Douglas Wilson Archives - Page 55 of 179

Sin & Dust (Easter A.D. 2020)

Christ Church on April 12, 2020

Introduction

In the Garden of Eden, when God shaped the first man from the dust of the ground (Gen. 2:7), the Almighty was simply playing the part of a sculptor. He shaped Adam from the dust of the ground, but until the second half of the verse, this Adam was simply dust rearranged. After the semblance of a man had been fashioned out of dust, God breathed into his nostrils the “breath of life,” and it was then that man became a living soul. The dust was still there, but something else was not present. The image of God was now present.

But that image was soon to be marred. Despite the warning of God that if he ate the forbidden fruit he would “surely die,” our first father disobeyed, and in the curse was dragged back down to the dust of the ground. “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Gen. 3:19).

The Text

“For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:16–17).

Summary of the Text

God brought Adam out of a state of “death” when He first created him. Adam was not, and then he was. He walked with God in the Garden, and was free to eat from all the trees but one, and so had free access to the tree of life. He and his bride were really and truly alive. When they sinned, they plunged themselves and all their posterity into the dust of death. In our text this death is equated with being in our sins. That is what spiritual death is—separation from fellowship with the holy God. And that is what sin is—separation from fellowship with the holy God.

Notice Paul’s logic. If the dead are not raised, then Christ was not raised. And if Christ was not raised, your faith is vain, and you are still in your sins. Now if you put all this together, you should see that when Christ was raised from the dead, and we were raised from the dead with and in Him, we were also at that moment raised from our sins. Our sins are our death; our death was our sinfulness.

The Death That Is Sin

This is how Paul describes our previous condition in Ephesians:

“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others” (Eph. 2:1–3, NKJV).

Notice here that death does not mean being “stone cold out of it” because when we were in this condition of death, we were walking around in the course of this world. When we were dead, we were living in a certain way. That way, that path, was the way of death, which meant that we were walking in a condition that was separation from God. So death is not simple cessation; death is separation. Physical death is the separation of soul and body. Spiritual death is the separation of man and God. When we die to the ways of the world, we separate from her unholy ways. “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you” (2 Cor. 6:17).

So that is what death is. Death is distance, death is separation.

We used to live in a separated way from God, aliens to Him, enemies to Him. Christ came down to us in that condition, and in His passion and death, He experienced that death. “My strength is dried up like a potsherd; And my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; And thou hast brought me into the dust of death” (Ps. 22:15).

So Flip This Around, the Way Easter Did

Look again to the words of our text, and work the logic the other direction.

“For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:16–17).

If the dead are raised, then it is not remarkable that Christ was the first to be raised. And if Christ was raised, then your faith in Him is not in vain, and more than this, you are no longer in your sins.

Ushered Out

Apart from Christ, what is the condition of man? Apart from Christ, where are we? Separated from God, what good is anything? We are the ones who reached for the forbidden fruit in our vain question to “be as God,” and what did we actually accomplish?

Now we live in the dry and choking places. Dust over everything. Broken bottles. The air is sour. The smoke of selfishness has left an acrid taste on your tongue. The walls lean in. There is scarcely any light. Ghostly shadows flicker faintly on the curtains, but they don’t mean anything. Nothing moves. The only sound we can ever hear is our own muttering, the bootless sound of endless complaint.

And in the middle of all of this dusty death, Christ suddenly appears. He speaks to the wall opposite you, and it vanishes. It had seemed immoveable and untouchable, and yet it just vanished. Christ turns to you, and speaks one simple word, and that word is come.

This is the day of resurrection. So what will you do?

This is Easter Sunday. Will you follow Him?

Today is the day of all reckoning. Christ embraced death. Christ descended to the grave. Christ has risen triumphant. That is the good word. That is the gospel. What do you intend to do?

The Deep Well of National Repentance

Christ Church on April 8, 2020

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The Text

I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee (1 Chronicles 29:17).

On Trampling the Courts of God

Christ Church on March 29, 2020

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Introduction

In a recent press conference, the president said that his desire was to have our country emerge from this crisis in a matter of weeks, not months, and that it was his desire for the churches of our country to be packed out on Easter.

This is a laudable desire on at least two levels, and we should support and applaud it, as I do. But there is something more that still needs to be said about it. Packed churches are better than empty churches, but in themselves are not nearly enough.

The Text

“‘The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master’s crib; But Israel does not know, My people do not consider.’ Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward” (Isaiah 1:3–4, NKJV ).

“Hear the word of the Lord, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the law of our God, You people of Gomorrah: ‘To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?’ says the Lord. ‘I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand, to trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them” (Isaiah 1:10–14, NKJV ).

