Psalm 69 - the Agonies of Calvary

How many of you have seen the Passion of the Christ? That movie is pretty accurate as to what happened to Jesus Christ on the outside, but it utterly misses the point of his death, which was his spiritual torment and the wrath which was poured out on him for sin by his Father. So, since it is Good Friday, I want to look at Christ’s own words on that day.

If you have your Bible, and I hope you do, turn to Psalm 69…Psalm 69. This Psalm was written by David 1,000 years before Christ died on the cross, but in this Psalm we see Jesus’ prayer from the cross. The New Testament quotes this “chapter” of the Old Testament more than any other chapter, albeit Psalms aren’t really chapters, and everytime it is quoted it is pointed firmly at Jesus Christ. Every word in this Psalm is his own words. So this morning I want to read it in sections to you.

v.1-4 Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God. More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore?

In this passage introduces us to the event of the crucifixion. Jesus’ trial and scourging have already taken place, and he has been on the cross for a while. He describes his situation as the flood of death is about to overtake him. He has asked God at least once to save him, but then quickly turned the petition to “Not my will, but yours be done.” The pain is excruciating and Jesus very much would like it to stop if possible. The pain of the crucifixion is at hand, but look at the end of verse 4, “What I did not steal, must I now restore” points it at Heaven and the purpose of his sacrifice.

Jesus came to redeem his people, to ransom them from sin, to pay the debt to God which we owed. And what sort of things are these? Sin is transgression against the law, and the law is God’s righteous commandments. What was Jesus paying for on the cross? We start with what he says here, “What I did not steal, must I now restore?” He was crucified between two thieves, yet he never stole a single thing in his life, not a loaf of bread, not a song on the internet, not something from a store, yet he came to repay it. The Bible is clear that lying lips are an abomination to God and that all liars will have their place in the Lake which burns with fire and brimstone, and Jesus, who the Bible says it is impossible for him to lie died in place of liars. There was no deceit found in the mouth of Jesus Christ, he never took God’s name in vain, he never said, “O my God,” or “Good Lord,” or “Jesus Christ” without reverence, yet he was smitten and afflicted by God for blasphemy. Jesus said that you’ve heard it said of old, thou shalt not commit adultery, but then he said that if you look with lust you’ve committed adultery already in your heart. Jesus Christ, who is totally faithful to his bride the church died for every lustful glance, paying the debt against Heaven.

Now imagine I have a debt, say a parking ticket, and it has to be paid. If someone will take this parking ticket and go pay it, then justice is served. This is basically what Jesus did, but look at verse 5, he takes it one step farther.

v.5 O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

Remember that this whole Psalm is Jesus speaking, so it points out that Jesus took our sins and called them his own, even though he was and is the perfect sinless Saviour. He was tempted in every way we’ve been tempted yet without sin. But here in this verse he took our sins from us and considered them his own. He who knew no sin became sin for us so that in him we can become the righteousness of God. He bore our sins in his body on that cross.

And at any given time he could have made it stop, he said he had 12 legions of angels at his beck and call to rescue him if he were to call. That is 70,000 angels, all perfectly capable and able to destroy entire cities, to crush Jerusalem and save Jesus at a moments notice...but if he had done that, we beloved, would be without hope, we would not have a sin bearer, our debt against Heaven would be unpaid, and so look at verse 6 and the gloriousness of Christ's prayer.

v.6 Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord GOD of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel.

If Jesus had chosen to save himself, then we would be put to shame because though we hoped in God, he would not have been able to forgive our debts. Jesus was tempted up to the point of death to forsake us and save himself, but he remained faithful.

v.7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face.

Jesus came for the main purpose of testifying to the truth, of honoring his Father, and here he says that he has born reproach, suffering, for the sake of his Father. This is just as important if not moreso than the prayer he just prayed about those who hope in God, because God's name as a saving and merciful God is at stake.

Let me give you two pictures of God, on one hand you have the God of Justice, the judge of all the earth who always does right, he says that he will by no means hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain, he must punish sin because he is a perfectly just God. But on the other hand you have the God of Love, who says though your sins were like scarlet they shall be made white as snow, who says your sins are put away, that says you are redeemed and forgiven. These two descriptions of God are entirely contradictory if not for one thing, because this God of Love can't overlook transgression without being a bad judge, and this God of Justice can't pour out justice and still be merciful...unless something big happens.

And that is what we are reading about Jesus on the cross, the God of the Universe manifest in the flesh, taking our sins on himself and having the full wrath of his Father poured out on him. Justice is served in the crushing of Jesus Christ, mercy is ours if we hope in him. Psalm 85 says that love and truth are met together, justice and peace have kissed each other on the cross. God is both just because he punished sin, and he is loving because he took the punishment himself.

v.8-9 I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s sons. For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

He we see that this Psalm is definitely talking about Jesus. Even his own brothers turned on him and told people that he had lost his mind. But oh the glory, after Christ's resurrection James became the bishop of Jerusalem, preaching that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. The unconverted priests tried to get him to recant his belief and took him to the top of the Temple in order that he would either renounce Jesus Christ, or they would push him off. From the top of the Temple he preached that Jesus is the Messiah, that all must look to him in order to be saved, and one of the priests shoved him from the top of the Temple and then they beheaded him on the ground. Jude became a missionary all over the Middle East, and was eventually shot with arrows and beaten to death for his adherence to his Brother as the Sovereign Lord of all nations. But, at this point as Christ is dying on the cross, he is alone, both of these brothers had abandoned Christ and would have nothing to do with him.

