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“And the veil of the temple - was sewn back up!”
We are all so familiar with the resounding exclamation of Christ on the cross as He fully and completely satisfied the demands of the Law -“It is finished!” This loud cry was so efficacious that the barrier wall between the elect and the Father - symbolized by the veil of the temple - was torn asunder ushering in the new age of sonship.
sewn back up...
What we don’t realize is that the temple observations continued unabated until the final destruction - as all manmade institutions must - of the structure by the Romans in 70AD. That was approximately 40 years - a generation. For this to proceed the veil would have had to have been repaired - sewn back up! And to make this vain religious activity even more egregious–there was nothing behind the veil. The Ark of the Presence was no longer in its chamber since the destruction of Solomon’s Temple by the Babylonians centuries before.
needle and thread in our own hands...
This seems so utterly preposterous - but do we often have the needle and thread in our own hands? This is essentially what Paul confronted in the Church of the Galatians: “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” 3:3 Before we employ the distance of disdain as a tool to separate us from this admonition, let us consider...or should we say reconsider our own state.
A word of testimony might suffice here to aid in delivering us from the realms of shadow into concrete reality. I was in the midst of a glorious awakening of faith in the early 1970's. A group that I was a part - and for which I am very appreciative - used a small publication as a tool to spread our faith. In its concluding pages it addressed those that had begun a new life in Christ with a list of things that were necessary to grow in faith: prayer, fellowship, Bible study and witnessing. All of these are noble and beneficial exercises - yet when they entered into my psyche they were interpreted in this way: If I did not do these things then God would not be pleased with me.
Having come into a fresh and vital relationship with the Father through the Son, my subsequent attitude was to attempt to close off this new life by the abject futility of works righteousness. If I found myself behind the closed doors of an elevator with another person and did not witness to them - and I never did - I heaped condemnation upon myself for having failed to please God.
a seamster sewing back up the rent veil...
I could so identify with the words of Paul: “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” Romans 7:24 Having truly been set free by the unmerited favor of God I was now - through delusion - busy at the occupation of a seamster sewing back up the rent veil. This is not unlike the profession of our original parents in fashioning clothing for themselves to hide their shame from the searching gaze of their Creator. Guilt - unaddressed by grace - always seeks to cover itself with the garments of self-righteousness. Yet the Word of God will always prevail (pre-veil?) for there is nothing that can be hidden from it: “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:13
God - in His Faithful Fatherhood - sent a British Pentecostal into our community with the Son-honoring message of the Blood Covenant. It was as if I was born-again again! There was nothing I could do to add to the all-consuming veracity of the Son. The encroaching cataractal cloud was removed from my heart’s eye with laser-like precision and I once again beheld Him with an unveiled conscience. The Divine ophthalmologist had done His work! I was renewed to the company of those who “with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”
the thief - sewing basket is in his hand...
There is no other way - He is the only door - to enter into the ultimate purpose of His adopted children. That is conformity into the image of His Son that the Son would be the Foremost of the Company of the First-born (Romans 8:29). The thief will try to come in by another door to steal your liberty–the sewing basket is in his hand, but he is defeated every time by the immutable Word of God: “for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.” 1 Peter 1:23
Here is a brief account from the life of Augustine of Hippo when the veil over his heart was sovereignly rent. “Whether it was the voice of a boy or a girl I cannot say, but again and again it repeated the refrain ‘Take it and read, take it and read.’ So I hurried back to the place where Alypius was sitting…seized [the book of Paul’s epistles] and opened it, and in silence I read the first passage on which my eyes fell: ‘Not in reveling in drunkenness, not in lust and wantonness, not in quarrels and rivalries. Rather, arm yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ; spend no more thought on nature and nature’s appetites’ (Rom. 13:13-14). I had no wish to read more and no need to do so. For in an instant, as I came to the end of the sentence, it was as though the light of confidence flooded into my heart and all the darkness of doubt was dispelled.”
the slightest stitch of blinding...
Christian, may we be those of the fixed gaze - that is, those who have been transfixed by His gaze. Our enamor of Him will be so awesome that even the slightest stitch of blinding encroachment will be readily revealed for what it is - a bewitchment. With Paul we shall concur: “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" Galatians 2:21
legalism’s needle and thread far from us...
May the following word from Charles Spurgeon serve to put legalism’s needle and thread far from us–that the unveiled grace of repentance may draw us inexorably into times of refreshing from the Presence of the Lord.
