Posts Tagged ‘Charles Spurgeon’

You Can Experience Joy In Spite of Life, Part 2

Posted: May 7, 2013 in Personal Growth
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joyHeart surgeon Christian Barnard wrote of making rounds in a children’s hospital when he heard some noise. He looked up to see a breakfast cart that had been commandeered by two kids. One pushed the cart with his head down, and the other, seated on the lower deck, guided the cart by scarping one foot on the floor.

The boy pushing was blind. His parents had gotten drunk one night and fought. The mother threw a lantern at the father. It missed him and broke over the boy’s head and shoulders. The flames blinded him and disfigured him for life. The boy who guided the trolley had recently had his arm and shoulder amputated because of bone cancer. Even so, both of the boys put on quite a show for the other kids in the hospital before the “race” ended in scattered plates and a scolding from the nurse.

As Dr. Barnard thought about that experience he wrote: “These children showed me that it’s not what you’ve lost that’s important. What is important is what you have left” (Don M. Aycock. Walking Straight in a Crooked World, p. 28). These severely handicapped boys had joy in spite of life! Do you? You can!

1. We Can Experience Joy In Spite Of The Hardness of Life (See Part 1)

2. Joy is Often Greater in Hard Circumstances

This joy is not only not dependent on good circumstances, this joy is often greater in hard circumstances.

This was Jesus’ message to His disciples the evening before His crucifixion in John 16:20-22. The key phrase is this: “Your sorrow shall be turned into joy.”

John MacArthur defines joy as “the deep-down sense of well-being that abides in the heart of the person who knows all is well between himself and the Lord’ (The MacArthur NT Commentary: Galatians, p.166). Are you enjoying this emotion?

Jesus is the supreme example of what He spoke of the eve of His crucifixion. Isaiah 53 says Jesus was a man of sorrows who was acquainted with grief. But the writer of Hebrews 12:1-2 says Jesus experienced the joy of doing the will of His Father in shamefully dying for our sins. The joy of the Lord was bitterly mixed with the tears of deep sorrow. Jesus had joy when in the Garden praying until His sweat as it were great drops of blood.

Jesus gives us this kind of joy while our hearts are breaking. Are you crying the salty tears of bitterness, disappointment, resentment, or anger? Let the Holy Spirit mingle His joy with those tears.

3. Joy is not automatic

Joy can be the result of repentance from sin (2 Cor 2.3f; 7.8f). Joy comes when we change our minds and attitudes to what is pleasing to God. Paul made the Corinthians sorrowful by rebuking their sin. This sorrow, however, led to the joy of repentance or a changed attitude.

I heard a preacher, Nick Decker, tell how Joni Erickson Tada experience this change of mind. When Joni Erickson Tada was 17 years old, she and her sister decided to go take a swim in the Chesapeake Bay. When she dove off of the barge, she did not realize how shallow the waters. She hit the bottom and immediately became a quadriplegic. All she could move was her head.

The doctors told her that day she would never walk again! She sat there totally shocked. Day after day, she asked her mother, father, and her friends to take her life, but no one would. She went from periods of anger to years of depression! She started to get religious doubts! She would say, “God is not real. He doesn’t care or love me!”

She then got her Bible out and read John 5 over and over again, where it talks about the man who was a paraplegic and sat by the pool of Bethesda waiting to be healed! She clung to those verses and continued to say, “If I only have enough faith I will be healed!” But, no healing came! After years of anger and depression, it came clear to her that she needed to come to a place of acceptance.

She realized that God had put her in this place for a reason, and then she said, “God I want you to use me!” Once she repented and changed her mind her ministry took off! She began to be asked by churches to come and speak. She would end her testimony by saying, “God’s grace is sufficient, and I have learned that God has a purpose for everything!”

Since then, she has been asked to speak to thousands of times internationally, and her ministry today is a multi-million dollar ministry that helps disabled children.

But in 2010, she was diagnosed with cancer on top of her quadriplegic. But then she said, ‘This time I know his grace is sufficient!”

In 2011, her friends took her to Israel and to the pool of Bethesda. This was 38 years after her accident. At the pool, she began to weep at the pool. They asked why, and she said, “I was just thanking God that He didn’t heal me 38 years ago! I have experienced his grace and power, and I wouldn’t trade that to be healed today! If I had to go back and do it all over again, I would not change a thing!”

Right now let the Holy Spirit grow in you the Fruit of Joy!

Resources: 

Charles Spurgeon: The Fruit of the Spirit: Joy

John Piper: The Fruit of Hope: Joy

The Gospel Coalition’s sermons on the Fruit of the Spirit of Joy

David Jeremiah on The Fruit of the Spirit: Joy

You Can Experience Joy In Spite of Life, Part 1

Posted: May 6, 2013 in Personal Growth
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joyJacob, age 92, and Rebecca, age 89, living in Florida, were all excited about their decision to get married. They went for a stroll to discuss the wedding, and on the way they passed a drugstore. Jacob suggested they go in. Jacob addressed the man behind the counter:

“Are you the owner?”

The pharmacist answers, “Yes.”

Jacob: “We’re about to get married. Do you sell heart medication?”

Pharmacist: “Of course we do.”

Jacob: “How about medicine for circulation?”

Pharmacist: “All kinds.”

Jacob: “Medicine for rheumatism and sclerosis?”

Pharmacist: “Definitely.”

Jacob: “Medicine for memory problems, arthritis, jaundice?”

Pharmacist: “Yes, a large variety. The works.”

Jacob: “What about vitamins, sleeping pills, Geritol.”

Pharmacist: “Absolutely.”

Jacob: “Do you sell wheelchairs and walkers?”

Pharmacist: “All speeds and sizes.”

Jacob: “We’d like to use this store as our Bridal Registry“

(Journal of the Retired United Pilots Association, Volume 10 Number 3, Journal 582, March, 2008).

Here is a couple that was excited about life in spite of many disadvantages. This couple shows us we can be content without every perk of life. For the believer, this internal optimism is called joy.

Paul lists joy as a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22. Are you happy today? Are you wallowing in self-pity? Are you bitter about the hurts people have caused? Grab this life changing truth today: We can experience joy in spite of life.

1. We Will Have Joy In Spite Of The Hardness of Life

Joy is connected with love

All eight of the virtues of the fruit of the Spirit grow out of love for God. This is Paul’s message in Galatians 5. Paul is answering the question, “What is spirituality?” Spirituality is not keeping any set of rules (5:18). Even God’s rules i.e., 613 Old Testament Commandments. Spirituality loves God and the people in your life (5:13-14). If we love God we will experience joy.

Joy is connected with hope

There is not only a connection between love and joy but a connection between hope and joy. Paul made this connection in Romans 15:13. We hope or are totally confident that God has His hand on the thermostate of our circumstances. This confidence gives us joy.

The Thessalonians experienced joy of the Holy Spirit in much affliction at their conversion (1 Thessalonians 1:6). They must have felt like new babies a few decades ago when doctors smacked them on the behind to get them to cry and start breathing on their own. You are born again and karate chop. You are hit with troubles. Again, if we are yielded to the Holy Spirit, He can produce in us joy because we are trusting in the Sovereign Ruler of the universe.

