unceasing anguish and great sorrow - part 3

This is the third and probably final post on Romans 9:1-3. So far I have discussed our state apart from Christ which in turn leads to our just punishment of eternal damnation in hell. And now we get to the good news. 

Ephesians 2:1 “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked,” and then down in verse 4 come two of the best words in the entire Bible…”BUT GOD!”

You were dead “But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved”

We were “alienated from God” (Colossians 1:21) BUT GOD “brought us near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 1:13)

We were enemies of God (Colossians 1:21) BUT GOD made us “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (Ephesians 2:19) and adopted us as sons by which we cry out “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15)

We couldn’t submit to God’s law or please God (Romans 8:7-8) BUT GOD “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify Himself His own special people, zealous for good works (Titus 2:14)

We were slaves to sin and the devil (John 8:34 and 2 Timothy 2:26) BUT GOD “freed us from sin and we have become slaves to God” (Romans 6:22)

We couldn’t understand the things of God, they were foolishness to us (1 Corinthians 2:14) BUT GOD gave us His spirit so “that we might understand the things freely given us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:12)

We were completely unrighteous and sinful (Romans 3:23) BUT GOD made Jesus “who knew no sin to become sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

This is good news! All of us who have trusted Christ as their savior and submitted to him as their Lord have had our current state and our future completely turned upside down by God!

There is nothing we could have done for this to happen it was only by a miraculous work of God. Romans 9:16 says “So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy”

C.H. Spurgeon once remarked: "If Niagara could suddenly be made to leap upward instead of forever dashing down-ward from its rocky height, it were not such a miracle as to change the perverse will & raging passions of men. Conversion is a work comparable to the making of a world. The labors of Hercules were but trifles compared to this: to slay lions and hydras, and cleanse Augean stables-all this is child’s play compared with renewing a right spirit in the fallen nature of mankind."

I think that these three points are key to Paul’s sorrow and anguish for the lost and should be key to ours. He realized his state apart from Christ. Even though he was “Hebrew of Hebrews and as to righteousness under the law, blameless” he realized that it was all rubbish and he saw himself as what he really was. Then he realized what his just punishment should have been and finally he saw that because of Christ, he was now a new creation and a child of God. I think those 3 things contributed to his anguish for the lost. Knowing where they were heading and knowing the joy they were missing.

So three quick applications that I hope that you take from this and I hope that I take from this. First of all, for those who are in Christ, I hope that reminding ourselves of what we have been saved from and what we have been saved to, gives us a renewed sense of awe and deep gratitude and thanksgiving to God. Second of all, for those who are in Christ, I hope that realizing the state of our lost family members and friends will give us "unceasing anguish and great sorrow" for them that leads us to action in sharing with them the good news. Finally, again for those who do not know Christ as their Savior and Lord. I pray that today is your day of salvation. I pray that God would open your eyes to the truth of His gospel and you will trust in Him today.

Finally, I want to end with two quotes:

"If God would grant us the vision, the word sacrifice would disappear from our lips and thoughts; we would hate the things that seem now so dear to us; our lives would suddenly be too short, we would despise time-robbing distractions and charge the enemy with all our energies in the name of Christ. - Nate Saint, two weeks before he was martyred by the Aucas

"Someone asked Will the heathen who have never heard the Gospel be saved? It is more a question with me whether we – who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not – can be saved." – Charles Spurgeon

unceasing anguish and great sorrow - part 2

Romans 9:1-3 - "I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit--that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh."

In these blog posts, I hope to unpack how we can have this unceasing anguish for the lost like Paul did.

 

Yesterday I posted about humanity's state apart from Christ. We are enemies of God, we can't please him, we are children of wrath, we are alienated and strangers, we are slaves to sin, etc. 

Today's point is because our state apart from Christ, our just punishment is eternal separation from Christ in Hell. 

We see in the gospels that Jesus taught that Hell was something to be feared. In Mark 9, Jesus says “And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, 'where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.'”