Christ quoted verse 9 about zeal consuming him when he cleansed the temple, and because of his adherence to the truth and his refusal to compromise on who God is and that every idol is an abomination to him, they crucified him on the charge of claiming to be God.

v.10-12 When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach. When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.

Oh what a reception the King of kings received from the people, utterly scorning him at every turn, calling him every manner of wickedness and name. The only hope of mankind pushed away as an impotent and sinful man, and yet these are the very sins he was paying for as he hung on Calvary's cross.

v.13-19 But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness. Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters. Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me. Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me. Hide not your face from your servant; for I am in distress; make haste to answer me. Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies! You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you.

Oh beloved, I hope you see the agony which your Saviour went through to bring you to God. He prays to be saved, but not now, when it is pleasing to God. And he would be saved, but not from the excruciating pain of the cross, but from death when three days later the same God who put him to death would raise him to life forevermore. Remember that Jesus Christ very easily could have saved himself, yet entrusted himself wholly to God, knowing that the purposes of God will be accomplished to perfection.

On the cross your major enemy is not blood loss or exposure or exhaustion, but it is suffocation. With your arms stretched out and your full body weight hanging from your shoulders you can breathe in all you want, but beloved, you cannot breathe out. In order to breathe out, you have to prop yourself up on the nails driven through your feet in order to alleviate the strain on your chest muscles. Every time you would do this oxygen would surge through your system awakening numbed nerves, and every breathe would bring a new surge of pain. On the Passover that Jesus died on, it was against Jewish law for dead bodies to be left outside past sunset, so while it normally took someone up to three days to die of crucifixion, they decided to break the legs of the condemned so that they would suffocate to death and could be taken down. But when they got to Jesus, he was already dead, look at verse 20;

v. 20-21 Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

Remember that this was written a thousand years before Christ died, yet it knew he wouldn't die of suffocation, but of a ruptured heart. In order to make sure that Jesus was actually dead the Roman Soldiers thrust a spear under his ribs into his heart, and blood and water poured out, which is caused when the heart muscles rupture, and it takes about an hour, so Christ died of a ruptured heart about an hour before the thieves on either side of him.

The Roman Soldiers kept vinegar near the crucifixion sight in order to give to prisoners to dull the pain and help them die quicker, they offered some to Jesus but he refused, he would not let the pain be blunted which he was suffering for the effects of sin. How would David know about this soured wine? Crucifixion wasn't even invented until 600 years after David penned this Psalm!

And now we turn to the controversial part of this Psalm. When Jesus died he died for a very specific purpose, to secure the salvation of all who believe. In John 17 you can see Jesus praying for all saints, for all who will believe, but he is very specific that he is not praying for those who will not believe. In verses 22 through 29 Jesus Christ specifically prays against those who will not believe, in verse 27 asking that they be cast into Hell. Revelation 14:10 speaks of this again that in the presence of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, the full undiluted wine of God's wrath is poured out on those who would not believe.

v.22-28 Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually. Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them. May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents. For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded. Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from you. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

It's a powerful verse, and one that only Jesus Christ can pray because he knows who will be saved or not, and it shows that he was saving a very specific people, and that in order to be amongst that people you must trust in him, putting your hope in God.

v.29-31 But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high! I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. This will please the LORD more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.

In the midst of his afflictions Jesus Christ shows that his affections are still on Heaven, that he remains trusting in God and with his obedience to his Father. His perfect sacrifice is pleasing to God more than any other, because he willingly went to the cross to shed his blood for the remission of sins of many, for without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

How can anyone possibly look at the cross and be glad? It was an instrument of extreme torture, yet verses 32 and 33 say when we see the crucifixion we will be glad.

v.32-33 When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive. For the LORD hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.

On this cross, where Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied. He has reconciled us in his body of flesh through his death, he will save his people who are prisoners in sin and revive those who are dead in sin. Beloved, if this is not you, then I implore you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to be reconciled to God, to repent towards God and put your full trust in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone that his payment on Calvary's cross was entirely sufficient to pay your way into Heaven. After Christ died they took his body down and laid it in the tomb of a rich man, and there it stayed for three days. It looked like the end, it looked like the man who claimed to be God really wasn't God but an imposter. But on the third day, in the darkness of a sealed tomb, the most glorious sound, better than the songs of angels, the world has ever heard was heard faintly in the bosom of the Lord of Glory, a heart-beat. Silently at first, then undeniable, the King was alive!

