It has been my custom on the first of the year to post a list of books read during the previous year, with short reviews. This year, I’m just going to post five of the best, and I’m not even going to say much about them. I’m doing that because
I normally write this post bit-by-bit throughout the year as I read, while each book is still fresh in my mind. I didn’t do that last year.
I read far fewer books than usual last year, making the complete list embarrassingly short.
I’m lazy.
On the plus side, you get a bonus bulleted list (see above) at no extra charge. Now, the list, in no particular order.
Jack Higgins, The Eagle Has Landed— Possibly the best military/espionage novel I have ever read.
Tim Challies, The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion— To be honest, I didn’t expect to like this one, but it surprised me. I don’t think I’ve ever called a book “must read,” and I’m not going to start now, but this is definitely a “should read” for anyone who uses any kind of social media, and that includes your cell phone. Digital technology is a wonderful thing, but it is changing us, and not always for the better. If you blog, read blogs, use Facebook . . . well, the more you communicate in non-face-to-face contexts, the more you need this book.
Mike McKinley, Am I Really a Christian?— As fundamental (not fundamentalist) as fundamental gets. I’d like to see this one handed out to every member of every church everywhere.
Dan Phillips, God’s Wisdom in Proverbs— I’ve only just begun this one, but based on what I’ve read so far, I have high expectations.
Solomon begins his introduction of Proverbs with these words: “The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight . . .” Right from the start, we know what this book is all about. Or do we? Not if we don’t understand the meaning of “wisdom” or what is meant by “to know wisdom.” In God’s Wisdom in Proverbs, Dan Phillips explains that the word “know” does not indicate mere possession of facts about a person or subject (you may have heard this in connection with Romans 8:29). This is knowing, as it is said, “in the biblical sense.” It is an intimate relationship, in this case, with wisdom.
What, then, is this wisdom that Solomon wants us to know? We often think of it as an exceptional cleverness, the ability to make good decisions, or to solve problems like Solomon did (1 Kings 3:16ff). But anyone, believer or infidel, could possess those qualities. Biblical wisdom is more than that.
One is not truly wise unless he knows the Lord personally. Solomon will make this very clear when he says, “The beginning of wisdom is the feat of Yahweh, And the knowledge of the Holy Ones is discernment” (Prov. 9:10 DJP). Though Proverbs is much concerned with what we might call “horizontal success”—success in relationships, business, character-building—it is no less concerned with success in our vertical relationship with God. It is as Archer says: hokmâ[wisdom] “came to be applied to the art of getting along successfully with God and with men.”
The wisdom with which Solomon proposes to acquaint us, then, is skill for living in the fear of Yahweh. It subsumes all under the Godhead of God (Prov. 1:7; 9:10; 31:30) and casts every bit of life within that framework. This God-centered wisdom will encompass all our endeavors, including excellence in relationships, in personal pursuits, finances, child-rearing, “the whole shooting match.” But the constant backdrop of these living skills will be the imperative of a life lived in reverence for God, in conscious application of His revealed wisdom, and dedicated to promoting His glory.
Proverbs 1:3 states one of the purposes of the Proverbs: “To receive instruction in wise behavior” (NASB) or, as Dan Phillips renders it, “For receiving intelligent discipline.” Through these proverbs, God has something to teach us — and he has a particular way of teaching it.
How do we “receive” this education? Should we pray for God to give us wisdom, and then be open to “receive” it, directly? This is what the dominant mystical element on the church would have us believe today. “Just pray for wisdom, and then listen for that still, small voice within, as the Holy Spirit whispers in your spiritual inner ear,” we are counseled, often by widely-respected Christian speakers and pastors.
But that literally cannot be what Solomon means. Remember, Solomon is saying that this is the purpose of his writing this book. Proverbs took a lot of effort and strain and sweat to write. It takes a lot of effort and strain and sweat to study, understand and apply.
So ask yourself this: Why should Solomon write a book to give us something we could get easier and better by mystical channels? Of the formula for wisdom is “Just add prayer and mystical openness, and pop! wisdom!”—then why waste all the quills and papyrus? Just tell us to go mentally limp, and you will save a few trees . . . or, rather, reeds.
This “intelligent discipline” will not come to the intellectually lazy. Intelligent discipline becomes ours only as we diligently apply ourselves to obtaining what Yahweh has objectively given, once and for all time, in Scripture. To access it, we must open up, bear down, and accept instruction.
The proverbs of Solomon . . . To understand a proverb and a figure, The words of the wise and their riddles.
Proverbs 1:6
In a day when men and women are often little more than large boys and girls, any attention span is an anachronism, and anything that can’t be Googled is too much trouble to learn, Solomon informs us that understanding requires more than we’re used to investing. He exhorts us, if we desire true knowledge and wisdom, to roll up our sleeves and get ready to sweat.
The word here is a form of the noun [Hebrew word translated “riddle”] (hîdâ). Occurring seventeen times, the term’s meanings range from “riddle” (Judg. 14:12–19, where Samuel does a turn as “the riddler”) to enigmas and hard questions (1 Kings 10:1; Psa. 78:2). It signifies “difficult speech requiring interpretation.”
Here the idea is probably enigma, meaning a hard word that must be pondered because it defies easy unraveling. Kidner says that the term is used of “anything enigmatic, which needs interpreting.” And notes that
The secondary purpose of Proverbs is to introduce the reader to a style of teaching that provokes his thought, getting under his skin by thrusts of wit, paradox, common sense and teasing symbolism, in preference to the preacher’s tactic of frontal assault.
Solomon knows that there is not only one way of communication. This approach—communicating by riddles and obscure sayings—is expressly designed to demand and provoke thought and reflection.
This need for such writing is great. Communication is being “dumbed down” by increasing degrees. Simper and simpler versions of the Bible . . . are coming out. People are impatient of anything requiring thought, concentration, focus, effort. Folks rush to churches featuring interpretive dance, snazzy musical entertainment, dancing bears and skits—and stay away in droves from the rational, systematic, demanding exposition of the Word of God.
At the same time, attentions spans lessen. People become accustomed to the flip-flip-flip of movie camera angles. Anything taking longer than five minutes of concentrated thought wears us out and quickly loses our attention.
Against all this, Solomon says, “Here is something knotty. Here is something you cannot have without hard thought. Here is something you will have to ponder, consider—even untangle. Slow down, stop. Fix your attention on this!”
And so we should. Only so will we reap the promised sevenfold reward.
I have posted this video before, but I think it’s worth posting again in this election season. Bear in mind: this is a political philosophy. It is not theology. It is not about our relationship to God, but to our neighbors.