Joy is connected with people

People can bring us joy (Philippians 2:2). Christianity is social. Each of us believers are members on the one Body of Christ. We have a responsibility to each other: Fill each other’s joy to the brim.

But we should not allow people to take away our joy (Philippians 1:13-18). If our joy finds its source in God, man cannot steal it from us.

Joy is connected with unselfishness

When the space shuttle Columbia tragically exploded in January of 1986, the major networks carried the coverage live that day. Local television stations reported being swamped by angry callers who did not want their soap operas interrupted for any reason. A secretary at one station tried to explain the tragedy and reported that some responded, “Yes, it is a tragedy all right. But I can’t watch As the World Turns. How could such people ever hope to experience something as other-centered as joy?” Don M. Aycock. Walking Straight in a Crooked World, p. 33).

Paul taught in Philippians 2:2-4 that selflessness brings joy to others, but selfishness robs joy.

In Part 2, we will see joy is often greater in harder circumstances and also joy is not automatic.

Resources: 

Charles Spurgeon: The Fruit of the Spirit: Joy

John Piper: The Fruit of Hope: Joy

The Gospel Coalition’s sermons on the Fruit of the Spirit of Joy

David Jeremiah on The Fruit of the Spirit: Joy

Assurance of Salvation

Posted: April 17, 2013 in Salvation
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Tony Evans says, “A great spiritual malady permeates the church of Jesus Christ today” (Totally Saved, page 145). Evans calls this spiritual disease ADD: Assurance Deficit Disorder. Many good people lack assurance of salvation.

When someone comes to me who is not sure about his/her salvation, I respond in one of two ways:

1. If I don’t think the person is saved, I tell him how to be saved and help lead him to Christ.

2. If I think the doubting person is saved but is lacking assurance, I ask him to read 1st John over and over again. John wrote his first Epistle to help believers with assurance according to 5:13. John uses the word “know” 39 times in First John. The word “know”  is found over 700 times in Scripture but the word “guess” is not found once.

Theologians teach the doctrine of preservation of the saints. More commonly it is called “Eternal Security.” The Bible, however, calls this truth “Eternal life” as in 5:10-11.

But there is a Difference between Eternal Security and Assurance of Salvation

The Gospel of John was written so sinners would believe Jesus is the eternal Son of God and possess eternal life (20:31). John wrote his First Epistle so believers who are already eternally saved would also enjoy assurance of their eternal life (5:13).

A. It is possible, therefore, for a believer to enjoy eternal life and but not assurance of salvation. Tim Challies quotes Don Whitney’s six examples of doubts with which Christians struggle.

There are many examples:

1) John the Baptist in prison sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one that should come or do we look for another” (Matthew 11:2-3).

2) Doubting Thomas on resurrection Sunday said, “except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25).

3) G. C. Morgan quit preaching for two years because of doubts.

4) Believers who suffer ill-health or nervous disorders. Sometimes women going through the change of life and men going through mid-life crisis doubt their salvation.

5) Believers who had no great emotional experience at conversion. I had a very emotional conversion but one of teachers at BJU, Dr. Robert Bell saved at age 3 did not. But he was just as much saved as I was because salvation is not based on feelings but faith.

6) Believers brought up in false teachings find it difficult not to let that false teaching cause doubts. John addresses false teaching in 3:7 and 4:1. Some teach that if you sin you lose salvation.You can be saved today and lost tomorrow, they say. One day you are a Peter and the next day you are a Judas. Read John in 1:8-9. What about those who were raised in church and once believed the truth but now disavowed the truth? John says they were never believers to begin with in 2:19. Also in 2:15, if they forsake God for the world they were never believers. Paul would have agreed with John when he wrote, “Demas has forsaken me having loved this present world.”

7) Believers living out of fellowship with God. John writes about fellowship in 1:7. But if we are out of fellowship our sins are not cleansed and our communion is broken and it is like being unsaved as far as the blessings of God in our life are concerned. For example, our prayers are not answered just like the unsaved do not have their prayers answered (Psalm 66:18). About the carnal Corinthians, Paul said, “are you not carnal, and walk like men (unsaved men) (1 Corinthians 3:3). Bill Slick has a great article at CARM on assurance of salvation and he discusses this point.

B. It is also possible for people to have assurance (a false assurance) of salvation but not eternal life. John Piper addresses this issue in The Agonizing Problem of Assurance of Salvation. 

It was this possibility that caused Jesus to rebuke the religious people of His day (John 5:39-40). They are like the foolish man who built his house on the sand. Some church members have built their lives on the sinking sands of church membership and good works.

Charles Spurgeon heard a preacher spiritualize the text in Leviticus 11:16. He was preaching truth just from the wrong passage: “The owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind.” The preacher said that the owl is a very small bird when plucked; he only looks big because he wears so many feathers, so many professors are all feathers, and if you could take away their boastful professions there would be very little left of them” (Lectures to My Students, page 107).

There are Three Tests or Evidences in First John for Assurance of Salvation

1. The Moral Test: Do I obey Christ and live righteously (2:3-6)?

2. The Social Test: Do I love one another because I love God (2:7-11)?

3. The Doctrinal Test: Do I believe Jesus is God’s Son (2:18-27)?

John repeats these three tests, but this time he expands on them.

1. Moral Test: Do I obey Christ and live righteously (2:28-3:10)?

2. Social Test: Do I love one another because I love God (3:11-18)?

3. Doctrinal Test: Do I believe Jesus is God’s Son (4:1-6)?

The last repetition of the three evidences give the order in which they occur in ours.

1. The Doctrinal Test: Do I believe Jesus is God’s Son (5:1a)?

We must believe that Christ was incarnate (4:1-3). We must believe that Christ is God (4:15). We know this because we know God’s Word (5:13).

In 5:1, John says faith Christ produces the irreversible new birth. That should give us assurance. Just as physical birth is irreversible so is spiritual birth. Nicodemus asked Jesus, “How can a man when he is old be born again? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born? Jesus replied, “No, that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Bill Maher, the atheist comedian, was debating Bill O’Reilly about Christianity and they both got it wrong. Bill Maher said he could not believe in a God who put people to death for working on Sunday in the Old Testament. The Law dealt with the Sabbath not Sunday(Exodus 31:14). Bill O’Reilly said most of the Old Testament was not literal. Have we studied God’s Word so that we could answer these men?

George Whitfield, the great British evangelist, was speaking to a man about his salvation. He asked him, “Sir, what do you believe? “I believe what my church believes” the man replied. “And what does your church believe?” “The same thing I believe.” “And what do both of you believe?” the preacher inquired again. “We both believe the same thing” was the only replied he could get.

2. The Social Test: Do I love one another because I love God (5:1b-2a)?

A. Love for God is the first evidence of salvation (5:1a).

When someone makes a profession of faith, I don’t ask them, “Do you feel saved?” but “Do you love the Lord now?” Before salvation we feared the thought of standing before God at the judgment. Look at the change salvation brings according to 4:17-18. Now with Fanny Crosby we can sing “I want to see Him and look upon His face and sing the story ‘Saved by Grace.’”

B. Love for God results in love for God’s people or family (5:1b-2a).

Do you love Christians (3:14)? Would you rather be with believers or sinners (2:19)? Every church service is like a family reunion.

