Self-Existence and the Gospel

May 11, 2006

How does the self-existence of God help us to understand the Gospel? Some would laugh at the thought, but it is still true. It is the Gospel of God (Romans 1:1) and God is “the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ (II Cor 4:6). The Gospel is a primary way that God shines His glory to people. So it should be no surprise that we can examine the attributes of God in the Gospel. In doing this we are enabled see the glory of the Gospel which is the beauty of the attributes of God on display.

In the Gospel we are told how one can have life and how one can be made alive. Yet, without the One who has the power of life and is life itself this would not be possible. The Gospel itself depends and rests upon the One giving life to actually be life itself. The Gospel speaks and declares that eternal life is for all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, yet this could not be possible without Christ either being life or being the way to life. How can we believe in the promise of life unless the One promising this life can actually deliver life itself to us? How can He who promises life actually deliver this life upon His promise alone unless He has life itself? So the Gospel promises are themselves reliant on the self-existence of God.

Ephesians 4 tells us this: “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart.” The Gospel comes to people who are excluded from the life of God. The Gentiles, that is, unbelievers, live in the futility of their mind and are darkened in their understanding. They are excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. So the Gospel brings knowledge, understanding and life to those who hear. But what kind of promise does the Gospel bring apart from a God who has and is life? Ephesians 2 puts it this way: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). Salvation is God making people alive together with Christ. The Gospel is all about God making people who are dead in sin alive together with Christ by grace. It is in being delivered from the death of sin and given life in Christ that salvation is given.

God, as the source of life and being life itself, can give life to those He pleases. He does not need anyone else but Himself in order to bring sinners to life. Where does that life come from? On what basis does a person obtain life? How are we to get life? We must go to Him who is life. He can bring sinners to life because it all depends on Him to do so. It is by grace because He is sufficient in and of Himself to be the cause and reason for making sinners alive. Here the glory of God’s self-sufficiency is seen in a full array of beauty. God makes sinners alive by grace because He does not need anything from them as a cause to make them alive. He makes sinners alive because He is sufficient to do so all of Himself simply because He is self-existent and self-sufficient. This is a God that can be trusted and this is a God who can supply all that His people need without any of His supply coming on the basis of their worth or because they have earned it. God gives grace in order to display how gloriously self-sufficient He is. Salvation is to display the glory of His grace. So He is the source of grace and the sustainer of grace simply because He is sufficient to do so and needs no help from the creature. Any efforts and works of the creature that attempt to earn from God are really attacks on His sovereign self-sufficiency.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (I Peter 1:3). What is salvation in accordance with? Man’s works or efforts? No, but in accordance with His great mercy. Can man earn mercy? Can man incline God to mercy because of his own efforts? No, because if so that would make mercy more like justice or at least partial justice. What did man do to raise Jesus Christ from the dead? This is a rather dumb question in some ways. However, the resurrection of Jesus Christ was all because of the life and power of God. The causation of eternal life in the believer is also only because of the life and power of God. His self-existence and self-sufficiency teach man how humble man must become. They teach man that the Gospel is all from God because He needs no one to help Him. After all, the Gospel is all about His glory and He saves to the glory of His name. Without God being self-existent and self-sufficient, there would be no grace, no mercy, no life, and no Gospel. Self-existence is a vitally important attribute that shows the real character and glory of the Gospel.

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Self-Existence and the Character of Christ

May 9, 2006

The self-existence of God is also an attribute that helps us understand the character and works of Christ. The end of the Gospel is to bring eternal life to those who believe and are His bride. But how can this be true if Christ is not life itself? John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” It is crystal clear from this text that the Word never had a beginning and was before the beginning because in the beginning He already was. When we ask where all things came from, we know that it is from the Word. All things that have being came into being through Him and “apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” He has to be in some way self-existent and self-sufficient to bring all things that have being into being. We see from Hebrews 1:3 that “He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.” Not only did He bring all things that have being into being, He upholds all things as well.

The self-existence of God is also an attribute that helps us understand the character and works of Christ. The end of the Gospel is to bring eternal life to those who believe and are His bride. But how can this be true if Christ is not life itself? John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” It is crystal clear from this text that the Word never had a beginning and was before the beginning because in the beginning He already was. When we ask where all things came from, we know that it is from the Word. All things that have being came into being through Him and “apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” He has to be in some way self-existent and self-sufficient to bring all things that have being into being. We see from Hebrews 1:3 that “He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.” Not only did He bring all things that have being into being, He upholds all things as well.

We can try to imagine what heaven would be like without a Being who is life itself. Would heaven indeed be eternal and full of joy if there is no self-existent and self-sufficient One who upholds all things? Where is all that joy to come from? Where is the love to come from? Where is life for eternity to come from? All are upheld in His hands for eternity only because He has the power of life in Himself. John 8:58 tells us that “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”” Here the “I am” is a clear reference to His self-existence nature and the one who was the “I AM” before Abraham was born which is really another way of saying John 5:26: “For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself.” The Son has life itself in Him which is the very power of life. He is not just alive, but He is life itself.

The above verses and the concept that in His divine nature Christ is self-existent and self-sufficient explains in some way how the following verses can be true. “I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28). He who is eternal life or He who is self-existent and self-sufficient can give life as He pleases. He who is life knows that no one can ever snatch His people out of His hand for who can take people out of the hand of the One who is life and upholds all things at every moment? “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”” (John 11:25-26). Christ was claiming not only that He had the power of life, but that He was and is life itself. Those who are united to Him by faith and have His life in them will never die because of the power of life itself that Christ has and is. No one can take life from Him who is life.

This power of being life also is of great comfort in other ways. Jesus Christ who is life itself took human flesh to Himself in order to die. Life itself died in order that His people would not die but have life. But how can sinners be so sure that they will always be in heaven? Because of this: “And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life (Heb 7:15-16). Those who have Christ have One as Priest and even a priest forever according to the power of an indestructible life. Their Priest and Representative will never die but will always represent them. Verses 24-25 go on to say: “but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. 25 Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” In other words, the very nature of salvation and the eternal nature of it rest on the self-existence and self-sufficiency of God. People will never need to stop drawing near to God and so they need one with the power of life to go to God through. People will always need a High Priest that they can make intercession through, so they need One with the power of life to do so.

