The Conflict Foretold: Genesis 3:15

In Genesis 3:15 remarkable words are spoken at the dawn of time. This is the first Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter text all rolled into one.

By all appearances in that moment Satan had won. The power of hell appeared to have mutinied successfully against heaven, while taking the human race with him. He'd seduced Adam and Eve, and effectively gotten them banished from Eden.

But in Genesis 3:15 God gives a promise spelling the Devil's demise, which simultaneously sustained believers' hopes for millennia--all the way through the moment when it was fulfilled in the birth, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus. The promise is called in theology: "The Proto-Evangelium": the first gospel. It is the first heralding of a Saving Redeemer to come.

But this is also the first announcement that the Savior would suffer. Satan would attack the woman's offspring so fiercely that he would succeed in "bruising" or crushing His heel, speaking of a crippling, near mortal wound against Eve's seed. A child born to woman would experience a severe wound that would appear to spell ultimate defeat.

But in the end the Child would bruise or crush Satan's head! Here is a promise that a Child would be born that would experience apparent defeat only to turn around and gain ultimate triumph. That does sound familiar, now doesn't it?

Thousands of years later a Child was born to a woman; one who would redeem His people from Satan's grasp and hell's dominion. This Child would appear to be defeated on a cross, but then would triumph through the empty tomb. Satan would crush His heel; He would crush Satan's head. He came to destroy the devil and death, and that's exactly what He did (Hebrews 2:14, 15).

Friends, this text shows us that the sufferings of Christ came as no surprise to our Lord. Long before they happened He knew they would happen. He knew what would befall Him, and He didn't flinch.

History is not a story of a God surprised by human choices or sins. Jesus did not--as some have suggested--come to earth expecting a warm welcome only to be rejected. Rather, history is the unfolding of an eternal plan of God in which He Himself would come, knowing He would endure infinite unspeakable sorrow, that He might redeem us from eternal unspeakable sorrow. He knew His heel would be crushed, but He stepped into time and space to endure it all nonetheless.

Calvary was not an afterthought; it was the plan. It was not a mistake; it was exactly what God had in mind. And because it was, we have a Savior.

Lenten FAQs (4): What Is an Evangelical Way to Observe Lent?

I've been a hold-out on Lent, and, as commonly practiced, I still am. All human traditions have a built in high-risk factor which is one reason why I try to undermine them every chance I get!

This gets me into a lot of hot water, but I believe that traditions about music, Sunday attire, men's and women's roles (other than those spelled out in God's Word), holy days, liturgies, and more, must be deliberately altered periodically, or else in time they will replace God's Law. I must intentionally change the way I've always done things or the way I've always done things will supplant God's Law in my conscience.

Spiritual growth should never depend on a tradition, but on God and all His ordained means of grace alone. All else is sand. Traditions are just tools to be used or not, as the moment may suggest, and the heart may choose.

But with all that necessarily said, I think there are helpful ways we can observe traditional holy seasons if we so choose. Regarding Lent you might choose from the following options (from various sources):

1. Take a deep repentant inventory of soul. This should happen regularly (do not wait for Lent!), but it can be helpful to use the Lenten emergence from winter as a kind of spiritual emergence from any soul-winter we may be in. You can ask questions like:

- What are my characteristic sins, and how can I work and pray for change?
- What idols have captured my imagination and cooled my love for the living God?
- In what ways is my devotion to Christ and his church less than wholehearted?

2. Memorize a gospel, cross-focused text like Isaiah 52:11-53:12.

3. Write one gospel-presenting letter each Lenten week to an unbelieving person expressing the love of Christ.

4. See Lent and the Good Friday/Resurrection Day event as a reminder of your solidarity with all true believers everywhere. It's undeniably stirring, if you have a love for the universal Church, to realize that in such "holy seasons" true Christians everywhere are united in repentance, faith, and love for Christ.

5. Read good books about the finished redeeming work of Jesus Christ--through Whom alone we have our salvation apart from works and traditions. Fill your mind with grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone themes.

6. Plan to make three visits to people who are lonely or especially needy. Read them Scripture on the death and resurrection of Christ and encourage their faith and hope in Christ.

7. Choose to fast, going without food for a meal or a day or longer, using the time and energy saved to pray and meditate.

Whatever you choose never think of your way as God's Law. Never think that your observance of Lent is penance or atonement for sin. Jesus' blood alone atones. By His blood and righteousness alone are we justified in God's sight. Trusting in Jesus alone, make your choice regarding Lent. This is an evangelical way to do Lent.

As we proceed now to offer 40+ readings on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus--His Path to Glory--the way is clear for us to reflect and worship with no legalistic strings attached.

Lenten FAQs (3): What about Holy Days?

Most of my early life major influences had a strong distrust of holy days, and an instinct to avoid them. They saw verses like Colossians 2:16-23, and (in my judgment) rightly concluded that any legalistically required observance of holy days (what Paul calls new moons, festivals, etc.) is a form of spiritual babyhood; a reverting to "elemental" principles of religion below that to which we are called in Christ. We've been set free from such childish requirements.

They also pointed out that the Bible nowhere mandates Lent or Good Friday or Easter or even Christmas observance. And they were right. These are human traditions, and nothing more. And as such, they cannot be required for anyone. No one has a right to command what God does not command.

They also observed how many people treat these "holy days" as if they are really holier than other days. They noticed how people act more spiritual on these days than on others. In other words, people play the hypocrite, and feel that all is okay between them and God because they've done their Easter/Lent/Christmas thing. And so my early influences reminded me often that Paul says that all days are to be consecrated to God as equally holy (Romans 14:1-12). And they were right.

I thank God for these early influences. They gave me a due caution toward all traditions and man-made additions to God's Law. I live with what I think is a healthy resistance to anything that is a human add-on to God's Word. I hate legalism and thank God for all those who've guarded me from the deadening effects of tradition.

But I do think that many in my early life missed something else Paul said. It's found in Romans 14:5-7. Honoring one day above another in a special way is not sin. It can be done for God's glory.