Keep thine eye simply on Him; let His death, His sufferings, His merits, His glories, His intercession, be fresh upon thy mind; when thou wakest in the morning look to Him; when thou liest down at night look to Him. Oh! let not thy hopes or fears come between thee and Jesus; follow hard after Him, and He will never fail thee.
"My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness:
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name."
ultimate rending...
Returning to the ultimate authority which is more than capable of rending the veil - and keeping it rent: 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. 2 Corinthians 4:6 And we rejoice: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8:1
“...for there is a sound of abundance of rain.”
(What I am about to share begins with rain and concludes with reign.)
“Why are you going out in the rain?” Nancy asked me. “Because I want to hear what they are saying,” was my reply. That Saturday evening - the rain pouring down outside - as I listened to several - of varying race, gender, generation and denomination - my thoughts turned to the passage below which I immediately looked up on my electronic tablet. (I am not really that out of touch!) What they espoused was a hope in God that is impervious to the encroachments of modern culture - no matter how alluring. The siren song of subjectivism - each doing what is right in his own eyes - is effectively silenced.
"For I have chosen him, so that he may command (direct) his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him." Genesis 18:19 NAS
I am amazed at the stark contrast concerning perspectives on this verse. For the historic Reformed evangelical it is about God - for the modern it is about Abraham. Abraham is choice among men as a result of having been chosen by God. This majestic principle cannot be relegated to foreknowledge alone. It must arise out of foreordination.
Abraham instructs
A faithful God chooses Abraham by divine fiat. As a result Abraham instructs his whole household - possibly to include servants - in the way of the Lord: the doing of righteousness and justice. The ultimate objective being: “so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” This is a blessing that is transcendent of generational restrictions–or any other form of societal constraints.
That is the Lord initiates, sustains and consummates - no greater motivation exists for the children of God. Such majesty gives rise to worship - our highest and eternal calling. “That no flesh should glory in his presence.” 1 Corinthians 1:29 KJV Also: “so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 4:11b NAS
Abraham did not waiver
So when we come to the New Testament it is recorded that Abraham did not waiver in faith - yet the Old Testament story records many waivers. As John Wimber said, “Ishmael would be a waiver in my household.” May the Holy Spirit grant us - with our finite minds - the ability to grasp such magnanimous truth.
The very thorough Pulpit Commentary reads: “the Divine resolution (is grounded) on the prior fact that Divine grace had elected him to the high destiny described in the language following.”
In the notes of a more modern divine: “This is a bright part of Abraham's character. And this is given as the reason why God would make known to him his purpose concerning Sodom; because he was communicative of his knowledge, and improved it.”
Abraham improved on what God had given to him!? Please.... I hope not to mean disrespect for this writer, but this might as well be Dr. Phil talking. For him this was only about the coming judgement on Sodom. In reality it is the entirety of the Abrahamic Covenant - through the Seed of the Promise all of the nations would be blessed: “Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.” Genesis 18:18
If - even by foreknowledge - it is the character of Abram that attracted God’s attention, then the Monk Pelagius still lives and the voice of Hippo’s Bishop Augustine is effectively silenced.1 The decent into humanism is then a very swift and slippery slope. If God’s choosing is on the basis of choice - then who be god? Note Augustine's famous prayer: "Grant what Thou commandest, and command what Thou dost desire."
Abraham is a doer
The operating system of the declaration of God to the two witnesses concerning Abraham is the doing of righteousness and justice settled upon the immutable foundation of the sovereignty of God: “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;...” Psalm 89:14a Please understand that it is the foundation - not foundations less dualism raise its hooded head.
As a caveat before concluding below I want to reiterate my hope of a people - not just one generation, gender or ethnicity - that will resist the subtle seduction of sub-culturism and be lifted up to the mandate of counterculture transformation. Modern evangelicalism - for the most part - has not been able to make this transition. This is why I refer to myself as an evangelical agnostic.
We are worshipers
Paul - who had no thought of surrendering to Christ until he was apprehended - addresses this issue head-on:
The NIV subtitles the following passage with one word: doxology. This word means to honor God as in worship. "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.” John 4:23 This worship cannot be constrained by certain times or at certain places. It is pervasive.
Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 "Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?"
35 "Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?"
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Arise True Worshipers and proclaim with one voice: "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.”
1The seminal thought of Pelagius survives today not as a trace or tangential influence but is pervasive in the modern church. Indeed, the modern church is held captive by it. R.C. Sproul
From heaven He came and sought her
To be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her
And for her life He died.
I Will!