Revelation 1 sets out the teaching of the self-existence of Christ too. “17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” Jesus Christ is the living One and He is alive forevermore. He alone has the keys of death because He is life and has defeated death. How vital it is that our Savior and intercessor be the self-existent One. It is life itself.

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Evangelism, Part 11

May 7, 2006

I received an email regarding the newsletter last week and it asked a few questions and made a few statements. They are important questions and I thought that others might have the same ones. The questions were related to using justification by faith alone as a paradigm in evangelism. The questions were basically two and are as follows. One, Paul was teaching believers about the salvation that they had already received and this is not what unbelievers need to have preached to them in evangelism. Two, this seems contrary to the Gospel of John since it was written so that people would believe and it does not mention justification by faith alone. I will respond to these questions in the order that they are listed above.

The book of Romans is considered by many as being the most profound theological book in the Bible. Paul wrote it to set out the glorious truths of the Christian faith. In chapter one he says the following: “14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. 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.” Now it appears from this text that Paul wants to go preach the Gospel, but to both the saved and the unsaved. The Gospel is to be preached to believers and unbelievers. In fact, Paul said that he was eager to preach the Gospel to those in Rome. Why? Because he was not ashamed of the Gospel. Why? Because the Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. The power of salvation is of God and it is through the Gospel.

The Gospel is the power of God for salvation. That is a statement that every preacher should have ringing in his ears and perhaps written on the walls of his study. It is not the wisdom and manipulations of man that bring people to Christ, it is the Gospel itself. It is not a canned message that allures people to Christ; it is the Gospel that is the power of God for salvation. The Gospel must be preached if souls are to be saved. Then Paul goes on in Romans to show that Jew and Gentile alike are all under sin and that their mouths must be shut. In chapters three and four he gives the essence of the Gospel. It is my belief that Paul crystallized the Gospel in the book of Romans as it was given to him by inspiration of the Spirit as the sent-one of Christ. The book of Romans was written to people in Rome and it contained believers and unbelievers. The Gospel is preached to unbelievers in order that they may be saved and the Gospel is preached to believers in order that they may glory in it. So what Paul wrote was not just instructing believers about the salvation that they already had, but also to people who were not saved about the Gospel which was and is the power of God for salvation.

The doctrines of the Gospel that Paul taught in Romans 3-4 are as follows:

  1. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ
  2. Justification
  3. Grace
  4. Redemption
  5. Propitiation
  6. Justification by faith apart from works
  7. Imputed righteousness
  8. The resurrection

Now if we look at these teachings in Romans, we can ask what is taught in John. First, we want to see what John taught in 20:31. “30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” John is not claiming in this verse to have written to present the whole of the Gospel. The context of this verse is focused on the signs and these were evidences that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. John said that there were other signs that Jesus performed, but that these (signs that he wrote about) were written so people could believe. So from the context we see that the signs were given so that people would believe, but there is nothing specifically of the Gospel mentioned in the context. We should also consider that “Christ” really means “the Messiah.” So to prove Jesus as the Messiah would have included what the Old Testament taught about the Messiah and what the Messiah would do.

The Gospel of John was written so that people would believe. We also have several places in John where people believed and yet were not converted. We see in John 2:23-25 that many saw the signs which He was doing and believed. But it is also clear (from vv. 24-25) that these people were not truly converted. In John 3 we see that the reason that Nicodemus came to Jesus was because he saw the signs and knew (even believed) that Jesus was a teacher sent from God. However, Jesus told him that he needed to be born again. In chapter 6 Jesus fed several thousand people from a few loaves of bread and a few fish. The people certainly believed when they saw the sign (v. 14) and wanted to use force to make Jesus king (vv. 14-15). The people then sought Jesus after He left that night. However, He told them that they only sought Him for food (6:26). Jesus continued teaching them and many of the ones who believed grumbled (v. 41), argued (v. 52), and finally withdrew from Him (v. 66). This shows that many believed in some way but were not truly converted.

In John 8:30 we see that many came to believe in Christ as He spoke to them. However, in v. 31 Jesus told those who believed in Him that they must continue in His work if they are going to truly be His disciples. In His teachings following that verse, the same people were picking up stones to throw at Him in the last verse of the chapter. In chapter 11 many saw the sign that Jesus performed in raising Lazarus from the dead and believed. However, some who believed that Lazarus was raised from the dead went to the leaders and told them about it. The chief priests evidently believed that Lazarus was raised from the dead and believed that Jesus did it and yet they wanted to kill Jesus and Lazarus because of it (John 12:9-11).

It should be clear that people can believe in some way because of the signs and still not be converted. Many today have some form of belief about Jesus and yet they have no real love for Christ and the glory of God that shines in Him. The real issue in John and in Romans is that people must see the glory of the Gospel and of Christ in order to be saved. One can believe in mere facts and not be converted as is clear from the examples I have given in John. We can look at II Corinthians 4:4, 6 to see this. “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. 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.”

In these texts we see that until a person sees the glory of Christ the Gospel has not been seen. People can believe by seeing signs, but that does not mean that they see the glory of the signs. The people who received the free food loved the free food and believed what Christ could do, but they did not see the glory of God shining in the face of Christ. They saw the glory of free food but they did not see and understand the glory of the Gospel. This helps explain other passages in John as well. John 2:11 says this: “This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.” Here we see that His glory was manifested and the disciples believed. Evidently they saw more than just the physical actions; they were enabled to see the glory of God shining in Christ. In John 11, the story of Lazarus and Jesus raising him from the dead, we see the intent of it all: “4 But when Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it. Then later in the chapter we see what true faith does: “40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”” Here we see that the glory of God in Christ is the main issue and people with true faith will see the glory of God. In John 17 Jesus uses the word “glory” three times to show His eternal glory and His desire for His disciples to see that glory.