So long as we avoid all the dangers alluded to in my last post, it's possible and permitted to observe special days. It's possible and permitted to set apart Christmas to celebrate the birth of Christ, Good Friday to remember the death of Christ, Easter (or as I prefer to call it, Resurrection Day) to rejoice in the victory of Christ, and--if we are so inclined--Lent, to do whatever our hearts desire to draw closer to God, more appreciative of grace, more humble before the Holy One, more repentant over sin, more trusting in Christ alone for our salvation, more in love with the Savior.

All the warnings still apply, but one thing we cannot do is forbid what God allows. If some choose to honor a season as unto their Lord in a way that does not compromise any truth of the gospel, then more power to them. May God truly bless those who do. And may God truly bless those who do not!

All that said, tomorrow we'll look at a suggested evangelical way to observe Lent if you so desire.

Lenten FAQs (2): What Is Lent?

Many would ask what Lent is. People put ash on their foreheads; others go without meat or some other pleasure for a few days or weeks; still others fast seriously for a season--and we wonder what to make of it all.

The word "Lent" refers to spring, signalling emergence from the cold barrenness of winter to life-renewal on planet earth. The symbolic usefulness of this is plain. Lent can mark the coming of spring with a reflection upon how our souls may need renewal, as they often grow cold and barren for a season.

From back in the 100s AD some Christians have prepared for the Good Friday/Easter event with fasting and prayer. Marked by repentance, this was a season for personal reflection about one's own relationship with Christ, with an accompanying sorrow and confession over sin.

Someone has written: "The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial, for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ."

So Lent, with most of its individual components as practiced by many Christians throughout the centuries, is really a merging of many Christian disciplines into one forty day long event.

It's hard to argue with any of this. We evangelicals embrace penitence (not the same as penance), confession, fasting, prayer, self-evaluation, almsgiving, self-denial, and even the observance of holy days. Who can deny the value of these practices? In fact, each (with the exception of holy days) is biblically required of believers in some form or another, at one time and another.

What is optional is whether one attaches them to a Lenten pre-Good Friday/Easter experience. If one chooses to do so, I'd only urge that the following safeguards be observed.

--Lent must never be seen as a form of penance or personal atonement for sin.
--Lent must never be required of a believer by any Church or spiritual authority
--Lent must never be elevated above human tradition status. We must keep in mind our Lord's teaching in Matthew 15:1-9 that traditions are very dangerous things.

If so guarded, this discipline can prove and has proven immensely helpful to many. After all, don't we all have sin-winters in the soul from which we need to emerge into springtime life and renewal?

Lenten FAQs (1): Is Lent A Catholic Holy Season?

Today FreeTruth begins a Lenten series entitled Path to Glory. Nearly twenty of my friends will contribute to this 45+ day journey through the life, passion, resurrection, and triumph of our Lord Jesus Christ--His path to glory.

I think there's wisdom in first getting this "Lent thing" straight in our minds, before we present about forty meditations heading into the Good Friday and Easter season. If you're an evangelical Christian like me--someone who has a legitimate concern to keep the gospel free from man-made traditions and legalistic additions--you've probably asked questions about Lent. If you haven't, you probably should have, for traditions and additions can kill unguarded evangelical faith.

Let's see if I can help out with a few posts answering some FAQs about Lent.

FAQ #1--"Isn't Lent a Catholic holy season?" Answer: Yes and No.

Yes, Roman Catholics observe Lent every year. No, Lent is not only a Catholic holy season. The fact is that through the centuries to this day, many evangelical, Bible-believing Protestants have observed the Lenten season to one degree or another. That doesn't mean it's right or wrong. It just means that it isn't strictly accurate to say that Lent is only a Catholic holy season any more than to say that Christmas is only a Catholic holy day because Catholics observe that too.

Church history shows that Lent-like practice was observed widely before the Roman Catholic Church ever became very dominant and as seriously in error as it is today. Widely diverse observance of some form of fasting, repentance, and prayer, all leading into the Good Friday/Resurrection Sunday (Easter) season, traces back at least into the 100's A.D. That doesn't mean necessarily that this is a good thing to do; it simply means that a lot of real Christians have been observing Lenten-type practices for a long time.

Truth be told: there are troubling Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Coptic, High Church Anglican or Lutheran, and even superficial evangelical ways to observe Lent, and there can be a truly evangelical, gospel- and grace-saturated way to observe it.

It is by no means critical that we choose to observe Lent. I never have. And many other Christians have chosen not to and are strong devoted believers. What matters is that if we choose to observe Lent (which I believe a Christian may do), we do so in a way that in no way compromises the gospel of God's free justifying grace through the atonement of Christ alone.

We'll see if we can outline an approach to such holy seasons that does not undermine the gospel in the process.

No Ease until Eternity

It may sound strange but I've often said that the job of a pastor is not finished until his sheep all die, or he does; whichever comes first. He must labor for the souls, and spiritual safety and well-being of his flock until each sheep crosses the finish line and enters into heaven. Until then there can be no ease, no rest, no taking a life break.

In my devotions this morning I came across Numbers 32:18. The context is that the Israelites are about to take over the promised land, the inheritance promised by God. As that is kicking off, two tribes (Reuben and Gad) ask if they can settle just east of there. Moses isn't happy because it appears that they want to settle down and take their ease before the rest of their fellow Israelites enter the promised rest and ease of the land.

In response Reuben and Gad make this promise in Numbers 32:18--"We will not return to our homes until each of the people of Israel has gained his inheritance."

This is the way every Christian (not just every pastor) should view life. Life here and now is not about settling down into ease, rest, or retirement; it's about making sure that all the fellow Christians God has connected us to (beginning of course in our families and then in our local church) make it to heaven, their inheritance.

While we are certainly to take periodic Sabbath rests for spiritual and physical replenishment, there is to be no real ease until heaven. So long as I have brothers and sisters who are in the wilderness of this life, and struggling to make it in faith; so long as I have members of my body (the local church) who need encouragement and admonition and help and love and counsel and hope; so long as I have fellow spiritual travelers who have not yet entered their eternal rest, I cannot rest or settle or take my ease.

