned to and content with God in order to be conformed to God. However, Ephesians shows us that the same thing is true regarding salvation. “That, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (Eph 4:22-24). This text shows that man is to lay aside the old self and put on the new self. One can easily see that one must put of the old self in order to put on the new self. The new self is created in “righteousness and holiness of the truth.”

Let us reflect back to the teaching of the new birth. A person must be born from above (again) in order to see or enter the kingdom of God (John 3:3-5). This new birth is described in Ephesians as being in God (or in the likeness of God) and being in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Now if the new birth in some way is of truth, then the old self of error and darkness must be done away with. If the new birth in some way is in righteousness, then in some way the old self that lives and loves unrighteousness (suppresses the truth in unrighteousness, Rom 1:18) must die to that unrighteousness. If the new birth includes holiness, then sinful actions which are non-holy must be in the process of being done away with.

It might be thought that teaching people that they should refrain from sin in seeking God is works. However, it is God using means to prevent the hardening of the heart in sin. Refraining from sin and non-holiness keeps the heart from greater hardness. A heart that is hardened in pride is the opposite of humility and faith. It should be imperative; then, that we tell people that to come to faith they must be humbled. Matthew 18:3 is so clear that a person must be turned and become like little children in order to enter the kingdom of God. The next verse (v. 4) tells us that the greatest in the kingdom is one who is humbled as “this child.” If a person must be turned and humbled in order to enter the kingdom which is by faith, then certainly a person must be humbled and turned in order to have faith. No one will ever have saving faith in Christ who has not been humbled from his pride and broken from his self-righteousness and independence. By simple definition faith cannot exist where pride reigns. Brokenness and humility must be in the heart where faith is found.

This may sound like this is putting something between sinners and Christ. No, it is removing something which is already there. Next week we will look at a statement of Brainerd’s that will shock most modern people of how a person must be utterly undone within himself in order to be saved. He sounds just like Luther. But back to this week where we have seen that true Christianity is really when the soul has given up on itself and is resigned to and content with God so that it may be conformed to Him. Yet this is all through faith. Humility is necessary for there to be growth in faith. We have also seen that a person that is born from above must be turned and humbled for this to happen. But again, a person is justified before faith. We must also note that pride and self-centeredness are the opposite of faith since faith is trusting in Christ. Can we honestly believe that a person can come to faith in Christ apart from being humbled and broken in heart? David Brainerd and Jonathan Edwards believed strongly that a man must be broken from himself before he could trust in Christ alone. The verses given above also teach that. If a person has to be humbled and broken from self in order to trust Christ, then we see that a person must be broken from self in order to see self as ungodly and not trust in the works of self (Rom 4:2-5). Can it be that Brainerd believed that a person must be humbled in the dust and broken from any work at all to be justified? Yes, that is what he believed. Is that works? No, it is God’s method of delivering us from trusting in works. God humbles the heart through means in order that it may be broken from trust in self and its works to trust Christ alone and so be justified by God.

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God-Centeredness & the Gospel 15

August 23, 2006

“But unless the weight of the burden is felt the gospel can mean nothing to the man; and until he sees a vision of God high and lifted up, there will be no woe and burden. Low views of God destroy the gospel for all who hold them” (A.W. Tozer). 2 Cor 4:4 “in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 4:6 For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Romans 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.””

As we continue on trying to show that the power of the Gospel is really in the display of the glory of God, we will look at a few more verses that shed light on the issue. “Because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel 6 which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth” (Col 1:6-6). In this text we see that there is hope laid up in heaven and that the readers had heard of this in the Gospel. Then we see that it was the Gospel that came to men and it was the Gospel that bore fruit in them since the day they heard and understood the grace of God in truth. The Gospel, then, is presented in this text as the grace of God. The Gospel is also understood as that which has such power that since the day the people had heard and understood it the Gospel had been bearing fruit.

The connection between the power of the Gospel and the Gospel of the grace of God should not be missed. Can we miss the connection between the power of the Gospel that delivers from the power and dominion of the darkness of the evil one (Col 1:13) and that which bears fruit and increases since it is heard? It is a powerful Gospel that takes men from the grasp of darkness and bears fruit in the kingdom of the Beloved and the kingdom of light. It is by grace that the Gospel comes to men and gives them an inheritance. Is this grace a weak little grace? Oh no, grace is the grace of a God of omnipotent power. It is the grace of a God that is determined to defeat the kingdom of the evil one and will do it. “And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me” (II Cor 12:9). This verse is just one that shows that grace and power are connected. The Gospel of grace is the Gospel of God that is the power of God for salvation.