How much of the Gospel is in John? It depends on how one looks at it. John appears to have been written mainly to Jews and informed Gentiles. As such, there is much of John that is written presupposing an Old Testament background. John 1:1 starts off the same as Genesis 1:1. John 1:14 speaks of Christ as the tabernacle and as the glory of God. John 1:17 speaks of Christ in contrast with Moses and all that was taught by Moses finds its reality in Christ. In John 1:29 Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world which is a fulfilling of the sacrificial system. In 1:45 Philip told Nathanael that he had found “Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth.” In 1:51 there is an allusion to Jacob’s ladder and as Christ being that ladder to heaven. Throughout John there are constant allusions and direct teachings to the Old Testament and Jesus fulfilling or being the reality of those things. In light of that, there are many teachings about Jesus in John that those familiar with the Old Testament would have understood. If we understand that the Gospel was in the Old Testament, then we can see that Christ fulfilling the Old Testament means that the same Gospel that Paul taught was understood in John. One reason for this is that Paul built his doctrine of justification from the Old Testament. The Gospel of Jesus Christ was not new with the physical coming of Christ, but fulfilled or brought into reality by Christ.

Jesus Christ is the very outshining of the glory of God and that glory is full of grace and truth. So a Gospel to the glory of God is clearly a Gospel of grace. The teaching of John on the new birth is clearly all about grace. The teaching that Christ as the Messiah is the Lamb of God would surely bring to listening ears thoughts of the glorious teachings found in Isaiah 53. There we have some of the clearest teaching on propitiation found in Scripture as it sets out the fulfillment of the book of Leviticus. Throughout John we see that salvation is by and through faith. John knows nothing of a works for salvation scheme. In John, for the Old Testament readers, the cross and resurrection would not have been misunderstood. The same writer in I John set out the teaching of propitiation in 2:2 and 4:10 in that book. Though he did not use the same language, the teaching is there. Jesus told the Jews that they were in bondage to sin and the devil and that the truth would set them free (John 8 ). Surely that is redemption without using the word. When we see that men are to seek the glory of God and not that of themselves, surely we can see that they must trust in the righteousness of another to do that (John 5:44).

Lastly, Paul said that if “we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!” (Gal 1:8). He then went on to repeat pretty much the same statement except this time he said “if any man.” For this reason I believe that the Gospel taught and preached by Paul is the Gospel that I should be preaching and evangelizing with. The Gospel Paul taught was also developed from the book of Genesis which is so widely used or alluded to in John. I do not believe that John and Paul are at odds with each other and the Gospel is the same in both though they used different terms. In light of these things, I must respectfully assert that the Gospel we should evangelize with is the Gospel that Paul set out in Romans 3-4 because anything contrary to it is not the Gospel and because only the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

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Evangelism, Part 10

May 7, 2006

Doctrine and evangelism are not often linked together, but they should be. For example, Protestants have historically said that the Gospel is basically defined by justification by faith alone. But is that necessary to teach people in evangelism? If it is the Gospel then perhaps it is. But we have substituted for the Gospel a message about Jesus followed by an appeal to pray. If justification by faith alone is the heart of the Gospel, then we must teach it to people that we are evangelizing. Justification by faith alone is a message for those that are under conviction of sin and know that they must have their sin dealt with. If people are not under conviction of sin, they will view the Gospel from an intellectual view only. The Gospel goes to the heart. It is easier to tell people a message about Jesus than it is to teach them the Gospel, but Jesus never promised us that making disciples would be easy. That is why He said in the Great Commission that He would be with those who do this. We must speak to people of what it means to be justified. We must tell them that God must declare them just or righteous or they will not be saved. Notice that we have just moved from focusing on what the person can do to what God does in salvation. That is one reason why people don’t like this; it is hard to tell a person that God must do the work. But justification is a work of God. What does man do in justification? If justification is a forensic or declared justification, then God must declare a man just. Man simply receives and believes the truth.

But how do we escape the Roman Catholic argument that God cannot declare a man just who is not really just and that the Protestant doctrine is a legal fiction? When the whole Gospel of God is proclaimed it is clear that this is not legal fiction. Romans 3:19 through chapter four is a declaration of the Gospel and its glory. The Gospel comes to man at the point of man’s only real need and that is to be saved from the wrath of God. If man thought about this apart from his self-centered motives, he would wonder how God could be just and still justify the sinner. Romans 3:26 answers this question for us in its context: “for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” This text tells us that the Gospel is such that God can be just and righteous and still declare those sinners who have faith in Christ righteous. God can do this in a perfectly just way and the sinner can be declared perfect in God’s sight. This Gospel is worth proclaiming to sinners and this is why Paul calls it the Gospel of God (Rom 1:1).

If a person has seen that God must declare him righteous before he can enter into God’s presence, he has to know that he can never be righteous from himself. People must feel the weight of this and know that God will never allow anything impure or unholy to enter heaven. God’s holiness will never allow this. To those who feel the weight of this, the Gospel is good news. To those who feel the weight of their sin, the Gospel of God is good news to them. This is more than someone bigger than them in heaven who just can’t live without them and begs them to come home to Him, this is a God who is sovereign over men and has saved His enemies in a way that allows Him to be just and display His glory before all of creation. So how can God be just and still justify a person who has committed innumerable sins against Him and His law? God sent Christ to be a sacrifice in order to remove the wrath of Himself from sinners. I am not convinced that anyone understands the Gospel apart from propitiation. If the word is too big, at least the concept is should be taught. In this great doctrine we see the substitutionary atonement of Christ. Here we see God in human flesh taking the wrath of the Father upon Himself so that God’s justice would be satisfied and sinners could be saved from hell. Does this need to be understood and received for sinners to be saved? Indeed it is. This is what Christ came to do and this is the glory of the cross and of God.

We can see how justification by faith alone is the Gospel of God and is how God saves sinners to the glory of His name. We have seen how sinners must see that God must be just and yet must declare them righteous if they are to be saved. We have seen how through the cross God has removed His wrath from sinners in such a way that He can be just in doing so. But how does the sinner enter heaven? On what basis is the sinner able to enter heaven? Even if Christ has taken away the wrath that was due unto the sinner and delivered him from hell, which would not automatically enable the sinner to enter heaven. What allows the sinner to go into heaven? Romans 4:6: “just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works.” Here we see that God credits (reckons, imputes) righteousness to sinners. How does that work? Is this important to know?

