All posts by dax

Rainy Day Quote II

Quotes, Righteousness

Here’s the second quote, for thinking on in a rainy day.

It is popular in our practical, ‘fix-me’ society to hammer at only one aspect of sanctification — generally called ‘progressive.’ However it is not clear that the categories of sanctification are cut and dried… or that sanctification should primarily be thought of differently than the rest of salvation (i.e., monergistically). Though best-sellers emphasize a ‘get to work’ ethic of ‘personal holiness,’ it is good to reflect that our righteousness is given to us, and true holiness for the believer is not in our always-imperfect efforts but in the actual work of the Spirit, the one whose name includes ‘holy,’ or, as Rev. Scaer notes, ‘Spiritus sanctus.’

This is from David Scaer, a Lutheran pastor (in Sanctification: By Grace Alone):

At times, the New Testament uses the words sanctify and sanctification of God’s entire activity of God in bringing about man’s salvation. More specifically it refers to the work of the Holy Spirit to bring people to salvation, to keep them in the true faith and finally to raise them from the dead and give them eternal life (Small Catechism). All these works are also performed by the Father and the Son. Since God is not morally neutral and does not choose to be holy, but He is holy, all His works necessarily share in His holiness. The connection between the Holy Spirit and sanctification is seen in the Latin for the Third Person of the Trinity, Spiritus Sanctus. The Spirit who is holy in Himself makes believers holy, sanctifies them, by working faith in Christ in them and He becomes the source of all their good works.

Sanctification means that the Spirit permeates everything the Christian thinks, says and does. The Christian’s personal holiness is as much a monergistic activity of the Holy Spirit as is his justification and conversion. The Spirit who alone creates faith is no less active after conversion than He was before.

Rainy Day Quote I

Quotes, Righteousness

‘Rainy day’ may sound sad… but rain is wonderful… as are these two quotes. The first is from J.C. Ryle. One of my favorites of his is The Christian Leaders of the Last Century. This excerpt is from volume 2, pp. 304-305. It’s worth reading through, and is the tale of an interaction that opened the eyes of one of Ryle’s important English preachers (James Hervey of Weston Favell) to the reality of righteousness in Christ alone:

The unsatisfactory character of Hervey’s theology at the beginning of his ministry is well illustrated by the following anecdote.

In one of the Northhamptonshire parishes where he preached before 1741, there lived a ploughman who usually attended the ministry of Dr. Doddridge, and was well-informed in the doctrines of grace. Hervey being ordered by his physicians, for the benefit of his health, to follow the plough, in order to smell the fresh earth, frequently accompanied this ploughman when he was working.

Knowing that he was a serious man, he said to him one morning, “What do you think is the hardest thing in religion?”

The ploughman replied; “Sir, I am a poor man, and you are a minister; I beg leave to return the question.”

Then said Mr. Hervey: “I think the hardest thing is to deny sinful self’; grounding his opinion on our Lord’s admonition, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself.”

“I argued,” said Mr. Hervey, “upon the import and extent of the duty, showing that merely to forbear sinful actions is little, and that we must deny admittance and entertainment to evil imaginations and quench irregular desires. In this way I shot my random bolt.”

The ploughman quietly replied: “Sir, there is another instance of self-denial to which the injunction of Christ equally extends, which is the hardest thing in religion, and that is to deny righteous self.

“You know I do not come to hear you preach, but go every Sunday with my family to hear Dr. Doddridge at Northampton. We rise early in the morning, and have prayer before we set out, in which I find pleasure. Walking there and back I find pleasure. Under the sermon I find pleasure. When at the Lord’s table I find pleasure. We return, read a portion of Scripture, and go to prayer in the evening, and I find pleasure. But yet, to this moment, I find it the hardest thing to deny righteous self, I mean to renounce my own strength and righteousness, and not to lean on that for holiness or rely on this for justification.”

In repeating this story to a friend, Mr. Hervey observed, “I then hated the righteousness of Christ. I looked at the man with astonishment and disdain, and though him an old fool, and wondered at what I fancied the motley mixture of piety and oddity in his notions.

