Tag: Jesus Christ

Gaining Christ

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Nothing wins in life like gaining Christ.  Self-righteousness is repugnant to God, but the righteousness which is from God by faith is an unsurpassed excellence.  We count all things loss for this excellence.  We count all things as rubbish in comparison with gaining Christ.  Nothing wins in life like gaining Christ.

What is mean by knowing the power of Christ’s resurrection in Philippians 3.10?  This power is certainly found in the fact that the death of Christ is an incomplete story.  Jesus offered up His life’s blood for us.  He then appeared in the presence of God for us as the resurrected Christ (Hebrews 9.24).  If He is not risen, His work is not finished.  But He is and it is (John 19.30).  He was delivered up to death with a view toward our offense;  He was raised from the dead with a view toward making us right before the Father (Romans 4.25).  “It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us” (Romans 8.34).

The power of His resurrection gave entrance for the Spirit to indwell and empower the believer.  Jesus said that it was to our advantage that He went away. If He had not, the Helper would not have come to us.  But He departed, and He sent the Helper to us (John 16.7).  We have received the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Promised One (Acts 2.38-39).  “Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living” (Romans 14.9).

The power of His resurrection will exalt us to glory.  “By man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead” (1 Corinthians 15.21).  Jesus said, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14.2-3).  “The forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever” (Hebrews 6.20).

Knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection is experiential and relational knowledge.  The resurrection of Christ establishes the foundation of faith.  It is one thing to read about faith, it’s another to experience it.  Do you have a faith that overcomes the lusts of the flesh?  Do you have a faith that draws you close to God?  Do you have a faith that moves you to delight in those things in which God delights?  If you do, you are experiencing the power of Christ’s resurrection.

Knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection quickens hope.  Hope comes to those who continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.  You ride out the storms of doubt, trial, and adversity.  You keep dependent in times of prosperity.  You trust in the LORD.  You know your sinfulness, but you also know the power of His blood.  You know your weakness, but you also know the sufficiency of His grace.  You are confident of this very thing:  that He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phiippians 1.6).

Knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection transforms temporal life into eternal life.  “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15.13).  This hope-filled, eternal quality of life paves the way for temporal suffering within the sphere of joy and peace.  Only the hopeful are able to enter into the sufferings of Christ.  The power of His resurrection carries us through the fellowship of His sufferings.

 

A Child, a Son, and a King Forever

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For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of His government and peace

There will be no end,

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

From that time forward, even forever.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Isaiah 9.6-7

The Child born In Isaiah 9.6 is the Son of the virgin mentioned in Isaiah 7.14.  The first two phrases tell us that a Child is born (birth of Christ) and a Son is given (admittedly Hebrew parallelism but I think alluding to the crucifixion of Christ).  Everything following in Isaiah’s prophecy points to His coming Millennial Kingdom.  The government will be upon the shoulder of the Christ when He reigns for 1,000 years (Revelation 20.1-6).  He will be the King reigning, and the saints will reign with Him.

There are now four descriptive phrases of the King (Wonderful should modify Counselor):  1) Wonderful Counselor; 2) Mighty God; 3) Everlasting Father; 4) Prince of Peace.  First, He has wisdom to govern the people of the world perfectly.  Second, He has the power to carry out His rule with an iron scepter.  Third, He is the everlasting Father in the sense that He is the Father of all those who are redeemed.  Adam is the father of all living beings.  Christ is the last Adam and became a life-giving spirit (1 Corinthians 15.45).  Finally, He is the Prince of Peace.  The 1,000 year reign of Christ will be marked by the absence of war and violence.  It will fulfill the Davidic Covenant and satisfy the promises of God.  It will be a time of great blessing.

“Of the increase of Christ’s government and peace there will be no end.”  The government of Christ does not increase through war but through peace.  His justice and judgment are characteristic of His reign.  His reign and rule is forever.  This will be a fulfillment of the promise God made to David in 2 Samuel 7.12-17:

“When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.”

So our text is all about the Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is a Child born, a Son given, and King forever.