 3. The Moral Test: Do I obey Christ and live righteously (5:2c-3)?

Believers do not live in sin because they love God (5:2c-3). This gives us assurance.

In John’s first statement of the Moral test in 2:3-6, he said Christ life on earth at His first coming was our example: “He that says he abides in him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked” (2:6).

In John’s expanded second statement of the Moral test in 2:28-3:10, he said Christ’s second coming should motivate us to live holy lives. There are two potential responses to Christ’s future return in 2:28-29: confidence if we have passed the Moral test or shame if we have not passed the moral test. The coming of Christ should encourage us to live righteously (3:1-3).

In 1937, the famous Golden Gate bridge was completed. At that time it was the world’s longest suspension bridge. The entire project cost the U. S. government $77,000,000. During the process of constructing the first section of the bridge, very few safety devices were used, resulting in 23 accident as workers fell helplessly into the waters far below. The toll was so significant, something had to done before the second section was built. An ingenious plan was arranged. The largest safety net in the world (it alone cost $100,000) was made out os stout manila cordage and stretched out beneath the work crews. It prove to be an excellent investment in view of the fact that it saved the lives of a least ten men who fell into it without injury. Furthermore, the work went 25 percent faster, since the workers were relieved from the fear of falling to their deaths. God has stretched out beneath the believer His everlasting arms (Chuck Swindoll).

Do you have these evidences of salvation in your life? If so, take these proofs of salvation and help someone else who is struggling.

Know Your Identity! Know Who You Are!

Posted: April 13, 2013 in Uncategorized
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Dr. John Whitcomb said, “The 2nd leading group in America to commit suicide is university students who are searching for answers and can’t find them in secular humanism. The 1st group is psychologists who think they have the answers and do not.”

How would you answer the question, “What is man?” or “Who am I?” “I am a failure,” “I am rejected,” “I am the greatest.”

David is not having an identity crisis but a worship experience in Psalm 8! Psalm 8 is a burst of praise for who God is and what He thinks of you and me. “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth” (Psalm 8:1 and 9).

God is our LORD or Redeemer. God is also our Lord or Ruler. Psalm 8 does not begin and end with man, defining him. Psalm 8 begins and ends with God. Psalm 8 is not anthropology or psychology but theology. Psalm 8 is a hymn of praise to God who has redeemed us and rules over us.

We must answer the question “Who am I?” in light of “Who is God?”

1. Who Am I?  I am the Focus of God’s Concern (8:1-2)

God is infinitely above me 

David praises God for His glory that is above the heavens (8:1). In Psalm 113:4-6, God in His greatness is above the universe like a scientist crouched over his microscope observing the universe as small drop of water.

“The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwells on high? Who humbles himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth.”

Psalm 113:7-9 leads to our next point that God is not only infinitely above us, but He is intimately involved with us: “He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the dunghill; That he may set him with princes even with the princes of his people. He makes the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise you the Lord.”

 God is intimately involved with me 

God, who is atop the universe, uses the weakest and frailest of human beings, infants, to silence His enemies (8:2). Christ quoted this verse to his enemies, the religious leaders, who were upset that children were praising Him as their Messiah on His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (Matthew 21:16). With this verse, He silenced them.

Another infant was born, Jesus Christ, who totally frustrated and defeated God’s enemy, Satan.

You might be saying, “God could never use me. I am too poor, too ignorant, too socially retarded.” According to 1st Cor. 1:26-29, you are the perfect candidate for God to use.

2. Who Am I? I am the Climax of God’s Creation (8:3-5a)

The universe reveals God’s greatness (8:3)

Charles H. Spurgeon called Psalm 8, “The song of the astronomer.” David while tending his sheep at night could see 3 to 4 thousand stars with his unaided eyes and was breathe taken at God greatness.

The astronomer’s modern giant telescopes have made some amazing discoveries since 1920. In our universe, the Milky Way, there are 100 billion stars. And then beyond our universe are billions of universes, each with 100 billion stars.

All of this, David said, was “the work of God’s fingers.” John Wesley said, “God created the heavens and the earth and did not half try.”

The universe reveals man’s smallness (8:4a)

“What is man?” Man is an infinitesimal speck in space in comparison to the measureless universe. According to Psalm 144:3-4, man is a microscopic dot on the timeline of eternity. I know timeline is a contradiction to eternity.

Job asked, “What is man?” in frustration in 7:17-21 against God, whom Jobs thinks is making a big fuss over nothing in his life: “What is man, that you should magnify him? And that you should set your heart upon him? And that you should visit him every morning and try him every moment? How long will you not depart from me, or let me alone till I swallow down my spittle? I have sinned; what shall I do unto you, O you preserver of men? Why have you set me as a mark against you, so that I am a burden to myself? And why do you not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? For now shall I sleep in the dust; and you shall seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.”

Job in essence said, “I am under your magnifying glass. I can’t move without your notice and punishment. When I wake up, there you are. I can’t even swallow my spit without you micromanaging me. You have placed a bull eyes on my back. If I have sinned, forgive me and let’s move on. What is man to you? Why all the fuss?

The universe reveals God’s grace (8:4b-5)

God is gracious when He is “mindful” of this infinitesimal atom in God’s universe and chooses him for Himself (Ephesians 1:3-4). God is gracious when God “visits” weak, frail, and mortal man. God not only chooses us but He cares for us. God made man in His image in order to fellowship with him. Psalm 8:5 states this truth two different ways. First, when David writes that God created man “a little lower than the angels.”

Here is how James Montgomery Boice explains the first truth:

“The most interesting aspect of Psalm 8 is the way in which it places man in what has been called ‘a mediation position’ in the universe. Thomas Aquinas was one of the first to stress this, saying that Psalm 8 places man midway between the angels, which are above him, and the beasts, which are below. Man is a spirit/body being, according to Aquinas. Angels have spirits but no bodies. Animals have bodies but no spirits. Man, however, has both a spirit and a body and so comes between” (Psalms, Vol 1, Psalms 1-41. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994, 70). We know by this description from David that David was not an atheistic evolutionist or he would have written that man was created “a little higher than the animals.”

Secondly, not only does God have “glory” that is above the universe in 8:1 but God crowned man with His glory. Both of these statements equal the statement in Genesis one that God created man in His image. As great as the universe is, God did not make stars in His image. As measureless as the universe is, Christ did not die for planets, He died for you and me. God doesn’t desire fellowship with galaxies. We alone in God’s vast universe are made in His image and have the potential and privilege to fellowship with God.

3. Who am I? I am the recipient of God’s crown (8:6-8)

God created man to rule the earth

In Psalm 8:6-8, David quotes Genesis 1:26-28 which is a reference to Adam before the Fall into sin. God crowned man with “glory and honor” which are attributes of a king. When Adam sinned, he was dethroned. Today man is not a ruler, he is a rebel. Man is not the sovereign God intended for him to be, man is a sinner. Today, man temporarily is not realizing Psalm 8.

Because of the fall of the first Adam into sin, God sent the Last Adam, Jesus Christ.

The Last Adam, Jesus Christ, has regained all that the first Adam lost in the Fall. God intended the first Adam to reign and but he rebelled and lost his control and reign. The New Testament quotes Psalm 8:6-8 and applies it to Christ. “You have put all things in subjection under his feet….But now we see not yet all things put under his feet” (Hebrews 2:8).