Recently while reading a book from the pen of a 19th Century Scottish preacher I saw the following scripture through the eyes of revelation in a way that was startling. To me it became not only an intercessory petition from the Son to the Father on our behalf - I saw it as an authoritative creative declaration generated by the oneness of the Father and the Son - for He says, “I will!” Even though there is a view toward expectancy - much greater is the concrete reality of finality.
“Father, I will that they also, whom you have given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which you have given me: for you loved me before the foundation of the world.” John 17:24
In His great high priestly prayer the Son offers up to the Father what the Father has given Him to give Him. For what He now testifies to the Father he had declared previously to all of mankind: "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.” John 6:39
Supreme Authority
Herein lies the supreme authority of divine initiative - yet not in initiative only as in the beginning. There is also here His complete sustainability - He will not lose even a single of those given Him by His Father: “and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” John 10:28 These spiritual markers of initiative and sustainability point toward the ultimate consummation - glorification: “We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.” 1 John 3:2b Lest we fall into the trap of believing this is all about us we have this unequivocal superlative: "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." Revelation 1:8 Thus He is the One who regenerates, perseveres and brings to ultimate completion.
The Church
This is the Church of the Living God - chosen in the Son of God before the worlds were ever framed. She is the will of the Son - His lasting testament - His crowning achievement. “You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD's hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God.” Isaiah 62:3 NIV
Paul wrote what he had received as a revelation of (from) Jesus Christ: “that He might present to Himself the church (His bride) in all her glory (splendor), having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” Ephesians 5:27 In effect the Holy Spirit is bearing witness: the Saviour is swearing by Himself - I will present to Myself.... The ineffability of such a declaration staggers the ability of the human mind to comprehend. Indeed, without the gift of faith the apprehension of such immutable truth is impossible. The facility to grasp this verity comes only as a result of having been grasped by it.
Of this faith He Himself is its author and perfecter - “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith,...” Hebrews 12:2a The one who is the author writes the prologue, the main body and the epilogue of the saga - we cannot escape seeing the use of the root word logos herein. “In the beginning was the Word,...All things came into being through Him,...”
Truth
This truth is so completely absolute - adulteration can find no place to lay a hand. “I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold (handhold - no place to get a grasp) over me,...” John 14:30 NIV Of the One whom the Father made this declaration: "You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased." the enemy can find no place to lay a hand.
Those whom the Father has given the Son are loved in Him before the foundation of the world: “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love” They are hidden and protected in the very proclamation the Father made toward the Son.
This is either to most preposterous audacious statement that was ever uttered - or it the most striking example of the absolute clarity of the Father’s purpose in His Son that has ever graced the ears of the elect from every tribe, tongue and nation. Actually it is both. There is no middle ground. "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:44
Firm Foundation
This is a sure, firm and unshakeable foundation: “Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’" 2 Timothy 2:19 These are His as a result of the will of the Father as revealed in the Son. “even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.” John 17:2 (Election or universalism - no other options.)
The writers of the Pulpit Commentary put this sagaciously: “the prayer of the incarnate Logos to the eternal Father, and therefore an address indubitably supernatural and lifted above all human consciousness.”
Mid toil and tribulation,
and tumult of her war,
she waits the consummation
of peace forevermore;
till, with the vision glorious,
her longing eyes are blest,
and the great church victorious
shall be the church at rest.
“I just can’t go any further!”
These were the weary words of my young friend midway through our bike ride on the local backcountry roads. “Do you have a cell phone so I can call someone to come and get me?” he continued to plead. Indeed I did, but there was no signal available. He thought of turning back but what he did not realize was that it was as far to go back as it was to continue – plus a hill that we had effortlessly coasted down would become a nearly insurmountable obstacle on the way back.
He had no choice but to persevere. Once he realized this he picked himself from the ground on which he was lying, mounted his bicycle and pressed onward. Much to his amazement he was able to complete the journey with no further self-remonstrance. Indeed, he was propelled forward on the cresting wave of immutability.
As I devotionally read the passage below my mind went back to the event recounted above which so graphically illustrates one of the great doctrines arising out of the Reformation – “the perseverance of the saints.” This is the “P” in the well-known TULIP acrostic.
“We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV
In one verse Paul describes three qualities of the life of Christian which he is confident to remember before God. Aware of the pitfall of self-aggrandizement he ties each one to its divine motivational source. Of our work it is by the faith of the Son of God; of our labor it is by the love of God and turning to the grace that we are addressing here – endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christian is able to persevere...
...solely as the enduring result of One who has persevered on his behalf. “For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:3 We can sing “no turning back, no turning back” all day long but if it springs forth only out of the cistern of human determination it will suffice us not one bit.