We are still speaking of the glorious Gospel by which God is just and saves sinners. He does not just deliver them from hell and not deliver them to heaven, but He purchases heaven for them. In other words, the Gospel is about delivering from hell and purchasing heaven for sinners. This is how God can be just and justify sinners. He sent Christ who suffered for the sins of sinners in order that they would not perish. But He also sent Christ in order to give His gift of righteousness so sinners would enter heaven. The Gospel through Christ does not deliver from hell and that is it; it takes them into the gates of heaven and into the arms of Him who is eternal and infinite love.

But how does one take Christ and His Gospel? Assuredly that is by faith alone or faith without works. But how is it that a person who has faith can be saved and a person who does not have faith is not saved? What is it about faith that saves? There is nothing about faith itself that saves. Salvation is about Christ and faith is how one has Christ. The sinner is united to Christ as his representative or head. All are born in the flesh and have Adam as their head. By union with Adam a person is guilty of original sin by virtue of his representation. But when a sinner is united with Christ, that sinner is seen as one with Christ. The Church is the body of Christ with Him as its Head. So when a person is one with Christ as in marriage, all that bride has (sin) is His and all that He has (righteousness) is His bride’s. This is the great exchange and it shows how God can be just and have Christ be the Head of His people.

Faith is either that which flows from a new heart and union with Christ or it is that which a natural man is able to come up with. Faith is a spiritual act and cannot be done by a natural man. The Gospel is foolishness to the natural man and so he is not going to believe and love it. Faith is that which apprehends the glory of God and the spiritual realm. Believers walk by faith and not by sight (II Cor 5:7), which is to say that they walk in a way where they apprehend the will of God and do not walk according to the world. Ephesians 2:8 is very clear that faith itself is a gift of God and is not something that is worked up by man. So are we to teach this to people? If we don’t, they will think that they have the ability to do it themselves. Faith is the gift of God and men need to hear this in order to deliver them from trying to make faith a work.

Because of space I did not deal with the fuller expression of justification. It is justification by grace through faith alone. The teaching of grace is essential to justification as set out in Romans 3:24 where we are told that justification is by grace. But in Romans 4:16 we are told that salvation is by faith in order that it may be by grace. The Gospel is declared to men and men are saved to the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph 1:6) and it is by grace that men are saved (Eph 2:8). The Gospel is all of grace in order that it may be all of Christ and come through faith. Sinners are not saved by faith as if faith is a work, but through faith as a way of simply receiving grace and Christ. So the Gospel is really all about God saving sinners to the glory of His name.

But are these things really important for evangelism? Is it the Gospel or not? To repeat, if justification by faith alone is the heart of the Gospel, can we evangelize in truth without it? Can we bring the good news to sinners apart from the good news itself? Can we preach the Gospel apart from the Gospel? Can we teach and preach the Gospel of God apart from teaching of God and how He works in the Gospel? For the Church to return to its roots, it must return to the Gospel of Scripture as it thundered forth from the lips and pens of Luther. The Church must learn to evangelize with the Gospel itself and not watered down portions of it. People must come to faith through the proclamation of the glory of God in the face of Christ through the Gospel. But in most methods of “evangelism,” the Gospel itself is not really there and the doctrine of God is not really dealt with.

We must face reality whether we like it or not. If we are bringing people in the church when we have not really taught them the Gospel, that harms the church and them. If we are evangelizing people apart from the Gospel, what are we doing? If we are evangelizing in a way where God is on the periphery, are we really telling people the Gospel of God? If we tell them some basic facts of Christ and do not proclaim the glory of it, are we really telling them the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ (II Cor 4:4)? A message that does not declare the glory of God and of Christ is not the Gospel. It may have some elements of the Gospel in it, but it is not the Gospel. The Gospel is all about the glory of God in Christ saving sinners by the Gospel of justification by grace through faith alone. There is no other Gospel. Surely these things are important in evangelism if we are to do more than inoculate people to the truth. A man-centered evangelism is a false evangelism leading to false conversions which man thinks is all about him. This is simply a method of inoculating people to the true Gospel of God. The natural man, though a false convert, loves to hear of a God who is all about him. But he does not want to hear about the glory of God who saves to manifest His own glory. Maybe this is one reason that the church is so weak. People are evangelized with a man-centered message and so come to church thinking that God and church is all about them.

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Evangelism, Part 9

May 7, 2006

The last two weeks we have critiqued two tracts. A critique is rather easy to do, but setting out something positive is a different thing altogether. So this week, in an effort to speak about good tracts, we will deal with the nature of evangelism first. A tract that is used evangelistically should, after all, be in line with true evangelism.

WHAT IS EVANGELISM?

Here is a very important question and it is not asked often enough. The way it is answered to some degree determines the way evangelism is done. For example, if we think of evangelism as going to a number of doors and unloading a message on the people before the door is shut, then we must have a canned message that can be fired quickly. If we think of evangelism as a messenger focused practice, then we will be concerned about the “me” in the practice of disseminating information. If we think of evangelism from a human-centered viewpoint, then we focus on the person being “reached.” If we think of evangelism as something that is done primarily to aid in the growth of a church, then pressing the people to a decision and to attend church quickly is the focus. Without doing an exhaustive survey of this, I hope that the point is clear. Evangelism must be done in a way that brings the truth of God to the people and deals with them as a sinner in need of the Gospel. The claims of God must be pressed home to them so that they see the need of the Gospel that is proclaimed to them. Evangelism is essentially dealing with a person in a way where biblical truths are pressed home to the person.

EVANGELISM MUST BE GOD-CENTERED

I would propose that evangelism should be done from a God-centered approach. The primary motive in evangelism should be out of love for the glory of God (I Cor 10:31). With this motive in mind, we will not water down the message of the Gospel since our chief desire is to see God glorified. It is also the case that we cannot love our neighbor without loving God so this also helps us to see that to love our neighbor we must tell them the truth about God. The Gospel is really all about the glory of God in its many facets and so we cannot truly preach the Gospel unless we are setting out the glory of God. We cannot love the Gospel unless we love the glory of God that we are to be speaking about.