“In reality Christ is at the right hand of the Father and everything has been subjected under his feet, but the full exercise of that power will not be evident until his return” (Harold W. Hoehner. Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary, Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002, 284).

1. Even while on earth Christ ruled the fish: a school of fish (John 21:6), a single fish (Matthew 17:27). Christ ruled the beasts: an unbroken colt (Matthew 21:2). Christ ruled the fowl (Luke 22:34). Additionally, Christ cast out demons, healed the sick, and walked on water. All of these were Old Testament prerogatives of the predicted Messiah.

2. Today, Paul says in Ephesians 1:22 that God “has put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church.” An example of Christ reigning today is in Colossians 1:13. Every time a sinner is converted God delivers that sinner from the power of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son over which Christ reigns.

3. The full exercise of Christ’s power and reign will happen in the future at His second coming according to 1 Corinthians 15:24-27 where Psalm 8 is quoted again. “Then comes the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he has put all things under his feet.”

Michael Moore, film director of Fahrenheit 9/11, quotes Jesus who said, “Love your enemies” to defend his position that we should not attack terrorist nations. In Revelation 19, when 1 Corinthians 15:24-27 will be fulfilled, Jesus will destroy His enemies with the sword of His mouth. We are to love our enemies. But God has said, “You shall not murder innocent people.” The penalty for murder is capital punishment. God is a God of love but He is also a God of justice. In the OT if an intruder is trying to break into your house at night you can take his life in defense your life and your family’s life because life is sacred. On 9/11, the terrorists invaded our house and we must defend ourselves and our families against future invasion.

4. Because of Jesus’ death we can reign with Him. Jesus in His incarnation was made a little lower than the angels according to Hebrews 2:9. Jesus did not become an angel in His incarnation because angels don’t die and they are spirit beings. Jesus in His incarnation became man, who does die because he has physical body, “for the suffering of death.”

On the cross, Jesus was “crowned with glory (Hebrews 2:9).” For six hours the cross was Jesus’ throne. He was ruling and reigning as King of kings and Lord of lords, conquering Death, Hell, and the Grave. Because He lives, we live. Because He reigned we shall reign with Him. Because He was crowned with “glory” on the cross in Hebrews 2:9 we shall enter the “glory” of the millennium (Hebrews 2:10) and reign with Him and finally realize Psalm 8 and God’s original purpose for us.

Revelation 1:5-6 states the same blessed truth: “From Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

This is the same place Psalm 8 ends in verse 9: “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth.” Who am I in the light of who God is? I I am the focus of His concern. I am the climax of His creation. I am the recipient of His crown. For this identity I should praise Him.

You Can Know God’s Will by Meeting Three Conditions, Part 2

Posted: April 11, 2013 in Personal Growth
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When we meet these conditions, God states the consequence: “He shall direct your path.” The word “direct” comes from the Hebrew word yashar , which means to make straight or smooth. It is used in Isaiah 40:3 to describe the future ministry of John the Baptist who would ‘make straight’ [Hebrew yashar] in the desert a highway for our God.” In Isaiah’s time, the way one country rolled out the red carpet for a visiting king was to send road workers to fill in potholes “every valley shall be exalted” and shave down the big bumps “every mountain and hill shall be made low” and also straighten the bends in the road “the crooked shall be made straight.”

John prepared the people spiritually by preaching repentance and straightening them out as much as possible in preparation for King Jesus. If you know and do the will of God, it will make your life smoother in contrast to rebelling against God’s will. Proverbs 13:15 states the opposite of 3:6: “The way (or road or life) of transgressors is hard.” I have some friends right now, who would give anything to go back and undo major sins and get back into God’s perfect will. God directs your path by at least three methods.

The first is through our God given desires. Psalm 37:4 says “Delight yourself also in the LORD, and he shall give you the desires of your heart.” If we are delighting in the Lord, then most likely what we desire is God’s will. One of the reasons I knew God’s will for my life was preaching is because I had a desire which fits with 1 Timothy 3:1: “If any man desire the office of a bishop he desires a good work.” “Desire” is mentioned twice in that one verse. Men who were concerned about God’s will and preaching would come to Charles Spurgeon and he would advise them: “If you can do anything else and be happy then do it.” But if you are called to preach that desire will never go completely away.

God also directs into His will by open doors. On Paul’s second missionary journey, in Acts 16:6 God closed the door to go south to Ephesus because God knew Paul would go to Ephesus on his third missionary journey and accomplish his greatest work.  In Acts 16:7; God closed the door to go north to Bithynia, because Peter would minister there (1 Peter 1:1). God opened the door for Paul to go west into Europe for which we are grateful because that is why the gospel came to us in the west. What doors or opportunities is God opening for you? This may indicate God’s will.

God can direct your path into His will through Godly counsel. Twice in Proverbs it is advised, “In the multitude of counselors there is safety” (11:14; 24:6). Someone has called this “Fourth and One” principle. In football, when it is fourth down with one yard to go for a first down, the quarterback will call a time out and go to the sidelines and get advice from the coach. Sometimes people who are not directly involved in our situation can give objective wisdom. For example, Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, clearly saw that Moses needed to delegate his workload to others. Moses was so caught up in his ministry that he lost sight of his unwise workload (Exodus 18:19-27).

There are times when we need to go to godly counselors for wisdom. When I am counseling a couple about marriage, I always ask if their parents are in favor of the marriage, especially if the couple has godly parents. When I was planning on going to Brazil for the summer with Jimmy Rose and the church asked me to be their pastor, I did not know which to do. So I started asking godly people I respected. One would tell me, “Go to the mission field.” The next would say, “Take the church.” Finally, Dr. Harold Sightler was preaching at Gospel Baptist and after the sermon I asked him, and he said, “Take the church.” It was like God spoke. I knew that was God’s will.

An old Model T Ford was pulled off to the side of the road with its hood up, and a young man was trying desperately to get it running. He had been working at it for a long time without any success when a beautiful, chauffeur-driven limousine stopped behind him, and a well-dressed man got out. He watched the fellow working for awhile and finally suggested that he make a minor adjustment in one part. The young man was skeptical, but nothing else had worked, so he did what he was told. “Now,” said the man, “your car will run. Crank it up.” So the young man cranked it once, and, sure enough, the engine started running as if it were brand-new. The young man was amazed that this kind of man knew so much about cars; so he asked him, “How did you know exactly what to do?” “Well,” the other man said, “I’m Henry Ford. I made the car, so I know all about how it work” (Gary Inrig, Hearts of Fire, Feet of Clay, page 111).

No one knows us better than our Creator and Savior and no one can better fix us to do His will. He has given us the manual to know and do His will.

Can Christians Suffer Severe Depression?

Posted: April 9, 2013 in Depression
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Medical doctors say there are three levels of depression. First, there is Mild depression or normal sadness that comes with difficult experiences. Mild depression is accompanied by a lack of concentration or daydreaming. Then, there is Moderate depression which has the symptom of a deep seated boredom. Last, there is Severe depression which considers suicide and has no hope. How sad to hear of Rick Warren’s 27 year old son who ended his life because of severe depression. We pray fervently for the Warrens.