I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
Petitionary Hymns Poem XXXVI.For Pardon of Sin. Augustus Toplady (1740–1778)
Jesus, thy feet I will not leave, Till I the precious gift receive, The purchas’d pearl possess: Impart it, gracious Lord, while I With supplications humblest cry, Invest the throne of grace.
Baptize me with the Holy Ghost; Make this the day of Pentecost, Wherein my soul may prove Thy Spirit’s sweet renewing pow’r, And show me in this happy hour, The riches of thy love.
Thou canst not always hide thy face, Thou wilt at last my soul embrace, Thou yet will make me clean: My God, is there not room for me? I’ll wait with patience, Lord, on thee, ’Till thou shalt take me in.
Remember, Lord, that Jesus bled, That Jesus bow’d his dying head, And sweated bloody sweat: He bore thy wrath and curse for me In his own body on the tree, And more than paid my debt.
Surely he hath my pardon bought, A perfect righteousness wrought out His people to redeem: O that his righteousness might be By grace imputed now to me: As were my sins to him.
—The Complete Works of Augustus Toplady (Sprinkle Publications, 1987).
11For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. 14If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
—1 Corinthians 3
The Foundation, The Building, And The Testing.
It is of himself and of Apollos that Paul is specially speaking here; or more generally, of “ministers of Christ;” “stewards of the mysteries of God” (4:1); the planters, the waterers, the labourers, the tillers, the builders (3:7, 9). Yet the great truth here taught is for all, Christians.
The special doctrine here is that there may be a right foundation and a wrong building. If the foundation be right, though the superstructure be faulty, all will not be lost; yet the loss will be great. The warning both to ministers and Christians is, to beware of building wrongly upon a right foundation.
I. The foundation. This is Christ alone. Other foundation can no man lay. Foundation stones are vast and massive; like those we see at Jerusalem, let into the solid rock of Moriah, as we see from the recent excavations. God has laid the foundation Himself (Isaiah 28:16.) Both the foundation and the laying of it are His doing. “It is finished”; the stone has been laid; once for all. When Paul says, “as a wise master builder (or architect) I have laid the foundation” (verse 10), he means that he took the great foundation-stone laid in Zion with him wherever he went to preach the gospel, and laid it as the foundation for all the different churches,—Corinth, Ephesus, Antioch, or Rome. His proclamation of Christ was his laying the foundation-stone; for this is the one stone; the one living stone, “chosen of God, and precious,” on which a church can be built or a soul rest.
II. The building. Ye are God’s building, says the apostle, speaking of the Corinthian church. As he says in verse 6, Paul planted, and Apollos watered; so here he means to say, “I laid the foundation, and others are building on it.” But there are two ways of building; the one right, enduring, precious; the other wrong, perishable, worthless; the one “gold, silver, precious stones”; the other “wood, hay, stubble.” Both are on the true foundation; but the one is like Solomon’s temple on Mount Moriah; the other like the present mosque of Omar on the same site. Applied to ministers, it points either to their actual teaching, or to the effects of their teaching; if to their teaching, it refers to the truths or errors taught by them in connection with the one truth of Christ; if to the effects of their teaching, it refers to their rearing a church made up of true saints or of formal professors. During the dark ages there might be some godly men in the ministry; but, cleaving to their superstitions, they taught much error, and built up churches full of superstitious formalists; mere wood, hay, and stubble; mere professors, who had no Christianity about them save the name. At the Reformation we see Calvin, Luther, Knox, Cranmer laying anew the foundation stone throughout Europe, and building on it gold, silver, and precious stones. Subsequently we find the Port—Royalists in France, though retaining the one foundation, building wood, hay, and stubble. So is it with individual Christians. Let them take heed how they build. Let them not say, We have got the right foundation. That is not enough. Look to the whole of your creed, lest you be connecting falsehoods or fables with the cross of Christ. Look to your lives, lest your lives should be made up of most worthless materials. What a description is this of the life of some who perhaps, after all, are Christians! “Wood, hay, stubble;” nothing more. No gold, no silver, no precious stones; nothing that will come up to God’s estimate; nothing that will stand the fire.
III. The testing. A day is coming when the building shall be “tried.” The foundation stone was “tried,” and it stood the proof; it is the “tried stone” (Isaiah 28:16, 2 Peter 2:6.) But the day of trial for the superstructures is yet to come; and the process of fire which is to try them is not yet begun. But it will come. “The fire shall devour the stubble, and the flame consume the chaff” (Isaiah 5:24.) The day is coming “that shall burn as an oven” (or furnace, Malachi 3:12.) He is coming whose “eyes are as a flame of fire”; who is “a consuming fire.” That is the testing day. Sometimes we read of the fan (Matthew 3:12), and sometimes of the fire; but both processes are for similar ends,— sifting, searching, separating (whether by wind or flame) the real from the unreal, the true from the false. Till then both are together. Man is not allowed to try his hand at separation; “Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come”; let both (tares add wheat) grow together until the harvest. The sifting time is coming. Nothing will then be taken for granted. All will be subjected to the fiery ordeal; “every one shall be salted with fire” (Mark 9:49.) This, then, is the question with regard to all we believe and all we do, “Will it stand the fire?” It may look well, it may be praised by men, it may have “public opinion” on its side; but will it stand the fire? O man, will your life stand the fire? Will your religion, your creed, your politics, your plans and works, stand the fire? Soon will all be made manifest. The day shall declare it, “because it (or rather “He”) shall be revealed by fire.” Do all in anticipation of the day of fiery sifting.
IV. The result. If the work done stands the fire, and be proved to be gold and silver, then shall the doer not only be saved, but he shall receive a reward; he shall have an “abundant entrance” into the kingdom (2 Peter 1:11) If it won’t stand the fire, but proves wood, and hay, and stubble, then the doer, if he be on the foundation, shall be saved; he shall not perish with his work, but he gets no reward; he is barely saved; saved so as by fire, like one escaping merely with life out of a burning house, like Lot out of Sodom.
(1.) The importance of a right foundation. There is but one rock, one stone, laid in Zion; one cross, one Saviour.
(2.) The difference between a right foundation and a right building. There maybe the former without the latter. A false life has sometimes been connected with a true creed.
(3.) The difference between the salvation and the reward. There is such a thing as being barely saved, like the thief on the cross. There is such a thing as a “starless crown,”—a low place in heaven,—deliverance from hell, without the “recompense” and the glory. There is such a thing as a saved soul, but a wasted life.
(4.) The importance of seeking the reward as well as the salvation. Some are all their lives occupied with the latter. They never get beyond it; and, not having got the great question settled between them and God, they are not in a condition to aim at the reward. Let us at once get the matter of personal forgiveness settled, and press toward the mark (or along the line or mark, (χατά σχοπόν, Philippians 3:14) for the prize of the high calling (the “above” or “heavenly” calling, τής άνω χλήσεως), laying up treasures in heaven, seeking to “attain to the resurrection of the dead,” with all its glories.
