When the Divine Collides with the Depraved

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Here, for your further reflection, is the conclusion to Sunday’s message in John 7:53-8:11.

Neither do I condemn you. That’s grace. From now on sin no more.That’s truth. How can He do this? On what basis can He forgive her sin and command her repentance? On what basis as the Holy One of God can He be just and yet the justifier of the likes of her, of you, of me? The cross! He sees the cross! He calculates the cross! He pleads the cross for her, for you, for me! For there in a matter of months He will give His life for her adultery and my lust and your deceit and our hypocrisy and an infinite number of other infinitely offensive sins by depraved sinners the likes of us. By that means and that alone can the wrath of God be satisfied, sin be punished, and the clemency of grace be bestowed. Hallelujah, what a savior! Jesus what a friend to sinners indeed!

Jesus is divinely flawless in His manner of dealing with both. The belligerent hypocrite He slams with conviction. Let him who is without sin judge. The broken prodigal He showers with compassion. Neither do I condemn you. But not a syrupy version of love so thus He transforms – go and sin no more.Which are we? Either way we need the promise of the gospel, the grace of God in Jesus on the cross to pay the penalty for our religious moralism and/or our shameful profligacy. See the Savior and His manner. He is the Messiah, repent and believe and go and from now on sin no more as a way of life in either error.

You can listen to the entire message here.

Back to John's Fulminating Majesty

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Tomorrow, Lord willing, we will return to our study of John’s gospel.

I will tackle the disputed text in John 7:53-8:11, the woman caught in adultery (pictured along side).

Though a questionable text for reasons I will explain, I do believe it should be preached for reasons I hope also to explain. And nonetheless, it bears the marks of the rest of John’s gospel in what John Calvin called its fulminating in majesty. He used the phrase in the Institutes of the Christian Religion in his argument for the authority of Scripture in the face of detractors who would deny, as the catechism puts it, the heavenliness of its doctrine. Webster defines fulminate as to flash or strike with lightning. Here are Calvin’s words:

John, again, fulminating in majesty, strikes down more powerfully than any thunderbolt the petulance of those who refuse to submit to the obedience of faith. Let all those acute censors, whose highest pleasure it is to banish a reverential regard of Scripture from their own and other men’s hearts, come forward; let them read the Gospel of John, and, willing or unwilling, they will find a thousand sentences which will at least arouse them from their sloth; nay, which will burn into their consciences as with a hot iron, and check their derision (chapter 8, section 11).

Oh that God might grant an anointing from heaven upon the preaching of His word from John’s gospel and the hearing thereof that arouses from our sloth and burns into our consciences with a hot iron, not to check our derision hopefully but to advance His glory and our joy!

A Call to Spiritual Reformation

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Here is the study guide for this Sunday’s 9:30 equipping hour.

A Call to Spiritual Reformation – Study Guide #4
Chapter Three – Worthy Petitions

  1. What again are the two aspects of Paul’s framework for prayer in 2 Thessalonians 1 from chapter two?
  2. What is the first petition that Paul prays for the Thessalonian Christians? What explanation does Carson give about God’s calling in a Christian’s life and how does it tie into his prayer on their behalf?
  3. In light of this petition of Paul, what does Carson say should be our chief concern in petition and how does it relate to the framework Paul lays out earlier in the chapter? Why must we pray this way?
  4. How do you react to Carson’s question, When was the last time you prayed for such things?
  5. What is the second petition Paul prays for them? Why does Carson say this petition is so very important to pray?
  6. What is the two-part goal of Paul in these prayers? How is our glory tied up with Christ’s glory and what does this say about how we should pray for ourselves and others? How does Paul tie this idea back to his framework in 1:5-10?
  7. Again, how do you react to Carson’s question, When was the last time you prayed for such things?
  8. What reminder do we regularly need as evidenced by the ground of Paul’s prayer in conclusion?
  9. What does Carson mean by, It is vitally important to reflect on the extraordinarily wholistic thinking that is represented by this prayer (p. 61)?
  10. What one or two take aways from this chapter will shape your praying in the future?

Love Offering for Haiti Tomorrow

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The deacons have proposed that in addition to the other items for the relief effort that we will bring to church tomorrow that we will also have a special love offering toward the cause. This offering will be above and beyond our regular general fund offering. The monies will likely be channeled through Harvest Time Ministries, although we have yet to confer as leadership as to the best vehicle for these purposes.

Please prayerfully consider what God would have you give toward this massive need, if you haven’t already done so through some other avenue.

Haiti Earthquake Relief

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As many of you have heard by now, the island nation of Haiti was hit by a 7.0 earthquake leaving massive devastation in its wake.

In response to the devastating reports concerning the effects of the earthquake in Haiti, the church is being given the opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in ministering to the poorest of the poor.  There are around 9 million people in Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere.  Latest reports say that over 3 million have been directly impacted by the earthquake and thousands have been killed, trapped, or missing.
 