G. Campbell Morgan, the greatly used Bible teacher, who was called the Prince of Bible Exposition, shocked his congregation on his 10th anniversary at London’s Westminster’s Chapel: “During these 10 years, I have known more of visions fading into mirages, of purposes failing of fulfillment, of things of strength crumbling away in weakness than ever in my life before.”

Not only have notable Christian leaders experienced depression but Bible characters like Moses, Job, Jeremiah and Jonah. The Bible character, I would like for us to focus on is Elijah in 1 Kings 17-19 who asked the Lord to take his life. Maybe this is the time in Elijah’s life that James had in mind when he wrote that Elijah “was a man of like passions as we are” (James 5:17).

Why do the best of Christians sometimes get depressed? The time Elijah suffered depression was after great success in the ministry.

Elijah had experienced a spectacular ministry for 3 ½ years at Cherith (17:1-7). Ahab the wicked king of Israel had led his nation to worship Baal the Canaanite god of rain, fertility and lightning. God sent Elijah who informed Ahab that the one true God was going to stop the rain for 3 ½ years showing God’s superiority over Baal. At Cherith, God used ravens to home deliver Elijah’s meals twice a day. Ravens were a very unusual means to feed Elijah because ravens do not even feed their own little ones (Job 38:41).

Next, God led Elijah north to Zarephath, which was the heart of Baal worship and the backyard to Ahab’s wicked wife Jezebel (17:8-24). Here God used another unlikely source to supply Elijah’s needs: a widow who would be the first to be in need in a famine. At Zarephath, Elijah raised the widow’s dead son back to life which was another rebuke to Baal the fertility God.

Lastly God led Elijah to Mount Carmel (18:1-45). Mount Carmel was the sacred dwelling place of Baal, the storm God of rain and lightning. Elijah challenged Ahab’s 450 false prophets of Baal to a contest and gave the opposing team home court advantage, Mount Carmel, and the odds of 450 to 1. The God who answered by fire (lightning) and consumed the offering was the only true God.

The 450 false prophets prayed to Baal the god of rain and lightning for six hours and nothing happened. Elijah put his offering on the altar and also drenched it with three barrels of water. Elijah, one against 450 false prophets of Baal, prayed less than a minute and God burned up the soaked offering. The entire nation of Israel fell on their faces and loudly confessed, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” This was Elijah’s greater altar call.

Then Elijah told Ahab that God was now going to send the rain and end the 3 ½ year drought and for Ahab to ride his chariot as fast as he could and go to his winter capital in Jezreel before the storm struck. Elijah was able to outrun Ahab’s chariot for 25 miles to Jezreel. Once again God showed Himself to be the one true God and Baal a false god, by sending the rain and ending the drought.

Once Jezebel learned of Elijah’s defeat of the 450 false prophets of Baal she threatened to kill Elijah at Jezreel. In response, Elijah fled all the way across Israel to the south in Beer-sheba, another 95 miles. After he arrived in Beer-sheba, Elijah back packed another 15 miles into the wilderness (19:1-4) and prayed for God to “take away” his life.

1. The first reason why God’s people are sometimes become depressed is Physical Exhaustion (18:46-19:4).

Elijah had travelled on foot 130 miles. G. Campbell Morgan had been suffering from typhoid infection for four months and nearly died when he made his discouraging comments on his 10th anniversary at his church. C. S. Lewis once said, “Our bodies and souls live so close together, they sometimes catch each other’s diseases.”

The solution for this reason for depression was rest (19:5-7). The angel that God sent to minister to Elijah did not rebuke Elijah. He let Elijah sleep and prepared him a meal and then let Elijah sleep some more. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap. God established the Sabbath principle in the Old Testament which was work six days rest one day. Surgeon advised, “Rest time is not waste time. It is economy to gather fresh strength.” Dedicated Christians sometimes have the most difficult time saying “No” to ministry opportunities and break down their temple of the Holy Spirit.

2. The next reason that God’s people sometimes become depressed is a Wrong View of Success (19:8-13).

Elijah felt he was the source of a great spiritual revival in 18:36-41 when the nation of Israel fell on their faces before God in response to God spectacularly sending the fire. But Ahab and Jezebel did not repent and neither did all those who came forward at the invitation. But now Elijah felt he was a failure as he expressed in 19:9-10.

The solution for this wrong view of success is a proper view of ministry. God can use small, unspectacular ministries.

Elijah went to Mount Horeb or Sinai in 19:8-13 where God taught him a lesson. God showed Elijah a spectacular windstorm, earthquake, and lightning storm. But God was not in these spectacular events. God was in the unspectacular still small voice.

Are small ministries unimportant to God? Are ministries important only if they are big? Joel Olsteen reaches millions. He also believes Mormons are believers and God might let atheists into heaven. What about ministries to AWANA clubs, or Small groups, Sunday School classes, or your children or grandchildren or praying for people and sending cards or visiting the needy?

3. Finally God’s people are sometimes depressed because they are Lonely (19:13b-21).

Three times Elijah complained that he was alone (18:22; 19:10, 14). It is not only not God’s will for us to pull away from being with people and ministering to people but it is ungodly or ungod like. God is a social being and He created us in His image: “Let us make man in our image” (Gen 1:26). The three persons of the Trinity enjoyed fellowship from eternity past before there was creation. In John 17:24 Jesus said, “Father you loved me before the foundation of the world.” God also said, “It is not good for man to be alone.”

So what was the solution for Elijah? God questioned Elijah, “What are you doing here at Mount Horeb all by yourself” (19:13b)? “I never told you to come here. I told you to go to Cherith, Zarephath, and Mount Carmel. But I never told you to abandon the ministry and flee to Mount Horeb.” Then God told Elijah “return” and start pouring your life into others (19:15-21). All of these individuals together could defeat Baal worship but Elijah could not by himself. Elijah unspectacularly mentored Elisha who did twice as many miracles as Elijah preformed. His ministry was not as spectacular as praying and stopping the rain and calling down fire from heaven and praying and starting the rain. But Elijah’s ministry to Elisha was much more important and produced much more fruit.

My mother has never had a spectacular ministry. She has been a mother and house wife most of her adult life. But she poured her life into my life and influenced me to Christ and the ministry. When I was growing up at home, almost every evening before bedtime, she gathered my three brothers and me in the back bedroom and read God’s Word to us and prayed with us. Her quite ministry behind the scenes is why I am in the ministry today. Are you depressed today? Is one to these three reasons the cause? Then follow the example of Elijah and let God help you overcome your depression.

Living Proof of the Resurrection (Acts 12:1-12) Part Two

Posted: April 1, 2013 in Resurrection of Jesus
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Alexander Whyte, the great preacher of Biblical character notes: “This Eutychus is the father of all such as fall asleep during sermons.” Eutychus will become the focus of Luke’s Easter service. If you are a preacher reading this, be encouraged. They fell asleep even under Paul’s preaching.

From our last study, we learned that because of the resurrection of Christ the people of God made the monumental change from worshiping on Saturday to Sunday. So when we meet on Sundays because of the Resurrection of Jesus what do we do?