EVANGELISM MUST DEAL WITH PEOPLE HONESTLY

A true messenger of God will talk honestly to a person about his or her sin. One can proclaim some of the Bible without the biblical background and make the person think that God is centered on nothing but human beings, but that is to use the sin of self-centeredness in the human being as something good rather than something to repent of. If we are going to evangelize in truthfulness and honesty, we must deal with souls as they are. They need to know about their sin and how they are at enmity with Him (Rom 5:10; 8:7; Col 1:21). They need to see what sin is in order to count the cost and to have a true repentance. They need to see their helplessness before God in order that they may go to Him in utter humility crying out for grace to turn them. If a person comes to God on his own strength, that is not really coming to God. Jesus said that no one had the ability of himself to come to God (John 6:44). So if a person comes to God on his own at our encouragement, we have misled him.

EVANGELISM MUST PROCLAIM CHRIST

Evangelism must be about Christ in His works and offices. There is no Gospel apart from the perfect life of Christ, the cross as the perfect sacrifice that propitiates God, a perfect righteousness given as a free gift, and a resurrection that declares who Christ is and that His sacrifice was accepted by God. The resurrection of Christ is a guarantee of the coming judgment of all (Acts 17:30ff). We are to proclaim Christ as eternal life Himself (I John 5:20) and as the embodiment of the glory of God which is full of grace and truth (John 1:14). We are to proclaim Christ as the only way to the Father (John 14:6). Christ must be proclaimed as Prophet, Priest, and King. We must proclaim Christ as the way of reconciliation to the Father and that He is the Intercessor for the brethren. Christ must be proclaimed as the way for the guilt of sin to be punished but also as the way for the power of sin to be defeated. What a glorious Gospel that is, though in a short form.

EVANGELISM MUST DEAL WITH PEOPLE PERSONALLY

Now if evangelism involves all of the above things, we should think of evangelism as something that is done in many ways. Evangelism should include coming to church and hearing the Gospel preached. It should include personal teaching and appeals from individuals. It should not be seen as distinct from discipleship. But the point I am trying to make is that evangelism should be thought of as personal when it is practiced by individuals in the church. Individuals should bring people to church as part of evangelism, though not the whole. So when we begin to evangelize people, we should not think of this as a one time message and then it is over. We must deal with people personally. The Gospel is a supernatural message and the natural man cannot accept the things of God (I Cor 2:14). So we must be prepared to deal with rejection and ridicule in evangelism, but if we are dealing with people on a personal basis, they will see some real concern (if we have it) and not be so quick to call names and persecute.

When dealing with people on a personal basis, we are to deal with them about their sin and the Gospel in general conversation and with Bible studies. We are, after all, dealing with people who have spent their whole lives building upon an unregenerate nature and suppressing the truth by bad arguments and reasons. While indeed God can and may overcome their resistance quickly, He may use the means of His people over a period of time. So I am trying to stress the need to deal with people as individuals that God has made. He has made people differently and has brought us as individuals to them at His sovereign appointment. We are to deal with them as individuals because God made them and us that way. Therefore, we can try to define evangelism (loosely) as a way of bringing the Gospel of our glorious God to people that are at enmity with Him and in a personal way as ambassadors bring them the message of His demand for them to repent and love Him rather than themselves. But how does this fit with tracts? It can work very well.

TRACTS AND EVANGELISM

Tracts are a wonderful way to enhance or enable us to start practicing evangelism. But remember, with tracts the goal is to personally deal with individuals. While it is true that we can plant seeds with tracts and never deal with people, that is not really evangelism. That is planting seeds and while it is a good thing, it is not really evangelism. So a tract that is planting seeds may not be the best tract for dealing with people personally. A tract that is simply planting seeds should be a good tract that is sound theologically and deals with the nature of God, sin, and the Gospel itself. It is far better to deal with people personally, but having good tracts to hand out is better than doing nothing. The least we can do is to plant seeds, and if we do that we want to use good tracts.

Another method that I have seen that is beneficial is for people write their own tracts that include their personal testimony. Some have written out their own testimony in tract form with something of a Gospel presentation to go along with it. It would be good to have someone who is astute with the Gospel check the tract, but people will more easily take a tract if it is personal. One can also write their own testimony and then hand out other tracts that deal plainly with the Gospel. I wrote a tract several years ago because I was so frustrated in trying to find a tract that dealt with the character of God. I would tell people that I had written this and ask them to read it. I handed out hundreds of those and never had one rejection as far as people taking it. It is hard for people to reject a person who is handing them something that he or she has written. Whether they read it or not is another thing, but I think it is more likely that they will read something from someone they have met.

Since evangelism is tied in with the process of discipleship, we must realize the limitations of tracts. A tract is great to start with, but people must get into the Bible fairly quickly. While church may be knocked by some, if we want people to hear the Gospel in a fuller way, they need to hear biblical preaching. Even if people are converted, they still need to hear the Gospel and to hear it in a deeper and deeper way as time goes by. They never outgrow the Gospel. For the best tracts that I have seen, go here: http://www.intoutreach.org.

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Self-Existence and the Nature of Sin

May 3, 2006

How does the teaching of God’s self-existence teach us about sin? It might be thought that this has nothing or little to do with sin, but this might surprise some. The image of God has been divided by theologians into two types. There is the image of God which man cannot copy, such as infinity and self-existence, but there is also the moral image of God. The image of God in all men is found in man’s ability to reason, have affections, and make choices. The moral image found only in believers as seen in holiness, truth, and love has been devastated by the fall and is only renewed in regeneration. The serpent promised Eve that she would be like God if she ate the apple. Ever since the fall man has tried to be like God in the wrong ways because man has fallen from the moral image of God. Now fallen man does not have the moral image of God (holiness, truth, love for God) and tries to act like God in living according to his own wisdom and independency. But only the self-existent God is really independent and has need of nothing.