Are we encouraged to press on? Indeed! Paul was able to press on – persevere – as a result of being apprehended by Christ Jesus: “but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” Philippians 3:12b NIV
Moving forward one verse in 1 Thessalonians the apostle plumbs the unfathomable depths of the well from which such hopeful perseverance finds its source: “For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you,” 1 Thessalonians 1:4 NIV Maintaining our analogy here the plumb will never reach the bottom—for if it could man would garner this attribute unto himself.
The 18th century pastor and commentator John Gill says it this way: “for this choice does not arise from the merits of men,… but from the free grace and good pleasure of God; and is the source and spring of all grace, and the blessings of it, and even of good works; and is a sure, immutable, and irreversible act of God,” Another way to put it is that Christian is chosen not because he is choice—he becomes choice as a result of being chosen.
This great truth compelled Paul...
...throughout his missionary journeys. It caused him to learn to be content in whatever state he found himself – whether abounding or abasing. And as the culmination of his earthly sojourn began to become clearer and nearer it remained his steadfast hope: “because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.until that day.” 2 Timothy 1:12
It is this sure and unwavering hope that results in no licentious fatalism but is the driving force “instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,” Titus 2:13
Endurance is the fruit of election...
...the sovereign purpose of our Eternal God. The root and the fruit must never become confused – lest we find ourselves mired in the quicksand of legalistic perfectionism. This is that which Paul warned the Galatian Church against: “Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?” Galatians 3:3
For Christian our compelling gaze is transfixed upon the one of Whom it is written: “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2
The endurance of the Son was firmly rooted in the Father’s favor: "You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased." Mark 1:11 His resultant obedience did nothing to improve His Heavenly relationship—it was all about His relationship with us by which He became our Faithful Intercessor.
From the Pulpit Commentary we read: “he is the Leader of the whole army of faith, whose standard we are to follow, and whose own completed victory is the enabling cause as well as the earnest of our own.”
Obedience is a result not a cause...
...it is a fruit not the root. This can be seen most adequately in Christ’s own prayer to His Father: "I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.” John 17:6 This discourse firmly declares the purpose of God which is incapable of failure.
Today it seems – especially in the vacuous realm of electronic media – so much of what purports itself to be Christian doctrine is nothing more than platitudinous “guru-ism.” It is empty self-help theory-ism—empty shadowy promises devoid of any capability to produce lasting fruit for the agency is laid at the doorstep of humanism denying the true effectual agency of which Paul wrote: “so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.” 1 Thessalonians 3:13
The singular purpose of God is declared so clearly here: “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;” Romans 8:29 His foreknowledge and His foreordination cannot be subject to the cleaver of dualism for they are one. It is not possible to embrace one while leaving the other on the chopping block. There is nothing in the agency of man that is capable of frustrating this inalterable calling.
So Christian, have you fallen off your bicycle...
...and are lying prostrate with exhaustion? You may have come to the end of yourself—but you have not come to the end of the Father’s purpose in and through you. Church, it may not seem that you are fulfilling your purpose in the earth. Yet you will for He has determined to “present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” Ephesians 5:27
“For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.” 2 Corinthians 1:20
And for our benediction:
“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
Solus Christus – In Christ Alone
The Sovereignty of God in the Call and Commission of Paul
Total
If there was ever an individual that could give expression to total depravity it was Saul of Tarsus.
“Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,” Acts 9:1 Yet he was not unique for the Psalmist writes: “Every one of them has turned aside; together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.” Psalm 53:3
The apostle himself later writes: “All have turned away. They have become completely worthless. No one shows kindness, not even one person!” Romans 3:12 and “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,...” Romans 3:23
At this point we might ask ourselves, “How many is all?” And the answer must be: “All is all.” Is there even one of Adam’s race that is outside these perimeters? “Not even one!” Having said this we do recognize that many are capable of genuine altruism - yet no matter the height of the philanthropy, it is still unable to reach the realms of the glory of God. It always falls woefully short and may have the consequence of masking the need for a Savior.
So desperate is our fallen condition that there is not one thing extant in our being that commends us to God. Indeed, until the Spirt of God begins to initiate the process of conversion in our lives we are totally and completely without hope.
There is a term for this system of belief - monergism. According to monergists, all men have an unregenerated human nature, and faith to believe is beyond the power of this unregenerated human nature. All merit is ascribed to the Son - and to the Son alone.