Then in Luke 12:4-5 he tells his disciples “"I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!”

Then throughout the Bible we see depictions of what Hell is going to be like.

1. Hell is going to be punishment: 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 says that Jesus will come “inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God” and they will “suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord.”And Revelation 20:15 says “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” which was described earlier in the chapter as a place where they will be “tormented day and night forever and ever”
2. Hell is being cast out of the presence of God forever: Matthew 25:41 – “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels”
3. Hell is going to be utter darkness: Matthew 8:12 talks about how they will be “thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
4. Hell is a place with eternal fire: It’s described as a “Fiery furnace” (Matthew 13: 42 and 50). It has an “unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12 and 9:43). Revelation 14:10 says that they will “drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur”
5. And finally all of this will be eternal: Romans 14:11 “the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night”

Thomas Watson: “Thus it is in Hell; they would die, but they cannot. The wicked shall be always dying but never dead; the smoke of the furnace ascends for ever and ever. Oh! Who can endure thus to be ever upon the rack? This word ‘ever’ breaks the heart.”

George Whitfield used to speak with tears in his eyes of “the torment of burning like a livid coal, not for an instant or for a day, but for millions and millions of ages, at the end of which souls will realize that they are no closer to the end than when they first begun, and they will never, ever be delivered from that place.”

Jonathan Edwards in probably his most famous sermon “Sinners in the hands of an angry God said “thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell, and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger, neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment; the devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up; the fire bent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out: and they have no interest in any Mediator, there are no means within reach that can be any security to them. In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of; all that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance of an incensed God.”

If this place is real, if there is a place that is full of eternal torment, weeping and gnashing of teeth completely in utter darkness away from the presence of God forever then there is no more urgent and important task than to tell those who are on a collision course with eternal damnation that there is hope! There is one who conquered death! By this “one man’s obedience, the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19).

And if you are reading this and don't know Christ. Turn from your sin and repent. Ask Jesus to forgive you for your sins and accept his free gift of eternal life. Then, submit to him as your Lord, lay down your life in obedience to Him because your love of Him, knowing that His ways are far better than ours. 

unceasing anguish and great sorrow - part 1

Romans 9:1-3 - "I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit -- that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh"

These verses have been echoing in my head lately. I ask myself questions such as "Do I have unceasing anguish in my heart for my lost family and friends? Do I have great sorrow for the unreached people groups? Would I be willing to spend eternity in hell and be cut off from Christ so that they could spend eternity in heaven (if that were possible which I know it isn't)? I can't say I can honestly answer any of those questions with a resounding "yes". Sure I pray for them and I share Christ with them (though not as often as I should) but I can't categorize my prayers and my heart as one of great sorrow and unceasing anguish. So how did Paul get to this point? How do we get to this point?


I am going to split this blog into a couple different posts over the next couple of days to kind of hit a couple of points. 


First, we need to recognize humanity's state apart from Christ.


Before we really can grasp what Christ accomplished on the cross, we really need to realize who we were before a holy and righteous God prior to our salvation and who the lost are currently without this God that we worship. I think this can be downplayed in some if not most evangelical churches. It’s not popular to tell people how messed up they really are. It’s not popular to tell people that they are sinful and wicked people. People see that as “unloving” however, I firmly believe that the opposite is true. When we tell people they really aren’t that bad and to say this simple prayer and “invite” Jesus into their heart as if Jesus is this little boy crying in the corner just begging people to love him and “accept” him, that is unloving because it can send people straight to hell by producing so many false conversions in our churches for those who believe in Jesus as savior but do not submit to Him as Lord! So many people stake their claim to salvation on when they walked down the aisle and prayed to be saved and yet have no fruit of the spirit since.