How does the teaching of God’s self-existence teach us about sin? It might be thought that this has nothing or little to do with sin, but this might surprise some. The image of God has been divided by theologians into two types. There is the image of God which man cannot copy, such as infinity and self-existence, but there is also the moral image of God. The image of God in all men is found in man’s ability to reason, have affections, and make choices. The moral image found only in believers as seen in holiness, truth, and love has been devastated by the fall and is only renewed in regeneration. The serpent promised Eve that she would be like God if she ate the apple. Ever since the fall man has tried to be like God in the wrong ways because man has fallen from the moral image of God. Now fallen man does not have the moral image of God (holiness, truth, love for God) and tries to act like God in living according to his own wisdom and independency. But only the self-existent God is really independent and has no need of nothing.

Let us look at Daniel 5:22-23 to help us see sin: “Yet you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this, 23 but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which do not see, hear or understand. But the God in whose hand are your life-breath and your ways, you have not glorified.” Here we see Belshazzar trying to live an independent way of life. He exalted himself against God as indeed all pride does. He praised idols because of what they did for him, but this is what man does in trusting in money and material possessions. He thought his life consisted of material things instead of being dependant on God for his very life-breath. He thought his ways were for his own choosing and so he chose to go his own way. He did not live for the glory of God; he lived for pleasure and the exaltation of self. What do we see in the life of Belshazzar? We see a very proud man trying to be something like God in His self-existence. He did not want others telling him what to do; he could do things his own way. He lived for himself as indeed only God has the right to do. He exalted himself as only God has the right to do. He used the things of God as if they were his, but only God has the right to do those things. He praised and trusted in created things, not the God who created them. He lived for his own glory and not the glory of God. In each sin there is actually the root of man trying to copy God in His self-existent nature to some degree.

What is man’s independent spirit but a desire to be free of all restraints and dependant on no one but himself? Only God is self-sufficient and without need of anyone or anything. What is pride but man exalting himself to where he is proud of himself as if he created himself and gives himself breath? What is pride but man being proud of what he has done as if God did not make all things and give man the wisdom to do what he is doing? What is murder but one person taking the life of another which is the prerogative of God alone? God is the One who upholds life and no one has the right to take a life but God. What is greed but the desire for more and more material possessions or for the fulfillment of some lust without regard for the God who created them and who upholds all other beings? What is greed but the desire to have many things for the ease and honor of self or the desire to have these things to be independent? What is stealing but a desire to obtain something that God has given to someone else without regard for anything but self? Stealing, then, is the desire to rule over property for selfish purposes rather than to bow before the self-existent God from whom all things come.

In reality, if a person has faith in God as the self-existent One from whom all things come, this should lead to a quiet faith even in times of need. The believer should know that God owns all things in reality and all things are sustained by Him and Him alone. Sin is simply a desire to be self-existent or, as the serpent promised, to be like God in His self-existence. The humble, on the other hand, desire to be low before God and receive all things from His hand. The humble know that all things are really the gifts of God. The humble desire for self no more than what God desires for them. If only people could see the hideous reality behind each sin which is in trying to be like God which is to be god to ourselves. This brings new and fresh meaning to what David meant when he said that his sin was against God and against Him alone (Psa 51:4). True humility is to be low before God because that is the proper position of a creature before its Creator who upholds each creature and its life-breath as He pleases.

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Self-Existence 8

May 2, 2006

How does the self-existence of God promote the endeavors of the mind and heart after God? This sounds so abstract, I can almost hear some say, that it might promote abstract thinking, but it will not promote love for God and His glory. But surely this is a false way of thinking. The self-existence of God is at the very core of His being and influences His moral attributes and how they come to man in order to strengthen him. This is the attribute of God that shows that He has no need and is the very cause of all things and is a necessary Being. This is the attribute that Paul preached at Athens to distinguish between their false gods and the One and true God. This is a necessary teaching and is the declaration of the true God. Self-existence is, after all, the real meaning behind the name YAHWEH. The great I AM is the God of Israel and makes no apologies for doing all for His name’s sake.

Man’s understanding should be lifted up and formed by his thoughts of God. After all, this text tells us to be transformed by the renewing of the mind. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom 12:2). What can be more transforming than thinking the thoughts of God after Him? What can be more elevating to the mind than to think and meditate on the glory of God? What can drive man from the fleeting pleasures of sin more than thinking on the very glory and majesty of God?

The teaching on the self-existence of God gets to the heart of creation issues and those having to do with life and the beginning of life. Meditating on God and His glory takes the mind from creaturely issues and focuses it on God and His glory. Meditating on self-existence sharpens the focus of man in his understanding on what the truth is regarding all the physical things on earth as well. Life only comes from life and all life comes from the God who is life itself. How breathtaking it is to meditate on life itself. It is not wrong to study biology, but how glorious it is to trace all biological life back to God who is life, that is, the very source of all life in the beginning and the One who sustains all life even now. A mind is a terrible thing to waste, but the only way to keep from wasting the mind and what it was created for is to use it to in meditating on its Creator and how all things relate to Him.

Dwelling upon God is this way as the self-existent One helps man fight deception. The world is set up by the Prince of the power of darkness (Eph 2:1-3) and it operates according to morals and mindsets of that kingdom. Those who love God must escape that mindset by focusing on the truth of who God is. Seeing beyond this realm to the spiritual realm helps man not to be deceived by the allure of worldly attitudes and customs. Sin is really a deception as to what is reality and to what is truly good for man.

Dwelling upon the truth of God and His self-existence and self-sufficiency should delight the heart of those who love God. It is glorious to meditate upon Him who needs nothing and no one. He is the I AM. It is delightful to the heart and the affections to meditate upon the freeness of the love and grace of God. He needs no one and is under obligation to no one. He is utterly free in terms of having no need and can do as He pleases with no one being able to thwart Him or call Him to account (Dan 4:35). Yet this great God in order to demonstrate the glory of His grace shows grace and love to man. There is nothing in man that can move God to show this love and grace, but God is self-moved because He is self-existent. How this should fire the affections and joy of saved sinners to see just how free salvation is. This should give man great grounds for praying for the glory of God and His kingdom since He is self-moved. What freedom one has to approach God based on the name of Christ to plead with Him to do that which is to the glory of His name. With what freedom man can approach God to ask Him to strengthen His people with His love since it is His love and is for His glory. How this should free man from slavery to works or any other thing but a love for the glory of God. How this should free man from self-consciousness and self-centeredness and deliver him over to a love for the glory of the self-existent and self-sufficient God from whom all things come.