And this concludes our study with verse 34-36,

v.34-36 Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them. For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it; the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

When we read this as pointing to Jesus Christ we see it as the heavenly New Jerusalem, where all of his saints will dwell for eternity, where we will praise our King who sought us and bought us, who endured the agony of Hell on the cross, who was faithful unto death, and who lives forevermore to make intercession for his saints.

Beloved, trust in this Christ, preach his gospel, he is worthy, and those who trust in him will not be despised.

The Spirit and Conviction

Concerning showing men their need for salvation, Jesus Christ first showed his hearers that their hope of being able to save themselves was in vain, “There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope.” (John 5:45) They, as is human nature, had set their hope on their own abilities to earn their reconciliation with God. For this reason, it is necessary for the Holy Spirit to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). Christ goes on to further explain what each of these means.

“Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me.” (John 16:9) If salvation were possible by the law, then Christ died for no purpose (Galatians 2:21), therefore one of the Spirit’s roles is to convict the world of the sinfulness of sin, that apart from Christ there is no Saviour, that the world has sold itself into slavery by attempting to be justified by its works. The Epistle to Galatia is especially pertinent in understanding this point. If a law were given that could bring life, then righteousness would be by the law. Since the law imprisons all who are under it and is impossible to keep except by God, it is demonstrated that the main purpose of the law is to lead men to Christ (cf. Galatians 3:1-29). The main point of the Epistle to Galatia, that the foolishness of trusting in ones own deeds derives from a failure to recognize his saving work, is summed up by Christ with one statement in John 16:9, “because they do not believe in me.”

“Concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer.” (John 16:10) Jesus Christ is the measure of perfection, of whom the Author of Hebrews says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) While Christ was on Earth, he was the standard of righteousness; he could be expected to judge rightly, act rightly, and point all glory to his Father. Merely seeing Jesus Christ respond rightly to all situations exposed sins. John described him as a light,

The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. (John 3:19-20)

Once this light returned to the Father, conviction was necessary to shine the light into men’s hearts, which would become one role of the Holy Spirit.

“Concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” (John 16:11) Once men are convinced that sin is wrongdoing, that they are hopeless in their transgression, and that righteousness is the example of goodness which none can attain but God, then one thing is left to see; an assurance of a coming judgment. In Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection is demonstrated God’s hatred of sin and his acceptance of Christ’s atonement. A God who would not spare his own sin-imputed Son will certainly not overlook transgression; sinners must see that they stand condemned before the consuming fire of an offended God. Christ had said in John 12:31 of the impending judgment, “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.” This was proved in Christ’s defeat of death, that the ruler of this world, revealed elsewhere in scripture to be Satan, was tried and found lacking in his power to defeat the plans and purposes of God.

If a person, convicted by their sins as illuminated by the Holy Spirit, will look away from this world and look unto Christ they will be saved (cf. John 3:13-18).

Because the sinless Savior died,
my sinful soul is counted free;
for God, the Just, is satisfied
to look on him and pardon me

Superbowl Videos

A debrief / lesson of the weekend is located here:
Honor Christ as Holy, Middle School Bible Study 1 Peter 3:13-17

Three videos follow:

Stolen Identity

Over the past two months I’ve had more and more exposure to the Church of Christ cult; prior to this I had spoken to some and witnessed to others, but it seems in the last two months I’ve seen their churches everywhere, had several confrontational conversations with members, and have been increasingly perturbed by the name of their cult.

The literal church of Christ is the universal body of believers comprised of the Israel of the Old Covenants and the Israel of God which is all Jews and Gentiles who have been born into the family of God, purchased by the blood of the Lamb. The name stealers, the Church of Christ who add works to salvation, get each other wet, then popishly declare themselves saved, have perverted the name and so you can no longer claim to be a member of the church of Christ without your hearers wondering if you believe in the anathema belief of baptismal regeneration.

Likewise, you cannot claim to be a member of the katholik church, or church according to the whole, because the Roman Catholic Church, who are equally condemned, have stolen that name. This organization has perverted names like Bishop, See, and Saint. Their works righteous system of salvation has somehow elevated certain debtors (Romans 4:4) to a higher state of grace and called them saints, when these people are not saints, rather only those who trust wholly in the Just and Justifier, Jesus Christ, are saints. (Romans 4:5)

Speaking of saints, Christians in these latter days ought to bear with boasting in Christ the name of Latter Day Saint. However, the cult of Moronism (followers of the fallen angels Moroni and Mormon) have stolen this name. While they are certainly latter day antichrists (1 John 2:18), they are far from saints. They have stolen my name and have blasphemed the name of Jehovah-Yasha (Jesus, Isaiah 49:26) in the process.

The drunken organization who publish the Watchtower Magazine claim to witness for Jehovah, but really they have only stolen another name of the Christian. These false-prophets misrepresent the godhead, willfully and maliciously edit his Word, and cross land and sea in order to make their proselytes twice the sons of Hell as themselves.