Rest will come in heaven. Eternity is the Christian's retirement plan. Until then I must labor and lay down my life in behalf of the people of God. And so must every single Christian. This is not for pastors only. It's for every parent, every care group leader, every care group member, every single member of every single church. Each of us is his or her brother's and sister's keeper.

So long as we have one brother or sister who needs encouragement to keep on keeping on against all the foes of body and spirit, we must fight and labor on in their behalf. Let none of us return to his home for rest until everyone of us has gained his inheritance.

Let there be ease only in eternity.

My Heredity begins in Christ

One of my teachers used to say "our heredity begins in Christ." It is a powerful suggestion, and an effective counseling tool. Sadly, there are people who struggle for years, even decades, because of an unsavory heritage. I'm no psychologist, and clearly counselors and therapists play their part in bringing emotional healing to folks with troubled pasts. But there is a truth in this assertion that can overcome a host of evil. If we are "in Christ" we are members of God's family-- God is our father and Jesus is our brother! We have a brand new heritage!

I am always blessed when Pastor Tim speaks about his own father, as he did in yesterday's sermon. It seems to me that Tim's dad is an example of this idea that, in a true sense, our heredity begins with Christ. Mr. Shorey did not come from a Christian home, but the fruit of his salvation was passed on to Timothy M., and now the third and fourth generations are reaping the blessings of a wonderful inheritance in Christ.

I have a niece who lives in Minnesota. She recently changed her Facebook status to "in a relationship with..." She met a friend of her brother, who attended the same law school, and they are now taking a pre-marriage class at Bethlehem Baptist Church, where John Piper preaches. My niece is the dearest young lady! At 26 years old, she has her degrees, and has done a good deal of missions work overseas. She speaks of her Lord, and writes of her relationship with Him in wonderful ways. I know her love for God runs deeper than most her age.

But there is some concern on the part of some in her family. Why? Because the young man has only recently come to know the Lord, and isn't yet able to carefully articulate his theological positions. (At least, that seems to be the reason for concern). But he is an eager learner; very bright, and he's learning from the best there at Bethlehem Baptist.

And so, I do not share the concern that others have expressed. This young man is a part of God's family-- God is his Father, Christ, his brother! What more background do we need! And who knows... he may just turn out to be another Mr. Shorey!

Keep Going-----He Will Keep Us Going

My dear wife and I are actually away for the weekend among the Amish, and I am posting this a little early while I have internet connectivity. Tomorrow is an uncertainty (in more ways then one), so I think it best to send this out now.

I deeply love "The Pilgrims Progress", and I think the quote below is my favorite passage (alright, one of my favorites) in the whole book. This classic of John Bunyan's is an extended study in allegory form of the great Biblical doctrine of the preservation and perseverance of the saints---------i.e. all those whom God graciously and sovereignly saves will continue or persevere in faith, holiness and obedience unto Christ's eternal kingdom, because God Himself preserves them to the end (Phil. 1:6).

The gospel of God's saving grace that begins in one sense with our problem, the problem of our radical depravity, is answered by God with four sovereign initiatives: the Father's unconditional election, the Son's substitutionary atonement for the elect, and the Spirit's enliviening work of effective grace in calling the elect to saving faith in the Savior who died for them. And then finally the God who began this work does not leave His people to an uncertain future, but works in us to complete what He started.

In the gospel, Christ who saves us from our sins, is not only our righteousness, but is our sanctifier as well, keeping us in His way. Bunyan put it beautifully this way:

"Then I saw in my dream, that the Interpreter took Christian by the hand, and led him into a place where was a fire burning against a wall, and one standing by it, always casting much water upon it, to quench it; yet did the fire burn higher and hotter.

Then said Christian, What means this?

The Interpreter answered, This fire is the work of grace that is wrought in the heart; he that casts water upon it, to extinguish and put it out, is the devil: but in that thou seest the fire, notwithstanding, burn higher and hotter, thou shalt also see the reason of that. So he had him about to the back side of the wall, where he saw a man with a vessel of oil in his hand, of the which he did also continually cast (but secretly) into the fire.

Then said Christian, What means this?

The Interpreter answered, This is Christ, who continually, with the oil of his grace, maintains the work already begun in the heart; by the means of which, notwithstanding what the devil can do, the souls of his people prove gracious still. 2 Cor. 12:9. And in that thou sawest that the man stood behind the wall to maintain the fire; this is to teach thee, that it is hard for the tempted to see how this work of grace is maintained in the soul."

John Newton knew of this secret work of Christ in the heart as we press on in the battle that is the Christian life, expressing it in this affecting way (at least for me, since he seems to have nailed my experience):

"As to myself, I would tell you how it is with me if I could: at the best, it would be an inconsistent account…I am a sinner, believing in the name of Jesus. I am a silly sheep, but I have a gracious, watchful Shepherd. I am a dull scholar, but I have a Master who can make the dullest learn. He still bears with me, He still employs me, He still enables me, He still owns me. Oh for a coal of heavenly fire to warm my heart, that I might praise him as I ought!"

So, here is our calling, and here is our certian promise---------

".....work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Phil.2:12-13).

How do these things affect your heart? It would truly be good to hear.

Fervent Prayer Accomplishes Much: A Few Weeks of Answered Prayers

Many of you know James 5:13-18. I feel like I'm just beginning to really know it, if you know what I mean. I've got a long way to go, but at least in recent time, this is what I've seen:
1. A brother in severe back pain just before a missions trip, stand and walk within minutes of prayer, and stay strong throughout the next days of his long ride and work.
2. Another brother have potentially serious surgery near his brain, go into the hosptial one day, be told he'd be there at least 4-5 days, and in recovery for months, only--in response to many fervent prayers--have the surgery, get a wonderful report, and leave the hospital the next day!
3. A mom's long and persistent prayers for a prodigal son answered this week with him "coming home" to Christ with a contrite heart and humble faith.
4. A sister and daughter travel to Haiti to serve; get there and back safely and with a deepening heart for Christ and others; having left a mark on dozens of children and families--prayed for all the way there and back again.
5. A brother in the Lord--and son of one of our TFC sisters in Jesus, prayed for on Sunday and now--this Thursday given a medical report saying his cancer is in remission.
6. Long damaged and even broken relationships prayed for, talked through, and on the mend.
7. A brother with a recent stroke--prayed for and experienceing the sustaining grace of God in trial.
8. Another brother with cancer, not fully healed but prayed for and tasting the very good, very sufficient grace of God.
9. A brother caught in sin, and earnestly prayed for, now repenting, and being restored to family and those around him.
10. A family mourning the tragic loss of a son, but through prayer and fellowship going on with God in grace.