(5.) Time ditty of judging ourselves now, that we may not be judged hereafter. Anticipate the day of the fire. Have all in readiness for it. Get quit of the wood, and hay, and stubble; all false doctrine; all unbelieving works or corrupt worship. Get the gold, and the silver, and the gems.
(6.) The awfulness of being unsaved. If to lose the reward be so terrible, what must it be to lose the salvation itself; to be lost; not to be “saved even so as by fire,” but to perish in the fire?
Proverbs 1:7 tells us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” That makes the fear of Yahweh* pretty important. But do we know what it means to fear him? Back in Sunday School, I was assured that God didn’t want me to be afraid of him. He just wanted me to love him so that I would be afraid of displeasing him. It was his feelings that mattered, you see. Eventually, I came to understand that it is perfectly sensible, even for Christians who love and are loved by God, to fear God himself. But that is not the meaning of the word as it is used in Scripture.
As Dan Phillips explains, using Deuteronomy 4:1–15 (feel free to pause and read that passage before continuing), “a primary and basic element in the fear of Yahweh is revelation.”
Of particular interest to us is Deuteronomy 4:10, where Moses recalls
“. . . the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’”
From this verse and the larger context, I isolate two observations:
“Fear” here clearly is not merely an emotion—or else I think that the fire and all (v. 11) would have done the trick.
“Fear” here is something that must be learned, and that requires revelation from God. god commanded the people to hear his words “so that they may learn to fear” Him, and that they might teach the fear of Yahweh to their children.
And then we see in verses 12–14 where Yahweh Himself directs the spotlight in that entire encounter. So many pine and yearn for anything remotely supernatural—and here it is, on bold display. Darkness, clouds, fire, the very voice of God. Is that where Yahweh fixes their attention?
No. In fact, Yahweh expressly says, “You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice” (v.12b). He goes on to relate at length the fact that He revealed and inscribed the Ten Commandments (v. 13) and commanded Moses to teach them “statutes and rules” that they might do them (v. 14). There was no form, only the word of God (v. 15). God emphasizes His word. And specifically stresses that He spoke to them, that He rendered Himself quotable.
Therefore, if anyone wishes to learn to fear God today, he will not chase off after reports of supernatural outbreaks here and there. Instead, he will open his Bible, and he will pray that God open his heart to hear His voice speaking through it, and will teach him to fear God thereby (cf Psa. 119:18; Heb 3:7ff).
We need exactly as many books on sex as Adam and Eve had. Period. Now shut up about it.
You may have a really great marriage. If so, congratulations. But until you’ve stood the test of time, I won’t be buying your (non-sex) marriage book. Take John Piper as your example:
I waited forty years to write this book. There have been so many stresses in our marriage that I felt unfit to write about marriage at ten, twenty, or thirty years into it. Now at forty years, I realize we will never have it all together, so it seemed a good time to speak.
When a very popular author writes a very bad book, I appreciate every well-written negative review, even though I know it provides publicity for said bad book. When Rob Bell’s Love Wins was the latest hot topic, I disagreed when Kenneth Stewart appeared on the Connected Kingdom podcast and said, to the approval of his hosts, and among some other really silly suggestions, that too much was being said. I agreed with Phil Johnson’s response to that bit of nonsense. Phil clearly did not think the response to Bell was too much. So I was surprised to see him lamenting the attention given to Mark Driscoll’s latest dirty book (even while giving it some very high-profile attention himself). Phil’s not-a-review of Driscoll’s book, and his entire post on Evangelical Exhibitionists, is exactly what is needed, and I’m glad he wrote it, even though it increases the exposure he is “sorry it has already received.”
One more thing on that subject: I’m not at all impressed with the several tweets I’ve been seeing snidely mocking the negative reviews of said erotic thriller. They drip with superiority and hypocrisy. It is as though the writers want to be the arbiters of who says what, when, and how.
Another thing that doesn’t impress me: the desultory compliments included in reviews of really bad books. Every review of Driscoll’s book has (I think) included some nod to its good content. Really, in an age when discernment is nearly extinct, that’s not necessary, nor is it profitable. Imagine this: My wife cooks up a really bad dish. It tastes bad, smells bad, and contains undercooked pork loaded with Trichinella spiralis. I’m not going to tell her how pleased I am with all the healthy vegetables she included, and I’m definitely not going to praise the good bits to my children, thereby tempting them to think they can get some good from it while avoiding the bad.
Of course, many readers will smell that dish and not notice the stench. It will pass over their tongues and taste just fine. If that is you, let me suggest that it might be because you are a smoker. What do I mean by that? Watch a smoker when he eats. He (probably) uses more salt and pepper than you. He seasons everything more heavily than the average non-smoker. This is because smoking has deadened his taste buds. If Driscoll’s pornea doesn’t taste and smell bad to you, it could be that you’ve been breathing his air so long that you can no longer discern the impurity that emanates from his mouth and pen (indicating, by the way, a dirty mind).
As this blog has developed, I’ve tried to avoid slipping into the Reformed Christian Blog Ghetto. That is, I’ve tried to avoid posting content that is that is only understood by insiders, in a style that is only understood by insiders. While I have no regrets over yesterday’s post or others like it, I understand that its content was largely meaningful to a select few potential readers. I know for a fact that some of my Facebook followers were oblivious to the details it addressed.
?
This is what I’d like my fellow Christian bloggers to realize: the blogosphere, and the world of Christian blogs in particular, is not as big as we might think. Tim Challies and Phil Johnson might be Really Big Names in our virtual world, but most of the people I know in the real world have never heard of them. Ditto for names like MacArthur, Sproul, Dever, and Mohler. Some of the Facebook followers I mentioned above very likely would never have heard of them had I not written about or linked to them.
?
And that’s okay. Challies, Johnson, MacArthur, et al, didn’t die for anyone’s sins. They didn’t write a single page of Scripture. I want to remember that when I am moved to respond to something I read online. Does it really matter? Will it have any value beyond next week? Will anyone outside this circle even know what I’m talking about? Will it matter to them?
I know what does matter, and has an eternal shelf-life. Jesus matters. The gospel matters. Theology and church history matter. The current local controversy may be important and worth commenting on, but if that is my focus all or most of the time, I’m living in a ghetto, not only of place, but of time. I want to major on the message and lessons that are eternally relevant. They were relevant before anyone ever heard of Brian McLaren, Mark Driscoll, and Rob Bell (more names that many have never heard), and will be relevant long after they are forgotten.
And no one needs to have read the latest blog post to understand them.