With that in mind what was it about Saul of Tarsus that commended himself to the saving grace of God? We could search high and wide - and indeed wade into the morass of speculation - but still come up with the same inescapable conclusion: nothing! If there was anything exceptional about Paul it would be this: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst.” 1 Timothy 1:15b NIV
Unconditional
Indeed Paul’s election was so unconditional that he would recount it as occurring while he was yet in his mother’s womb: “But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, was pleased...” Galatians 1:15 It pleased God and God alone to call Paul even before his lungs were first filled with air allowing him to make his first utterance: “that I might preach Him among the Gentiles.” Galatians 1:16
Paul himself recalled those things that he might have offered to the Father as evidence of his worthiness of salvation: “circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee;...” Philippians 3:5 Yet as he looked back to that climactic day on the Damascus Road he knew that none of these contributed to his election: “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.” Philippians 3:7
Limited
The calling of God on that day - was limited toward Saul and Saul alone. A friend likens it to the call of God on Isaiah: “He dropped down and ate gravel, like did Saul of Tarsus on his way to Damascus.” The men who were traveling with him heard the sound, but only Saul heard the voice: “The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone.” Acts 9:7 NIV Thus they were without revelation.
Another instance of this would be the raising of Lazarus from the dead. If the Lord had said, “Come forth!” all of the tombs within the sound of his voice would have yielded their occupants - unequivocally. Yet, “He cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth.’” This, that day, was the divine decree: “It's for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." John 11:4 ISV Paul would later write: “that the purpose of God according to election might stand: not of works, but of him that calls.” Romans 9:11 Jubilee Bible
A dear friend recently recounted sharing the truth of Christ with a group of young girls that she was mentoring. As she looked over them, she saw the Holy Spirit moving on one via a tearful face. She prayed with her as the love of God filled her heart and recounted: “Glory to God in the Highest!!! He had prepared this moment just for her!!!”
Irresistible
The modern evangelist may say, “Now to all who are within the sound of my voice the invitation is extended.” Yet it will only be those of whom it is said “and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.” Acts 13:48b Only these will be gripped by irresistible grace. No where in the conversion experience of Saul do we see him being offered a choice - or an invitation to accept.
This was his commission: “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.” Acts 9:5-6 The declaration “it will be told you” is a function of the verb to be or I am: "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" Exodus 3:14 The verb became a noun - this truth continuing on to the incarnation: In the beginning was the Word (Logos - the expression of God in action) John 1:1a.
To those who insist that God will not violate our “free will” and that he gives us the ability to choose or reject Him - I am at a loss. We only become free when we are embraced by the unfailing love of God in Christ Jesus: "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36 And not one second before!
Persevering
To Ananias the Lord spoke the persevering call of God on the life of the apostle: “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” Acts 9:15-16 Once again the future divine declarative of I Am. When God says He will - He will!!!
Thus confidence was so inspired in Saul of Tarsus - the threat breather, that he was transformed into Paul the bond-servant of the Lord. This heavenly calling would cause him to persevere until the fullness of his time on earth was complete. He would bequeath to his young disciple Timothy this infallible hope: “which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.” 2 Timothy 1:12 ESV
Paul had not become an automaton - but a son: Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" Galatians 4:6
A later hymn writer would pen these same immutable convictions:
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.
This progression of thought is aptly summed up here: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 Geneva Bible Many later versions have: “I live by faith in the Son of God,...” The use of in instead of of is much more than a simple nuance - it is an abounding profundity. The “of” is the very key that unlocks the vastness of this eternal treasure–bringing the light of revelation to the mystery previously hidden. More recent translations declare: “I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God.” ISV
Only by this understanding are we gripped by the following verse: “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" Galatians 2:21 NIV
This is the total, unconditional, limited, irresistible and persevering purpose of the Father in the Son of His Love. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Romans 8:29 Geneva Bible
Solus Christus - In Christ Alone
In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand.
Stuart Townend and Keith Getty
I almost fell off my stool!
I was seated at a high-top in the café of King’s River Worship Center with my friend Pastor Dennis Chasteen as we were gathering for a Pray West Virginia leadership council. I was sharing with him - what for me had come as a revelation. I have mentioned this in a blog before, but will go deeper with it here.
How will they believe in Him...
One of the greatest evangelical exhortations is: “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?” Romans 10:14 NAS Almost all other translations say something like this: “and how shall they believe in him of (about) whom they have not heard?” The New American Standard is one of the few versions that is faithful to the incarnational nature of the Gospel. Is our message Christ and Christ alone, or is it of or about Him - if the latter, presumptuous adulteration is unavoidable.