Others are less blatant but equally blasphemous. The woman ordaining, world loving, homosexual aggrandizing Episkopol Church drags the name of Christ through the mud (1 Peter 2:25); every Senior Pastor ought to weep when their title is applied to such an apostate organization. The mystical organization of the Orthodox Church has utterly cursed themselves through their false claim to orthodoxy. The skittish Anabaptists of the Amish have buried their lights under baskets and have misrepresented both the Resurrected Christ and the symbolic adult baptism he instituted.

All of these apostate cults have one major thing in common: they masquerade under biblical names yet reject the biblical King of Glory. The true church of Christ, katholik in scope, populated totally with Old Covenant and latter day saints, must be Jehovah’s witnesses, holding to orthodoxy, rightly understanding baptism, and with a hierarchy of episkopos, bishoprics, presbyters, and poimens in order to rightly live for Christ and make his name famous.

This is the true church, the body of Christ, which is the hope and joy and crown of boasting at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. For we are not our own, but we have been bought with a price, so we must glorify God in our bodies.

Open Air Preaching Video

Faith in Faith and Faith in Election

One of the greatest heresies in history is the belief that you can muster something from within yourself that will save you. Despite the heinousness of this belief, it is prominent in Christendom today; Paul Washer defines this heresy well when he says,

Well, was there ever a time in your life when you prayed and asked Jesus to come into your heart?

Well, yes.

Were you sincere?

Well, I don’t know, but I think so.

Well, you need to tell Satan to stop bothering you. Did you write it in the back of your book . . . the back of your Bible like the evangelist told you when you got saved, write down the date so that any time you doubted you could point him to the Bible?

Do you see something lacking in the object of the faith? It’s Jesus Christ. You are not saved by your faith, you are saved by the grace of God, and this is received through faith. If you have faith in a god, but the god you have faith in isn’t the God who sent his beloved Son to be the propitiation for your sins, then your faith is worthless and it will not save you. It doesn’t matter how perfect your faith is, if it’s not in the right God, it is unable to save. Check out Judges 10 if you want an explicit example of this.

It wearies me the number of people who wouldn’t know it was wrong if it were preached, “You are saved by faith through grace,” or worse, “You are saved by faith.”

This really jumped out at me recently when reading Ian Murray’s book, Spurgeon vs. Hyper-Calvinism. As a self-admitted fatalist (Ephesians 2:10, John 1:13, Proverbs 16:9, Matthew 10:29), I don’t shy away from the title of Hyper-Calvinist, and the Supralapsarian presupposition is definitely my evangelistic style (I’ve witnessed to ~30 people already this year, what about you?), so I’ve always been perplexed at why the Hyper-Calvinist title has been used so disparagingly. There are certainly the unsaved hypers, like Fred Phelps, but I always wondered how so many in the 18th and 19th centuries in England could be Hyper-Calvinists and still be in the wrong.

Then I read Spurgeon vs. Hyper-Calvinism. The major failing of James Wells and his ilk is not hyper-trust in God, but the same problem as the Pelagian heresy, it is a trust in something that isn’t God. The Hyper-Calvinism of Spurgeon’s day was faith in one’s election. The person under Wells or Banks’ preaching was told to discern their election and, then invariably through a lack of exhortation to trust in Christ (Their logic was that telling someone who hated Jesus Christ and couldn't muster their own faith to trust in him would be futile), their trust was placed in an imaginary feeling of election. It’s all rather mystical in its inward and subjective focus.

So all this to say, we “were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him…” If it were just preached that way, then it would be Hyper-Calvinist, but if you only preach the end, “…if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard…” then it would be Pelagian, which is why it is so important that we put the two together,

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven… - Colossians 1:21-23

Faith in faith is an anathema belief, faith in election is equally as damning, our faith must be in the Living Christ who for his church took on and defeated death. If you continue in this faith, then you know that you are reconciled with God and will be presented holy and blameless into Heaven, not because your faith has saved you, or because of your predestination, but because Jesus Christ is full of grace, mighty to save, and able to make intercession for his saints.

Faith misplaced in anything else is unable to save; faith in the Resurrected Christ and his unfailing grace is the only way to be redeemed from sin and condemnation.

Don’t trust in yourself, don't trust in your profession, don't trust in your faith, don’t trust in your status, don't trust in your election, don't trust in a funny feeling you have that you are elect:

Trust in the God who has bestowed upon you faith and election, and be saved.

Writing, Reading, and Communicating versus Texting, Skimming, and Gisting

I am utterly blessed through God’s providence in my education and upbringing. For example, I played the trumpet from sixth grade through my first year in the Air Force, 9 years total, and while I never really got any good at it, due to tone-deafness and no internal rhythm, the breathing techniques I learned have caused me to be one of the loudest preachers I know, combined with a stamina at full volume that constantly surprises.

Likewise, an instilled love of history has produced in me a hermeneutical principle which is sorely lacking in the church today; I want to know the full history of the events before I care to learn the application. It utterly frustrates me when someone wants to know what a passage means before they know what it says. I’m not against application, but history and context must have prevenience. John Calvin so beautifully said, “People come not to the preaching merely to learn what they do not know, but to be incited to do their duty.”