Dan Phillips lists “eleven benefits resulting from the fear of Yahweh” found in the book of Proverbs. Among them is “a fountain of life,” from Proverbs 14:27.
The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.
The form is consequence (B is what happens when you A). the meaning of this verse is related to [Proverbs 10:27]. Beyond that, it has a valid application on the eternal level. We are all born rebels, enemies of God and under His death sentence. When we come to know and fear God as He truly is, we receive eternal life, and turn away from the snares of everlasting death under His judgment in Hell.
This is one of many proverbs that suggest to me that “fear Yahweh” is the Old Covenant equivalent of “believe in the Lord Jesus” (Acts 16:31). It is a distillation of the Gospel, in Old Covenant terms. It could be “translated” for Christians with no changes other than greater New Covenant specificity:
Faith in Christ as Lord is a fountain of life, For turning away from the snares of death.
Ever since I first learned that the popular Christian heart/mind dichotomy was based on faulty interpretation, I’ve wondered why Scripture uses the word “heart” as it does. It’s really quite simple, as Dan Phillips explains:
Contrary to years of Christian traditional definition, the heart is not primarily the seat of emotions, but rather of intellect, volition, and evaluation. It is used specifically of memory in various places, including Deuteronomy 4:39 and Proverbs 4:21.
Wouldn’t “brain” be the better modern term for this idea? Why is the heart used for the mind, rather than “brain”? As a matter of fact, the word “brain,” as a part of the body, is never mentioned in the OT. The word simply was not in use in the Hebrew working vocabulary as it is in modern English. The question is not, “Why didn’t the Hebrew use our word,” but rather, “What Hebrew word (if any) has a meaning equivalent to ‘brain’?”—and usage shows that the answer is, “Heart.”
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
—Romans 5:8
One Day!
One day when Heaven was filled with His praises, One day when sin was as black as could be, Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin, Dwelt among men, my Example is He!
Refrain: Living—He loved me, dying—He saved me, Buried—He carried my sins far away; Rising—He justified freely, forever; One day He’s coming—O glorious day!
One day they led Him up Calvary’s mountain, One day they nailed Him to die on the tree; Suffering anguish, despised and rejected, Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He!
Refrain
One day they left Him alone in the garden, One day He rested, from suffering free; Angels came down o’er His tomb to keep vigil; Hope of the hopeless, my Savior is He!
Refrain
One day the grave could conceal Him no longer, One day the stone rolled away from the door; Then He arose, over death He had conquered, Now is ascended, my Lord evermore!
Refrain
One day the trumpet will sound for His coming, One day the skies with His glories will shine; Wonderful day, my belovèd ones bringing! Glorious Savior, this Jesus is mine!
17If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.
—1 Corinthians 3
The Holiness of God’s Temple.
I do not dwell upon the figure or picture which these words suggest. The magnificent emblem here employed is no mere sentimentalism or transcendentalism, but thoroughly practical. It is not for description or painting, but for the guidance of our Christian life, in its common rounds as well as in its nobler elevations and aspirations. Man’s symbols are often mere poetry or sentimentalism, Bible-symbols are all practical.
These are words of weight and solemnity,—“Ye are the temple of God”; “the Spirit of God dwelleth in you”; “the temple of God is holy”; “ye are the temple of the living God”; “A habitation of God through the Spirit”; “Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost”; “Ye are built up a spiritual house”; “I will dwell in them, and walk in them”; “We will come unto him, and make our abode with him”; “His Spirit that dwelleth in you”; “God dwelleth in him, and he in God.” Take the figure in connection with any of the kinds of habitation spoken of in Scripture,—(1) the home; (2) the tent; (3) the palace; (4) the temple,—it exhibits a most comforting truth to us. To be God’s home or dwelling, His tent or tabernacle, His royal palace, His chosen temple, of which that on Moriah was a mere shadow, how solemn the admonition as to personal holiness conveyed to us by this!
In God’s temple there is the blood, the fire, the smoke, the water, the lamps, the incense, the shew bread, the cherubim, the glory,—all consecrated things, and all pertaining to what is heavenly! These symbols have gone, but the realities have come, the heavenly things themselves! If, then, we are God’s temple, if even our bodies are temples of the Holy Ghost, what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness! It is this practical use of the inspired figure or symbol that I wish specially to bring before you. If you are God’s temples, what then? How searching and solemn the question!
I. What intimacy with God. Acquaintanceship with Him who has made our heart His home is the least which could be expected. He must be no stranger to us. There must not merely be reconciliation,—for that may consist with some degree of distance,—but intimacy, peaceful friendship, loving acquaintanceship; He seeing into our heart with all its evil, and we into His with all its goodness, and longsuffering, and paternal, yet holy gentleness and love. If God be our inmate, how intimate ought we to be with Him in all respects; yet with a holy, reverend, solemn intimacy; an intimacy which expels fear, and which yet casts out all irreverent freedom. He asks for entrance, and He asks for intimacy: “Behold I stand at the door and knock,” &c; “We will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). Of an old Scottish minister it is said (as the finishing stroke in his character), “He was one very intimate with God.” So let it be said of us.
II. What calmness of spirit. In all false religion there is excitement, in true religion calmness. The more of God, the more of the inner and abiding calm. The coming of the Spirit of God into a soul calms it. The indwelling of God preserves that calm. Man is never more truly and deeply calm than when filled with the Spirit of God. The tendency of much that is called religion in our day is to agitation, bustle, noise, unnatural fervor. In many “revival-scenes” there has been an amount of excitement which is of the flesh or of Satan; certainly not of God. The presence of Christ in the ship calmed the sea, so His presence in a human heart produces calm; and one evidence of His presence is the tranquility which reigns there. His words, His looks, His presence, all tend to calm, not to excite. The temple of God should be the calmest spot in the universe. No breath, no jar, no ruffle there. No storm, nor earthquake, nor war, nor tumult, can reach it. We see this in Stephen when before the council; his face was like that of an angel. God keeps His temple in perfect peace.
III. What solemnity of soul. If God be inhabiting us as His temple we ought surely to be solemn men,—called to a solemn life, speaking solemn words, manifesting a solemn deportment. We are not to be austere, sour, morose; these are Satan’s caricatures of holy solemnity; yet we are to shun flippancy, frivolity, levity in word or deed. Should the world’s rude laughter echo through the aisles of the divine temple? or its uproarious mirth ring through the holy of holies? Should the world’s idle or unhallowed songs be sung under the sacred roof of this living cathedral? “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet,” is God’s injunction, “for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.”