I could add more my friends, but this will do to make this point: pray on dear ones. Pray on!

Hearing God Speak: A Short Reflection

Just a short thought for today folks. We just finished a series showing reasons to believe the Bible is God's Word. That leads to this reminder: in the Bible God speaks. I read Numbers 7:89 in my devotions this morning. Friends: everytime we open our Bibles we are entering the tent of meeting to hear God's voice.

Here are several questions I have often found helpful in hearing Him speak as I read a Scripture text:
1. What do I learn here about God's character & works?
2. What do I learn about the Lord Jesus Christ?
3. What do I learn about God's law? What demands my immediate and determined and happy obedience?
4. What do I learn about my own self and sin?
5. What do I learn about God's thoughts toward me? Am I under his favor or under his frown?
6. What do I learn about God's grace and salvation?
7. What promises of God are here for me?
8. What cause for worship and praise do I find?
9. What should I pray for now in response to God's voice?
10. What can/must I share with others?


A few suggestions for life.
Open to any feedback.

One more suggestion: to help encourage a few more to get into the conversation let's keep all comments to no more than four sentences.

Simul Justus Et Peccator

For my post this week once again my focus will be on that aspect of divine truth that is of first importance--the gospel (1 Cor. 15:3-4), as I consider one of it's chief blessings. During this Valentine's Day weekend as our thoughts ponder the subject of love, generally on the horizontal plane, let us first and foremost look up and gaze upon that great love of God in granting salvation to utterly unworthy rebels such as you and I. One of the chief blessings of this great saving love as God applies it to our lives is that provision of clothing us "in an alien asbestos righteousness transparent to the glory of God that can take me (us) into the flame of that 6 trillion degree centigrade holiness and enjoy it instead of being consumed by it" (John Piper). I am afraid this will be one of my more long-winded posts, for which I apologize profusely in advance. I cannot help myself.

Are you familiar with the phrase, simul justus et peccator--Latin for: at the same time--simultaneously--righteous or just and a sinner? In this slogan from the 16th century Reformation is captured my dear readers of this blog the sweetness of the Gospel. At the very moment we by God's sovereign mercy are granted saving faith in the Savior and rest our confidence in Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins, and His perfect righteousness is imputed or credited to us by an act of forensic declaration, we are in and of ourselves sinners still. And while God the Holy Spirit now resides in us and begins from that moment to form a real righteousness within us through the work of progressive sanctification, that righteousness in this life is always an imperfect righteousness.

We are saints on the one hand because of the perfect righteousness of Christ, and on the other hand, we still sin-------though to be sure sin no longer reigns over us and we no longer live in it as those who pursue holiness. We are simul justus et peccator. And as such, and only because of such we can come before God with a pacified conscience. Folks, there is never a moment in this life when our fellowship with God does not rest ultimately upon the free forgiveness of sins and justifying rigtheousness--all because of grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone. It is always Christ's virtue, not our own, that is the ground of our acceptance with the infinite/personal God.

At the heart of the Biblical gospel is the doctrine of justification. J. I. Packer in his introductory essay to the classic work "The Doctrine of Justification: An Outline of its History in the Church and of its Exposition from Scripture", by James Buchanan, expressed the following concerning the importance of the doctrine of justification:

...the doctrine of justification by faith is like Atlas: it bears a world on its shoulders, the entire evangelical knowledge of saving grace. The doctrines of election, of effectual calling, regeneration, and repentance, of adoption, of prayer, of the church, the ministry, and the sacraments, have all to be interpreted and understood in the light of justification by faith. Thus, the Bible teaches that God elected men in eternity in order that in due time they might be justified through faith in Christ. He renews their hearts under the Word, and draws them to Christ by effectual calling, in order that he might justify them upon their believing. Their adoption as God's sons is consequent on their justification; indeed, it is no more than the positive aspect of God's justifying sentence. Their practice of prayer, of daily repentance, and of good works--their whole life of faith--springs from the knowledge of God's justifying grace. The church is to be thought of as the congregation of the faithful, the fellowship of justified sinners, and the preaching of the Word and ministry of the sacraments are to be understood as means of grace only in the sense that they are means through which God works the birth and growth of justifying faith. A right view of these things is not possible without a right understanding of justification; so that when justification falls, all true knowledge of the grace of God in human life falls with it, and then, as Luther said, the church itself falls. A society like the Church of Rome, which is committed by its official creed to pervert the doctrine of justification, has sentenced itself to a distorted understanding of salvation at every point. Nor can these distortions ever be corrected till the Roman doctrine of justification is put right. And something similar happens when Protestants let the thought of justification drop out of their minds: the true knowledge of salvation drops out with it, and cannot be restored till the truth of justification is back in its proper place. When Atlas falls, everything that rested on his shoulders comes crashing down too.

To help us think more clearly about this vital truth that is at the heart of the gospel I am including in this post a brief test for us. It consists of 10 pairs of statements concerning the Biblical teaching about justification. Read them through carefully and choose which statements reflect the teaching of Sacred Scripture. The answers are given below (but no peeking allowed).

1. (a) God gives a sinner right standing with himself by mercifully accounting him innocent or virtuous.
(b) God gives a sinner right standing with himself by actually making him into an innocent and virtuous person.

2. (a) God gives a sinner right standing with himself by placing Christ's goodness and virtue to his credit.
(b) God gives a sinner right standing with himself by putting Christ's goodness and virtue into his heart.