 “I have since seen clearly who was the fool; not the wise old ploughman, but the proud James Hervey. I now discern sense, solidity, and truth in his observations.”

A Trap to Avoid

Righteousness

Romans 2:14-15
14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.

Amazing thought, here.

Paul is in the middle of presenting the reality of judgment for everyone. Whether or not you have ‘the law’ – the special revelation of God and his ways given at Mt. Sinai – you and everyone you know is slated to be judged according to what you do.

What you do reveals what is in your heart. That’s true of everyone. And thus everyone will be condemned. Just like the Gentiles, here – everyone has conflicting thoughts, some of which accuse and some excuse. But the accusing ones win… because even a slight deviation from what is true means that you’re rotten… and will experience wrath.

There’s an escape. Not in Romans 2, but in Romans 3. The escape means you die; your righteousness gone; you out from under this system entirely… and righteousness given in the person and work of Jesus Christ… salvation is by faith in him. He’s our only hope.

But here’s the trap to avoid. Many of us read the chapters out of order. We see Romans 2:14-15, and think ‘Oh, Paul’s thinking of the Christian,’ when he’s actually simply pointing out the system under which every person will receive judgment.

The tragedy of falling into this trap is that you put the Christian into Romans 2, where he doesn’t belong. The Christian isn’t accused or excused by their conflicting thoughts; the Christian isn’t validated by “doing by nature what the law requires.” The Christian is dead – again, dead – to the law.

To read the Christian back into Romans 2 is to devalue the incredible, mind-blowing, miraculous, system-breaking Way that is opened in Jesus… and put it back on ourselves.

I’ve been saved from myself. My only hope is to trust in Jesus. The law of Christ does guide us… but from the reality of union with our Savior. May we flee “self-righteousness unto salvation.” We aren’t aided by Christ to be self-righteous. We are totally dependent on his.

Grace in Practice

Grace

If you’ve read this blog at all, you’re familiar with the themes of the message below, delivered by Tullian Tchividjian at the convocation of Liberty University.

But it is still a great reminder and joy to watch… enjoy!


 

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, now and forever. Amen!” (2 Peter 3:18)

A Torn Veil

Uncategorized

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. (Matthew 27:50-53)

Arguably, the single most important event in the history of humankind is right here. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, suffering and dying for sin he did not commit.

Interesting how Matthew links it intimately and immediately to the tearing of the veil in the temple.

The temple is where God dwelt among his people. And the veil kept the impurity, the unholiness, out. Once a year the high priest, after cleansing himself and making a special offering for himself, would go behind that veil and interact with God. The area behind the veil was the Holy of Holies.

And so what striking truth Matthew presents. At the death of Jesus Christ, the Holy of Holies was opened up. What was outside no longer defiled its holy chambers.

Lest you miss that he’s making a statement about holiness, Matthew anachronistically brings forward that at Jesus’ resurrection, the bodies of the dead came out and walked around in the holy city. Dead people walking! They would need cleansing, purification. They would defile Jerusalem and its inhabitants!

No. Matthew is careful to continue to call Jerusalem ‘the holy city.’ Something has happened.

The veil has been torn.
The raised dead do not defile.
This is an entire reversal of what was.

Before, the holy must be kept from what defiles, lest the holy be defiled.
Before, the unclean must be banished, because touching the unclean makes unclean.

Now – the holy makes holy. The clean reaches out to the unclean. Love has come, and makes holy what was not holy. The temple now touches and makes holy what was defiled.

This is what the work of Jesus Christ on the cross did, says Matthew.

It carries great implication for how we see ourselves.
Jesus Christ has come, and he has made us holy. We who were outcast and defiled, unholy and unclean.

We still sin… we live in Romans 7.

But it is not a New Testament concept that we make ourselves holy. That with a little bit (or even a lot) of God’s help, we make ourselves presentable. This belittles Jesus Christ’s work and raises our own; this brings back the flesh which has already been crucified in Christ. Our true good works and fruit come out of holiness which is given through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The holiness that produces fruit cannot be earned with sweat or zeal.