An excellent rendering is provided by the Weymouth New Testament: “And how are they to believe in One whose voice they have never heard?” (“Of” wants to roll off the tongue at the end of this sentence, but it is decidedly not there.)
To hear him is irresistible - to hear of him leaves us with options. We subject - at least within our own minds - the Consummate One to the peril of conjecture. That is why we get “called according to His purposes” - as opposed to His purpose! How often I hear evangelical leaders opine either in postlude or prayer on Romans 8:28 and reduce the sole purpose of conformity to the image of His Son to purposes - thus subtlety shifting the emphasis from the immortal to the temporal. (A similar grating of the fingernails on the chalkboard is referring to the Book of the Revelation as “Revelations.”)
Our Father is calling us here in West Virginia to this singularity - oneness! May we note Weymouth’s translation once again: “believe in One...” And the great Shema of Israel: "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one." It is fitting here to notice also that our Lord in His high priestly petition (John 17) did not ask for unity on our behalf, but oneness: “that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You,...”
Preposition or Presupposition
Now back to our opening scene: In a momentary mental lapse I remarked, “Well, it is only a preposition.” Pastor Dennis’ laconic rejoinder was, “It is not a preposition - it is a presupposition!” My immediate response was to hurl a brief - but non-profane - expletive in his direction along with a light punch to his shoulder. A vista of implication had suddenly opened before me that was so staggering it almost caused me to fall from my stool.
The following scribing of my electronic stylus may only serve to scratch the surface of this wonder...
The definition of presupposition is: “to suppose or assume beforehand; take for granted in advance.” An identical synonym is presumption - “to take for granted.” Can you see where this is beginning to lead us? A miasmic tar-baby of deception awaits those foolish enough to rush in where angels fear to tread. The pitcher plant’s deadly allure offers nothing in comparison.
Our attention is drawn back to this Psalm of David: “Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.” Psalm 19:13 NAS
Could we not also call this the sin of presumption - a great transgression?
Charles Spurgeon writes: “This earnest and humble prayer teaches us that saints may fall into the worst of sins unless restrained by grace, and that therefore they must watch and pray lest they enter into temptation. Every sin has in it the very venom of rebellion, and is full of the essential marrow of traitorous rejection of God; but there be some sins which have in them a greater development of the essential mischief of rebellion, and which wear upon their faces more of the brazen pride which defies the Most High.” Treasury of David
From the New Testament we read: “Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of the glorious ones.” 2 Peter 2:10 KJV 2000 Other translations include arrogant, proud, will-ful, etc.
To be presumptuous is to be judgmental - too often this characterizes the church at least in the minds of honest seekers Presuming to know that God will react in certain ways to our initiatives is to sow the seeds of bigoted religiosity. The glorious reality of the Gospel is thus sullied by incantational nonsense.
Word of the Sovereign Lord
The Word of the Sovereign Lord came to the Prophet Ezekiel: “I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD." 37:6
Three times He expresses His will: twice He says “I will” and once “you will.” The number three represents the fullness of the Godhead. And then He declares: “I am the LORD.” Here we hear echoes from the burning bush: “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” The message of Ezekiel - and Moses - was not about the Sovereign Lord–it was the very Word Incarnate.
Immediately before this He said to Ezekiel: “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!’” And then He tells Ezekiel what to say to them: “I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.”
This is the essence of prophetic praying - speaking forth what God has told you to say. This is a sweet fragrance unto the Lord - a bowl of incense. Presumption is a stench. Prayer begins in God and returns to Him having served His sovereign purpose - it will not return void.
“So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.”’” Ezekiel had heard the Word of the Lord and now he was hearing the sound of fulfillment. He was thus kept in a rapt attitude of worship.
Sin of Covetousness
Presumption is as the sin of covetousness - for by it we covet the role of God. It is the false worship of the creature rather than the Creator. Thus the first command of the Decalogue is the alpha - “You shall have no other gods before me;” and the last is the omega - “You shall not covet...” By them the whole Law is tied together from the beginning to the end.