IV. What recollectedness of thought and feeling. With God dwelling in us, shall we allow wandering thoughts or forgetfulness of the divine presence to prevail. Let us gather up our thoughts, and keep them gathered. Let not the ashes of the sacrifice, or the water of the layer, or the incense of the altar, or the fragments of the shew bread, be scattered to the ends of the earth. Let us be self-recollected in the presence of the holy Inhabitant.
V. What spirituality and unworldliness. “God is a Spirit, and they who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” We need no rites, no dresses, no postures, no candles, no crosses,—these are the mockeries and gew-gaws of a dark materialism. We need the spiritual heart, shutting out the world from a shrine which Jehovah has entered and made His own.
If we are temples of the Holy Ghost, and if His temples are holy, then are not such things as the following shut out?
(1.) Vanity. What! Vanity in Jehovah’s temple! Vanity of life, or word, or dress, or ornament, or deportment! How inconsistent! If the Holy Spirit comes in, these must go out; if these come in, He must depart.
(2.) Pleasure. Can a lover of pleasure be a temple of the Holy Ghost? Can a frequenter of the ballroom, a lover of the dance, a haunter of time theatre, a slave of lust or luxury—a pleasure-seeker have God dwelling in him? How do the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life, suit the songs or the incense of the holy place?
(3.) Politics. What have the poor party politics of this world to do with the worship of this glorious temple? Can the smoke and dust of the world commingle with the incense of the golden altar? Shall parties strive for majorities under the very shadow of the cherubim and the glory?
(4.) Covetousness. Absorption even in lawful business is inconsistent with our being temples of God. We must have business, but let us take heed how we bring our merchandise into the house of God. “Take these things hence,” is God’s rebuke to the man who tries to be both a worshipper of mammon and a temple of the Holy Ghost. The Lord of the temple comes with His scourge, sooner or later, to drive the buyers and sellers from His courts. He will not allow it to be a market for merchants, any more than a den of thieves.
We have a temple! As the apostle said, “We have an altar, so we can say more, “We have a temple”; nay, we are a temple; nay, we are the temple of the Holy Ghost, the temple of the living God. Not some believers only, who are more advanced than others, but every one who has God for his God, who has credited the divine report to Jesus the Son of God; he becomes a son, an heir, a saint, a temple.
Let us not grieve that Spirit whose temple we are. Let us allow Him to fill us wholly, and to cast out all that is unbefitting the holiness and glory of his habitation. “If any man defile the temple of God, him will God destroy.” Awful words! Let us stand in awe, and seek to live as men who know what it is to be temples of God.
The more we grow in our fear of God, the more we see our need for fear of god. Having been a Christian by God’s grace for more than thirty-eight years, I can say with conviction that there is no problem in Christian living that isn’t related to the fear of God. Every last defect in my character would be addressed by deeper fear of God, Biblically defined. Every failing or weakness I’ve met in fellow humans can be traced to defective fear of God. every bit og growth in Christ-centered graces relates to growth in the fear of God.
Dan Phillips, observing the parallel form and chiastic structure of Proverbs 16:20, demonstrates that trusting the Lord is synonymous with diligent study of his Word.
Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.
Phillips informs us that “The term translated ‘he who gives thought, . . . means to give attention to, consider, ponder, understand, comprehend, with an emphasis ‘on the act of attentive observation, of perception and scrutiny, through which one becomes insightful.’” This word is elsewhere in the OT translated (ESV) “discern,” “study,” “regard,” “consider,” “ponder,” “observe,” and “gain insight.” This is clearly not something that happens in a passively yielded state of mind to one who has “let go and let God.” Trusting God is not a blind leap of faith into the mystical realm of whatever-one-hopes-is-there. Trust is the response of the thinking person to what God has revealed about himself.
Practical application can be made, destroying popular opinion that scholarship, resulting in doctrine, is opposed to spirituality.
What does the Bible do with the modern “faith [or love or Christian experience] versus doctrine” division? This text is one of many which reveals that trust in God and intelligent analysis of His Word are inseparable. Faith and doctrine are wed in the Bible. They are divorced only in sick and straying quarters of modern Christendom.
The point cannot be stressed too emphatically. Not only are faith/trust and doctrine not opposed to each other in Scripture, but there simply is no Biblically-defined “trust” without doctrine. Consider: it is only by Bible doctrine that we learn—
Who God is
Who we are
What God’s will is
What our deepest needs are
What God’s provisions are
The list could be multiplied almost without end. Without Biblical doctrine, we don’t know whom to trust, or what to trust Him for. Absolutely everything we need to know as believers, in order to know and serve God, is revealed in Scripture (2 Tim. 3:15–17). Anyone imagining a relationship of trust that is not grounded on the certainties of God’s Word is envisioning something other than Biblically-defined faith.
As the old saying goes, sometimes “it’s easier to get forgiveness than permission.” It’s an attitude we have all taken on at some point in our lives, and it is precisely the attitude we are warned against in Proverbs 21:3.
The principle behind this proverb should be easy for parents to understand. We always teach our children that they should apologize when they break or spill something, or if they wrong someone. If we are responsible, we also teach our children that it is better still to be more careful and wise, so as not to have to apologize in the first place. In fact, you might say, “To be wise and careful is chosen by parents above apologies.”
This verse, I think, says the same thing: God does not want people who heedlessly do wrong and blindly commit injustice, because they know they can just pop by the Temple later and slice a lamb. Rather, God wants people who so believe in and love Him that they obey Him, and “do righteousness and justice.”
It is popular in Christian circles today to exalt the importance of prayer to the most dizzying heights. Many would say that prayer is the most important element in Christian life. Prayer is held to be the sovereign key to holiness, power, effectiveness, revival, and personal spiritual growth. It is not uncommon for those newly professing faith in Christ to be told that the single most crucial activity that they can pursue is prayer.
I daresay that this verse calls some of these lofty claims and notions into serious question. We must remember at the outset three important Biblical truths about prayer:
Prayer is you talking to God—it is not God talking to you.
Prayer is anything you say to God—it has nothing to do with God saying something to you.
Prayer is not a dialogue.
In Proverbs 28:9, then, God says that if you and I are not listening to His Word, prayer is worse than a waste of time. Solomon says it is so bad, that it is a abomination (tôēbâ) to Yahweh. We must not miss the force of this condemnation. “Prayer” is meant to be a drawing near to God with adoration, confession, supplication. Solomon says that when the person praying is one who turns a deaf ear to God’s law, “even” his prayer—even that act meant to win God’s heart—is unspeakably repulsive to God.
On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.”
—John 12:12–13
All Glory, Laud and Honor
All glory, laud and honor, To Thee, Redeemer, King, To Whom the lips of children Made sweet hosannas ring: Thou art the King of Israel, Thou David’s royal Son, Who in the Lord’s Name comest, The King and Blessèd One.