“Our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake” (I Thess 1:5). Again we see that Paul is concerned with more than just the word or the words only. When Paul went to preach he preached in power and with the Holy Spirit. Notice once again that power and the Holy Spirit go together. If preaching and teaching are to be done in power, the Spirit must be there and be working. It is the Spirit who opens the minds of men and gives them the true wisdom and by that overcomes their humanistic worldview and reasonings. It is the Spirit who alone can show men the glory of the Gospel and make it powerful to their souls. In some way this must be connected with God’s shining Himself in the hearts of men as the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. It is the Spirit who shows this glory and the beauty of it. That is powerful.

But is this related to high views of God? Men who have low views of God take it upon themselves to preach the Gospel in power. They try to convince men using their own wisdom. They try to have power by using rhetorical devices and theatrical displays. They may say that they believe the Gospel is the power of God for salvation, but their actions show that their true view of God has been hidden under the rubbish piles of religious notions. The true preaching of the Gospel demands a high view of God. A high view of God is when the preacher knows that God alone can open the eyes of a spiritually dead sinner. It knows that the Gospel is the power of God for salvation and that, in conjunction with I Cor 1:18-2:14; Colossians 1:13; 2:5-6 and II Cor 2:4,6 means that the glory of God must be declared through Christ. So this preacher focuses on setting out the character of God and its beauty in Christ knowing that in that the power of the Gospel resides. It is that message that the Holy Spirit will use to show how foolishness the wisdom of man really is. It is that message that shows that a man has a high view of God and His glory because He believes, loves, and trusts it and not himself. A low view of God destroys the Gospel.

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God-Centeredness & the Gospel 14

August 19, 2006

“But unless the weight of the burden is felt the gospel can mean nothing to the man; and until he sees a vision of God high and lifted up, there will be no woe and burden. Low views of God destroy the gospel for all who hold them” (Tozer). 2 Cor 4:4 “in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 4:6 For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Romans 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.””

We are continuing to look at how the Gospel of the glory of God is indeed the reason that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Last time we looked at how I Corinthians 1:18-24 sets out how the Gospel is a Gospel of power. It is also about the glory of God’s wisdom and power in making men’s wisdom and power look foolish and weak. But how did Paul preach with power? “My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (I Cor 2:4). When Paul preached, he did not do so as a mere recitation of facts with man’s wisdom that lead to knowledge and pride (I Cor 8:1). Paul preached with power and in demonstration of the Spirit. How does the Spirit work? The Spirit pours out the love of God in the hearts of men (Rom 5:5), works all of His fruits which are the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22ff), and enables men to share in the life of God. But it is also the Spirit who alone enables men to understand the things of God. Let us look at that.

“Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory” (I Cor 2:6-7). The work of the Spirit (in context with the power of v. 4 & the power of the cross in 1:18) is in speaking God’s wisdom. This wisdom actually leads to our glory or to our obtaining an understanding and possession of that glory. This is seen in the following verse: “8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” The power with which Paul preached was wisdom and power that came from preaching the glory of God by the Spirit. There is a wisdom that people did not have and so they crucified the Lord of glory. In other words, they did not see His glory with their wisdom. But the power of the Gospel that Paul preached is that it is the wisdom and power of that same glory. The glory of God is the power of the Gospel and that is why it is the Gospel of the glory of God.

“But just as it is written, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.” 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” (I Cor 2:9-11). It is the Spirit of God who opens the truths of God and His Word to man. God reveals these things by the Spirit and only the Spirit can reveal the thoughts of God because no one knows them but the Spirit of God. What are those things that the Spirit reveals and that with power? Remember we are in the context of the Gospel and the cross as the power of God.

“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may 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 2:12-14). What we see here is that the Spirit teaches certain men things that are not taught by and in human wisdom. These are things that are spiritual. The natural man does not accept them and cannot understand them because they are spiritual things. But again, if we go back in the context, we see that it is the power of the cross and of the Gospel that is being discussed. The Gospel is of the glory of God because it is all about the righteousness and wisdom of God. The Gospel is powerful because the Spirit opens the things of God to the mind and soul and shows that the wisdom and glory of God are far better than anything man has to offer. In that God overcomes the dominion of darkness by shining Himself and His glory in the hearts of men. A low view of God destroys the Gospel.