But the reason I have been contemplating this recently is in a discussion I had with a dear friend about the writing style of Ernest Hemingway. Sitting in my library on my secular bookshelf (as opposed to my overflowing religious bookshelves) are a dozen Hemingway books, my favorites are The Snows of Kilimanjaro and The Sun Also Rises. Before becoming a Christian, there is no doubt that my favorite writer was Hemingway, followed closely by Ron Carlson, A Kind of Flying et al, Ray Bradbury, Dinosaur Tales et al, and George Orwell, Animal Farm et al.

To let you know how deep my respect and admiration for Hemingway was, I’ve been to and drank (pre-Christian) at the Rotonde in Paris, walked on the Concha in San Sebastian, and run from the Curva de Telefonica to the Plaza de Toros in Pamplona (albeit there were no bulls). The man was a master writer; I would even go so far as to say the best writer who has ever lived who was not under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

As I would read Hemingway I was captivated, even implored, to love each individual word, it never occurred to me, nor do I think it occurred to Hemingway, that the beauty and deference of language points to a God whom communicates with precision and authority. Hemingway would spend hours ensuring the words he wrote were meaningful, worthwhile, and powerful, and the man literally discarded dozens of works which failed to meet these criteria. Hemingway had a reverence for words; he would spend hours cutting and molding his sentences to say precisely what he wanted them to say, removing every superfluous phrase and word, seeking to make each sentence direct and vigorous. One will never find an unnecessary adjective in a Hemingway book. He wrote, most definitely being self-aggrandizing, “The greatest writers have the gift of brevity, are hard workers, diligent scholars, and competent stylists.”

In recent years many of these reprobate manuscripts have been compiled and published as posthumous titles and “lost” works. Oh how he would cringe if he knew that were occurring, and so I cringe vicariously for him in his absence.

Hemingway’s desire for literary purity influenced my own writing and reading immensely. I am constantly offended by both the written and spoken word when used irreverently and superfluously. In recent years, my desire for literary accuracy has gained a higher purpose and has transferred perfectly to an infinitely better writer, who said, “On the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,” and “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Hemingway was concerned with each individual word, the Author of Life is interested in each individual letter, “Truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law...”

T. David Gordon has noted a nearly complete failure in the modern day preacher’s ability to be pithy, to put together a coherent thought, and to communicate a point. His book on this, Why Johnny Can’t Preach, is intriguing as it focuses on how the modern preacher no longer writes sermons, at best he types them and at worst he adlibs them; he doesn’t send letters, he sends e-mails; he doesn’t write treatises, he sends text-messages. Gordon surmises that all of these have destroyed the preacher’s reverence for the word and ability to communicate using it.

Noah Webster compiled his dictionary under the assumption that if God takes language seriously, then men ought to take language seriously. If faith comes through hearing, and hearing the word of Christ, then it ought to be the preacher’s highest calling to ensure that what is being heard is totally worth hearing. Charles Spurgeon said, “We cannot play at preaching. We preach for eternity.”

Gordon gives suggestions on how to improve communication; they are not easy, but they are not impossible. He first recommends writing, with pen and paper, in order to foster forethought and deliberateness, since pen cannot be edited and requires commitment and permanence of thought. One of the best venues for this, he recommends, is writing letters. His next suggestion is that undergraduate students major in literature in order that they learn the basics of structure, plot, and style. To this effect David Platt laments that Bible translation has become a failing art because it is impossible to understand another language if you don’t even understand your own.

I recently read Greyfriar’s Bobby by Eleanor Atkinson (and then I watched the movie) and I was utterly impressed by her command of the English (or more actually: the Scotch) language, the intersecting plotlines, and the recurring themes; she sets out to tell a story, but deep within her plot are the definite agendas of animal rights and human equality. It reminded me somewhat of the writings of the Apostle Peter, who in any given passage is working at least three themes and who has a very specific agenda on his mind of growing his reader, pointing their affections outwards and upwards, and glorifying the Saviour of mankind.

So that leads to a question, ought the Christian reader read books that are patently unchristian? Hemingway, although many of his books bear biblical titles, had no such belief system, Orwell was a fantastic visionary of things to come but not from a godly standpoint, and Unitarian Universalist Ray Bradbury holds to an evolutionary old-earth despite his Christian upbringing. To answer this question scripturally, the Apostle Paul was well acquainted with the poetry of Athens, and the Christian is called to study to show themselves approved; avoiding irreverent babble. It is more than possible, from a discerning standpoint, to read a well-written non-christian publication and glean from it, but the main diet ought to always be scripture.