Summary of the Text

As Isaiah opens his magisterial book, he immediately confronts the great sinfulness of Israel. But even though they have been greatly compromised, it is a corrupt nation that has kept up the formalities. They have kept up appearances. So Isaiah begins by pulling back the curtain, stating clearly that they have badly strayed. They are a sinful nation. They are laden with iniquity. They are a brood of evil-doers, corrupters. They have forsaken the Lord, and made the Holy One of Israel angry. They have turned away backward (vv. 3-4).

So hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom on the Potomac (v. 10). Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah on the Hudson (v. 10). What is it to me if the churches are packed out on Easter (v. 11)? Who asked all you people to come in here to trample my courts (v. 12)? Your prayers, your offerings, your songs, your stupid songs are an abomination to me (v. 13). And why? Because God is holy and cannot endure iniquity combined with sacred assembly (v. 13). Our packed churches are a trouble to Him (v. 14), like so much smoke in the eyes.

Amos speaks in much the same way. Away with the noise of your songs (Amos 5:21–23, NKJV ). Get them out of my hearing.

The Mystery of Lawlessness

There is such a thing as being hellbent. And when people are hellbent on their sin, God could write His judgments in the sky in big block letters, and they would stare stubbornly down at the ground rather than read such pure words. “And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tonguesfor pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds” (Rev. 16:10–11 ).

But how does this apply to our text, and to our situation? The 2 trillion stimulus relief bill—quite aside from whether that was a good idea—was held up in part because the secularists wanted it to include relief for Planned Parenthood. And California, which has all non-essential services in lock down, has seen fit to allow pot shops and abortion clinics to remain open as “essential.” You must stay at home unless your job is that essential one of dismembering babies. It is hard to comprehend what is more ghoulish—the fact that they do things like this, or the fact that they think it is not ghoulish.

You may believe that the danger we are confronting is that of the coronavirus. You may believe that the great danger we are confronting is the panicked official over-reaction to the virus. Or you may believe, as I do, that it is a combination of the two, with heavy emphasis on the latter. But if you are a Christian, whatever you believe the threat to be, you must also believe that it is a threat that was delivered to us by the hand of God. “If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it?” (Amos 3:6, NKJV ).

Now, let us suppose that God lifts His hand from us in His great mercy, and by mid-May things have returned to normal. In mid-May we will be just days away from June, designated as Pride Month, a time of LGBTQ celebrations. Wouldn’t it be better to call it Dog Returning His Vomit Month?

Really? Seriously? Do such rebels really think that a respite would not be the mercy of God? They would much rather think of a much simpler explanation—like God running out of ammunition perhaps? This is like Pharaoh thinking, when the plague of frogs was removed, that Jehovah had somehow run out of frogs. “But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.” (Ex. 8:15 ). And though God did not repeat the frogs, it was not because He was out of them. It was because He intended to use the rest of His arsenal.

This is a Godquake

As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, keep your eyes on what He is doing, not on what our grand poohbahs think they are doing. And above all, do not look at what your own fearful heart is doing.

“And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:27–29

Asking God to Do What It Takes

Moral stubbornness is a great mystery. When the United States obliterated Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 with an atomic bomb, it is not often remarked that this one devasting bomb was not sufficient to get the Japanese to surrender. That had to wait for the obliteration of another city, Nagasaki, three days later. Taking this simply as an illustration, what should your prayer in this extraordinary time be? Your prayer should be that God would do what it takes to get us to surrender to Him. We don’t want God to just bomb just one city and then leave us to our corruptions.

“If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.” Ex. 15:26 (KJV)

Earlier in this chapter from Exodus, the people of Israel had just been celebrating their deliverance from Egypt in the great Red Sea miracle. Three days later they came to the waters of Marah, which were bitter and undrinkable. Moses made the waters sweet by throwing a particular tree into the water, and then he made a statute or ordinance for them, whereby (it says) he tested them. And then he gave them the words of our text, which begin with a series of conditionals. If they diligently hearkened to the voice of God, if they did what was right in His sight, if they paid close attention to His commandments, and obeyed His statutes, then what? Then the diseases of Egypt, which were commonplace enough there to be called by that name, would not be visited upon Israel. We see here that God’s governance of the world is personal. These things are entirely in His hand. The world is not governed by deaf, dumb and blind microbes (Ex. 15:26 ). Our problem in all this is that we have offended God.

“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty . . . There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.” Ps. 91: 1, 10 (KJV)

And in this text from Psalm 91, we see that the Almighty casts a shadow, and in that shadow is a secret place, a hiding place. The person who resorts there is one who must dwell there, he must abide there. And the shadow that is cast there is cast by the great Rock, who is Christ. In that resting place, the plague of self-sufficiency and pride will not come near you. Christ drives all of that away.