The company of angels Are praising Thee on High, And mortal men and all things Created make reply: The people of the Hebrews With palms before Thee went; Our prayer and praise and anthems Before Thee we present.
To Thee, before Thy passion, They sang their hymns of praise; To Thee, now high exalted, Our melody we raise: Thou didst accept their praises— Accept the praise we bring, Who in all good delightest, Thou good and gracious King!
I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
Child’s Prayer. “They that seek me early shall find me.” —Proverbs 8:17 Horatius Bonar (1808–1889)
Holy Father! hear my cry, Holy Saviour! bend Thine ear, Holy Spirit! come Thou nigh: Father, Saviour, Spirit, hear.
Father, save me from my sin, Saviour, I Thy mercy crave, Gracious Spirit, make me clean: Father, Saviour, Spirit, save.
Father, let me taste Thy love, Saviour, fill my soul with peace, Spirit, come my heart to move: Father, Son, and Spirit, bless.
Father, Son, and Spirit,—Thou One Jehovah, shed abroad All Thy grace within me now; Be my Father and my God.
—Horatius Bonar, Hymns of Faith and Hope, First Series (James Nisbet & Co., 1878).
8You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you.
—1 Corinthians 4
22And He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.”
—Luke 17
The Saints’ Joy And Sorrow.
I place together these two verses, the words of the disciple, and the words of the Master, as breathing the same spirit. They speak of present pressure and trouble; they point to a day of deliverance and triumph; they indicate the feelings of Christ’s church, in this evil day and evil world. Paul means to say “I wish the time of reigning were really come, as ye seem to think, for then should we share in that glory, instead of being the off scouring of all things”; as if feeling most deeply present trial, and longing for the day when the glory shall be revealed. The Lord means to say, “days are coming when ye shall long, even for one of the days of the Son of man”; pointing to approaching tribulation, and intimating that under the pressure of this, they would long for even one day’s relief. Both these passages are written for us.
I. The pressure of present evil. There is evil in the world; and there will be till Christ come. There is evil in the church. There is sin, confusion, darkness, pain, affliction in many forms, bereavements, persecutions, anxieties, cares, vexations, poverty, hatred, contempt, with many more such evils. They come on us daily. They press hard on us and weigh us down. Each disciple has his own special lot, and peculiar trial. Paul felt his deeply; and we must all feel ours, for we are not made insensible to sorrow by our becoming believers. The Head felt His sorrows, and prayed “let this cup pass from me,” so the body in all its members feels its sorrows, and “desires one of the days of the Son of man,” or desires “to depart and be with Christ,” or longs that the day of reigning were come, or wishes to be absent from the body, and present with the Lord. “O wretched man that I am,” we crying reference to the inner conflict. “Woe is me that I dwell in Meshech,” we cry concerning the fightings and storms without.
II. The anticipation of coming good. This good is called by our Lord “the days of the Son of man,” in contrast with the present days, which are simply days of man, or “man’s day,” “this present evil world.” It is called by the apostle the time of reigning, in contrast with the present time of down-treading and persecution. These good days are coming, and we fix our hope upon them. They are blessed, and glorious, and endless.
They shall reverse every thing that is evil now, whether pertaining to soul or body, to man and man’s earth, to the church and to the world. It is resurrection that we look for; the times of restitution; a kingdom; new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Then all shall be holy, happy, peaceful; the body glorified, the earth renewed, Satan bound, Antichrist overthrown, sorrow turned into joy, the cross exchanged for the crown, the tents of Kedar for the New Jerusalem, the wilderness for Canaan, the weariness of the pilgrimage for the everlasting rest.
III. The desire of relief. Paul’s words express this desire, and Christ’s prediction intimates the same thing. We are not expected to be satisfied with pain and sorrow, so as not to long for their removal. We long for deliverance; nay for the most temporary respite, even for one of the days of the Son of man. The burden is at times so heavy that we cry out under it, and wish that the present days were shortened, and the glory hastened. One day’s respite would be a great thing for us, when overwhelmed at times with evil. But the respite comes not; patience must have her perfect work. There is no sin in the desire; only let it not be impatient. “Not my will but thine be done.”
IV. The frequent disappointment. The sky seems for an hour to clear; and then the clouds return after the rain. The sunshine promises, and then passes away. We seem to come within sight of Canaan, and then another range of desert mountains rises up between. The day seems almost breaking, but it breaks not; the shadows seem just departing, but they depart not. Often we say, the long road is ending, the next turn will bring us to its termination; and then instead, another long stretch of road lengthens out before us. Often we say, Surely this darkness cannot last, this evil must have spent itself, but in vain we thus think. The time is not yet. Often we say, Surely Christ is coming, the reign of crime is ending, the era of holy peace is at hand, the kingdom is going to begin; and then the prospect darkens again; and we seem to hear the voice, “Not yet, not yet.” Often we cry, “How long,” and the answer is “Wait,” be patient, stablish your hearts; it will not be long.
V. The kingdom at last. These are sure things. They will come at last, though on the back of many disappointments. He that shall come will come and will not tarry. The signs of the times have often cheated us, but at length they shall be found true. They will introduce the kingdom and the rest. The glory shall break forth; the Son of man shall be revealed; He who is our life shall appear. The ransomed of the Lord shall return with songs; the days of our mourning shall be ended; sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
VI. The connection between present evil and future good. Our present light affliction worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Present evil is that out of which the coming good is to spring. Light is sown for the righteous; but it is sown in darkness. It is out of sickness and darkness that our immortal health and strength are to come. The grave is the birthplace of incorruption. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. Thus God shall overcome evil with good; out of sin educing holiness; out of our brief sorrow the eternal joy.
Beyond a doubt, our friendships are woven into the most intimate fabric of our lives. Our friends can help lift us to a godly walk, or lead us to disaster, like the cars of a train plunging over a cliff.
The first epistle of John is written “to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (5:13). In order “that you may know,” the apostle presents three tests: the doctrinal test, the moral test, and the love test. On the place and importance of doctrine, Mark Dever writes,
I do not think that the church needs to worry about atheism today. That superstition has never seriously threatened the church of Jesus Christ. As a friend of mine once said, “The real danger is not unbelief, but wrong belief; not irreligion, but heresy; not the doubter, but the deceiver.” Wrong belief, heresy, and deceivers are what concern John.
. . .
When you share the gospel with others, you do not merely share your experience (though we certainly can share something about our own experience). Most fundamentally, you share objective truth. You share particular doctrines that are rooted in history about who Jesus is and what he did. You might decide this is not important, but then you would have to take 1 John out of the Bible.