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Justification, Part 15

August 19, 2006

Last week I made a statement in the newsletter that evidently needs a lot more explaining. I was talking with the “pope of Seneca” (Curtis Knapp) and he thought that this statement needed a lot of explaining. Therefore, I will try to explain that statement and why it is vital to the issue of faith and justification. The statement is this: “Man cannot know that God loves Him until he loves God (see I John 4:7-10).”

We must go back and remind ourselves of what is going on. Within the context of justification we are trying to study faith. Any study of justification should have a study of faith since it is faith that is God’s instrument that He uses to justify sinners. So the study of what faith is and how it operates sheds a lot of light on the doctrine of justification by faith without works (alone). It is also imperative to study the nature of sin and repentance in order to understand the nature of sin that man must be saved from and what it is that man must turn from in repentance. The very core of sin is that man is born into a state of self-centeredness and self-love. In that state man is full of pride and enmity with God.

When man in the fullness of His pride and self-love hears a message concerning the Gospel, he assumes that God is focused and centered upon him. He hears a message that tells him that God loves him so much that He cannot live without man and so God sent His Son to die for man. All that man has to do is to believe that God loves him and that Jesus died for him and he will be saved. What I am trying to show is that the above message is contrary to the truth that sinners need to hear. It is true that God so loved that He sent His only begotten Son. It is true that God sent Christ to die in the place of sinners. However, if you read the first few sentences in this paragraph you will notice that man has not really repented from his self-centeredness and self-love. In that situation man is still focused on himself and thinks that God is focused on him too.

The result of a person who hears that message and believes is deception about the Gospel. That person is also deceived about the character of God and what true repentance is. That person may have a reformation of life and become quite religious. However, the Pharisees were quire religious and did all that they did in their religion for self and from pride. If God is focused and centered upon people in the way that people think that He is, then there is nothing wrong with people being focused on themselves either. So we have self-centered and prideful people hearing a message that is called “the Gospel” and has pretty much the same content as the true Gospel. They never hear that their real problem is that they are self-centered and prideful. Their sinful acts are sinful because they are opposed to God. But what they hardly ever hear is that their righteous acts are also sinful because from pride and self-love they are opposed to God as well. The real problem is a failure to understand the God-centeredness of God and the real nature of sin. The intent of the message of the Gospel and what the sinner is changes the whole context and intent of the message.

Let us focus back on the statement (from above) in question. Is it really true that no man can know that God loves him until he loves God? Do you see how contrary that statement is from most “Gospel” presentations today? One very popular way of presenting a man-centered form of the Gospel starts with “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” So all a person really has to do is believe that God loves him and that Christ died for him and he is saved. But does Scripture really give us the authority to tell people that God loves them so much that Christ died for them? I don’t think that it does. Even without getting into many of the issues involved, we can see that there is a difference between a more general benevolence of God that He has for all and the specific love He has for those who are saved. Let us look at this in more detail.

I John 4:7-21 is the passage that we will work with. We do not have space for the whole passage, but we will look at it in a general way. First, let us look at two verses: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (I John 4:7-8). Why should believers love one another? The reason is that love from God as the only source and that is because He is love. Then we note that everyone (yes, everyone) who loves is born of God and knows God. What an earth shaking message. All who truly love are born of God and knows God. Let that ring in our ears! However, we must not take our definition of love from the world but from Scripture. All who do not love do not know God.

Let us tie this in with justification. All who are justified are born of God and know Him. Those who are justified are adopted and are the family of God. So those who are justified are those who are born of God and know God. People are justified in order that they will be the people of God and that they will be the temple and dwelling place of God who is love. The source of love is God and the love that is shown by God as the only source of love is seen in the children of God because they are born of God and know Him.

Let us look at the next two verses: “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4:9-10). In v. 9 we see that the love of God was manifested. But notice that the love of God was manifested “in us.” But how was the love of God manifested in His children? Because He sent Christ (only begotten Son) into the world so that we might live through Him. So the love of God is manifested in His children because He sent His Son that they would live through Him. What did Christ do so that they might live (have eternal life)? He came to be the propitiation for their sins. Let me try to tie this together. Christ died as a propitiation (removal of wrath) so that the love of God (from vv. 7-8) would dwell in His people. Christ came in order to give life and no one can one have life apart from the love of God. Eternal life is to know God and His Son (John 17:3). Eternal life is Christ Himself (I John 5:20; John 14:6).