The Sum of the Matter

So if this Easter simply sees our churches packed with Americans, that by itself would be the greatest disaster out of this long series of disasters. But we should long to see the churches packed out with repentant Americans. When we look at the corruption centers called our state capitals, not to mention our national capital, the problem is not that these people represent us. Our problem, to be pondered deeply, is that they represent us well.

And so if the Lord lifts His hand from us, then our behavior after that point, unlike Pharaoh, must be different. But it will only be different if we have seen Christ in the interim.

Cheerful Hearts and Good Words

Christ Church on March 15, 2020

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Introduction

We need to begin with the obvious, which is that Scripture teaches that our words affect how we are doing, not to mention those all around us. But this “obvious” truth can, if unattended, deteriorate into the vagaries of generic uplift. When we speak the good word, it must be a word that is truly wise and good.

The Texts

“A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken” (Prov. 15:13).

“Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad” (Prov. 12:25).

Summary of the Texts

We begin by juxtaposing two proverbs, asking each of them to illumine the other one. The first tells us that there is a link between the condition of the heart and the condition of the countenance. A merry heart results in a cheerful countenance, just as a man speaks out of the abundance of his heart (Matt. 12:34). The heart is a thermostat, setting the temperature of the rest of your activities. If the heart is sorrowful, the spirit is broken, and if the heart is merry, then the countenance shows it.

So, then, how do we adjust the thermostat? When a man’s heart is heavy, then his heart stoops. He becomes discouraged. He cannot carry the weight that providence is asking him to carry. When someone wants to help, what they need to do is come in order to speak a good word. A good word makes his heart glad.

Timing is Everything

But this is a good word, not just any word, and not any old word that somebody thinks is good. “He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him” (Prov. 27:14).

Suppose your roommate, or your spouse, or somebody in your house, comes staggering out to breakfast, and pours himself a bowl of Grumpy Nuggets, with no sugar. Is that the time to wave your spoon in the air in time with the old gospel song you start to sing in a raucous manner? “Cheer up, ye saints of God, there’s nothing to worry about/Nothing to make you feel afraid, nothing to make you doubt./Remember Jesus loves you so why not stand up and shout?/You’ll be sorry you worried at all tomorrow morning.”

And the word of Scripture is fulfilled; you are reckoned as one who curses.

The words you speak should be true, of course, but they need to be more than true. They must also be relevant, and in addition to being relevant, they must also be timely. As it has been well said, the only difference between salad and garbage is timing.

“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear” (Prov. 25:11-12). So don’t be like Mary Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, saying true things all day long, in wildly inappropriate ways.

And your words should also be kind. The lock on the door of your mouth should have three keys—is it true? is it kind? is it necessary?

Creaturely Imitation

There is more involved in this than just heeding an exhortation to “be nice,” or to “say nice things.” If we need to do this kind of thing in wisdom, and we do, we need to do it in imitation. What we do, we are to do as children, as imitators or followers of God (Eph. 5:1). We worship God through the Word, and so it is not surprising that we are logocentric, that we are people of words. We serve and worship the God who is love, and so we are to walk in love (Eph. 4:15). And, in the same way, we worship the God who spoke the perfect word, the fitting word, into our hearts, and so we are to do the same to others, by imitation and by analogy. Our words are to be gospel, and our words are to be gospel-like.

Counterintuitive Words

We want to take it apart in order to find out how it works. But we need to begin with the reality that it works. The Bible calls the preaching of the cross “folly” to the worldly-wise. Why should we be surprised when they come up to us and say that what we are doing doesn’t seem relevant to them. Of course it doesn’t. That is a design feature. God defines what a word fitly spoken looks like. God defines what a perfect setting of silver should be.

God defines truth. God defines necessity. God defines kindness.

Need and Grace

We learn how to speak to others, speaking the good word, by observing closely how God speaks to us. And when the gospel comes to us, what is it? We have human need on the one hand and divine grace on the other.

The good word spoken is therefore the intersection between need and grace. The good word that preaching brings is this—it is the declaration of the grace of God, addressed to human need, and the declaration is backed up with the authority of God’s throne.

So when you come to encourage someone, what is it that you are imitating? It is not a hollow appeal that glibly says, “don’t worry, be happy.”

The Declaration of Christ

Christ, then, is to be preached. By that we mean Christ incarnate, Christ crucified, Christ buried, Christ risen, and Christ ascended. When He is declared in this way, the pattern of death, resurrection, and ascension is not put out there to complete an argument in your intellect, although it may do that. Neither is Christ over all to be preached in such a way as to soothe or excite your emotions, although it may do that as well. We are to love God with all our minds, and we cannot do that without the preaching of Christ crucified. We are to love God with all our hearts, and we cannot do that without the preaching of Christ risen and ascended. But something more is necessary.