When read from the Christian standpoint, some of the themes of non-christian writers should instantly jump out as wrong. Take Hemingway for example, the man is one of the perfect examples of Neo-Epicureanism, living a life bent on pleasure and experience through the height of gourmet pleasures, both physical and scholarly. As a young writer I knew how Hemingway’s life ended, that he seriously injured his back in a plane crash and was in constant pain, then, as the results of a lifetime of alcohol abuse and a genetic iron-deficiency disease, he lost a fair amount of his brain function; faced with the loss of both physical and scholarly pleasure, Hemingway shot himself in the head. Yet, even with this knowledge, I felt that his life was one worth emulating and that my life would certainly end better than his. Now with the discernment of the Holy Spirit, it is more than obvious that such lives only prove parables which speak of the foolishness of trusting in worldly delights, like the one Jesus spoke which is recorded in the seventh chapter of the gospel according to Matthew. But even with the fatal flaws of secular writers, for another example the bawdy tales of Ron Carlson (of whose books I have several signed copies), there is much to be learned by someone who is able to communicate a point, skillfully wielding language, and who has honed their skills and writings to say what they mean. Even if what they mean is an affront to the Living God.

Most importantly, in an age where most don’t know the difference between their and they’re, and the numeral 2 can replace to, two, and too, these writers prove that words have meaning, and demand that respect be given to the vernacular and the rhetoric by which it is presented. The Christian need only to apply one step further, that the Giver of dialect and logic be respected.

And finally, this all leads to my application. I preached my first sermon to a large Christian audience this past Sunday. My sermon was prepared to run just under 30-minutes. Since this was the first and possibly only time I would have an opportunity to address this congregation, more time than normal was spent on preparation in order to ensure my passion and heart was delivered to this precious church through the precise exposition of the Word of God. I spent a great deal of time in honing the word choice, structure, and movement of the sermon in order to deliver a message that was eternally significant and memorable. In the zeal of delivery, I realized something that I didn’t anticipate; some of the deliberate pauses were ill-placed and so I skipped them, and in my impassioned delivery I managed to cut about seven minutes off of my sermon. In an effort to lengthen the delivery in the second and third services I tried to find areas in which material could be added or expanded, but realized that due to the attention I had given to pace and movement, any on-the-spot editing would have severe implications on the structure of the message, possibly impeding movement in a fatal way.

Overwhelming, the response was positive. One suggestion was that I hadn’t spoken from my own heart enough but had quoted too much scripture and let others speak for me (Calvin, Ravenhill, Luther, Spurgeon) and should have given my own opinion more. Several told me that it was too much information too quickly. But what I didn’t hear was that it was boring, that anything was unnecessary, or that I missed the intention of the text. The question that I am most concerned with, “Was God glorified and his people incited to do their duty through this message?” was an unqualified, “Yes.” I believe, and I don’t credit myself, that I let the text speak, I didn’t impose myself on it, and I gave my utmost for Christ’s highest glory. The only exception is that I should have anticipated the length issue, but, knowing that the sermon was full of content, I will count this towards experience and will improve in the future.

It is against literary policy to add new information in the conclusion, but allow me this liberty. Ernest Hemingway was a Neo-Epicurean hedonist, John Piper has coined the phrase, Christian Hedonist, which he defines as, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him." The Christian, I guarantee you, receives infinitely more pleasure than the Epicurean because they live a life with their affections set on Heaven, working for the King, devoting life and effort to increasing the joy of the church and her Bridegroom. God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints. The happiness of the Christian Hedonist is not dependant on the stature they achieve, but rather in what they achieve through the faculties God has given. But, beloved, what I implore you to, and I hope you are incited, is to hone those faculties, earnestly desiring that God grows them in sanctification; do so through reading, writing, and preaching, for Paul wrote to Philemon, “I pray that through the sharing of your faith, you become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.” (Philemon 6)

So beloved, I pray that you will take the language you speak, and the languages that the scriptures are written in, seriously; that you revere the words that you use because they are a reflection on the God who gave them. Read, write, and communicate to the fullest, don’t take shortcuts. Study yourself approved and never be found with any reason to be ashamed. I pray that through the sharing of your faith, your effectiveness in the good things of Christ will blossom to be used for his utmost glory, for he is worthy, and he alone.

Recommended Reading
Famine in the Land, A Passionate Call for Expository Preaching by Steven J. Lawson
Why Johnny Can't Preach, The Media Have Shaped the Messengers by T. David Gordon
The Expository Genius of John Calvin by Steven J. Lawson
The Way of the Master by Ray Comfort
Christian Apologetics by Cornelius Van Til
Desiring God by John Piper

Saving The Law From Legalism

None of us seeks after God, we like sheep have gone astray after our own lusts, we have worshipped the creature over the Creator, we have set our mouths against Heaven and declared war on the God who made us, trying to make a name for ourselves and blaspheming his name among the nations.

Beloved, we’ve blown it, and these are just the first four Commandments. There are six more and they don’t get any easier, and if you’ve broken one, you might as well have broken them all for the exceeding guilt of your soul.

Where can we turn for life? The Psalmist says we ought to turn to the very law that has made sin come alive and which killed us.

I will never forget your precepts,
__for by them you have given me life.
I am yours; save me,
__for I have sought your precepts. – Psalm 119:93-94

Legalism! Or so it seems, but it’s not a good idea to call the Gospel of Grace legalism; that might just border on blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Christ said likewise, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” (John 8:51) If we separate God from the word, the law, then indeed we are legalists, but the law is the embodiment of truth and knowledge and so is Jesus Christ. (Compare John 1:1-2 and Romans 2:20) The Pharisees were condemned for searching the law without acknowledging the Son (John 5:39ff), but beloved, the law as it points to the Son is able to save.