Jesus is a Child Born

Galatians 4.4-5 state, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

Paul wrote these words to Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians.  Gentile believers need not place themselves under the Law of Moses in order to gain acceptance with God.  Jewish believers need to understand that they are dead to the Law of Moses.  Believers need neither guardian or steward, because we are sons.  Paul asks and answers three questions when it comes to the incarnation of Jesus Christ:

When did the incarnation of Christ occur?

While everyone is preoccupied with the date December 25, God simply tells us that Jesus came as a Baby in a manger when the fullness of time had come.  The Word became flesh and dwelt among us at just the right time in the history of mankind (John 1.14).  1 Timothy 3.16 states, “Great is the mystery of godliness:  God was manifested in the flesh.”  He was manifested in the flesh at the perfect time.

First, Jesus Christ came at a time when the Greco-Roman culture flourished, but the Gentiles professing themselves to be wise had become fools.  Second, Jesus Christ came at a time when the Jew made his boast in the Law of Moses, but dishonored God by continually breaking that Law.  Third, Jesus Christ came when the nation of Israel languished under the Roman Empire, but longed for a King of their own to rule over them.

The fullness of time had come.  it was the perfect time.  There wasn’t a better time than the time when God the Son came into the world as “a Child born.”

How did the incarnation of Christ occur?

Paul describes the incarnation with two phrases that are key:  Jesus was “born of a woman” and “born under the law”.  The physical birth of Jesus Christ in an animal stall is quite unremarkable.  He was born of a woman.  All of us are.  Yet the birth of Christ is remarkable in that He was born to a virgin named Mary.  The Baby was formed in the womb of a pure virgin through the overshadowing power of the Holy Spirit.  This distinguishes His birth from all others.

If Jesus Christ had been born as you or I, then He could not have escaped the same curse we are now under.  All of us are born in Adam.  Through Adam’s disobedience, all of us have sin natures.  But Jesus did not have an earthly biological father.  His birth was miraculous.  All of us sin like our father Adam sinned.  Therefore, all of us die.  But Jesus Christ remains the Perfect Man, the Son of God.  He is fully God and fully Man.  He is the only begotten of the Father, the only one of His kind.  “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign:  behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel …which is translated, ‘God with us’” (Isaiah 7.14; Matthew 1.23).

Second, Jesus was “born under the law.”  He was not born under the curse of the Law but simply under the Law’s authority.  He did not fail in submitting to the Law of Moses.  Actually, He fulfilled it.  Thus, in fulfilling the Law, Jesus made available to us the righteousness of God the Father.

Jesus was born of a woman and born under the Law.  He carried the curse of the Law for us, a curse He did not deserve.  He fulfilled the righteous demands of the Law so that we might have everlasting life and righteousness.  “Now the righteousness of God apart from the Law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe (Romans 3.21-22)!”

Why did the incarnation of Christ occur?

Paul writes that Jesus was born of a woman and under the Law “to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoptions as sons.”  There is a two-step progression here that it vital.

First, we must be set free or loosed from the bondage of the Law.  Paul writes in another place:  ”Now we know that whatever the Law says, it says to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God” (Romans 3.19).  Jesus frees us from that objective, forensic guilt before God.

The Law cannot condemn us, because Jesus Christ absorbed all the condemnation we deserve.  The Law cannot command us, because we are under grace and not Law.  We are dead to the Law through the body of Christ (Romans 7.1-4).  The incarnation and death of Jesus Christ redeems us from the condemnation we deserve because of our transgression of the Law of God, knowingly or unknowingly.  We are no longer obligated to stand or fall according to our works once we trust in the completed work of our Savior.  He has redeemed us!  God sent forth His Son to free us from sin.

The second step in the progression is our purpose in life.  We are set free from sin so “that we might receive the adoption as sons.”  Many believe that every member of the human race is a child of God.  But that is not true.  While all are created by God, once sin entered, we became children of the devil.  Jesus Christ came so that we might become children of God through supernatural rebirth.