Our sanctification is no less a work of Jesus Christ than our justification.

We are “holy and acceptable to God” (Romans 12:1) because of what Jesus Christ has accomplished, and because of no other thing. Paul there is not writing of our efforts (i.e. ‘make yourself a holy sacrifice’) but of what is true of every believer (‘you are a holy and acceptable sacrifice’). What a miraculous wonder! We worship by a renewed mind, we desire to bear fruit, but we are holy by Jesus Christ alone.

We must not redefine holiness to mean our imperfect effort. By its very meaning, holy is entirely set apart, not partially separate.

The only way the veil was torn – torn forever – is through the incredible, overwhelming sacrifice of our redeeming Savior. All our hope, all our trust, all our faith, is in him. The outcast brought in. The defiled made clean. What wonders our God has done!

Grace’s Impact

Grace, In Christ,

Read some excellent, well-written thoughts this week, by Dane Ortlund. Here’s a piece:

I am a sinner. I sin. Not just in the past but in the present. But in Christ I’m not a sinner but cleansed, whole. And as I step out into my day in soul-calm because of that free gift of cleansing, I find that actually, strangely, startlingly—I begin to live out practically what I already am positionally. I delight to love others. It takes effort and requires the sobering of suffering. But love cannot help but be kindled by gospel rest.

Read the whole thing.

Knowing the Gospel

Uncategorized, ,

We got specific about the gospel yesterday, as we continue to work through 1 Peter.

It is the good news, the announcement of what has been done for us in Jesus Christ. It is what the Bible proclaims, from start to finish.

The gospel is not the only truth in the Bible… but in a very real sense the Bible sets the context, the need, the anticipation, the effects, the results, and the outcome of the gospel of Jesus Christ. As well as how we are to respond to the good news.

Can you clearly state the content of the gospel?

Here’s another excellent treatment of the topic, Matt Chandler addressing Seminary students in 2010, opening up Colossians 1.

Grace in Parenting

Grace,

Fun to see that one of the very best parenting books available right now is getting recognition. Elyse Fitzpatrick and her daughter have authored Give Them Grace, and it is wonderfully focused on the good news of Jesus Christ and how that good news impacts our parenting.

Andy Naselli writes a clear, helpful review with his wife in the recent Journal of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.

His post is here; the review is here.

Foundations

Grace, In Christ,

Pastorally, my greatest desire is that our church stands on the truth, reality as laid out in Scripture. A great fear is that many seem to miss the true foundation, and rather stand on other things. Though many proclaim that they hold to the Bible, they don’t seem to hear the foundational core: the wondrous Gospel.

 John Lynch, of TrueFaced ministries, does a fantastic job of pulling us back to the functional centrality of the Good News of Jesus.

If you haven’t heard of him, or read The Cure, then set aside 40 minutes or so and think about the implications of the Gospel, here.

More Than ‘Debt Paid’

Grace, In Christ

I know some good news. Good news of the Savior, the Son of God, who came to earth as a man and lived perfectly, dying for our sins. Our sins, the sins of those who believe in Him, wiped out! Wrath averted! Debt paid!

This is indeed good news. But it surely skips over a huge part of the Gospel.

If what we have is Jesus, perfect sacrifice, dying on a cross for sin, then we don’t have enough.

Payment for sin gets you and I back to zero. Paying for bad wipes out bad. Where’s the good?

What about the radical, lifechanging, wondrous news of a resurrected Savior? Offhand, I think that means overwhelming good:
   •   Jesus Christ living in me (Galatians 2:20)
   •   The Holy Spirit poured out and dwelling in me (Romans 8:9)
   •   My Savior interceding for me right now (Hebrews 4:15)
   •   Me, born again (John 3), a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)
   •   Resurrection promised of the same power that raised Jesus (Ephesians 1:19, 20)

Regeneration and union and a new heart and life itself… we have such a depth of riches. May our lives not look to our own power, with a dead Savior, but to the Savior who lives, and who is at work in us.

To Him be the glory, now and forever.