How then? It is the exact four Commandments that have utterly condemned us which are now our response so that we can cry, “Save me, for I have sought your precepts!”

Commandment 1 – You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me. Paul really states this one well when he says, “We have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.” (1 Timothy 4:10) There is one Saviour of humanity; besides him, there is no saviour. (Isaiah 43:11) You must set your hope on this Saviour, the Saviour who put on flesh, lived a perfect sinless life abiding by every Commandment, tempted in all ways yet without sin, and who willingly substituted himself for you on Calvary, canceling your debt against the law by nailing it to the cross. You shall have no other gods besides him.

Commandment 2 – You Shall Not Bow Down to Idols. Peter says that we are to set our hope perfectly on Christ, forsaking every former lust. (1 Peter 1:13-14) The Commandment tells why we must turn from idols, for your God is a jealous God and will visit iniquity on all idolaters. But for those who turn from idols to him, who set their hope on the Saviour, he promises steadfast love (Hebrew Chesed, alternately translated Grace) to those who love him and keep his Commandments.

Commandment 3 – You Shall Not Take the Name of the Lord Your God in Vain. Even when we have blasphemed the name of God in thought, word, and deed, his salvation is available through this Commandment when the repentant blasphemer holds fast to their confession of hope in the Risen Christ. But be assured that if you deny him before men, he will deny you before his Father. (2 Timothy 2:11-13)

Commandment 4 – Remember the Sabbath, to Keep it Holy; On It You Shall Not Do Any Work. Jesus Christ is the Sabbath Rest of the New Covenant, raised on the eighth day of the week beginning the New Creation. (Hebrews 4) The saying is faithful, that Jesus plus nothing equals everything, but Jesus plus something equals nothing. If you are trusting partly in yourself and partly in Christ, know that your hope is not complete and you have not entered into his rest. Cease from working for salvation, rest in Christ, and be saved; for if we have indeed come to share in Christ, then we have rested from our works just as God rested from his works.

These four Commandments which promised life have slain you and I, but they are still the Living and Active Word of God, able to save, able to make alive, never to pass away, and in them is salvation if you look to the God to whom they point. Make him your God, he is the only Saviour of the world, and if you trust in him, he will be your Saviour. Repent of false gods and false salvation systems, confess Christ with your mouth and hold fast to the confidence in him. Trust not in your works, but rest from them, and trust in the works of Jesus Christ, him who died for sins, but lived again, who lives eternally to make intercession for his saints.

Make this your prayer,

Let your hand be ready to help me,
__for I have chosen your precepts.
I long for your salvation, O LORD,
__and your law is my delight.
Let my soul live and praise you,
__and let your rules help me.
I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,
__for I do not forget your commandments. – Psalm 119:173-176

I'd Sell my Soul for a Bowl of Soup

Original Context

The birthright during the patriarchal period was something important; it brought its holder honor, authority, and inheritance within a family. The firstborn was guaranteed a double-honor in the inheritance of his father; that is, when the estate was split up, the one with the birthright was given twice what his brothers received.[1]

This is considering a normal birthright which it is not to be despised, not to be sold for any small price. But, an infinitely bigger birthright is at stake in Genesis 25:29-34 with Esau and Jacob, of the line of Abraham. Abraham was specially promised by God to be a blessing on all the world, given a name called great among nations, and given dwelling in the promised land. (Genesis 12:1-3) This is the birthright which Esau despised and Jacob inherited.

A brief background of the event is set some years after Abraham died. Before he died he blessed his son, Isaac, by giving him great amounts of riches and real-estate (Genesis 25:5), and the Bible is specific to say that the promise of the covenant was passed onto him by God himself. (Genesis 25:11) Isaac prayed for children, and God gave him twin sons. While the babes were yet in the womb, God revealed to Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, that in her belly were two nations, and that the younger would rule over the elder. God knew before they were born that the elder would not receive the blessing but that events would transpire to lead to the younger receiving the blessing. God, before Esau or Jacob had been born, had set his face against Esau, declaring his hatred for those whom he has not chosen; a long running theme throughout the Bible. (cf. Psalm 5:5, 11:5, 73:20, Romans 9:10-13, Hebrews 1:8-9, et al.)

Esau became a huntsman, and his father’s favorite; Jacob apparently had no great mental or physical abilities of which the narrator sees fit to tell, but he was his mother’s favorite. One day, Jacob made a pot of stew, Esau came in from hunting without having captured any game, and by his language, likely literal but possibly only figurative, claimed that he was starving. Seeing a pot of red stuff (Holman Translation) he asked his brother for some. Jacob, seeking the firstborn’s blessing, set the price for the stew as his brother’s birthright. Esau, seeing only his temporal survival, had no problem selling his birthright to his brother.