1. We take offerings. This is Paul’s instruction in 1 Cor 16:1-5. He writes 1 Corinthians while at Ephesus. In 1 Corinthians 16:1-5, Paul refers to the church meeting on “the first day of the week” and receiving a love offering for the poor suffering believers at Jerusalem and of his plans to visit the Corinthians when he travels to Macedonian.

Jesus gave His life for us on the cross, and as Paul will elaborated on in 2 Cor 8-9, if we have received that unspeakable gift, we give when we come to church because we love God.

2. We worship God and Christ. The early church probably observed the church ordinances more often that we do according to 1 Cor. 11:24-26. This was a major reason these believers met on this Lord’s day according to Acts 20:7: They met “to break bread.” We practice the ordinances because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

a) The Lord’s Supper celebrates again what Easter is all about, Jesus dying for our sins. The broken bread symbolizes Jesus’ broken body on the tree. The fruit of the vine symbolizes His shed blood for the remission of sins.

b) Baptism by immersion reminds that after His resurrection. He was buried and three days later, He arose. Baptism by immersion pictures the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

3. We preach God’s Word. Luke really puts his narration in slow motion here. Now Luke doesn’t just focus on one Easter church service but on one church member at this Easter service. If you have watched a televised church service, the cameraman zooms in occasionally on one person in the congregation. The cameraman tries to focus on someone really listening to the preacher. Had this service at Troas been televised, the cameraman would not have drawn attention to the character Luke is about to focus on.

Notice, Paul preached until 12 o’clock midnight not 12 o’clock midday. The reason is because Sunday was not a holiday as it is today. The pagan Roman Empire did not allow believers off on Sunday to go to church. Believers, like all other Roman citizens had to work on Sunday. So probably all the people at this Easter service had put in a hard days work before coming to the evening service at 6 or 7 pm.

They did not have an Easter sunrise service they had an Easter sunset service. Again, so much for church tradition.

The one believer that Luke focuses on was named Eutychus. This was a common name for a slave. Eutychus had evidently put in a full day’s labor as a slave and rushed home, cleaned up and hurried to church.

Luke informs us about the atmosphere of this Easter service. Because it was late at night, torches were burning to supply light. But torches also suck up the oxygen. So it is midnight, Eutychus is tried from literally slaving all day at work, it is hot and stuffy in the service. He is sitting in the open window to feel a breeze and get some fresh air. He is fighting sleep. Luke records Eutychus’s battle in Acts 20:9: “Eutychus being fallen into a deep sleep, and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep.”

He is fighting, but Eutychus loses the battle and also his balance and falls three stories to his death. Dr. Luke gives his professional medical report in Acts 20:9: “dead.”

Paul rushes down three flights of stairs and much like Elijah in 1 Kings 17:21 with the dead son of the widow of Zarephath, Paul falls on Eutychus and embraces him. With this action, Paul raises Eutychus back to life from the dead in Acts 20:10.

Charles Spurgeon in a sermon on this Easter incident warned, “Remember, if we go to sleep during the sermon and die there are no apostles to restore us.”

When we preach God’s Word today an even greater resurrection can take place, a resurrection from spiritual death. Paul describes every unsaved person as “dead in trespasses and sins” in Ephesians 2:1. When we hear the Word of God which is living and powerful and receive Christ as our Savior, God quickens us or makes us alive.

Listen to the promise of Jesus in John 14:19: “Because I live, you shall live also.”

After raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus proclaimed, “I am the resurrection and the life, he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).

1. Eutychus fell from the third floor and died. You and I fell in Adam and also died. “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).

2. Eutychus needed life but could do nothing to get life. Dead people cannot produce life. God gives us eternal life when we trust Christ as our Savior. “I give unto them eternal life” Jesus said.

3. Eutychus raised back to life lived his new life for Christ. Acts 20:11 says they “talked” until the break of day. This is the same word used to describe the conversation Jesus had with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus where they talked of Jesus’ death and resurrection and the entire Old Testament. This must have been a great time of fellowship that Paul had with Eutychus and all the believers that evening.

I got saved on a Sunday evening. And the next several evenings I met with believers who were in that blessed service and all we talked about was how God blessed us with salvation. God changed our vocabulary and the subject of our conversation.

When we trust Christ, we walk in newness of life. There will be living proof of the resurrection for others to see in us.

Living Proof of the Resurrection (Acts 20:1-12) Part One

Posted: April 1, 2013 in Resurrection of Jesus
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I read the story of a man who was driving in very busy traffic and also was being tailgated by a very stressed-out woman.

Suddenly, the stoplight just in front of the man turned yellow and he had time to stop, so he stopped. He did the right thing, stopping at that crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating.

Well, the woman behind him was infuriated – she hit the roof, laid on the horn, screamed in frustration, and shook her fist at the man in front of her for making her miss her chance to get through the intersection.

As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He put her in the back of the police car and took her to the station, where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, the police officer opened the door to her cell and escorted her back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal affects.

The officer was extremely apologetic, however, and said, “Ma’am I’m so sorry for my terrible mistake. You see, I was behind you when you were blowing your horn and cussing a blue streak at the man in front of you. I noticed all the stuff on the back of your car – the “Choose Life” license plate holder, the “What Would Jesus Do” bumper sticker, and the fish emblem on the trunk. So naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car” (Stephen Davey in Practicing the Truth of Easter, 1 Peter 1:13-16))

By her actions, there was no proof of her Christianity.

The living proof of the Jesus’ resurrection is the proof that others see in our lives that He lives.

There are, as Luke says in Acts 1:3, “many infallible proofs” of Jesus’ coming back to life after He died for our sins on the cross.

1. There is the empty tomb. Why was the tomb empty on the third day after Jesus was crucified for our sins? The tomb was empty because He arose and walked out.

2. There is the transformation of the disciples. After the crucifixion, the cowardly disciples were hiding for fear of the Jews. When the fearful disciples saw Christ in His resurrection body, they became fearless. They bolted out of their hiding behind locked doors into the streets of Jerusalem witnessing the resurrection to the unsaved Jews who put Jesus to death.

3. There is the change in the day of worship from the Sabbath or Saturday to Sunday. The Jews for 1000s of years had obeyed the Fourth Commandment in Exodus 20:8-11. Talk about breaking a tradition. You know how we are about traditions. Someone said, if a church does the same thing for three weeks in a row it becomes a tradition that we dare not break. The problem is so many traditions are as Jesus said, traditions of man and not commandments of God.

Here is a tradition that was a commandment of God but something of so much more importance happened that annulled the old traditions. What caused Jews to abandon 1500 years of religious tradition that was grounded in OT Scripture?

The resurrection of Christ is the only answer. In Acts 20 we find the first mention of the early church meeting on the First day of the week and not on the Sabbath.

In Acts 20, Luke is recording Paul’s third missionary journey.

Paul is leaving his controversial ministry at Ephesus. There was a riot and also a revival at Ephesus. Paul was almost killed there.

Luke picks up the story in Acts 20.

Luke fast forwards through Paul traveling from Ephesus to Troas to Philippi in Macedonian to Corinth and back to Philippi and also back to Troas in Acts 20:1-5. Luke wants to focus on what happened at Troas on the first day of the week in Acts 20:6-12.