3. (a) God accepts the believer because of the righteousness found in Jesus Christ.
(b) God makes the believer acceptable by infusing Christ's righteousness into his life.

4. (a) If a person becomes "born again" (regenerate), he will achieve right standing with God on the basis of his new birth.
(b) If a person becomes "born again" he achieves right standing with God on the basis of Christ's work alone.

5. (a) We receive right standing with God by faith alone.
(b) We receive right standing with God by faith which has become active by love.

6. (a) We achieve right standing with God by having Christ live out his life of obedience in us.
(b) We receive right standing with God by accepting the fact that Christ obeyed the law perfectly for us.

7. (a) We achieve right standing with God by following Christ's example by the help of his enabling grace.
(b) We follow Christ's example because his death has given us right standing with God.

8. (a) God first pronounces that we are good in his sight, then gives us his Spirit to make us good.
(b) God sends his Spirit to make us good, and then he will pronounce that we are good.

9. (a) Christ's finished work outside of us and his intercession at God's right hand gives us favor in the sight of God.
(b) It is the indwelling Christ that gives us favor in God's sight.

10. (a) Only by faith in the doing and dying of Christ can we satisfy the claims of the Ten Commandments.
(b) By the power of the Holy Spirit living in us, we can satisfy the claims of the Ten Commandments.


Answers: 1 a; 2 a; 3 a; 4 b; 5 a; 6 b; 7 b; 8 a; 9 a; 10 a.

The answers given above reflect the Evangelical, and what we believe to be the Biblical teaching on this great and vital truth. The alternative statements reflect a summary of the understanding of Roman Catholicism on this doctrine. They are obviously not the same. Do we understand the difference? Does it matter? Why?

"For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law" (Rom. 3:28).

"And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness" (Rom. 4:5).

"But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:6).

Why I Believe the Bible is the Word of God: The Grace of God

As I draw this series to a close, I would not want to be misunderstood. In this discussion I have presented reasons for faith. I have done this because throughout the Bible God presents reasons for faith, evidence (to borrow someone's phrase) that demands a verdict. But the reason I believe is not that I am smart enough to see those reasons while others are not.

Let me be clear: I do not believe that God calls us to faith without reason. Faith without reason is superstition. Faith is not a leap into a darkness devoid of evidence, it is a reasonable conclusion drawn from the evidence. It is seeing where the evidence points, concluding that there is clear and sufficient evidence that something is true, and then commiting one's self to that conclusion.

Faith in God and in the Bible as God's Word is not a leap into a dark pit of irrationality. It is simply accepting the fact that there is clear and sufficient reason to believe it is God's Word and submitting accordingly.

But here's the deal: some people are willing to do that and some are not. The evidence can be seen by all willing to look (Romans 1 makes it clear that just nature alone gives enough reason to believe; people know that there is a God). But some believe it and some don't. Some submit; some do not. Some surrender to the facts; others resist them. Why?

I'm asking the question, "Why do I believe the Bible is God's Word?" from a different angle now. What I'm asking now is not what reasons do I have to surrender my life to the Word of God, but why am I willing to do so.

There is only one reason why I am willing to surrender to the evidence: it is the sovereign, electing, regenerating, faith-giving grace of God. It is because the Spirit of God has opened my eyes to see the truth and my heart to make me willing to receive it.

Man's mind can and does comprehend the reality of God and the divine quality of the Bible. But the only way Man's heart will be willing to receive and bow to the authority of that Word is if God gives a new heart by grace.

I believe because God enabled me to do so. There was a day on which my dead-like-Lazarus-soul was called from the grave of its hardened condition by the life-giving voice of God through His Word, and I walked from the tomb of my unbelief.

"Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature's night
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off my heart was free
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee."

I am what I am, and believe what I believe, by the grace of God.
I am a debtor to mercy alone.
I stand amazed and weep for joy.

Why I Believe the Bible is the Word of God: It Alone Remedies Man's Greatest Need (2)

To pick up where I left off yesterday, I would argue that all the religions and religious books of the world (except One) have two fatal flaws as they address the biggest need of the human soul: sin, and the separation it causes between Man and God. These "paths to God" are dead ends because they both exaggerate the virtue of man's goodness and depreciate the high holiness and justice of God. They make Man out to be better than he is and God out to be more indulgent and morally wimpy (i.e.-less holy) than He is.

For a "path to God" to be a true path it has to deal with this problem of sin in such a way as to treat both sin and God's holiness with absolute unflinching seriousness. Other faiths simply do not do this, but the Bible does.

The dilemma that sin causes can be described like this: Man is a sinner whose sin must be punished with death. But God loves sinners and wants to rescue them from the death they deserve, the hell that justice requires. So God in His love wants to forgive sinners, but God in His justice must punish their sin. It follows then, that if God punishes the sinners He loves in the way their sins deserve, there won't be any more sinners to love. They will all be damned. Any religion or view of life that does not reckon with this divine moral dilemma is a fraud.

So how does God both gratify His love for sinners and satisfy the justice of His holy nature with reference to sin? How does He damn and save sinners simultaneously?

Or to look at it from Man upward: how does Man find forgiveness with God for sins that God's justice simply cannot ignore? No faith but that of the Bible has revealed a satisfactory answer.

The answer is this: God voluntarily decided to punish Man's sin by becoming a man and bearing the punishment in Man's place. The Cross is the place where love and justice meet and kiss. On the Cross, human sin was atoned for (to satisfy God's justice) so that human beings could be forgiven (to satisfy God's love).

God chose to punish Himself for human sin so that the wrath due to sinners could be satisfied while the love God had for sinners could be gratified. God devised a way to punish sin and save sinners. He chose to die in their place.

John Stott has said that "Sin is man substituting himself for God, and salvation is God substituting Himself for man." There is the gospel, and there is the only truth path that actually gets you to God. Every other path is a bridge to nowhere.

And there you have one more reason why I believe the Bible alone is the Word of God. It alone saves.