Adoption is not so much a legal transaction by which we are declared righteous.  That belongs to the theological term justification.  We are adopted through supernatural rebirth.  We are now precious children of God with all the precious privileges and great inheritance that Christ has purchased for us with His precious blood.  “But as many as received Christ, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1.12).  God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”

All of this NT revelation illuminates truth which people in Isaiah’s day did not understand.  Unto us a child is born.  He is a child born of a virgin woman under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law.  The Child born would become the Son God gave to the world.

Jesus is a Son Given

“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3.16).  Jesus is the Son given (grace).  He is the gift of God and the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.  Propitiation means that Jesus Christ is the full and satisfying payment for our sins.  He is fully satisfying and pleasing to the Father.  ”By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us” (1 John 3.16a).  Jesus is the Son given.

2 Corinthians 5.21 tells us that the Father made the Son who knew no sin to be sin for us.  Jesus Christ stood in our place and absorbed the wrath of God we deserve.  He drained the dregs of judgment from the cup of God’s indignation.  He prayed that it would pass from Him, but nevertheless not what He will as a Man but what God willed.  He did this not for Himself but for you and for me.  He died and was buried in a tomb.  He arose the third day!  The Father raised up the Son, Jesus our Lord, from the dead.  Jesus was the Son given for our offenses and the Son raised with a view toward our justification (Romans 4.25).

Jesus is a King Forever

  1. He is the Wonderful Counselor – The Bible exhorts us as believers to be knit together in love, and attain to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2.6).  Jesus is wisdom personified.  He is the Word become flesh!  His ways and judgements are beyond our comprehension.  We look to Him for wisdom and guidance!  He is the King Forever, the Wonderful Counselor.
  2. He is the Mighty God – He is not only God with us; He is God over us.  If Jesus is not God, then He could not be the Son given.  If Jesus is not God, then He could not reign as King.  He shares in all the attributes of the Father.  He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere present.  The Mighty God was the Lord of glory crucified.  It is His blood that is the purchase price of our redemption – matchless blood, perfect blood.  He is King Forever, the Mighty God.
  3. He is the Everlasting Father – This text is not saying that Jesus the Son is actually God the Father.  We believe in the triune nature of God:  Father, Son, and Spirit – three persons and one God.  So how is Jesus the everlasting Father?   He has begotten us as children by His Word and His Spirit.  Jesus is the Second Adam.  He is the giver and source of everlasting life.  Through His blood, He has opened the new and better way to God.  We are adopted into the family of God through supernatural rebirth.  Jesus made this possible.  He is the Everlasting Father in this sense.  He is the King Forever, the Everlasting Father.
  4. He is the Prince of Peace – While Jesus will reign upon David’s throne and bring peace to the entire world, we as believers experience the benefit of peace today.  He redeemed us and reconciled us to the Father.  We are no longer enemies but children.  Not only that, we have peace garrisoning our hearts to this day.  Nobody is able to take this peace away from us.  He is the King Forever, the Prince of Peace.

Father, all we can do is meditate upon these verses and simply get lost in wonder and in praise for Jesus, the Child born, the Son given, and the King forever.  The more we think about this passage, the more devoted to Christ we become.

We are filled with wonder.  He is the Child born:  God in the flesh.  You have revealed that the angels themselves are lost in wonder and desire to consider this great truth.  Great is this mystery of godliness!  Thanks be to You for Your indescribable gift (2 Corinthians 9.15)!

We are lost in praise.  Our gratitude is heightened when we consider the incarnation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  That He would be a Child born in order to become a Son given as a sacrifice compels gratitude within us.  You put it there in our souls though the power of your Spirit.  What can we give in return?  We can never repay You for the Child born and the Son given, but we can give You our lives anew this morning.

Let us be filled with devotion and commitment.  Let Your will be done on earth as it is done in Heaven.  We submit ourselves to the King today and every day.  We accept the gift of His reign over us.

You have bid us come.  We have labored and we have been heavily burdened by our sin.  We receive the rest only You give.  We take Your yoke upon us.  We will learn from You for you are gentle and lowly in heart.  You will give us what we seek this Christmas:  Rest for our souls.  Lord Jesus, Your yoke is indeed easy; Your burden light.  You truly a Child born, a Son given, and a King forever.