The first epistle of John is written “to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (5:13). In order “that you may know,” the apostle presents three tests: the doctrinal test, the moral test, and the love test. On the place and importance of morality, Mark Dever writes,
[T]he most orthodox person in the world, who has every point of doctrine correct, is not a Christian if his or her right thinking is not coupled with right living. Let me use a story to illustrate this point. Suppose Bob starts a business and he puts me in charge of it. Then Bob travels to Europe for some business deals and leaves me with very careful instructions. While he is away, Bob sends me a few more letters with further instructions about what would be done in the office. Suppose, then, Bob returns several weeks later and finds the office in ruins. The receptionist sits listening to the local disco station while ignoring the ringing telephone. Everyone else is playing checkers, chess, or cards. There is trash in the halls. And Bob’s email is filled with angry notes from canceling customers and clients. So Bob walks up to me and says, “Mark, what happened here? Didn’t you get my letters?” I smile and say, “Oh, yeah, I got your letters. Not only did I get your letters, I loved reading them. Bob, those were wonderful letters! You know, those letters were so good that I photocopied them and gave a copy to everybody in the office. And they liked them so much we had letter studies. After work, we gathered to study them together. We also had them framed. There they are, up on the wall! What great letters! Some of us had even begun memorizing parts of them and are having our children memorize them.” Well, you can only imagine what Bob might say at this point. “Mark, why didn’t you do what the letters said to do? And what do you mean, you loved the letters? Of course you don’t!”
This is what John is saying to these Christians: “You might have all your doctrine right and say you believe in Jesus. But why aren’t you obeying his commands?” If we claim to walk in the light, but we walk in the dark, we lie. Words alone, without actions, are empty. You are not a disciple if there are no actions. A disciple is one who follows. You can be as emotionally attached as you want to the word “Christian,” but if you are not following Christ you are not a disciple. Besides, why do you think Jesus lived the life he did if the kind of life you live is not important? Why do you think he died the death he did?
The first epistle of John is written “to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (5:13). In order “that you may know,” the apostle presents three tests: the doctrinal test, the moral test, and the love test. On the place and importance of love for God’s people, Mark Dever writes,
Do we love one another as God has loved us? John writes, “And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother” (4:21). If you have gotten hold of the real thing, not only will you believe Jesus is the son of God; and not only will you obey the commands of God; you will also love the people of God. John is not commanding his readers to love the people of God. He is simply saying, anyone who has gotten hold of the real thing will love the people of God.
. . .
Jesus is our greatest example of the love of God. In John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).
The Apostle John concludes his first epistle rather oddly with the words, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” This conclusion seems strange because idolatry is nowhere mentioned in the preceding chapters. Mark Dever explains:
John concludes his letter with a short verse over which commentators have spilled gallons of ink: “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols” (5:21). That is the final line. There is no benediction; no prayer for God’s grace to be upon us. No, he just says, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols,” even though idolatry has not been mentioned once in the letter. People wonder, why on earth does he introduce idolatry now?
We have already seen that for John, faith isbelieving, obeying, and loving. Any faith that does not contain all three elements, John says, is false. And then he concludes with the exhortation, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” What he is saying is simple: keep yourselves from a false and distorted Jesus. And you know you have a false and distorted Jesus in one of three ways. First, you might have the wrong doctrine. You might conceive of Christ as an impersonal principle or a spiritual force. Alternatively, you might think he was just a great, human teacher. No, God became incarnate. Keep yourselves from such imposter Christs. Those are just idols to suit your desires.
Second, you might think God is indifferent to sin. No, God incarnate died for our sins. He is deeply concerned for how we live! If you are worshiping a God who is indifferent to sin, you are not worshiping the true God; you are worshiping an idol of your own making.
Third, you might think God is unconcerned with love. Get your doctrine right; don’t do anything grossly immoral; go to church. That’s enough, right? No, the God incarnate died for our sins because of his love for us. He leads his children to love one another with the same love. If you miss this, you have missed the real God and are worshiping some idol.
“Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” If you keep yourself from those idols, you can know you have gotten hold of the real thing.
Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
—Psalm 149:2
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
—Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice—the Lord Is King!
Rejoice—the Lord is King! Your Lord and King adore! Rejoice, give thanks and sing, and triumph evermore:
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice! Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
Jesus, the Savior, reigns, the God of truth and love; When He had purged our stains He took His seat above;
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice! Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
His kingdom cannot fail—He rules o’er earth and Heav’n, The keys of death and hell are to our Jesus giv’n;
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice! Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
Rejoice in glorious hope! Our Lord the Judge shall come And take His servants up to their eternal home.
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice! Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
Leaf from Leaf Christina Rossetti (1830–1894)
Leaf from leaf Christ knows; Himself the Lily and the Rose:
Sheep from sheep Christ tells; Himself the Shepherd, no one else:
Star and star He names, Himself outblazing all their flames:
Dove by dove, He calls To set each on the golden walls:
Drop by drop, He counts The flood of ocean as it mounts:
Grain by grain, His hand Numbers the innumerable sand.
Lord, I lift to Thee In peace what is and what shall be:
Lord in peace I trust To Thee all spirits and all dust.
—Christina Rossetti, Poems (Alfred A. Knopf, 1993).
11Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
—1 Corinthians 6
The Past, Present, And Future Of A Christian Man.
These words describe a Christian’s past, his present, and his future. In the past he was all unrighteousness. In the present he is washed, sanctified, justified. In the future he possesses the kingdom.
I. His past. It is one of sin, utter sin. It may, or it may not be marked by those horrid sins which the ninth verse describes; but it is all unrighteousness; from beginning to end, unrighteousness. The past of these Corinthians had been fearful. In outward sin among the worst of heathendom; the chief of sinners; scarlet and crimson sins; overflowing with abominable crimes. We may not have reached the same pitch of daring wickedness; but we have been “unrighteous,” and that is enough; transgressors of the law. The rest is simply a question of degrees; a little more or a little less. One might say, I was not an idolater, or a fornicator, or a drunkard. Be it so. You were an “unrighteous” man, and that is enough. You may have done good deeds, spoken good words, borne a good character, lived a good life, yet you were an “unrighteous” man; and if you do not know this, you are no Christian, You know nothing of yourself.
II. His present. It is the complete reversal of the past. Not reformation merely, but transformation; such a transformation as God only could accomplish; so complete, that he who has undergone it could hardly know himself again. It is God’s work; it is through the name of Jesus; it is by the Spirit of God. And he who describes the change was one who knew it by experience; one who had been a blasphemer, a persecutor, a murderer, but who can now tell of his washing, his sanctifying, his justifying; and who can say, “our God.” The transformation is threefold:
(1.) Ye are washed. Or it may be, “Ye washed off these.” The figure here is not that of baptism, but of the ritual washings, the Levitical purgations, which David referred to when he said, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than the snow”; to which Ezekiel referred when he said, “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you”; to which Zechariah referred when he spoke of “the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness.” The man is turned from an unclean into a clean thing. His filthy garments are taken off. “Now ye are clean through the word that I have spoken unto you.” This is the “cleansing with the washing of water by the word” (Ephesians 5:26).