This Sunday, we are collecting non-perishable/relief items to send to Haiti with a relief team.  Please bring items to church this Sunday, where there will be a bin for the items.
 
Suggested items:
–       Canned goods
–       Blankets, tarps
–       Bottled water
–       Clothes, shoes
–       Non perishable food items
 
Contact person: Olivia Allmand Olivia.Allmand@mac.com, 407-733-0526

God Most Gracious in Guidance

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Turns out I am a lot like Gideon.

As our growth group works its way through Judges, Gideon came on the radar screen recently in chapters 6-8. I was mega-encouraged by an insight I hadn’t seen before. God takes great pains to bring confirmation to Gideon as to His direction for him as a warrior against Midian, Israel’s oppressor.

Gideon, to say the least, stands in Scripture as a reluctant conscript for God’s purposes. He pleads a poor self-image in Judges 6:15. Nonetheless God assures him that He will be with him (v. 16). Gideon requires not just one fleece confirmation but two in Judges 6:36-40. God graciously accommodates him.

Then, after taking his army down in numbers to a paltry 300 so that they would not take credit for the pending victory, but rather boast in God their deliverer in Judges 7:1-8, God comes to Gideon in v. 9 of that same chapter with His command to go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand.  And then, without any solicitation at all from Gideon, the Lord in His condescending grace adds this in vv. 10-11:

10 But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant. 11 And you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.” Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outposts of the armed men who were in the camp.

What happens in the camp does strengthen Gideon and he goes on to lead God’s people in a glorious rout of the enemy.

I read that and thought, how incredibly gracious of God! He knows the frame of His weak-kneed servants. He condescends to offer multiple confirmations to His will in a given situation.

Upon surveying all the biblical evidence for God’s commitment to offer guidance to His children, J. I. Packer concludes, in his book Knowing God:

The point is sufficiently established. It is impossible to doubt that guidance is a reality intended for, and promised to every child of God. Christians who miss it thereby show only that they did not seek it as they should (p. 233).

Where do you need to believe God as most gracious in guidance? Where do we as a church need to believe God as most gracious in guidance? Let you/me count the ways! He who gave Israel the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night (Exodus 13:21-22) and who gave His church Jesus, the light of the world (John 8:12), will not fail us.

A Call to Spiritual Reformation Study Guide

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As promised, here is this coming Sunday’s study guide.

A Call to Spiritual Reformation – Study Guide #3
Chapter Two – The Frame Work of Prayer (2 Thessalonians 1:3-12) 

  1. What key question does Carson raise concerning v. 11 of the Thessalonians passage in the first paragraph of this chapter? Why does it matter that we ask this question and understand the answer?
  2. What is the first dominant feature of this framework in vv. 3-4? To what extent would you say that this component is a feature of your praying?
  3. How do you respond to the statement, The unvarnished truth is that what we most frequently give thanks for betrays what we most highly value (p. 41)?
  4. What signs of grace does Paul give thanks for in these verses? What practical implication does Carson suggest for imitating Paul’s example on p. 44?
  5. What is the second dominant feature of Paul’s framework for praying in vv. 5-10? To what extent would you say that this component is a feature of your praying?
  6. How does Carson connect the notion of the Thessalonians’ perseverance in v. 4 with the evidence of God’s judgment in v. 5?
  7. What does the prospect of a new heaven and new earth mean for both believers and those who oppose them?
  8. To what extent do you live with a sense of expectancy about the Lord’s return?
  9. How do you react to the notion of ultimate retribution for those who oppose the gospel? How does Carson answer the objection that retribution is a throwback to the more primitive stance of the Old Testament on p. 48?
  10. Why is it important that we adopt Paul’s framework of a fundamental orientation to the end of the age?
  11. Where else in the New Testament are we exhorted to live (and pray!) with eternity’s values in view?

God is at work in our midst! Will you join me in praying for a spiritual reformation in our prayer lives as individuals and a community of believers?

How to Stop the Sinful Self-Indulgence of the Flesh

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I know, I promised this morning I would post the study guide questions for this week’s study in Dr. Carson’s book. Actually, I have that file on my computer at the office. I am posting this from home. I promise, tomorrow I will put up the study guide.

But here is a review of the gist of this morning’s message (listen to the entire sermon here) from Colossians 3:1-4:

Sinful self-indulgence is progressively overcome by cultivating a thoroughgoing heavenly-focused orientation in this life based upon the realities of our identification with Jesus in His death, burial, resurrection and ascension. Since we have been identified with Christ in these realities we must commit to do three things if we are to overcome the sinful indulgence of our flesh. We must pursue the things of Christ in His exalted domain – seated at the right hand of God in heaven –  working hard at the various means of grace -, ponder – by memorizing and meditating upon Scripture –  the things of Christ in His exalted domain since we have died and our lives are buried with Christ and God within the unseen realm, and picture the return of Christ from His exalted domain when He and we will be revealed in the same glory.