Israel and the Church

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A friend sent me the following graphic (not sure of the source or if you can read it):

Israel and the Church

The intent of the graphic is to strengthen the position of continuity between the testaments.  I think that some seek to unify the Word of God, while others have less than altruistic motives for posting a graphic like this.  However, I not only see the difference between Israel and the Church, I see as well the difference between Dispensational Theology and Covenant Theology.  And this chart represents a major difference.  Here is a good primer for those who do not understand or know the differences:  Showers, Renald E. There Really Is a Difference!: a Comparison of Covenant and Dispensational Theology. Bellmawr, NJ: The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc., 1990. Print.

Covenant Theology essentially blurs the distinction between Israel and the Church.  Frankly, I’m not sure it is accurate to say that the CT equates the Church with Israel.  Maybe some do.  I believe the Bible teaches that they are essentially different entities.  Actually, I maintain that Israel, the Church, and the coming Millennial Kingdom are all separate entities.  Chapter 15 of Showers’ book lists seven lines of evidence which show that Israel and the Church are in fact different.

  1. Israel was a nation in the technical sense of that term, but the Church is not a nation in the technical sense of the term.  If the Church is a nation in the same way that Israel was and is currently a nation, what is the national language of the Church?  Who decides?  Actually, the Church consists of many different races and tongues and nations.  She is not bound by geography.  For instance, where is the capital city of the Church if it is a nation?  Who is the earthly political leader?  God established and regulated Israel under the Mosaic Law.  There is no earthly, political government for the Church.  Does the Church have a national army?
  2. Israel as a nation was the people of God through the Mosaic Covenant, but the nation rejected Jesus Christ.  The Church received and is receiving Christ until He receives her as His spotless Bride.
  3. Israel persecuted the Church.
  4. If a Gentile remained a Gentile, he was excluded from the nation of Israel.  He had to become an Israelite through the rite of circumcision and be placed under the Mosaic Law.  Gentiles today are full and equal memebers of the Church.  The Gentile doens’t have to become a part of the nation of Israel to be a member of the Church.
  5. Not all Israelites were beleivers in the OT.  So the nation of Israel consisted of unbelievers and believers alike.  The true Church consists only of regenerate believers.
  6. The Scriptures never refer to saved Jews of the OT nation of Israel as the Church of God.  But the Scriptures do call saved Jews and Gentiles of the NT the Church of God.  1 Corinthians 10.32 strengthens this distinction:  “Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God.”  The fact that the NT applies the phrase “Church of God” to saved NT Jews does not mean that it applied to OT Jews.  Thus there is a very clear distinction between the saved Jews of the NT Church and the saved Jews of OT nation of Israel.  But saved is saved.  It matters not:  OT saint and NT saint alike enjoy the presence of God in Heaven.
  7. Romans 11 teaches that OT Israel was in the place of God’s blessing.  Since OT Israel rejected Jesus Christ through unbelief, God temporarily removed Israel from the place of His blessing.  The Church is now the place of God’s blessing;  Israel is not.  However, God will restore Israel to the place of His blessing when all of Israel receives Christ at His Glorious Appearing at the end of the Great Tribulation.

Israel is out of the place of God’s blessing; the Church is in the place of God’s blessing.  Therefore, Israel and the Church are not the same.  But God has not cast Israel away (Romans 11.1-2).  All Israel will be saved (Romans 11.26).  Israel and the Church may have been founded by God for different reasons and purposes, but God will not abandon either.  He will keep His promises to both.

So, I do see differences.  Frankly, I do not understand how anyone cannot see that Israel is not the Church and the Church is not Israel.  The Lord Jesus will sit upon the earthly throne in Jerusalem to fulfill the covenant made with David (see 2 Samuel 7.12-16).