(2.) Ye are sanctified. This is more than the washing. It is something to which the washing is preliminary. It refers specially to consecration or setting apart for the service of God. As the vessels of the sanctuary were first washed, and then set apart with blood,—the blood of consecration,—so is it with us. We are first washed, and then the blood is sprinkled on us for consecration or sanctifying. With this setting apart for God begins the inward work of sanctification; for the two things are inseparable. Formerly we were vessels dedicated to the world’s service, or Satan’s service; now to the service of the living and holy Lord God.
(3.) Ye are justified. This is yet another step. It is the stamping of these consecrated vessels with a far higher value than they possessed. We are not only consecrated to God’s service, but made righteous with the righteousness of God,—justified, raised up to a higher level, because of our oneness with the righteous One. First of all, we are clean as He is clean; then, we are set apart as He is set apart; then, we are righteous as He is righteous. Cleansed, sanctified, justified, these are the three conditions or privileges into which a believing man is brought. All this in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. The name washes, sanctifies, justifies. It is a name of power, containing everything in it that a sinner needs. He who consents to use it gets all that it contains or can procure! The Spirit washes, sanctifies, justifies. He has His part to do in all these; and He does it as the Spirit of Omnipotence! Oh the transformation which that name and that Spirit can accomplish!
III. His future. It is the possession of a kingdom. The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God; but they who are washed, sanctified, and justified shall! They are kings and priests, and shall sit upon the throne of Christ, and inherit the kingdom that cannot be moved. It is
(1.) The kingdom of God. His in every sense and aspect; God’s kingdom; Christ’s kingdom; the kingdom of heaven.
(2.) An eternal kingdom. It cannot be moved, but shall stand for ever,—unchangeable, incorruptible.
(3.) A holy kingdom. Into it nothing that defileth shall enter. No sin, no imperfection, no death, no evil thing pertaining either to soul or body.
(4.) A glorious kingdom. There the glory dwells, illuminating it in all its circuit. No night there; no darkness; no shadow. All glorious; the King, his princes, his subjects, his palace, his dominions everywhere. Glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land!
Every year, Lake Superior State University publishes a “List of Banished Words.” These are words that literate, articulate folks are sick of hearing misused or overused by the rest of you troglodytes. I was pleased to see that “amazing” has finally made the list for 2012.
There is another word I’d like to see banished: “hater.” I hate it, misused as it is. Let me begin with the least important reason to do away with it: it is grammatically stupid. The word “hater” cannot stand by itself; it must be preceded by its object (dog hater, cat hater) or followed by a prepositional phrase, as we see it in Scripture: “haters of the Lord” (Psalm 81:15 KJV), “haters of God” (Romans 1:30 KJV/NASB/ESV), “haters of good” (2 Timothy 3:3 NASB). To simply call someone a hater is to accuse them of misomania (hatred of everything), or at least misanthropy (hatred of mankind), which would be an absurd interpretation of the current popular use of the word. The writers — if I may compliment them with such an unearned title — clearly mean hatred of something specific, yet they are too lazy or stupid to say what. Or maybe they are not too lazy or stupid, but, knowing what they mean, leave the specific charge unexpressed in hopes of avoiding a direct challenge to that specific charge. Either way, it’s contemptible.
Grammatical pedantry aside, there is a much more serious offense involved. There is a time to hate (Ecclesiastes 3:8), but that hatred for which there is a time is hatred of sin (e.g. Proverbs 3:15). But we know that’s not what’s in mind here. All other hatred is sin. John’s first epistle has something to say about this:
The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. —2:9–11
We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. —3:14–15
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. —4:20
The hater is one who:
is blind, walking in darkness, not knowing where he is going
is spiritually dead
is a murderer
does not have eternal life
cannot love God
In other words, the hater is not saved. He is a lost soul, outside of Christ, on the road to hell. That is what you are saying when you call “hater.”
Tell me, then: if you really believe those who irritate you so are unsaved, what is the correct response? Is it the defiant sarcasm of a snotty teenager, or would an evangelist’s compassion be more in order? But you don’t really care, do you? Because your charge of hating wasn’t spoken in love; it didn’t come out of a heart for truth. It was just an expression of annoyance to someone who challenged you, who had the gall to suggest that you were wrong, who made the audacious claim that there is right and wrong, and found you in the wrong. “Hater” is just your way of saying “you’re not the boss of me!” and “shut up and leave me alone!”
What I meant — and I think most readers got this — is that we don’t need any how-to books. There is an opinion floating around that Christians just don’t know enough about sex. After all, people are doing things now that were previously unheard of or unthinkable, and we need to keep up; we need to be educated. It’s reminiscent of the fears of the Detroit auto industry thirty years ago: the Japanese are doing it faster, cheaper, and better, and we’d better get with the program, or get left behind. Or, how embarrassing: not a single Christian even placed in the Kama Sutra Olympics. Can’t we at least get a bronze? Don’t laugh; if that sounds absurd, it’s only because it’s ridiculous.
Adam and Eve had no books, no illustrations, nothing.* Bear in mind that this was paradise. You can bet their intimacy was perfect and utterly satisfying.
There is a point to be taken, however. The world has changed, and depending on our degree of immersion in the world, our thinking about sex has been affected. The more we are immersed in a hyper-sexualized, pornified culture, the more distorted will be our thoughts and expectations. The cure for that, however, is not more sex talk, but less. Again, when I say less sex talk, I mean less how-to sex talk. We may well be in need of more theology of sex talk. We may need to think more about what it’s for and what it means.
Which means we’ll be thinking more about Jesus. I know, that sounds like the joke in which the kid thinks every answer in Sunday School is supposed to be “Jesus,” but it’s true. When we think about sex, we’re thinking about marriage. The Creator allows no category of sex outside that paradigm. Marriage is an allegory of Christ and the church, his bride (Ephesians 5:22–32), and the act of lovemaking is the quintessential expression of their union and the reciprocal love between them. And it all serves one purpose: to display the glory of God. But that would make a very long post all by itself.†
The bottom line is, if we get our theology right, love our spouses, and keep our focus on fulfilling God’s purpose for our marriages, the natural inclinations the Creator has placed within us will do their job — and “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.”
* I’m willing to acknowledge that God might have taken Adam aside and given him “the talk.”
† John Piper’s This Momentary Marriage is an excellent source. Also, and especially for those affected by pornography, see Sexual Detox by Tim Challies.