It’s like say you had been having really bad head aches and have been getting dizzy pretty often so you decide to go to a doctor to get checked out. The doctor takes you back to get an MRI. After he takes a look at the MRI he noticed a large mass on your brain and determines it is more than likely brain cancer and without proper treatment, you will surely die. Now would the “loving” thing be to tell you, “Don’t worry, everything is all right. It’s not that bad. Just go home, get some rest and maybe try to live a healthier life by eating more fruit and vegetables” or for him to say “You have a tumor on your brain that is going to kill you if we don’t have a surgeon come remove it and I know just the surgeon for the job?”

Paul, preached pretty extensively on the state of all people apart from Christ. Paul talked about being “dead in the trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). We were completely dead, we weren’t dying, we weren’t terminally ill, we were DEAD! We had flat lined spiritually. I have heard the illustration of how it was like we were floating in the middle of the ocean and God threw a life preserver out and we just had to reach out and grab it. No! We were dead! We were face down on the bottom of the ocean and God had to come down in his mercy and love to bring us to life!

We “were by nature children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3). We were “alienated and strangers” to God (Ephesians 2:12). We didn’t seek God, we did no good, our throat was an open grave, our feet were swift to shed blood, we had no fear of God (Romans 3:11-18). We were slaves to sin (Romans 6:20). We couldn’t please God (Romans 8:8). We were enemies of God (Romans 5:10).

Oh feel the weight of our state apart from Christ prior to our salvation and the current state of our lost friends and family members. Don’t think too lightly on those verses and of what we were before salvation. This is HUGE to realize! We weren’t these cute little human beings that God couldn’t resist saving because we were just so cute. No, we were his enemies, we couldn’t please Him, we had no fear of Him, we did no good, we were children of wrath…to put it simply, we were the polar opposite of God himself.

CS Lewis said “The infinite value of each human soul is not a Christian doctrine. God did not die for man because of some value he perceived in him. The value of each human soul considered simply in itself, out of relation to God, is zero. As St Paul writes, to have died for valuable men would have been not divine but merely heroic; but God died for sinners. He loved us not because we were lovable, but because he is Love.”

weeping over cotton candy

"preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions" - 2 Timothy 4:2-3

I haven't blogged in quite a while. Maybe it is because I haven't had time lately or maybe it is because I haven't been passionate about something in awhile. I think it is a combination of the two honestly, but today I felt the need to blog.

We recently attended a church while on vacation. It was a rather large church with 3 different services. But what we experienced was shocking to say the least but at the same time in this generation of people with "itching ears" it shouldn't have been so shocking.

The sermon was out of Acts 6 where the apostles appointed men to "wait on tables" so that they could continue to devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. His whole sermon which lasted about 10-15 minutes, probably 10-12 of those minutes were stories and illustrations, had the main point of caring for the poor. Not only that, he seemed to have equated caring for the poor with the gospel. Now those who know me know that I am all about helping the poor and the less fortunate. I have such a heart for orphans, widows and the poor but never to the neglect of the gospel. All "good deeds" need to be accompanied with gospel proclamation otherwise what is the end result, people have a more comfortable ride in this life on their way to hell in the afterlife?

His sermon was similar to cotton candy. It may be sweet and taste good but when you bite into it, you realize how fluffy and how much it lacks any substance. It is nothing better than a motivational speaker could have done. I was reading a book awhile ago (I can't remember which book it was) but he basically said that you know that a sermon is solid or not by asking yourself could a Jewish Rabbi or Muslim or Priest have preached the same message?

There was no mention of the true gospel. There was no mention of the cross. In fact, there was very little quoting from the very words of God.

To cap it all off, as we got out our Bibles at the beginning of the sermon as he began to read from Acts, we felt a little awkward and as we looked down the different rows, we realized that no one had their Bibles. Really? You come to the house of God, with the people of God to worship God and you don't have your own copy of the very words of God?! I was in shock! How could this be?

Then the sermon ended with an attempted presentation of a salvation invitation but it was very short and basically asked people to say a "simple prayer" that consists of "telling God you want to accept his offer of a home in heaven" and "ask God to take away your past sins". No talk of repentance. No talk of the Lordship of Christ over your life. No talk of Christ's atoning sacrifice at the cross in which the wrath of God was poured out on the sinless, Lamb of God.

