Has the persecution come?

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.        Matthew 5:11-12 NIV

The hallmark, yea the leading indicator of a Christian’s fully devoted life may well be the persecution that follows. Are you spoken well of in your sphere of influence? You can rest assured that you have no part with Christ. Does your manner of speaking easily translate from the world to the church? Have no fear, for your persecution will not come. The greatest danger to church is friendship with the world. Christians who practice yoga, celebrate Halloween and carry on as if there is no discernible difference between the Christian worldview and all others will never raise the ire of hell.

However, if you mark yourself as a follower of Christ, unafraid and unashamed to name his name rest assured the world will hate you. When a man denies his own deity and acknowledges his utter inability to save himself the world’s repulsion is undeniable and unavoidable. When one dares to point out the sinful condition of this world and offers the untenable dichotomy between God’s justice and a fallen world, make no mistake you will lose your respectable reputation. And yet, the servant is no better than his master. Why then Christian should you be better than our Lord?

Have you a part in his suffering? You can rejoice for you are one of his children and your reward is great.

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More Knowledge-More Love

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, Philippians 1:9-10 NIV

The passage is clear, the Christian must not remain a babe in Christ. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the apostle urges us to learn more, to gain knowledge that we may discern the best. Far too many Christians are passified with little knowledge; they remain on milk never moving on to the meat of the word. This point is often punctuated with a visit from the local cultist.

They lack the knowledge of the faith required to exalt Christ as Lord and exhibit a readiness to give an answer to the abherrent adherent of false faiths. Dear Christian you are compelled by our Lord and Savior to move in love toward more learning. Your theological training is just beginning on the day of your salvation. You want to be more pure? Learn more says the Apostle. You want to walk in holiness? Study to show thyself approved. You desire discernment, learn to use your teeth that you may ingest the meat and move off the milk.

Babes in Christ are easy pray for a faith that is impure, unstable, and ill-prepared in an onslaught of theological half-truths. You must gain knowledge from the giver of wisdom. Come let us reason bids the Lord God Almighty. Do not allow your lack of knowledge to rob you of a pure and holy faith. Seek wisdom and get understanding.

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The Schoolmaster

 

Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (Gal 3:24)  

The law of God was a schoolmaster that drove us to Christ. The moral law has taken prisoner all of Adam’s offspring. The accusations of the law bind us and bring to light the exceeding sinfulness of our sin. Properly speaking the law is a mirror that allows us to see ourselves more truthfully in light of God’s perfections. 

The law of God is the prosecuting attorney that continues to plead for the death penalty due to our sinfulness (Romans 6:23). As our self-righteousness becomes apparent the sinner is brought face to face with his condition before a Thrice Holy God in which there exists perfect Holiness.

This is not to say that the sinner by virtue of his natural faculties will turn to God after facing the law’s indictment. The sinner is a cosmic criminal that will flee from the law of God storing up more wrath for himself unless by God’s grace he is converted by the Holy Spirit. Understanding our captivity brings into sharper focus the Torah reading that our Lord Jesus fulfilled in his hearers’ ears:

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

(Isa 61:1)

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You will receive power

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 But you shall receive power, the Holy Spirit coming upon you. And you shall be witnesses to Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Act 1:8)

 Many Christians treat witnessing in the same manner that they treat buying a car. They have in mind the make, model, color, and style and yet are going to pick and choose the options they want. The assumption is that evangelism and witnessing is just like the options on a car. Just as the new owner of a car selects whether he wants a cassette deck over a CD player many Christians believe (falsely) that we are able to select “hospitality” or “service” over “witnessing”.   

 Even more interesting is the Christian who says: “witnessing is not my gift”.  I often wonder how they mean this expression. I would agree with them that witnessing is not their gift to distribute but this verse makes plain the fact that it is everyone’s gift to receive. Christian this gift belongs to the Holy Spirit; it is properly speaking His gift. He provides the unction and the power.  He testifies of the Son, he regenerates, he empowers, and he convicts of sin.