This teaching should move man to flee from the world. All the items in the world have been created to manifest the glory of God. When I dote on an object as something for self, I am an idolater. God is the creator, owner, and sustainer of all things including me. I am created to be filled with His glory in order to manifest His character and to use things for the purpose which they have been made. Idolatry is to use things for self rather than to manifest God. Meditating on the I AM will help deliver from idolatry. How this should drive man to an utter humility to see his need for God at each and every moment and that God does not need him for anything at all. Free grace. Glory.

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Self-Existence 7

May 1, 2006

Reflecting on the self-existence of God might seem to be more of a philosophical endeavor than of something that is useful to the Church or individual people. Some might want to ask something on the order of how this teaching would help a person in evangelism. Those who are inclined to practical things, they would say, do not need such teachings. They want something that will help them live and do what they do. In contrast to that way of thinking, I argue that the most practical thing in the world is the knowledge of God. Evangelism has to do with the Gospel of God and so the more we know of God the more we see the glory of God in the Gospel. Let us look at a few verses on the importance of the knowledge of God.

II Peter 1:2: “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” There is nothing a person needs more than the grace of God. Virtually all men desire peace with others and an inner peace. Whether they recognize it or not, men must have peace with God. How are men and women to have the multiplication of grace and peace? It comes by the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. In fact, this sounds almost exactly like John 17:3 where we are told that “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Grace and peace come through the knowledge of God and eternal life is found in knowing God. So the more that people know God the more they experience eternal life and the more they will be able to declare the Gospel since the Gospel is about eternal life. The knowledge of God is the most practical thing that a person can know.

II Peter 1:3: “seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”  This text tells us that everything we need for life and godliness has been granted to us by His divine power. His divine power brings us these things thought the true knowledge of Him. What does a person need to have life and godliness? The true knowledge of God is declared by Scripture to be what is needed. So again it is seen how practical the knowledge of God really is.

In the above verses we can see that what is really needed for life and all things is the knowledge of God or of knowing God. We must know about God and know God in order to be the kind of people who glorify God in the world. Evangelism is not the most important activity that there is, knowing God is. The most important thing in the world is to know and glorify God. Evangelism must flow from knowing God to telling people how to know God. God is the One that we worship in all of life and by doing evangelism; we don’t worship men and therefore do evangelism. God’s glory is more important than anything else so we must learn to do evangelism as part of loving God and doing all for His glory.

If we reflect and worship the God who is self-existent, we should know that we need strength from source to do evangelism. We will either draw strength from self-love or we will pray to God and receive strength from grace. If we do evangelism strengthened by grace, then we will do it in the power of love for God. Evangelism done out of duty or strengthened by self-love and self-righteousness is not evangelism done out of love for God or for our neighbor. So the self-existent nature of God is vital if we are going to be strengthened by grace and His love. God is not moved by us, He is moved by Himself. So for man to have proper motives and strength in evangelism, man must love God and draw from His strength and energy that are moved for His own glory.

When we go and proclaim the Gospel, are we going to tell men a message and then leave it all up to them? Surely we must tell them of the Gospel of a God who can give a new heart and put a love for Him in their hearts. Surely we want to tell them of a Gospel that is beyond their natural strength and give them a hope in the God who is moved by His own glory to save sinners. The self-existent and self-sufficient God is necessary to proclaim the Gospel of His glory to sinners. We must never present a needy God who is wringing His hands and hoping that the sinner will make a decision for Him. We must declare a God who is so glorious that the sinner will see that God must change his heart. So while it is true that many people do not need to hear of a self-existent God to evangelize, it is also not clear which gospel of which god they would be proclaiming. The Gospel that Paul declared in Acts 17 is the Gospel of a self-existent God who needs no one and declares the coming judgment of all men. Maybe we don’t evangelize like Paul did because we have forgotten the One who upholds the breath of all men every moment and so we don’t declare His glory as Paul did. Maybe self-existence is really very practical after all.

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Self-Existence 6

April 28, 2006

How does the self-existence of God influence the “feelings” of people? How does this make you feel? Does this teaching scare or comfort you? Does this attribute shock you or move you to wonder and adoration? Does this encourage you to obedience or leave you with the idea of giving up? Human beings are born dead in sins and trespasses. They do not love God by nature and are at enmity with Him (Rom 5:10). Man wants to rule his own life and the lives of others. Man wants independency and do it all by himself. He is at war with God over who will run his life and who will get the honor and glory for all that is done. In his pride man does not want God to rule over him and he thinks that he has the power to resist God. In a very real sense man either lives the life of Satan who is all about himself in opposition to God or is like God who lives in His people ruling them and all things by a perfect wisdom and holiness. Man wants free will to do as he pleases, but man is either ruled by the devil or by God.

How does the self-existence of God influence the “feelings” of people? How does this make you feel? Does this teaching scare or comfort you? Does this attribute shock you or move you to wonder and adoration? Does this encourage you to obedience or leave you with the idea of giving up? Human beings are born dead in sins and trespasses. They do not love God by nature and are at enmity with Him (Rom 5:10). Man wants to rule his own life and the lives of others. Man wants independency and do it all by himself. He is at war with God over who will run his life and who will get the honor and glory for all that is done. In his pride man does not want God to rule over him and he thinks that he has the power to resist God. In a very real sense man either lives the life of Satan who is all about himself in opposition to God or is like God who lives in His people ruling them and all things by a perfect wisdom and holiness. Man wants free will to do as he pleases, but man is either ruled by the devil or by God.