And as I sat through this service, I just wanted to weep for the people of this church. For those who were Christians there, I wanted to weep knowing that under this type of teaching, it is likely that they will never dig deeper in their Christian walk than simple surface things such as caring for the poor and loving people unless they dig into the Word for themselves. For the non-Christians that thought they were Christians, I wanted to weep because they were never going to be confronted about sin or challenged to test themselves to see whether they are in the faith (2 Cor 13:5).

I thank God that the church that I belong to does challenge me in my walk. I thank God that we have a Pastor that faithfully brings the Word week after week. I thank God for his mercy and grace in my life that he has opened my mind's eye to His word and that the Holy Spirit has illumined it to me. There is nothing in me that is any better than the most wretched of humans on this earth except that God has intervened in my life and brought to life that which was spiritually dead. I have nothing to boast in except the Lord and the cross of Christ.

I pray that God will bring a new love and a new reverence for the Word of God in churches across the world that seems to be lost; for in it and it alone are the words of eternal life.

strength is in the recognition of one's own frailty

One thing that I have been struggling with lately is adequacy or lack thereof. Adequacy as a husband and father, adequacy as a youth leader, adequacy as a business man. I guess adequacy really isn't the right term to use but it is the only one that I feel really grips my point. By no means do I think I am not a good dad and husband. In no way do I think I am a horrible youth leader. I like to believe I am a decent businessman. But sometimes I have this sense of inadequacy. That I don't really meet the level of expectations that I have for myself. That I am not quite as good as this person or that person or don't have the knowledge that others have. All this leads to this burning desire in my heart to be better but also feeling somewhat inadequate until I am better.

It is something that I have really been praying about lately and I can't help but come across verses like 2 Corinthians 3:5-6 which says "Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but out sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives live" and realize, my sufficiency or my adequacy is not based on myself but on God.

There are a couple of observations on this text I would like to point out in hopes that it would encourage you if you ever feel inadequate as well as give me something to refer back to when I feel the same.

First of all, none of us are adequate to be the type of father/mother, husband/wife, son/daughter, youth leader, pastor, businessman, student or human being that we should be in our own power and strength. We all fall short. We all miss the mark. Why? Because we are all sinful and therefore can't.

Second of all, when we find our sufficiency in Christ and realize that in our weakness, His strength is made perfect (2 Cor 12:9), then we will realize that we are sufficient but in Him and in Him alone. We are adequate when we depend on His power and His mercy every day. When we trust Him to guide us as a father or son or daughter or whatever and we don't depend on ourselves, then we can truly rest in His adequacy and not our own. When we trust in His word and not our own when we are teaching a youth group or a small group or a church or a friend from school. When we realize that His word comes with power and our words have no power, then we will learn to depend on His Spirit to do a work that only He can do.

Finally, if you do feel adequate in your own power. If you do feel sufficient in your own strength and think you have "arrived", read the book of Romans and pray. Therein lies the danger of self-sufficiency. When we think we have it all together. When we think that we can handle things on our own. It is at that point where we find no need for God. However, our frailty is meant for us to turn to God. If we didn't feel frail, would we ever turn to God? If we never felt that we were "that bad" and we were over all a "good person", would we ever think we had a need for a Savior?

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 "For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

Lord, I pray that I will find my adequacy in you and you alone. Please help me to continually see my inadequacy in my own power and fall on my knees and ask you for your help. Let me live and your church live in such a way that the only explanation for anything that happens is You. And through this all, may your strength be magnified and your name glorified in my frailty.

God is our treasure, not stuff

"And a ruler asked him, 'Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' And Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your mother and father.' And he said, 'All these I have kept from my youth.' When Jesus heard this, he said to him, 'One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.' But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.' - Luke 18:18-23

These verses can be so convicting and so motivating at the same time. These verses sometimes make me want to sell all of my stuff, move into a small house or perhaps move to a different country and just live radical. I begin to think that if I don't, then I am not doing everything I can to obey Christ and follow hard after Him and being more like Him.