Luke skims over Paul’s stopping at Troas to meet Titus as recorded in 2 Corinthians 2:12, 13. For some reason, Titus does not meet with Paul. There was a huge misunderstanding. It is possible that Paul started the church at Troas because Paul speaks of great open door for him at Troas. Eventually, Paul travels on to Macedonian or Philippi where he writes 2 Corinthians. Luke passes quickly over this in Acts 20:1. From Philippi, Paul travels south to Corinth or Greece as Luke states in Acts 20:2. Here Paul stays 3 months and writes his theological masterpiece, the book of Romans.

From Corinth, Paul was going to sail to Jerusalem so he could observe Passover but when he learned of a Jewish plot to kill him, he returned to Philippi and observed the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Paul had a large team of eight men with him whom Luke identifies in Acts 20:4. These men were carrying love offerings Paul had been collecting from the Gentile churches he had planted on his previous missionary trips. They were traveling with Paul to help protect him and this money in case of robbery. Again, the early church did things differently from the way we do ministry. The missionary churches were supporting the mother church not the other way around. So much for tradition.

Luke jumps over hundreds of miles and one year of significant ministry: one church planted, two NT letters written, and an incredible love offering for needy believers collected.

Now when Paul arrives at Troas, Luke zooms in on not just one day, but one Easter church service on the first day of the week.

In Acts 20:6, after Paul celebrated the Passover in Philippi, he celebrates Easter in Troas. This Easter service is the focus of Luke’s attention now. Why all the fuss about one church service? Because this is the first recorded church service on the first day of the week in the book of Acts.

The people of God are no longer meeting on the Sabbath. They are no longer obeying one of the 10 Commandments. This tradition breaking reality happened for two reasons:

1. Because we are no longer under the law. Paul recorded that life altering truth in Romans 6:14 when he was at Corinth. This is the entire message of Galatians.

2. Because Christ arose on the First Day of the week not the seventh. By the time John writes the Book of the Revelation, Sunday has become known as “The Lord’s Day” (Revelation 1:10).

In Part Two, we will learn what we do on the first day of the week as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ.

 

The Faith of a Harlot (Hebrew 11:30-31)

Posted: January 15, 2013 in Sermons
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Dr. Harold Sightler told of a fallen woman from Greensboro, NC who listened to his radio broadcast in Greenville, SC and wrote him. “I’m a vile woman, I have broken every one of the 10 Commandments. I hesitate even to write because you would have to handle the same paper I have handled. Can you help me?” Dr. Sightler was able to tell this modern day Rahab how to be saved.

Three writers of Scripture call Rahab a harlot: Joshua, the writer of Hebrews and James. Rahab illustrates Jesus’ words to self-righteous, religious leaders in Matthew 21:31: “The tax collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.” Jesus then gave the reason: “The tax collectors and the harlots believed: and you when you had seen it, repented not afterward, that you might believe.” There is no one beyond the reach of God’s grace.

The events of Joshua 2 take place after the forty years of wandering in the wilderness in unbelief. Moses is dead and Joshua is the new leader. He will lead God’s people into the Promise Land when he crosses Jordan River. His first major obstacle is the city Jericho. Jericho covers only eight or nine acres. But it’s walls are forty feet high and thick enough for two chariots to run side-by-side across the top. Jericho is more like a giant bunker than a city. It is humanly impossible for the Israelites to defeat. But with God all things are possible and God is going to use the most unlikely person to help Joshua. The last individual whose act of faith is mentioned is Rahab the harlot. Her act of faith is recorded in Joshua 2. From Rahab we learn

1. All People are Sinners (Joshua 2:1)

A. By Birth

Rahab was a Gentile (who later believed). This should have shamed the Hebrew believers, to whom the writer of Hebrews wrote. Rahab was a Canaanite in Jericho, which was under the judgment of God. The Canaanites were a very wicked people. “They frequently put live babies in jars and built them into their city walls as foundation sacrifices. They were begging for judgment” (McArthur Hebrews, 364). All sinners, however, are under God’s judgment (John 3:18)

B. By Choice

Rahab practiced the oldest profession. She was born a sinner. She was not born a harlot. She chose to be a harlot. People are not born drunkards. People are not born homosexuals. There is no Gay Gene. But sinners can break these wicked lifestyles with God’s help just as Rahab did.

2. All People Can be Saved Sinners 

A. She had witnesses (Joshua 2:2-3)

These men were not Bob Harringtons ministering on Bourbon St in New Orleans among the strippers. Rahab’s brothel was the least suspicious place for traveling salesmen and merchants to visit. These visitors were much different from her previous clients. These godly men were led of God to a woman seeking more knowledge about the one true God.

B. She still had weaknesses (Joshua 2:4-5)

Rahab lied at least four times. Alexander Maclaren observed, “A lie was a strange kind of first-fruits of faith” (Exposition of Holy Scripture, 144). God did not condone her lie but God forgave her sin. Rahab was a new convert. Abraham who was older in the Lord lied twice.

John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace and one of the early fathers of the Evangelical movement in the Church of England, continued to participate in the slave trade for over a year after his dramatic conversion. He was still a new convert.

I read about a veteran missionary who came to Christ in the midst of a hard-drinking business environment—-and how he fortified himself with six martinis to get the courage to share Christ the first time! An inebriated evangelist? This missionary did not continue to practice drinking and evangelism. He too, like Rahab, was a new convert (Kent Hughes. Preaching the Word, Hebrews, Vol Two, 139).

C. She did become a new person (Joshua 2:6-8)

She ceased her adultery. She became a virtuous woman. The reference to flax in her house reveals she now possesses one of the qualities of the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31:13. Like Lydia, the seller of purple at Thyatira who became the first convert to Christianity in Europe when Paul preached at Philippi, Rahab was the first convert in Canaan who seems to have been a seller of linen.

3. All People Can be Saved by Faith (Joshua 2:9-11)

A. The other inhabitants heard also and according to Hebrews 11:31 “believed not.”

That is the only time in Hebrews 11 that unbelief is mentioned. Both Rahab and the rest “heard” but only Rahab believed. “All the inhabitants feared and had heard” (Joshua 2:9-10).

B. At first, the residents of Jericho were terror stricken, but soon hardened their hearts.

Every trip around Jericho, was like one of the plagues on Egypt, it was an opportunity to respond to God’s invitation but they rejected.

C. Rahab believed when she only had the bits and pieces of witnesses from her client concerning the millions of Jews on the other side of Jordan. We have the full canon of God’s Word.

4. All People Who Believe Will Have Evidences of Salvation (Joshua 2:9-18)

A. Assurance of salvation (2:9).

She had a very short doctrinal statement, but enough. “I know….the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.”

B. Burden for her family (2:12-14).

Charles Spurgeon, “If you do not want your children saved, you are not saved yourself.”

C. Love for fellow brethren (2:15-17).

James says works are the evidence of faith. One work of faith is love for other believers. She welcomed the spies into her home. She engaged them in conversation. She made provision for the spy’s safety.

D. Public confession of her salvation (2:18).

Some believe this red rope was the advertisement for her former business. It was the red rope district of Jericho. Now she unashamedly is letting others know she is identified with God’s people.