It must be remembered that the Church is not present in Old Testament teaching.  The Church began at Pentecost and is comprised only of those who are trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ.  The Church’s “citizenship is in Heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3.20).  The Church will reign with Jesus Christ in His Millennial Kingdom.  David Olander in his book, The Greatness of the Rapture:  The Pre-Day of the Lord Rapture wrote (emphasis mine):

…[T]he church is biblically based on covenants with Israel. But these covenants cannot be fulfilled by the church in any manner, for the eternal biblical covenants are not made with the church, Gentiles, or any Gentile nation.  Only the Jews, national Israel, have this eternal distinction. In the church age, Gentiles are brought near because of the Jew-Gentile relationship in union with Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:11–13).

1. The church’s program on earth will end with the rapture. The rapture is exclusively part of the program for the church and the church only. While there are areas of comparison between Israel and the church, God has a separate program for the church, and a separate program for Israel. The church, which began the day of Pentecost, will end at the rapture. Scripture is completely clear with this whole matter.

2. Israel’s program on the earth will end at the end of the millennial kingdom. Jesus Christ must rule as David’s Son, the King of Israel, and all things will be subjected unto Him. However, not all things are subjected to the Son of Man during the church age, but they will be in the Messianic kingdom (Heb. 2:8–9). At the end of the kingdom age, Jesus Christ as the King of Israel will then turn the kingdom back to the Father when He has subdued His last enemy (1 Cor. 15:24–25).

There will never be agreement between Covenant Theology and Dispensational Theology.  There are underlying presuppositions that drive both.  However, we must be careful to treat one another respectfully and honorably.  The author of this graphic might want to consider that there are reasonable men who do see a difference.

Why Go to Church?

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Most of us understand that the question is not, “How do I want people to remember me?” Instead, we wonder if anyone will remember us at all! I admire my wife because she has a keen interest in her ancestry. If someone offers me something about my family’s heritage, I like to hear it. But my wife will seek the information out. So, what do we want our great grandchildren to know about us? What is the one thing that they should remember about us?

David wrote, “One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple …When you said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, LORD, I will seek.” (Psalm 27.4, 8)

Foundational Character

Three NT verses remind us that Abraham’s foundational character trait was belief. “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness” (Romans 4.3; Galatians 3.6; James 2.23). Therefore, Abraham found strength in his dependence upon God.

James 5.11 reveals, “Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and see the end intended by the Lord – that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.” Job waited patiently for the Lord to vindicate him. Job found strength in his perseverance in the Lord.

Numbers 12.3 says that Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth. Moses found his strength in complete dependence upon the Lord to fight for him.

James 5.17 states that Elijah prayed earnestly that it would not rain; it didn’t for 3 ½ years. He prayed again and the heaven gave rain. Elijah was bold and courageous because of his witness I the dark day in which he lived. So, Elijah found strength in the courage God gave him.

But what of David? Since David wrote many of the Psalms, we know that he had a heart for God. Acts 13.22 says that God found “David, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.” 1 Kings 14.8 says that David followed the Lord with all His heart. The hearts of future kings were often compared to David’s own heart. Many of them had hearts that were “not loyal to the LORD [their] God, as was the heart of [their] father David” (see 1 Kings 15.3). It was in the heart of David to build God a temple (2 Chronicles 6.7). David’s foundational character trait was his devotion to God. So, when we read the Psalms, we read them primarily to cultivate a heart of devotion to God. It’s not enough to find comfort in them; we must find a devotion for God in them. “One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek ….to behold the beauty of the LORD …Your face, LORD, I will seek” (Psalm 27.4, 8).

One Desire

David’s one desire was to behold the beauty of the LORD, to draw close to the heart of God. “I have loved …where your glory dwells” (Psalm 26.8). David found the glory of God in the temple. Our bodies as believers are temples of the Living God. We are never exiled from God’s presence. We are never carried away from God in captivity. We have the privilege of beholding the LORD’s beauty and seeking the LORD’s face wherever we are. It is sweet to do so with other believers in church, but we have the privilege of doing so at all times and in all places.

Psalm 42 speaks of a psalmist in exile. He is not David but of the sons of Korah. His soul panted for God as a deer pants for water. He thirsted for God, the living God. He asked, “When shall I come and appear before God?” David driven into the wilderness caves longed for the presence of God in the temple once again. David desired to worship the beauty of God’s holiness. God honored this desire with great delight.