Hearing about the self-existence of God, then, strikes at the very heart of sin. In his pride and independence man does not want to think of a God who does all for His own glory and does not need man. Man wants to be needed and in his pride thinks that he is doing God a favor by going to church or being nice to people. But of course that is sin too since man is doing that out of selfishness and pride rather than love for God. However, when prideful man who wants to depend on himself for all things hears of God in His glory who is self-existent, self-sufficient with no need and so cannot be served, that makes man uncomfortable. The very struggle with this attribute shows the sinfulness of the heart of man.

When man hears of this great God in whom all things exist and have their beings, it hits him hard. When he hears that his very breath is given to him by God, he might even begin to panic. He wonders how this can be. This would mean that God can take his life at any moment. This means that God is in control and not man. If God has no need and cannot be served, what can man do to manipulate God or to make up for past sins? How uncomfortable man is when he sees that he is in the hands of a sovereign God who does not need him and that he can do nothing for this great God. That is enough to make man nervous.

But what happens to the believer when he hears of God in this manner? This is true meat for the heart of the believer. He has already seen himself as a recipient of grace and knows that he cannot have saved himself. But now he sees that he had nothing to do with earning any part of his salvation or of any favor with God. He sees with relish that salvation is all of grace and is all to the glory of God (Eph 1:3-14; 2:1-10). This person now delights in his own helplessness because he can now live by grace and focus on the life of God in his own soul. This person now knows by experience that he is upheld in grace by the hand of God and not by his own so-called goodness and works. He knows now what it means to be strengthened by grace (Heb 3:9) and to labor according to His power which mightily works within (Col 1:29).

This moves the believer to confidence and so to die to self even more. The believer loves God and wants to do all things for the glory of God (I Cor 10:31). Before he thought that what he did glorified God, but now he sees that it is the love of God for His own glory in him that glorifies God. He now knows that it is not his hard labor in doing works in the name of Christ, but his dying to self and self-strength so that the love of God for His own glory would be in him and work through him. He now knows that he does not have to argue to the death with people over theology and the Bible, but he can discuss things with truth and power because it is God who is at work in him. How free the believer is who begins to understand that it does not all depend on him, but that he must depend on God alone on whom all things in reality depend.

The heart of the believer is comforted by this since he knows that God will uphold him until his work on earth is done. He can have comfort knowing that he is to love his enemies and trust in God who upholds the breath of those enemies. He can do evangelism boldly because the work is truly God’s and men are born through the work of the Scripture and the Spirit rather than man’s self-centered efforts. How freeing it is for the believer to live in light of the glory of God’s self-existence and self-sufficiency. To believe in anything less than a self-existent and self-sufficient God is really another religion and another God. How abominable it is for people to water down the biblical teaching of God in order to feel better about themselves and their so-called freedom.

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Self-Existence 5

April 25, 2006

How does the self-existence of God influence the “feelings” of people? How does this make you feel? Does this teaching scare or comfort you? Does this attribute shock you or move you to wonder and adoration? Does this encourage you to obedience or leave you with the idea of giving up? Human beings are born dead in sins and trespasses. They do not love God by nature and are at enmity with Him (Rom 5:10). Man wants to rule his own life and the lives of others. Man wants independency and do it all by himself. He is at war with God over who will run his life and who will get the honor and glory for all that is done. In his pride man does not want God to rule over him and he thinks that he has the power to resist God. In a very real sense man either lives the life of Satan who is all about himself in opposition to God or is like God who lives in His people ruling them and all things by a perfect wisdom and holiness. Man wants free will to do as he pleases, but man is either ruled by the devil or by God.

Hearing about the self-existence of God, then, strikes at the very heart of sin. In his pride and independence man does not want to think of a God who does all for His own glory and does not need man. Man wants to be needed and in his pride thinks that he is doing God a favor by going to church or being nice to people. But of course that is sin too since man is doing that out of selfishness and pride rather than love for God. However, when prideful man who wants to depend on himself for all things hears of God in His glory who is self-existent, self-sufficient with no need and so cannot be served, that makes man uncomfortable. The very struggle with this attribute shows the sinfulness of the heart of man.

When man hears of this great God in whom all things exist and have their beings, it hits him hard. When he hears that his very breath is given to him by God, he might even begin to panic. He wonders how this can be. This would mean that God can take his life at any moment. This means that God is in control and not man. If God has no need and cannot be served, what can man do to manipulate God or to make up for past sins? How uncomfortable man is when he sees that he is in the hands of a sovereign God who does not need him and that he can do nothing for this great God. That is enough to make man nervous.

But what happens to the believer when he hears of God in this manner? This is true meat for the heart of the believer. He has already seen himself as a recipient of grace and knows that he cannot have saved himself. But now he sees that he had nothing to do with earning any part of his salvation or of any favor with God. He sees with relish that salvation is all of grace and is all to the glory of God (Eph 1:3-14; 2:1-10). This person now delights in his own helplessness because he can now live by grace and focus on the life of God in his own soul. This person now knows by experience that he is upheld in grace by the hand of God and not by his own so-called goodness and works. He knows now what it means to be strengthened by grace (Heb 3:9) and to labor according to His power which mightily works within (Col 1:29).

This moves the believer to confidence and so to die to self even more. The believer loves God and wants to do all things for the glory of God (I Cor 10:31). Before he thought that what he did glorified God, but now he sees that it is the love of God for His own glory in him that glorifies God. He now knows that it is not his hard labor in doing works in the name of Christ, but his dying to self and self-strength so that the love of God for His own glory would be in him and work through him. He now knows that he does not have to argue to the death with people over theology and the Bible, but he can discuss things with truth and power because it is God who is at work in him. How free the believer is who begins to understand that it does not all depend on him, but that he must depend on God alone on whom all things in reality depend.

The heart of the believer is comforted by this since he knows that God will uphold him until his work on earth is done. He can have comfort knowing that he is to love his enemies and trust in God who upholds the breath of those enemies. He can do evangelism boldly because the work is truly God’s and men are born through the work of the Scripture and the Spirit rather than man’s self-centered efforts. How freeing it is for the believer to live in light of the glory of God’s self-existence and self-sufficiency. To believe in anything less than a self-existent and self-sufficient God is really another religion and another God. How abominable it is for people to water down the biblical teaching of God in order to feel better about themselves and their so-called freedom.

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