Why I Believe the Bible is the Word of God: It Alone Remedies Man's Greatest Need

In the final analysis, the only real quest of the human soul is to be right with God. Man, being made in the image of God, was made to be in relationship with God. Humans are made to love and enjoy the love of, God.

Not only is this what the Bible teaches from cover to cover, it is what the heart of Man desires from womb to tomb. Man is--to use John Piper's pleasing phrase--"homesick for God". In the words of Augustine's prayer: "Lord, You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You."

All humanity's restless search for meaning, for true and lasting love, for peace of conscience and soul, is the product of our being made to be in right relationship with the One who made us, but from whom we have wandered in foolish and wicked rebellion.

Sin has ruined Man's soul and come between him and the One he desires. Therefore, it can rightly be said that this sin--and finding a remedy for it--presents humanity's greatest need.

It is at this point that I discover my next reason for believing the Bible is the Word of God: Because the Bible alone provides the answer for Man's deepest need: sin This argument will take two days to unpack.

The Bible proclaims words of eternal life and real reason to hope for forgiveness, declaring a gospel that offers grace to sinners without trivializing human sin on the one hand or divine justice and wrath on the other. No other Book/religion presents a way of salvation in which the justice due to sin and the mercy needed by sinners come together and kiss.

Every other religion and religious book presents a "way to God" that simply cannot be true because it simply cannot work. The way to God presented by these faiths invariably reduces to this in some form or another: "God (or karma, or "The One") wants you to be good. Be good enough and all will be well between you and God. Get it right and you will get peace with God and peace of soul."

The problem with this idea is that it unavoidably commits two errors. First, it exaggerates human virtue. It credits our efforts to be good with too much worth and value. It assumes we can be good, and it assumes that sooner or later we can be good enough.

The problem here is that we cannot be good, never mind good enough. To imagine that a human can be good is to assume that his pitiful attempts at being good--defiled as they invariably are by proud motives, desire for a pat on the back, half-hearted love, and a thousand other imperfections--rise to a level of actual goodness.

But folks, a good work done with a bad heart is at best what one has called--"a bad good work". To think that any human can ever amass sufficient good good works (good not only in external act but in internal motive) to make himself right with God is folly. We must exaggerate our virtue to ever place faith in our efforts to restore ourselves into relationship with God.

We must also trivialize God's holiness and justice. In order for us to think that we can satisfy a holy God with our bad good works we have to minimize God's holiness expectations and we have to believe that God is neither as holy as He really is nor as angry with sins as He really must be if He is holy.

Salvation by human morality forces us to think that God grades on a curve, winks at sin, doesn't really care about perfection, is indifferent to what is really and truly good. If my bad good works are really all it takes to please God, and to appease Him for my bad bad works then God is not really as good and holy as He's cracked up to be. He's a morality wimp; the ultimate Moral Pushover.

All other "ways to God" are dead ends. The Bible alone presents a way that allows God to save and reconcile sinners to Himself without exaggerating our goodness or trivializing His.

Come back tomorrow and I'll explain.

Be Still and Know that I Am God

Many folks were dreading the recent snow storm. It was an inconvenience for some, and an unwelcome interruption for others. But I found myself looking forward to it with anticipation, even hoping for the higher end of the 8 to 24 inches predicted.

Albert Mohler had a terrific piece last summer on his blog about the need for silence. Our world is filled with noise. Mohler alerts us to the finding that "the development of individual identity requires extended periods of solitude, reflection, and silence." And that "the Christian tradition has honored silence as a matter of spiritual discipline and an intentional effort to flee the noise of everyday life in order to hear what that noise cannot supply." (See Mohler's blog of June 11, 2009)

What does this have to do with the weekend snow storm? I would argue that what is true of "noise" in our lives is also true of "busy-ness." For me, the snow storm represented a welcome break in routine. On Sunday morning we shoveled hard to free up the vehicles, and then came inside to a hot breakfast (thank you Theresa), and a relaxed time around the table.

It may be that my own temperament, more than others, yearns for this kind of thing. Or it may be that my normal routine isn't all that inspiring, or that my vision for life, service, and work is impaired. Or, it may be as simple as "sinful laziness" welcoming any opportunity to sit down a little longer with another cup of coffee.

Whatever the mix of reasons... I do thank the Lord for the recent "slow down." This morning I feel a new sense of need for His strength and joy. I've had the opportunity to "be still" and I can attest to a renewed sense of His greatness, and my great need of Him if I am to live in any meaningful, fruitful way in this world.

Thanks for listening.

Solus Christus

In recent weeks I find that I have been driven afresh to the gospel, to look outside of myself ---- and instead more intentionally admiring, exploring, expositing, and extolling Jesus Christ and His imputed righteousness, by which alone I am acceptable before the God of blazing holiness. It is necessary for me to preach this gospel to myself afresh every day, because, in the words of my friend John Newton, "I am a great sinner." But, as he is quick to add ------ "Jesus is a great Savior."

So, for me and for you, here is more gospel fuel to reflect on today and this upcoming week. Compared to the lengthy Belgic Confession statement of last weekend I would say it is less gallonage, but speaks with the same high octane value:

"But one day as I was passing into the field, with some dashes on my conscience, fearing that all was not right, suddenly this sentence fell upon my soul, 'Your righteousness is in heaven.' I thought I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at God's right hand. There was my righteousness. Wherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could not say of me that I lacked His righteousness, for that was ever before Him. Moreover, I saw that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for My righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, 'the same yesterday, today and forever' (Hebrews 13:8)." -- John Bunyan

O the wonder! O----the wonder!!! If we are those who by His sovereign gratuitous mercy have truly turned from our rebellion against this God of blazing holiness, trusting in Jesus alone for our righteousness --- righteousness which is ours by imputation through our union with Him--- then when this God views our filthy ink black sin through the lense of the perfect righteousness of Christ alone, strangely, as far as our sin and our eternal destiny before God as judge is concerned------- well, our sin appears to Him as white as fresh fallen snow (Is. 1:18).