What is your one desire in life?

Jesus Christ has taught us the Great Commands: Love God supremely, tap into His love poured out in your hearts, and then love others even as you love yourself! We don’t offer blood sacrifices today. We see Jesus! He is the substance of the Old Testament shadows. His sacrifice is the keystone doctrine of all others in the church.

Believers today see the justice of God against the backdrop of Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. This is something that Old Testament believers would have had difficulty grasping. Evidence for this is abundant. One need look no further than Jesus predicting His cross-work and resurrection on three different occasions in the Gospel of Mark. Yet it took His disciples by surprise.

We know the suffering of Jesus Christ as it is revealed in the Garden of Gethsemane. He drained the cup of God’s indignation for us each of us. The wrath of God poured upon Jesus so that the love of God should be poured out in each of our hearts. Amazing love! All of this not because we deserve it, but because He chooses to love us.

Our one desire is found in God’s love for us through the Person and work of Jesus Christ. Think of the mercy involved in the thought that the Father gave His only Son that we might not perish alone forever! “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:9–10)

So my desire is to attend church, be baptized, and partake of the Lord’s Supper. My desire is to open the Scriptures whenever believers gather. I might behold the beauty of God on a walk in the countryside. I am able to see His beauty when I listen to a sermon online. I see His beauty in my morning devotional time. But I miss no small measure of His beauty and holiness when I forsake the assembly of believers on Sunday or Wednesday.

One Delight

David’s desire became rewarding delight. It was in the tabernacle where David inquired of the Lord. Animals were sacrificed continually in order to remind him of the destructive nature of sin. David understood that God was the God of justice and that death was the price of sin.

Yet David witnessed God’s acceptance of the sacrifices. This acceptance gave David understanding when it came to the mercy and grace of God. He surely didn’t understand mercy and grace the way we do. We see God’s mercy and grace supremely through the Person and cross-work of Jesus Christ. However, David did see God as holy and loving. He responded to the revelation God gave him. It is in this sense that David is a believer, a saint.

A proper understanding of the evil of sin and the mercy of God offers hope and courage as David worships the LORD in the beauty of holiness. David is a realist. He is not living in a fantasy world. He doesn’t have an overly optimistic view of himself.

David had a private desire for God; he also privately delighted in God. But David desired to publically identify with God and other believers in the tabernacle. That public worship was sweet to David and offered him delight that could not be found privately. David understood that the worship of God was necessarily taking place in the assembly of the saints. This was approaching God on His own terms, not on David’s terms.

This also became the great equalizer for king, wealthy landowner, and poor carpenter. That is, the king must go to the priest just like the baker. All must look to the beauty of God’s holiness and find delight while they wait upon Him.

What is your one delight in life?

All of us would agree that nothing is worth missing even a glimpse of the beauty of the Lord when we gather at church on any given Sunday. I am troubled when I am even providentially hindered from missing fellowship with believers on Sunday. When I spent weeks in the hospital and in recovery from my cancer, I was all out of sorts. That time taught me the value of church attendance. It is something we take for granted. I never ask, “How many times should we go to church in a given week?” It seems absurd for me to think of it that way. We must have more opportunities to open our mouths wide so that the Lord may fill them (Psalm 81.10).

Church prepares us for Heaven. Church lifts us up from our down-below world. Church gives us eternal perspective in an earthly, temporal context. Church isn’t about the order of service, the pastor’s view on politics or controversial theology. Church is a foretaste of Heaven. It enable the glory and pursuit of holiness in our lives. It is the place where we sing and express our gratitude coupled with joy. Church assures us of the hope of Heaven, unites us with saints of the past, and teaches us to pursue the things of the Spirit. Church will once again invite us to look up to God and pray, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You” (Psalm 73.25).  So, if my great grandchildren are to remember me, I’d like them to remember me as someone who was all about the church of the Lord Jesus Christ during his earthly life.

“One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.”