Covetousness is the deadly allure by which Nemesis leads her victims to the pool of Narcissus - or departing from mythology to fairy tales the morbid mantra becomes: “Mirror, mirror on the wall...” In our modern vernacular it would be a “selfy.” All of which are predated by the seducing words of the tempter of Eden: “You will not surely die.” Paul looks back to the garden and writes: “And they changed the glory of God, who is indestructible, into the likeness of the image of man, which is destructible,” Romans 1:23a Aramaic
The commentator F.F. Bruce notes: “And it could be argued that covetousness is the quintessential sin.” I once heard Malcolm Smith teach something like this: “I can read the first nine commandments and feel pretty good about myself - but the tenth one absolutely destroys me.” Of course this is a good thing, forcing us upon the mercy and grace of Almighty God. There is nothing within ourselves that can keep us from covetousness. Insisting on our ability to choose reduces as to stark impotence. “Free moral agency” is a myth. We are only free when our bondage is broken by Christ Himself: “So if the Son sets you free, you will be absolutely free.” John 8:36 GOD’S WORD
It could be said that it is this struggle of ‘wants’ that Paul saw in himself and indeed in every man: “For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.” Romans 7:19 For prior to this he had exclaimed: “I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.” Romans 7:7b We - with Paul - find our answer to this dilemma in the fulness of the Son: “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Romans 7:24-25a
The greatness of our God - Be Thou my vision
May we be apprehended by a vision of the greatness of our God that will totally transcend all tendencies toward presumption. His all-sufficiency will easily eclipse the inferior light of covetousness. It is with a modicum of poetic license that I believe God gave Abram - as evidence of the eternal covenant - a vision not just of his descendants which would be temporal, but of Himself which is eternal. “And why?” you might say. For one cannot see where the sands of the sea or the stars of the sky begin nor where they end–thus they are eternal. “Then the LORD took him outside. ‘Look up at the sky and count the stars—if you can!’" Genesis 15:5 ISV
It is most fortunate for us that He knows our frame and thus He receives our feeble attempts to qualify and quantify Him - “if you can.”
No longer will our message be of Him or about Him - but it will be Him! “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.” John 1:18 NIV
Sam Storms addresses this so eloquently: “Worship without wonder is lifeless and boring. Many have lost their sense of awe and amazement when it comes to God. Having begun with the arrogant presumption of knowing about God all that one can, they reduce him to manageable terms and confine him to a tidy theological box, the dimensions of which conform to their predilections of what a god ought to be and do. That they’ve lost the capacity to marvel at the majesty of God comes as little surprise.”1
I would add that the propriety of the ultimate surprise remains the domain of the Eternal Father.
From the ancient Celtic hymn we derive our benediction:
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
1 Sam Storms, onething - Developing a Passion for the Beauty of God, 2004, Christian Focus, Scotland, UK, pp 69-70
I Found God! I accepted Jesus...I made Him Lord of my life. These phrases and many more like them have come to be the common vernacular of much of modern evangelicalism. Even worse might be the campaign slogan: “I found it.” All of which serve - at least in our own minds - to reduce the God of Glory to some form of amorphous or abstract deity void of any concrete relevance either in our lives or in the world at large. We must ask ourselves, “Who was lost and in need of being found?”
Without too much difficulty we can see a similar thread running through each one of these interjections and that is - of course - the strong emphasis on the pronoun I. At first glance we may glibly conclude that all of this is really just innocuous. However, I am convinced that we must consider the possibility that something much more insidious has entered into not just our conversation, but has warped the very essence of our relationship with our Heavenly Father.
Instead of being a living creation we become some sort of zombie-esque creature. Yet it is impossible for the Immutable to produce a mutation. The Divine initiative of the Father can only produce living children - born anew by the power of the Holy Spirit. ‘And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”’ Galatians 4:6 ESV
By so trifling with the omnipotence of God the quality of childlikeness is exchanged for childishness - the adoring progeny becomes a demanding brat. “On the contrary, who are you—mere man that you are—to talk back to God? Can an object that was molded say to the one who molded it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’" Romans 9:20 ISV Or what might be more common in our modern era: “How can the one who has been chosen say that it is my own choices that determine the course of my fate?” Can we not hear the echoes of the atheistic anthem Invictus: “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”
Contend Earnestly
We must concern ourselves or even “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.” Jude 1:3 NAS As the commentator pastor John Gill states: “it was delivered by God the Father to Christ as Mediator,...” The ancient declared faith has devolved into modernistic sloganism. The truth has been exchanged for something that is decidedly less than that.
I am drawn repeatedly to the confessions of the Reformers and also to the hymnody that has subsequently arisen–much like the bloom of the morning glory at dawn’s first light. I like to call these “timeless truths.” Recently this verse from 1836 found my attention which I posted to Facebook.
My Lord, I did not choose You,
For that could never be;
My heart would still refuse You,
Had You not chosen me.
You took the sin that stained me,
You cleansed me, made me new;
Of old You have ordained me,
That I should live in You.
A good friend who has come to the awareness of such truth responded: “A most liberating truth that changes one's perspective entirely and causes a spring of hope to transform into a river of gratefulness for the goodness, grace and wisdom of God!”