Is God not happy when we have stuff? What about flat screen TVs? What about nice houses? What about a brand new car? What about the latest gaming system? Does God not want us to have these things? Or are those questions being worded wrong? Perhaps the way we should word those questions is "Are we glorifying God and are we making it plain to those around us that our stuff, our TV, our nice home, our new car, our Playstation 3 is not our treasure and they are not where we find our security and contentment but in Christ alone are we content and satisfied?"

I think that is a much better question to ask ourselves. Everything we do should be for God's glory, so how are we using our stuff to glorify God? How are we using our stuff to make much of God so that those around us will realize that He is our lasting treasure and we hold our possessions so lightly, so loosely that if God calls us to sell our flat screen TV and give the money to someone in need, we do it without any questions asked or justifications made.

Paul says in Philippians 4:12 "I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need" and here is the key "I can do all things through him who strengthens me." I think that is the key to it all. Paul didn't say that he was content when he was poor and not content when he had "abundance". Paul's contentment was in Christ who gave Him strength. Christ is our constant when everything in this world is like shifting sands including how much money we have and how much stuff we have. We need to find our contentment and our treasure in Christ and Christ alone so that we "count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus (our) Lord" (Philippians 3:8).

AMWAY and the Gospel

So I was at Best Buy the other day looking at the Wii games and this guy (coincidentally named Bryan and he even spelled it right which is a rarity) started asking me questions about Wii (what games are good, etc). So we struck up a normal conversation. Where are you from? Are you married? Do you have any kids? What do you do for a living? And then he said, "I work for a marketing company that is part of AMWAY." Instant brick wall came up in my mind. My initial thought was, "Oh now he is going to try to convince me to join AMWAY." He could have told me how it is free to join and you are guaranteed a million dollars in the first year but it didn't matter. Of course the rest of the conversation went about like a normal conversation, no sales pitches, no twisting my arm, nothing. He was genuinely just trying to have a genuine conversation.

That is one reason I was never a fan of sales. First of all, I don't like to try to convince people to buy something from me. Also, I probably assume that most people are just like me and once they realize they are in the middle of a sales pitch, they check out.

So on the drive home, I just couldn't get the conversation out of my mind and how it mirrors how my attitude was in the past and still is at times when it comes to sharing the Gospel. For so often, I used to think that I needed to convince people to "invite Christ into their lives". I remember one specific time when my grandpa was dying from cancer. We didn't know how long he had to live so one day, I made up my mind to witness to him. I remember sharing the Romans road with him. I remember after going through everything, I asked him if he wanted to be saved. He told me that he really wasn't sure. He didn't feel that God would accept him because of all of the sin he had committed. I told him that it didn't matter because Jesus' blood covers all of our sins once we are sins. He still seemed hesitant but I was determined, so after asking him several more times if he wanted to pray to be saved, he said yes and we prayed there in the motor home he had driven up from Florida in. Did my grandpa get saved that day? I like to believe he did. He went on to read the Bible when he got home to Florida which is something he didn't do before so it seems like there was a heart change. But my point is, I felt like I had to convince him. I felt like I needed to be a good salesman and sell him on Christianity.

I hadn't realized that as Paul says in his letter to the Romans that the gospel "is the power of God for salvation. (Romans 1:16)" God's power wasn't in my "lofty speech or wisdom (1 Cor. 2:1)" but in His Word. Man, if we truly embrace that, if we truly embrace the fact that God works through his words and through human vessels like us who proclaim Christ, how would that change or witnessing? If we realized that it wasn't dependent on us but dependent on God. That it was God who causes the heart change by putting his Spirit within someone and then and only then does a person call out "Abba Father". If we came to grips with the fact that it is our responsibility to be faithful in proclaiming Christ to a lost and dying world but not our responsibility to win people to Christ. Why? Because salvation is a work of God that only He can do. But praise God that he uses horrible salespeople like me to do so.