So remember your position in Christ. This is all important. Make spiritual things the number one priority of your lives. Think on spiritual things in regular meditation. Give yourself to reading through the Bible this year and memorizing extended portions of Scripture. Pray come quickly, Lord Jesus, every day.

J. C. Ryle, in his book Holiness, writes:

Christianity will cost a man his love of ease. He must take pains and trouble if he means to run a successful race toward heaven. He must daily watch and stand on his guard, like a soldier on enemy’s ground. He must take heed to his behavior every hour of the day, in every company and in every place, in public as well as in private, among strangers as well as at home. He must be careful over his time, his tongue, his temper, his thoughts, his imagination, his motives, his conduct in every relation of life. He must be diligent about his prayers, his Bible reading, and his use of Sundays, with all their means of grace. In attending to these things, he may come far short of perfection; but there is none of those who he can safely neglect. “The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat” (Prov. 13:4). 

Let us be diligent that our souls may be made fat.

How to Get a Richly Supplied Soul

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Proverbs contrasts the sluggard who craves and gets nothing with the diligent whose soul is richly supplied, or literally, made fat (13:4). 

No matter how much the sluggard craves something, his inherent laziness precludes him from acquiring anything. He is a victim of his own sins of sloth.

There is only one road to a richly supplied, spiritually fat soul. It’s called diligence. If you and I want a richly supplied soul by God’s grace, we must work at it. Hard.

J. C. Ryle, in his book, Holiness, said true Christianity will cost a man his love of ease.

He must take pains and trouble if he means to run a successful race toward heaven. He must daily watch and stand on his guard, like a soldier on enemy’s ground. He must take heed to his behavior every hour of the day, in every company and in every place, in public as well as in private, among strangers as well as at home. He must be careful over his time, his tongue, his temper, his thoughts, his imagination, his motives, his conduct in every relation of life. He must be diligent about his prayers, his Bible reading, and his use of Sundays, with all their means of grace. In attending to these things, he may come far short of perfection; but there is none of those who he can safely neglect. “The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat” (Prov. 13:4) (emphasis mine).

Two emphases tomorrow at OGC will converge towards the end of promoting richly supplied souls for those who participate. In the 9:30 hour (meeting in the sanctuary this week) we will continue our study in Carson’s book, A Call to Spiritual Reformation. We have resupplied our resource table with copies that will be available tomorrow. Few books can help us more with how to grow in diligence in our prayers for a richly supplied soul. In the worship service I will preach another New Year’s sermon, this one from Colossians 3:1-4, entitled How to Stop the Sinful Self-Indulgence of the Flesh. Paul uses a diligence verb in his command in verse one – seek the things above where Christ is. Praying is one important way we do seeking that our souls may be richly supplied.

Diet all you will in the New Year that the body may return to fitness after the indulgence of the holidays. But take pains, eschew your love of ease, be diligent, seek the things above, that your soul may be made fat, richly supplied indeed.

Get a good night’s sleep and, Lord willing, I will see you tomorrow.

Lessons from the School of Prayer

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That’s the title for chapter one in Carson’s book A Call to Spiritual Reformation, our text for the 9:30 equipping hour during the first quarter of 2010.

Apart from my bleeding mouth (so sorry about that for those who saw it – near as we can figure I bit myself in an area numbed by my cancer surgery – I had no idea it happened until Nancy pointed it out to me), we got off to a smashing start in our study on prayer.

At the end of the class on Sunday I challenged us to four action steps for the quarter:

  1. Read the book.
  2. Attend the class.
  3. Enlist a prayer partner.
  4. Pray through the church directory.

As I made my way yet another time through chapter one in preparation for this week’s study, I was struck by something when I came to the third lesson Carson lists: At various points in your life, develop, if possible, a prayer-partner relationship (p. 22). He talks about several variations on that theme including meeting with a handful of people weekly, perhaps in the early morning, for an hour or more of intercessory prayer.

God has given me just such a group in our staff, interns, and others on Mondays from 6:30-7:30 AM.

The participants change from time to time. This picture was taken on our last day with several of the guys who recently took positions elsewhere around the country. But we continue to meet and it remains a highlight of my week to join with these men in pouring out our hearts to God. We never fail to pray for Monday’s group of folks in the directory!

My hope for what we do in those prayer meetings is well summed up by Dr. Carson on p. 25:

Such clusters of prayer partners have been used by God again and again to spearhead powerful ministry and extravagant blessing. They may continue unnoticed for years, except in the courts of heaven. Some little groups grow and become large prayer meetings; others multiply and divide, maintaining the same principles. But whatever the precise pattern, there is a great deal to be said for developing godly prayer-partnership relationships.

How about you? With whom do you have a prayer-partner relationship? I for one am so grateful for the men God has given me on Monday mornings!