This is the purpose of my endeavor here. We must have a change in perspective. Our focus needs to depart from the allegiance to our personal I - I made Jesus my personal saviour - to the supreme majesty of the I AM. “for unless you believe that I AM, you'll die in your sins." John 8:24b ISV
Our salvation is far greater than something He does for us - it is something He does to us for His Glory. With that in mind let us consider this: “Grace is much, much more than the definition that we have been taught of ‘unmerited favor’. It is all that and more. Grace is the power of God to save us, to change us and transform us and do for us that which we cannot do for ourselves or for anyone else.”
Apprehended By Faith
While recently considering the matter of faith I was drawn quite logically to “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.” Hebrews 11:3 Yet it seemed that faith had to be much more than something we “understand” or to which we merely acquiesce via our intellect. I much prefer this alternative “By faith we apprehend...” (Darby) or even “Faith convinces us...” (GOD’S WORD).
Saul on the Damascus Road did not just come to understand that Jesus was the Lord of His Church. No mere intellectual assent could suffice here. He was apprehended - the force of which propelled him through the rest of his life on into eternity–which he now had in his heart. It is hard for us to see here where he accepted any sort of invitation - so why then do we invite people to come to Christ? Indeed his commission by the Word of the Lord was: “for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name's sake.” Rest assured in confidence that when God says He will - He does! To ease the fears of Ananias He said, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name...”
Paul would then write: “but I run so that I may obtain that thing for which Yeshua The Messiah apprehended me.” Philippians 3:12 Aramaic in Plain English or even “I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.” To be apprehended is to be laid hold of by something or Someone who is outside of and decidedly greater than ourselves. This goes far beyond the realms of intellectual assent alone. This is the faith of which our Lord Christ is the author and perfecter.
To presuppose that our salvation depends on our ability to initiate - or even respond - indicates something inherently good within ourselves which flies in the face of Original Sin or as the Reformers called it: Total Depravity. “for all alike have sinned, and all consciously come short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23 Weymouth If we do deny the doctrine of Total Depravity, do we not also deny the need of a Total Saviour and Lord?
If He is not total - and absolute - we subject Him to the limited abilities of our minds to conceptualize or quantify and qualify. This gives rise to such statements as, “My god would not do that.” The subsequent effect is to make God into our own image which is none other than “mind idolatry.” Essentially we have become our own god–thus subjecting ourselves to the whims of hypotheses.
God Will Not?
In a recent conversation with a fellow pastor he defiantly claimed, “God will not cross over our free moral will.” Really? One must wonder what Paul would have thought about just such a statement. “But when he who separated me from my mother's womb chose and called me by his grace...” Galatians 1:15 Aramaic in Plain English Do we repeat things so often that we have come to believe them even though they fly in the face of the Authoritative Word? Have we become so deceived because of our desire to be profound? "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:5 NAS
Was Paul unique - some sort of super-apostle as he deridingly refers to those who thought they were special at least in their own eyes. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” 1 Timothy 1:15 KJV As it has been observed he referred to himself as an apostle in his earliest letters - then toward the culmination he was the chief of sinners or a bond servant. He descended into greatest becoming more and more conformed into the image of his Lord--the Glory of God was increased in him.
On my last trip to Uganda as I was sharing with a group of pastors in the Sembabule District I began to relate the story of the Moravian missionaries who were willing to sell themselves into slavery so that they might fulfill their calling to bring the Good News to the slaves on the sugar plantations of the West Indies. Their commission has resounded down through history. As they left their friends and family possibly never to see them again: "May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of his suffering!"
My scripture reference was: "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:44 NAS The Father is presenting us to His Son as a reward for His suffering! We are therefore “the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Acts 20:28b NAS It cannot be possible for Him to lose that for which He has paid such a dear price. This is the inviolate purpose initiated by the Father in His Son before the world was ever framed. “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish--ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand.” John 10:28 HCSB
Welling Up of Gratitude
This revelation can do nothing but cause a deep well of gratitude to rise up within us to the One who is able to complete that which He has begun in us. It is this confident gratefulness that will propel us toward the goal that we might say with Paul: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;” 2 Timothy 4:7 NAS
To quote Sam Storms in Chosen for Life: “It is God’s gracious and loving action to which we contribute nothing and for which, therefore, God receives all the glory.” “That no flesh should glory in his presence.” 1 Corinthians 1:29 KJV
Returning to another great anthem of the church:
The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.
And with the Reformers we declare: “Soli Deo gloria! - Glory to God alone!”