Later, Esau claimed the birthright was stolen from him, and he sought the blessing of his father with tears, but the damage to his eternity had been done, and there was no way he could inherit his birthright.[2]

Bridging the Context to You

"The birthright was Esau's by providence but Jacob's by promise."[3] Consider how God could have arranged this transfer of blessing from Isaac to Jacob. Jacob could have come out first, been the rightful heir to the promise, and lived a life of peace with his brother. Was this within the sovereign ability of God to perform? Of course, but where is the lesson in that?

Here we see one of the earliest denials of the Resurrection and everlasting life.[4] Esau had an eternal promise from God, yet spurned it by asking what good would it be if he died? But what did he spurn? John Gill puts it this way,

"The birthright was reckoned sacred; it was typical of the primogeniture of Christ; of the adoption of saints, and of the heavenly inheritance belonging thereunto; all which were despised by Esau..."[5]

Esau sold his eternity for the fleeting pleasures of sin. The meal which he paid so dearly for only sustained him for a matter of hours before he was hungry again, and soon provided him no solace. The Psalmist Asaph says that the earthly delights of the wicked are like dreams after one awakes (Psalm 73:5), and no sentiment captures Esau's loss better than Zophar's declaration that everything will be lost, "This is the wicked man's portion from God, the heritage decreed for him by God." (Job 20:8) Once the stew was gone, any pleasure Esau had derived from it was quickly fading to a mere memory embittered by the cost he had paid.

Esau sold eternity for a single meal (Hebrews 12:16), so do so many condemn their souls for holding onto a single sin. A person who has kept the law in many points yet who will not repent of a favorite sin will not see the kingdom of Heaven. Towards this end John Owen said,

"He who hath once smitten a serpent, if he follow not on his blow until he be slain, may repent that ever he began the quarrel. And so will he who undertakes to deal with sin, and pursues it not constantly to death. Sin will after a while revive, and the man must die. It is a great and fatal mistake if we suppose this work will admit of any remissness or intermission."[6]

The Christian must repent of all sin, not desiring the things of this world, but set their affections on heavenly things, namely the Resurrected Christ who ransomed them from the domain of darkness. A single sin was enough to lose Esau his birthright, since he did not esteem God as worth more than satisfying his appetite. Even when he received more for his bargain than he expected, namely a piece of bread, even the bigger portion was infinitesimally small in comparison to the grandeur, joy, and peace found in the Lord of Glory.

Life Application

Why did Jacob make that pot of stew? Was it solely for the purpose of tricking his brother out of his birthright? Of course not, Jacob planned to eat it, but when he was presented with the choice of a temporal tasty fleeting delight or the eternal blessing of the Lord God Almighty, he gave up the temporary to inherit the eternal.

Beloved, if there is any sin in this world to which you are clinging, be sure that it will be your downfall. To those sins which are not pleasing to the eye, we have little trouble repenting of, but it is those tasty bowls of soup that can so easily tempt and be our undoing. Owen says, "Lusts that pretend to be useful to the state and condition of men, that are pleasant and satisfactory to the flesh, will not be mortified without such a violence as the whole soul shall be deeply sensible of."[7]

Woe to you who justify your sins, for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. (Luke 16:15) Think to yourself quietly, which sin was it that you originally sold your soul into sin for? Which sin is it that keeps it in bondage there?

Conversely, which sin is worth so much as to reject Heaven? Any riches or pleasures which you are able to accumulate on this side of eternity will be consumed by moth, rust, time, or fire; for whatever is not eternally useful is entirely useless. Jesus asks, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and yet lose his soul?" (Matthew 16:26) Most of us have sold our souls for so much less than the world; a bowl of soup, perhaps? A uncontrollable appetite for the opposite sex? A self-esteem, pride, being able to speak and act how you want to satisfy the desires of the flesh? Beloved, whatever you are holding onto is not worth it. I implore you, store up your treasure in Heaven, set your affections on Christ, seek the glory of the Father, and the Son will set you free and you shall be free indeed.

No matter how long your sin lasts, it will perish in the end, it will bring you no solace, just as a dream brings no solace after you awake, and what you have sold and despised will haunt you forever. Beloved, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, make no provision for the flesh, to satisfy its desires. Mortify your flesh, flee from sinful desires, hold fast to what is good, be not tempted by temporary satisfaction. Truly it is as John Owen said,

"Be killing sin, or it will be killing you."[8]

[1] John Walton, The NIV Application Commentary: Genesis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 551.
[2] Charles Spurgeon, Jacob and Esau (London: New Park Street Chapel, 1859). Available from http://www.biblebb.com/files/spurgeon/0239.HTM
[3] Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry's Commentary (Hendrickson Publishing, 1991), 1:125.
[4] John Gill. Exposition of the Old & New Testament (London: 1809; repr., Paris, AR: The Baptist Standard Bearer, Inc: 2006), 9:477.
[5] Ibid.
[6] John Owen, The Works of John Owen (London, 1826), 546-547.
[7] Ibid, 547.
[8] Ibid, 336.