Psalm 27.4

A Godly Father’s Relationship with His Sons (Part 2)

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It incenses people who play by the rules that someone would receive God’s grace after living such a wasteful life.  It really shouldn’t make moral people angry and bitter when immoral people turn to their only saving hope.  The reason that it does is that we become proud, envious, and discontented like the older brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

“But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.” (Luke 15:28).

The Perspective of the Older Brother

We’ve witnessed similar attitudes in Scripture.  Had Nineveh failed to turn from their evil way, God would not have relented.  He would have judged them (Jonah 3.10).  Of course, they did repent and God did relent.  You’d think a preacher would be happy about that, but not Jonah.  It displeased him a lot.  He became very angry about it (Jonah 4.1).  When Peter fellowshipped with Gentile Christians, it bothered the apostles and brethren from Judea (Acts 11.1-3).  Even the Pharisees themselves were the objects of this particular parable:

“Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” So He spoke this parable to them…” (Luke 15:1–3)

They just couldn’t stand the fact that Jesus received and ate with tax collectors and sinners.  They had a disposition which was strikingly similar to that of the older brother.  They hated the fact that sinful people were turning from their hopeless lives to Jesus Christ.

The Pharisees complained that tax collectors and sinners were turning to God through the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.  There are Pharisees in every generation.  They hate it when sinful people repent after living sinful lives.  They are unwilling to be happy about it.  There are two important characteristics of the older brother which provide powerful lessons for us:

1.            He was angry about the father’s reception of the younger brother.

2.            He was unwilling to joyfully participate in his younger brother’s return.

Verse 28 makes it plain:  “He was angry.”  His father tenderly pleaded for his oldest son to join the feast celebrating his younger brother’s return.  But all the older son could do was remind his father of how blameless and wonderful he had been in the past.  “Why didn’t his father realize this?”  Of course, the older brother did all this because he was filled with envy.  He couldn’t be grateful for his brother’s return because of his own foolish pride.

But verse 28 goes on to say, “He was angry and would not go in.”  He was unwilling.  Nothing would move him from his hatred and rejection of his brother.  The Pharisees also were unwilling.  They simply viewed themselves as better than everyone else.  There are Pharisees in every generation.  The hardest people to win to Jesus Christ are those who are self-righteous …those who think they are above it all.  Telling someone that their works are filthy rags will not endear them to your heart.  But they need to hear it.

The Perspective of the Father

But notice how the father responds to the older son:  “Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.”

First, the father was forbearing.  He did not utter bitter invectives or become angry with his son.  The son was very disrespectful but the father was very loving.  Fathers should be this way.  Certainly our heavenly Father is.  He is very patient with prodigal and Pharisee alike.

Second, the father condescended to his son.  He went out and pleaded with him.  Lovingly, he reminded him that nothing in all those years had been withheld from him.  Whatever the father had was his.  But both sons were home, and the father implored the older brother to be grateful not bitter.  Fathers must initiate course corrections with their children in the same way.  They shouldn’t expect their immature children to meet them half-way.

Third, the father loved his son.  It is not as hard to love the prodigal son.  He came to the end of himself and humbly returned, willing to take the place of a servant.  It is much harder to love the Pharisee.  He never is tender and responsive to his father.  But the father was tender and caring nonetheless.  Would the son give up his self-righteous disposition and come in and celebrate?  Our heavenly Father’s heart churns within Him; His sympathy is stirred for the self-righteous and the licentious alike (cf. Hosea 11.8).  We should be the same.

Self-righteousness is insidious.  It creeps in with pride, envy, discontentment, and many other evils accompanying it.  It will cause religious men to justify themselves …to pray within themselves words like that of another Pharisee:  “God, I thank You that I am not like other men – extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector” (Luke 18.11).  Those who remain self-righteous cannot be saved.

But repentant prodigals are filled with peace and have a desire to sin no more.  They are truly grieved by the direction their lives were going.  They never want to return to the cesspool of their former lives.  Humility is the recognition that you cannot depend upon yourself but must cling to the grace and mercy of God.  All offend the Father every day.  The key is to come before Him in abject poverty, willing to take the place of a servant only to be given the privileges of a son.