 The power does not reside in you; the power is from on high.  All of us are called to be witnesses (Matt 28:19). Do not be unduly influenced by the cowards and defectors who by dereliction rob you of the joy that attends witnessing for Christ. The pitiful excuses dreamed up by those who are not obedient to the bible should never trump the very plain word of God. You and I are admonished by this verse to be a witness. Are some called to be evangelists and some pastors? Yes. But you are called to be a witness. You are in the grocery store, the post office, the beauty parlor, the gym. If by God’s grace you believe the good news then by the same power God calls you to share it.

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Resurrection Power

 

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And God has both raised up the Lord, and also will raise us up by His own power. (1Co 6:14)

Every true believer in Christ will experience resurrection power. The first experience of this resurrection power is experienced in salvation. The Holy Spirit calls forth the dead sinner to new life in Christ. God acts alone as he calls his elect. Theologians call this monergistic salvation whereby God regenerates the rebellious sinner who was dead in his trespasses and sins.

The second experience of this resurrection power is at the end of all things. God raised Jesus after three days in the grave. This same resurrection power is applied to the believer when that which is corruptible is raised incorruptible. This is resurrection power; the death experienced due to sin is overcome by God’s power.

Finally, we realize the importance of our Trinitarian theology. God the Father raised the Son. Some believing aberrant doctrines would contend that only the “physical” body of Jesus died on the cross. According to this error the Jesus on the cross was a mere shell, just a “mode” of God. Yet, the verse is plain God raised the Lord. Our verse would not have use believe that the Lord when raised was some kind of creature devoid of spiritual faculties, and yet the distinction is present for us to observe. God raised the Lord.

Beloved in the Lord Jesus take hope in this verse. You will experience resurrection power for the Holy Spirit has promised it. The day will come when you are changed in a twinkling of an eye. That which decays will be raised to life everlasting. All Glory and Honor to Christ for he has set the captives free and is the first born over all Creation!

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You must love the Son

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(Joh 15:23)

 

He who hates Me hates My Father also.  

For the child of God there is no question, to love God is to love his Son. We can easily assent to so much. In our passage however the Lord says without ambiguity that if you hate him you hate God. How many times will a non-Christian admit that they believe in God and yet deny Christ? These people hate God. To hate Christ is to hate his word. He says that he alone is the way, the truth, and the life. Those who deny the exclusive message of Christ (cf. Jn.14:6) hate God.

 Beloved be not fooled, those who say that they believe in God but claim that Jesus Christ was a mere man are nothing more than haters of God. He, who hates me, hates my Father. The Son is beloved of the Father and therefore is the apple of his eye. The Lord Jesus has eternal fellowship as co-equally ultimate with God the Father. To deny one is to display abhorrence for the other.

The meaning of the text is plain. The love of the Son is necessary if one is to truly love the Father. The object of God’s affection is his only begotten. In human terms those who love our children the most are those for whom we have the most affinity. The same is true of God but more so, as implicitly we are aware that to fail to love is to hate.

 The Son brings glory to the Father and those who will have no part of Jesus will have no part of God either. Christ is to have the preeminence in all things and he alone is our advocate with the Father. If you love Jesus then you can rest assured you also love the Father who sent him.

  

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Sheep with names

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To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. John 10:3

Beginning in verse 1 of John 10, the Lord Jesus contrasts the difference between himself and the Pharisees. The ministry of Jesus is likened to a Shepherd. The sheep have been led in and they are being cared for during the night by the Porter. A.W. Pink’s excellent commentary on John provides us with the background of this parable.  In verse 1 Jesus speaks of the “sheepfold”.  Pink says that the sheepfold is properly speaking “Judaism”. 

Judaism is the door whereby God’s elect were gathered. The Messiah  comes through the “door” which is right, proper, and holy. He does not enter the sheepfold through some other way.  The Good Shepherd goes into the sheepfold because the porter or doorkeeper has allowed him entrance.

In this parable the porter is the Holy Spirit. Much of the symbolism is lost on us ‘moderns’.  The porter offered protection for the sheep during the night. The Shepherd would leave his sheep under the care of the porter so that he could secure lodging for the night. The porter would keep thieves and predators from attacking the sheep while the shepherd was away.