No, the faithful declaration of this gospel is always aimed at the citadel of the human will. You are not here as spectators, or observers, but rather as worshipers, and this means that you are on the mountain of decision. And when you go down again, into your day-to-day activities, you will be in the valley of decision.

Here you are, and here is the Word declared. What are you going to do?

Psalm 119: A Hymn to the Word

Christ Church on March 8, 2020

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Introduction

And here we come to a great hymn of gratitude and praise, offered up to God for His glorious law. We have here the definitive answer for those who accuse us of “bibliolatry” simply because we treat the words of God like the treasure they are. It is of course true that there is an absurd sin of actual bibliolatry out there in the religious world, the kind of sin that misses the whole point (John 5:39). But how could it be bibliolatry if we resolutely refuse to miss the point?

The Text

“Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord . . .” (Psalm 119:1-176).

Summary of the Text

This psalm, taken as a whole, is a work of towering literary craftsmanship. It has twenty-two sections, each one presided over by each successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. For example, the first section is ruled by aleph, and that letter is repeated eight times throughout that section at the beginning of each discrete thought. The next section belongs to beth, and it is repeated eight times, and so on.

It is also a song of deep devotion, again showing that true dedication to God and craftsmanship in literary art are not in any way at odds.

A facile but wrong-headed summary might want to say that a psalm of 176 verses that is dedicated to praising the law of God might have to get a tad repetitive—as though the psalmist could only say nothing more than yay law a couple hundred times. But this is not what we find at all. There are many shades of meaning here, and many lessons for us to learn.

In the Word

We shall shortly see that the Word of God is an amazing tool chest. It is large, and contains hundreds of tools. Christians who do not read their Bibles are like those who are given a tool chest that they store in the garage or attic, never acquainted themselves with what they have, with what they have been given. Not only so, but every day they have numerous tasks for which they need one of those tools, but which they do not know they have. The same thing goes for elders and ministers. The Word of God is given, in part, so that the man of God might be “thoroughly furnished” for all “good works” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

So how might this psalm be a blessing for you? There are many ways, although we just have time to discuss a handful of them.

Prevention of Sin

We begin with the simple truth that Bible memory will help you in the hour of temptation. What did Jesus do when tempted? He quoted Scripture. “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, That I might not sin against thee” (Ps. 119:11).

We are shown that our choice is binary—either/or. Either the Word or covetousness. Either the Word or vanity. “Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; And quicken thou me in thy way” (Ps. 119:36–37). It is one way or the other.

And when we are in the Word, we learn more than just a tsking disapproval. “Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law” (Ps. 119:53)

Instruction

The more we learn, the more we are able to learn. We are enabled to see wonderful things. “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law” (Ps. 119:18). When we eat, we grow bigger, beginning with the heart. “I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart” (Ps. 119:32).

When we are taught this way, we are given a great advantage over our enemies, and we even find ourselves ahead of our teachers. “Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: For they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers: For thy testimonies are my meditation” (Ps. 119:98–99).

Encouragement

Who does not have moments of discouragement? The Word is there. “My soul melteth for heaviness: Strengthen thou me according unto thy word” (Ps. 119:28).

The fact that we need to be driven to the Word is one of the reasons why afflictions arise. “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; That I might learn thy statutes” (Ps. 119:71). Some saints, like some oven dishes, can only be adequately prepared at high temperatures.

Guidance

Suppose you don’t know which way to go, or what to do. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Ps. 119:105). And when we wander away from the path—the one illumined by this light—the reason we did so was because of pride. “Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments” (Ps. 119:21).

Protection

While affliction drives us to the Word, that Word is not a paper fortress. God drives us there because He wants us to see what He can do. “Consider mine affliction, and deliver me: For I do not forget thy law” (Ps. 119:153).

As we have noted before, the psalmist had enemies. He also had the Lord and His Word, which were his strong tower. “The proud have forged a lie against me: But I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart. Their heart is as fat as grease; But I delight in thy law” (Ps. 119:69–70).

Praise

And all of this comes back around to the God who spoke the Word. The perfect God spoke the perfect Word. The living God spoke the living Word. The constant God spoke the constant Word. “For ever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth” (Ps. 119:89–90).

Our knowledge of God is mediated to us. No creature can apprehend God directly—He dwells in unapproachable light. And so He mediates His glory to us in various ways. He does so through the glory of creation. His glory fills the earth. He does so through His incarnate Son, who lived, died, and rose among us, and ascended to the right hand of the Father. He does so through the glory of the gospel. And He mediates His glory to us through the vehicle of His perfect Word, all of which causes us to praise and glorify His name.

“Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments” (Ps. 119:164).