5. All People Can be Saved from Judgment (Joshua 2:19)

A. The Promise in Joshua 2:19.

There may be a parallel between the blood of the Passover that was painted on the door posts of each Israelite’s house to deliver from the judgment of the last plague so they could be delivered from Egypt and the this red rope which was hung from her window so she could be delivered from judgment and enter the Promised Land. The word “token” (2:12) or sign is used in both passages (Exodus 12:13).

B. The Fulfillment of the Promise (Joshua 6:20-25).

After seven days of circling the city of Jericho by Joshua and his people by faith, God judged all the Canaanites because they believed not and also because they would have corrupted God’s people. Rahab and her family were spared because they believed and did not reject God. Apparently the portion of the wall on which her house was built did not collapse. Have you ever been driving in the country and you see the remains of an old house out in a field and all that is standing is the chimney? That is what Jericho looked like with Rahab’s house on top and intact. While Rahab was saved by faith, the rest of the inhabitants of Jericho died and were burned with fire.

Stephen Davey notes: This scene becomes a metaphor of judgment and redemption. All who do not personally surrender to God will one day be judged by everlasting fire.

C. Salvation is not just deliverance from judgment but deliverance to God’s blessings.

Matthew one records the family tree of Christ and mentions only four women, who are infamous for one reason or another: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth. Bathsheba. Matthew records four women who by God’s grace become mothers in the Messianic line of Christ. Their past sins in no way limited their spiritual reward of being born again into the family of God.

God’s grace activated by faith did not record their sin. There is a striking omission in this reference to Rahab: The reproachful epithet “Harlot.” After the wall collapsed, and Rahab and her family were spared she married an Israelite named Salmon and she became the great, great, grandmother of King David.

It is not Tamar the prostitute, nor Ruth the Moabite, nor Bathsheba the adulteress, nor Rahab the harlot. But Rahab, the great, great, grandmother of King David through whom Christ was born.

Just as God struck her ignominious title from the genealogy of Christ so has He struck our sin from His remembrance.

Evangelism: Salesmanship or the Power of the Gospel

Posted: December 10, 2012 in Church Ministries, Evangelism
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There are lots of questions our people ask about evangelizing the lost: “Shouldn’t evangelism be left to the professionals?” “I’m really not sure what evangelism means. I guess we’re supposed to convince other people that they’re wrong and we’re right?”

In Mark Dever’s Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, he asks and answers four simple questions concerning a Biblical understanding of evangelism. Dever addresses some of the many questions so we can be “more obedient ourselves and have a healthier church culture when it comes to our great calling to evangelize.”

1. WHO SHOULD EVANGELIZE?

The Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 is obviously one among many verses that teach that all of Jesus’ disciples are to evangelize. Jesus commanded “make disciples” and the first step is to present the gospel.

The book of Acts bears testimony that ordinary believers and not just the “professionals” in the early church obeyed Jesus’ Great Commission (Acts 5:42; 8:25; 23:32; 14:7, 15, 21; 15:35; 16:10; 17:18).

“Part of our evangelistic activity has to do with the way we relate to each other as believers. Jesus said, ‘By this all men will know that your are my disciples, if you love one another’ (John 13:34). If you are not expressing proper Christian love to every member of your church, you are in disobedience to God and you are hindering the evangelistic work of your church.”

2. HOW SHOULD WE EVANGELIZE?

Dever tells a story from Joseph Bayly’s The Gospel Blimp and Other Stories of a group of believers who bought a Gospel Blimp to evangelize. Did they evangelize?

Dever gives six guidelines about how to evangelize:

1) Tell people with honesty that if they repent and believe they will be saved—but it will be costly.

Robert Schuller is quoted as opposing informing sinners of their lost and sinful condition. To evangelize we must.

2) Tell people with urgency that if they repent and believe they will be saved—but they must decide now.

We must buy up opportunities to witness the gospel (Ephesians 5:16) and the sinner must respond “today and not harden your heart” (Hebrews 4:7).

3) Tell people with joy that if they repent and believe the Good News they will be saved. However difficult it may be, it is all worth it!

Yes there will be difficulties, just read Hebrews 11. But “it is infinitely more than worth it to make the decision to die to self and to follow Christ.”

4) Use the Bible

“When we use the Bible in sharing the Gospel, we help people to realize that we’re not just talking about our own ideas but about the very words of God.”

5) Realize that the lives of individual Christians and of the church as a whole are a central part of evangelism.

“Our individual lives alone are not a sufficient witness. Our lives together as church communities are the confirming echo of our witness.” See the early church for an excellent model (Acts 4:32-37). This stresses the importance of church membership and loving one another before the community.

6) Remember to pray (Colossians 4:3). See the post “Praying People Into Heaven”

3. WHAT IS EVANGELISM?

Dever mentions five things people take to be evangelism that are not evangelism:

1) Some people think evangelism is an imposition.

This is one way Christianity is different from Isalm which can put a sword to your throat or a gun to your head and convert you to Isalm.

2) Some people think of a personal testimony as evangelism.

Our testimony may not include the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

3) Some people think social action or political involvement is evangelism. The old Social Gospel or the new Emergent Church emphasis on bringing the kingdom through social salvation is not the true Gospel. There are conservative ways to use community outreach to win people as in Crash the Dash.

4) Some people think apologetics is the gospel.

Like our testimony, apologetics may include the gospel but it is not the same as the gospel. God can use apologetics as Lee Strobel testifies.

5) Some people think the results of evangelism are evangelism.

Imagine the guilt some Christians feel because they’ve shared the Gospel for thirty years with a particular person who hasn’t come to know Christ. This is the result of confusing the fruit of evangelism with evangelism.

4. WHY SHOULD WE EVANGELIZE?

We should evangelize because we love God not the praise of man for our success in evangelism. Love for God will help us not water down the message when it’s demands are rejected. Love for God will also enable us not to manipulate sinners into shallow decisions and fill our churches with unconverted members. Love for God will prevent us from becoming Christian salesmen with slick fool proof methods that always gets results but not genuine fruit.

Dever provides an example in C. S. Lovett’s book titled Soul-Winning Made Easy. Lovett said, talking to Christians as salespeople:

Lay your hand firmly on the subject’s shoulder (or arm) and with a semi-commanding tone of voice, say to him: “Bow your head with me.” Note: Do not look at him when you say this, but bow you head first. Out of the corner of your eye you will see him hesitate at first. Then, as his resistance crumbles, his head will come down. Your hand on his shoulder will feel the relaxation and you will know when his heart yields. Bowing your head first, causes terrific psychological pressure.

Dever responded to this salesmanship kind of evangelism: “How many churches today are full of people who have been psychologically pressured in such a manner but not truly converted by the Spirit of God?”

The power of our message is in the Gospel not our technique. “Charles Spurgeon tells how George Whitefield the great eighteenth-century evangelist, was hounded by a group of detractors who called themselves the ‘Hell-fire Club.’ When Whitefield would stand outside preaching this little group of guys would stand off on the side and mimic him. They didn’t believe a word of it. The ringleader was called Thorpe. One day Thorpe was mimicking Whitefield to his cronies, delivering his sermon with brilliant accuracy, perfectly imitating his tone and facial expressions, when he himself was so pierced that he sat down and was converted on the spot.”

Let’s never forget what Paul said about the Gospel: “The Gospel is the power of God to salvation to every one who believes”

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