When the shepherd returned he would enter the sheepfold and gather his own sheep by calling them by name.  The shepherd in this parable is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He calls his own sheep by name and they will follow him. Notice the call is not for all sheep. If from our passage we understand that the sheepfold is this case was Judaism, the Lord is calling his elect out of Judaism and unto himself. The elect “lost sheep” of Israel hear the voice of the Messiah and they follow him.

The effectual call of Jesus for his elect is both specific and by name. The Lamb’s book contains the names of those whom Christ has known since before the foundation of the Lord. Many are called but few are chosen, and the chosen ones of God are known to the Good Shepherd by name!

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Garbage Theology

But no, rather, I also count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count themto be dung, so that I may win Christ Philippians 3:8

 

The apostle acknowledges two things about the Lord Jesus. The knowledge of him exceeds in worth the value of all things “in the world”. There is nothing that can compare to Jesus Christ. He is all together worthy of praise and honor and he alone is excellent.

Secondly and perhaps just as important the Apostle tells us that all other things are dung. We should be careful to avoid superimposing our own presuppositions on the term dung. This word does not carry the same vulgarity that similar vernacular expressions in English would carry. In Ancient Greece the usage of the word was found in medical literature as opposed to being slang. The meaning of the term then pertained to that which through the natural course of digestion was removed from the body.

Thinking about this from the perspective of the Christian life we can clearly see the implication. Where Christ resides the residual toxins of the natural man are removed as we are moved by the Holy Spirit to count all things but Christ as loss.

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The Apologist’s Verse

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but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason of the hope in you, with meekness and fear;  1 Peter 3:15

This verse could properly be called the apologist’s verse. Along with Jude 3 many apologetics ministries use this verse as the keystone upon which their ministry is built. There are really two things that are important about this verse. 

The verse reminds us that there is a reason for the hope that we have within us.  Our faith is not a blind leap of faith, to the chagrin of the existentialists and mystics. Nor is our faith rooted in gnostic knowledge as the Apostle tells us to be ready to give an answer to anyone that asks, not just the initiates.

Our faith is to be one that demonstrates hope to the world. This hope is in word and deed. We cannot just talk about hope rather we must live hope. As Christ’s disciples our lives should be saturated in hope. The expectancy of that which is to come should so envelope our lives that the watching world rushes to ask the follower of Chirst, what is this hope that you have?

Our apologetic should be rooted in fear. Not fear of man as this would contradict the clear teaching of scripture in many places. Rather our apologetic should have a healthy reverential fear of the Lord who sovereignly plucked us as a brand from the fire. Second our answer is to be given with meekness. We are to rely and trust completely in the Lord’s completed work and his sovereign plan of election and predestination. The task before us does not depend on our powers of persuasion or even a method. If we are to be biblical then we are to answer the world with meekness and fear.

Most importantly though we are to sanctify Christ in our hearts. This does not mean that we can add to his holiness. He does not become holy because of man. As John Gill states in his commentary on this verse Christ is essentially, infinitely, and perfectly holy. Rather we are to proclaim his holiness, to exalt his holiness, to give to Christ alone all the praise, honor, and glory.

For the apologist this is the most important point of the verse. We are never to glorify ourselves in the apologetic task. We are to exalt Christ alone as all together wonderful. Remembering that all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ.

 

 

 

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Bread for Life

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A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

Gal 5:9

 

 

 

 

As the Apostle Paul contends earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3) he addresses a common objection that is often leveled at those concerned with doctrinal purity. He tells the Galatians that “..a little leaven leaventh the whole lump..” The common objection is that error is less egrievous when present in the doctrine of small numbers of people.

To this the Apostle replies nay, a little error will corrupt the whole. A small number of people who hold to false teaching will eventually infect and corrupt the whole church. This is why we are instructed to “come out from among them and be seperate” from those who do not hold fast to sound words. The injunction of scripture is no mere platitude; we are to be workmen rightly dividing the word of truth. Scripture is our guide and that which is not from the Holy Spirit is by necessary deduction from the prince of the power of the air. (Ephesians 2:2).   

Doctrine is a fence that keeps out what does not belong and keeps in what does. In the words of Charles Spurgeon “Be a Sectarian, my brother, be profoundly a Sectarian. I mean by that, hold everything which you see to be in God’s Word with a tighter grasp, and do not give up even the little pieces of truth.”

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