Why I Believe the Bible is the Word of God: Tim Tebow and and the Vitriol against Truth

By now you've probably heard about the firestorm surrounding an advertisement to be aired during the Super Bowl. Tim Tebow, by all accounts a remarkable young man of faith and courage--not to mention one of the top-five best college football players ever--is airing a simple positive ad about how his mother chose life over abortion. When this was announced, the fury of the abortion crowd came to an instant boil.

There were exceptions to this rage, and if you want to read a remarkable article about this, written by a Washington Post editorialist, go to CJ Mahaney's blog. But the exceptions are just that. The rule has been a blind, raging, irrational vitriol against this ad.

The question is why? Why do these folks loathe the thought that an opposing idea might get some air time? They have no opposition to ads promoting drinking (which kills millions) or illicit sex (which leads to untold sorrows), or raw materialism (which destroys countless lives) or scantily clad women (which presents women as objects to be drooled over rather than persons to be respected). They oppose only an ad that promotes family and life. Why the rage?

Oddly I see here another reason (one I hadn't planned to offer but I now cannot resist) why I believe the Bible is God's Word: because the wicked hate its light and truth so much. The Bible tells us that people will hate the light (John 3:19, 20). And they do.

People reserve for the Bible a level of hatred that they show to no other book, no other deposit of ideas, no other philosophy or belief system, or code of morals. Although Islam has killed its millions, Christianity is more hated. Although Hinduism has kept women and lower castes in abject poverty for millenia, Christianity is more despised. Although atheism has led to the slaughter of hundreds of millions (in the 20th century alone), people are more afraid of and opposed to biblical faith.

Why the irrational fear of the message of the Bible? Why do people foam at the mouth when a young man wants to take just 30 seconds of their time to present a view different from their own? The answer is simple, but profound: the truth is light that exposes the darkness of their souls.

People know when they open a Bible or when someone opens his mouth to speak simple Bible truth, that they are about to have the reality of their lives exposed under a shining light. The Koran or the Hindu scriptures or even the rantings of an atheist don't scare people--because their ideas pose no threat to man's guilty conscience; truth does.

It may seem ironic, but I'd say that the fact so many utterly despise the teachings of the Bible is one more reason to believe those teachings are true. The Bible gets the human condition right. The fact that people rage against it only goes to prove that it is so.

If God is real and God is holy and God's Law is right and pure and good, one would expect that all that is not holy will despise and want to silence them. And that is what is.

Tim Tebow's shining light and the reaction of those in darkness remind us one more time that the Bible must tell the truth about us. Why else would humans hate it so?

Why I Believe the Bible is the Word of God: Its Unfathomable Depths

Romans 11:33 celebrates the inscrutable, inexhaustible, and unfathomable mind, ways, and spoken judgments or decrees of God. Since God's mind is impossible to know fully (Romans 11:34), it follows that His judgments and words will be deep, profound, and impossible fully to fathom.

Here is my next reason for believing that the Bible is the Word of God: Because the inexhaustible depth and profound wonders of the Bible evidence an infinite Mind from which they must originate. The Bible presents a profundity of thought, a depth of insight, a wealth of truth that is simply too deep and too nuanced and too balanced and too unfailingly illuminating to the soul to be of human origin.

When I say that the mind and words of God are unfathomable, I do not mean that they cannot be understood at all, but that they cannot be understood in full. It is possible to grasp the truth of the Bible, but just when you think you've gotten your mind around a biblical idea, you discover that there is more in it yet to be learned.

I wish space would allow some developed examples. But those who've had any time to ponder biblical teachings, will recognize this often repeated thought: "Wow! this truth is amazing--and it's amazing all over again!" They will hear the echo of these words in their own minds: "I thought I understood this idea from God's Word but I just saw it in a whole new light that is even more glorious than what I'd ever seen before."

Serious students of God's Word who are truly seeking to know God through that Word, will have felt this when thinking over such basic Bible truths as:
--God is all-knowing.
--God rules over every last atom and event in the universe.
--God is wise.
--God is holy.
--God is perfectly just.

Pick a truth, any truth, and the result will be the same. Ponder it for a while, and watch what happens to your soul. It'll fill with wonder.

I'd suggest that even the simple truth, God loves me, is a reality that will fill the mind with ever-increasing wonder. You and I will never get to the bottom of it, even if we spend eternity plumbing its depths. To really know what that love is, how great that love is, how personal that love is, how faithful and delighted in us that love is, how secure that love is, how very, very, very perfect and joy-giving that love is, how incomprehensibly deep and strong that love is, is simply too much for our minds to grasp.

And the same is true with every idea in the Bible. Every truth is an unfathomable ocean. Dive as deep as you can and you'll never touch bottom. Go ahead and try. Sooner or later you'll have to come up for air.

When you do, I suggest you take a moment or two to worship and adore the God Whose truth it is.

Why I Believe the Bible is the Word of God: The Sciences Prove It

I have said that Christianity has done much to advance scientific and creative endeavor throughout history. This is because biblically informed Christians see the world as God's world and therefore to be studied and celebrated in science, song, and art.

Since the world is God's world, it should not surprise us to know that when the world is studied in fine detail (the work of science) it reveals the existence and character of God. This too we have already stated. What has been left unstated to this point is this related reason for faith in the Bible as God's Word: Modern sciences, such as cosmology and archeology consistently validate the historical data of the Bible.

For a fascinating look at how cosmology (the study of the universe) supports biblical claims read the relevant sections of Norman Geisler's Why I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. It will show you how much faith it takes to deny the Bible's claims regarding the origins of history.

Regarding archeology, I'm going to let the following quote serve as a sample presentation of a few of the many facts that could be marshalled in defense of the Bible's historicity. I'm not sure who the author of the following is, but I've checked and verified the claims made:

-- Critics used to believe ...that Moses could not have written any of the books of the Bible because they believed that writing did not exist that early in history... but then ...in 1902, archaeologists discovered the Code of Hammurabi which was written long before Moses was born.