In light of the previous verses, let us look at a few more: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (I John 4:11-16). If God so loved us (v. 11), we ought to love one another. How did God love man? By putting His love (love for Himself) in them. This is seen from Romans 5:5 where the love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit and our text in v. 12 where we see that if we love one another God is abiding in us. It is by this that we know that He abides in us which is His giving of the Spirit who is the One who gives the fruit of love (Galatians 5:22). When God gives His Spirit, His love is living in people as the Spirit pours out His love in those He dwells in.

The above is a very brief overview, but let us focus in on v. 16 for a moment. It is this text that speaks of man knowing and believing the love which God has for (in) us. But how does man know that he truly loves? How does a person know that he has the love of God in him? How does a person know that God savingly loves him and puts His love in him? It is when the person loves God and not self. True love is to love God for who He is and not just for His benefits. Many will have a form of love for God if they believe that God is focused on them and will give them what they want. However, to truly love God is to love Him when He brings trials and hard things into life as well. To really love God is to love Him even when it seems that He is tormenting the soul through trials. To really love God is to love His character and glory above all things. It is, then, to be like God who loves His own glory above all things. A person who loves God for who He is and the display of the beauty of His glory is a person that has had his sins propitiated and has the life and love of God in his soul. That person can know that God loves him because that person has been cleansed from sin, has the love of God in him, and therefore loves God in truth.

Can a person truly have evidence that he loves God apart from the only source of love which is God giving him a true love for God? No, there is simply no way. A person can only know that he is justified if he has the love of God in his soul. This means that when unbelievers are asked to believe that God loves them and sent His Son for them, they are being asked to believe something they cannot possibly answer “yes” in truth. Propitiation is part of justification (Romans 3:24-25) and is tied in with the indwelling love of God. One is justified by grace and part of that is through propitiation. But God sent Christ to be the propitiation so that man could have life (indwelling love and temple of Holy Spirit). Therefore, the person that is truly justified is also a person that has the life and love of God in him. No one can believe that God has propitiated His sins unless the love of God (for God) is in him. So no one can know that God loves him until he loves God.

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God-Centeredness & the Gospel 13

August 15, 2006

“But unless the weight of the burden is felt the gospel can mean nothing to the man; and until he sees a vision of God high and lifted up, there will be no woe and burden. Low views of God destroy the gospel for all who hold them” (A. W. Tozer).

2 Corinthians 4:4: “in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 4:6 For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”

Romans 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.””

We are now looking at the power of the Gospel and its link to the glory of God and low views of God. There is a power to the Gospel that cannot be explained by a mere recitation of historical facts. Paul says that the Gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” But faith is also that which sees the glory of God. It is by faith that we behold the glory of God. So we must link the power of God to faith and we must link the glory of God to faith. If faith is the eye of the soul or the spiritual man (Hebrews 11), then we can understand how faith and glory are linked. We can also see how the Church must have a high view of God and it must preach Him and His glory so that the power of the Gospel would be set out. Let us look at a few more passages of Scripture.

Isaiah 53:1: “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?”

In this passage we see the parallel. The one who has believed the message is the same one to whom the arm (or power) of the LORD has been revealed. The message is the message of God and it is through that message that the power of God operates. Will a weak little message about a weak little God be enough for souls to be saved from the power and dominion of the evil one? We must never forget that the new birth and salvation is when God transfers a soul from the power and dominion of darkness of the evil one into the kingdom of His beloved (Col 1:13). We must not again that the power and dominion of the evil one is in darkness. The darkness must be shattered by the light and that is the Gospel. The power of the Gospel is when the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God is shone into the heart.

1 Corinthians 1:18: “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, 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? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

This passage in I Corinthians is another passage that, shall we say, puts meat on the bones of Paul’s statement about the Gospel in Romans 1:16. The word of the cross in v. 18 is surely not distinguished from the message of the Gospel in which man is to boast (Gal 6:14). But to those who believe in the word of the cross, it is the power of God. In what way is it the power of God? Well, in different terms than the text, because it displays the glory of God. Remember, God saves to the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph 1:6). The power of the cross is in destroying the wisdom of the wise. Now how does that work? The wisdom of the wise is seen within a particular viewpoint and worldview. That type of wisdom sounds so good to those who are humanistic and focused on the good and glory of man. However, when the glory of God’s wisdom shines through to the heart, there is the power that crushes the wisdom of men and shows how foolish the wisdom of men really is. To those who are called, Christ Himself is the power of God (v. 24).

Now, we must look again and realize that the Gospel is the Gospel of the glory of God in the face of Christ. So where does the power reside in Christ? It resides in the glory that shines in His face. It is God’s glory that overpowers the glory of wisdom and signs in this world. A low view of God destroys the Gospel.

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