-- Critics used to believe ...the Bible was wrong because they felt that King David was a myth. They pointed to the fact that there was no archeological evidence that King David was an actual historical figure... but then ...in 1994 archaeologists discovered an ancient stone that was inscribed with the references to King David and the "House of David."

-- Critics used to believe ...that the Bible was wrong because there was no evidence (outside of the Bible) that a group of people called the Hittites ever existed. Thus, they felt this proved that the Bible is a mythical creation of ancient Hebrew writers... but then ...in 1906, a German archaeologist named Winckler was excavating in Turkey and discovered the capital city of the Hittite empire, the entire Hittite library and 10,000 clay tablets documenting the Hittite history. Scholars translated these writings and discovered that everything the Bible said about the Hittite empire was true.

-- Critics used to believe ...the book of Acts was not historically accurate. A man named Sir William Ramsay, one of the greatest historical/archaeological scholars in history, decided to try to disprove the Bible as the inspired Word of God by showing that the book of Acts was not historically accurate... but then ...after 30 years of archaeological research in the Middle East, Ramsay came to the conclusion that “Luke is a historian of the first rank; not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy... this author should be placed along with the very greatest historians.” He wrote a book on the trustworthiness of the Bible based on his discoveries and converted to Christianity based on his research. Sir Ramsay found no historical or geographical mistakes in the book of Acts. This is amazing when we realize that in the book of Acts, Luke mentions 32 countries, 54 cities, 9 Mediterranean islands and 95 people and he did not get one wrong. Compare that with the Encyclopedia Britannica. The first year the Encyclopedia Britannica was published it contained so many mistakes regarding places in the United States that it had to be recalled.

-- Critics used to believe ...that the Old Testament could not be reliable because they felt that over a long period of time the Old Testament writings would have been changed, altered, edited or corrupted... but then ...in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. These scrolls contained, among other writings, every book in the Old Testament (except Esther). Until the Dead Sea Scrolls were found the earliest copy of the complete Old Testament was from 900 A.D. Scholars compared this copy with the Dead Sea Scrolls (produced around 1,000 years earlier) and found that the Old Testament had been handed down accurately through the centuries.

-- The great Jewish archaeologist, Nelson Glueck (who is known to be one of the top three archaeologists in history) said this... "No archaeological discovery has ever contradicted a single, properly understood Biblical statement."

To add one other concluding summary from an unlikely source (TIME Magazine) note this:

After more than two centuries of facing the heaviest scientific guns that could be brought to bear, the Bible has survived – and is perhaps the better for the siege. Even on the critics’ own terms – historical fact -- the Scriptures seem more acceptable now than they did when the rationalists began the attack. Noting one example among many, New Testament Scholar Bruce Metzger observes that the Book of Acts was once accused of historical errors for details that have since been proved by archaeologists and historians to be correct ("The Bible: The Believers Gain," Time, 30 Dec. 1974, 34).

Ladies and gentlemen: as the science of archeology continues its work the histroical reliability of the Bible becomes ever more sure. How did the ancient writers get it all right about people and places and events--many of which they were not even there to see, if not for a Divine mind who knows history (because He rules it) revealing it to them for them to record?

You decide.

Why I Believe the Bible is the Word of God: Its Culturally Transforming Effect

One of the more ironic (if not almost humorous, because it is so patently false) charges made against Christianity is that it leads to oppression, injustice, ignorance, and numerous other social evils. The guilt of all that's wrong with human society--from slavery to the oppression of the poor to the denigration of women to suppression of science and knowledge--has been laid at the feet of Christians and the Bible for centuries. Are these charges true?

Space does not allow a full answer, or anything like it. But I would assert that the charges are not only not true, they are anti-true. That is, they are actually the opposite of the truth. The truth is that wherever the Christian biblical ethic has taken root in any society for any period of time, there has been a marked:

--increase of care for the poor
--elevation of the dignity and honor afforded to women
--increase of commitment to scientific and creative endeavors
--correction of racial and social prejudice
--development of medical care
--improvement of judicial processes
--improvement of economic systems

In short, wherever the Bible goes and takes root, the care of the poor, the elevation of women, the progress of science, the advancement of knowledge and medicine, and the defeat of prejudice are sure to follow.

Wherever the Bible goes, in time, hospitals get built, women achieve new rights and freedoms, the poor gain new dignity and opportunity, the oppressed are set free, institutions of learning are created, society achieves unprecedented new heights of justice and opportunity for all. Wherever the Bible has not taken root, the opposite happens.

Here's one more reason why I believe the Bible is God's Word: it has an unmatched transforming effect on human society. Plant its teachings in the soil of any culture and that culture will soon harvest abounding fruits of justice, knowledge, and opportunity.

In contrast nothing has done more to foster oppression, poverty, and ignorance, and to obliterate common decency, honesty, and respect for human life than when cultures have been ignorant of or have purposefully rejected the Law of God.

Why do I believe in the Bible as God's Word? Because it doesn't just work for isolated individuals; it changes the course of history and society. It works for the world.

Mr. Camping: If it's so Wrong, Why Does it Feel so Right?

What a joyful day in the Lord's House yesterday! I arrived early, in time to watch Tim W. open the worship practice with a sincere prayer for the Lord's enabling. I listened to them rehearse for a few moments, then grabbed a coffee at Dunkin Donuts. On returning I enjoyed conversation with a brother I've been wanting to get to know better (John Roberts). Then I made my way over to Truth Walk for the privilege of hearing Scott Stengele teach from Obadiah. How I enjoyed taking in that lesson, along with its encouraging application-- The morning just seemed so right. It was a "This is where I belong" kind of feeling.

Then it was time for worship. What a blessing to sit with my family and hear our 8 and 10 year old sing the words. Interspersed throughout the singing were declarations of renewed commitment from both congregation and pastors. Then an excellent message from Pastor Tim on persevering faith (from the Book of Acts). The happy conviction settled in-- Yes... "God will build his Church!" Clearly, God is building his Church right here at TFC.

Honestly... it makes me want to consider arriving at 7:40 AM every Sunday! But I'd better run that one by Theresa first!