Dr. Ben Merkle

Romans 5:1-11

Douglas Wilson on February 24, 2013

The Text

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Romans 5:1-11

Peace with God

When Jesus first appeared to the gathered disciples after his resurrection, he focused his message on this one word – peace (John 20:19, 21, and 26). Jesus had just brought about the reconciliation of God and sinners, and the result was peace. Jesus couldn’t get over it. We’re at peace now. We don’t understand the full significance of the word because we probably don’t fully appreciate the severity of the sentence that was against us. But Jesus knew what that sentence was. He knew the wrath that we were under. And he returned to his disciples, bursting with the news that he was at peace with us.

The glory of God was once death for us (Exodus 33:18-23, Ez. 1:27-28). When a sinful man stood before the glory of a perfect God, the result was an all-consuming terror. But now the apostle Paul says that we rejoice in it Rom. 5:2, that is we rejoice in what we were once terrified of, and we are now at peace with God’s holiness. This change in our relationship to God’s holiness, from terror and fear to peace and joy, is what it means to be justified.

And Not Only That

Paul is describing a surprise reversal. Now that we are standing in this grace – “We also glory in tribulations . . .” Tribulation really ought to lead us to despair. But Jesus saw it as an opportunity for God’s glory to be revealed. Outside of Christ, tribulation on earth is merely a foretaste of the eternal condemnation that is waiting for us. But when we are in the grace of God, these tribulations produce something altogether different in us.

Holy Spirit

This is why we are given the Holy Spirit now. The Holy Spirit is regularly described as a guarantee (Eph. 1:13- 14), a deposit, a promise. The reason that this deposit is so important is that it is going to look, at times, like you aren’t headed towards eternal life. When you suffer it is going to feel at times like you are headed towards death and destruction. But the Holy Spirit is poured into your heart as a confirmation that God is actually moving you towards eternal life. It is a supernatural peace and confidence in the face of suffering.

The world describes people who endure suffering as “fighters.” It is a hollow boast. Because we all know that any victory that they might experience is a temporary victory, a remission from suffering. But Paul promises us that in Christ “we are more than conquerors” (Rom. 8:37-39). Because through Christ we have conquered death itself, our hope will not be disappointed.

For When We Were Without Strength

Paul is about to explain the reason why we can have this confidence, this peace. The answer is – while you were still an absolute jerk, Jesus died for you. And if he was willing to die for you in that condition, then how much more is he going to give his life to you, now that you have been forgiven? We have peace in suffering because we have Jesus’ eternal life promised to us.

Run with Endurance

Douglas Wilson on July 29, 2012

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The Text

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:1-2)

Run the Race

The author of Hebrews here tells us that living the Christian life is like running a race. Scripture uses these kinds of athletic metaphors all the time to describe how we should compete with a single-minded focus on the prize.

1 Cor. 9:24-27, Gal. 5:7, 2 Tim. 4:7

The ultimate goal shapes our priorities, forces us to make sacrifices for that goal. In the end, single- mindedness will be rewarded.

Look to Christ

And Scripture says that this is the attitude that we are to have with our Christian life. We are to look towards Christ as our final destination. Everything else becomes secondary to that goal. And this single-mindedness for the faith will be rewarded with the ultimate reward. Christ is our example in this. This mental exercise of looking towards Christ and making everything second to him is what Scripture calls “faith” (Heb. 11:1). And the rest of Heb. 11 provides examples of men and women who did just that.

Run With Endurance

There are many ways that the Christian life can be compared to athletic competition. But the main point of comparison in this passage is the need for endurance. The main enemy for the athlete is not his opponent, but distraction from this single-mindedness.

What does weariness look like? Tired, no more energy to push on. It feels old. Distracted. You feel like you need a change of pace, something different. The Christian race slips to the back of your mind. It has become something that you still think is important, but it has become a very small part of your life – like oral hygiene.

We are tempted to think that this weariness, this distraction, is just the inevitable result of being in one place for a long time. It all gets old. But the author of Hebrews gives us an important insight into the real cause of these feelings. We must set aside the weights and sin, whose great strength is to ensnare.

Paul says to “take every thought captive” 2 Cor. 10:5. Too often we go the other way. We are held captive by our thoughts. We give our inner thoughts a pass, instead of confronting them. Is the floor of your mind a mess? What do you need to pick up and put away?

The Race Set Before You

You have a particular race set before you, where the temptations and challenges are custom suited to your particular needs. We are prone to think about getting past our current situation so that we can begin the real work of serving Christ. But you are already in the middle of your race.

The Confidence of Abraham

Douglas Wilson on June 3, 2012

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The Gospel and Abraham

We already considered last week how it was that the Abrahamic covenant, the promises that God made to Abraham in Gen. 12, 13, 15, 17, and 22, were all just an early version of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul quotes Gen. 15, the passage that we will focus on this morning, in Romans and in Galatians and treats Moses’ words as the Gospel. This morning we will focus just on Gen. 15 and see how it is that this passage can teach us more about our faith.

Confidence

In this passage God had already promised blessing to Abraham through a land given to his seed, but Abraham can’t figure out how that could happen, given that he has no children (15:2-3). God tells Abraham, “Trust me. It is going to happen” (15:4-5). And Abraham trusts him (15:6). But then Abraham asks for something else, he asks “How shall I know?” (15:8). He has already believed God. But he asks for a follow up. “Make me confident in this promise.” Given that the promise to Abraham was a promise of the Gospel, perhaps you can sense a parallel with your own faith. “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark. 9:24). It is sometimes easy to see something as true in the abstract, but difficult to have confidence that it is true for you.

The Weapon of Uncertainty

From a human perspective, religious confidence is a dangerous thing. In Islam, there can be no such thing as assurance of salvation, because it would make you recklessly sinful. And many people accuse Christians in general, and Reformed theology in particular, of this very thing. We are tempted to act this way as parents sometimes. But God wants us to be certain, to know, to have assured confidence.

God’s Oath

In this passage, God answers Abraham with a bizarre ceremony (15:7-11, 17). God is enacting a self- maledictory oath with Abraham. A malediction is a curse. And a self-maledictory oath is where you invite a curse upon yourself in order to make an oath sure. Walking between the animal halves signified that what had been done to the animals would be done to you if you broke the covenant. There are many examples of this sort of covenant in the ancient near east literature. And the prophet Jeremiah draws on this in Jer. 34:18- 20. Jesus is probably referring to a covenant like this when he describes the curse on disobedient Israel (Mat. 24:51). In fact, this ceremony is so integral to forming a covenant that the Hebrew verb used for making a covenant is actually the verb “to cut.”

But what is exceptional about the ceremony in our passage is that Abraham does not walk between the animal halves. Instead, a smoking oven and a burning torch pass through. This image of smoke and fire is a representation of the presence of God through the Holy Spirit. When God came to Israel on Mt. Sinai, his Spirit came in smoke and fire (Ex. 19:18). And when he led the Israelites through the desert, his Spirit did so with a cloud by day and fire by night (Ex. 13:22, 40:38). This is God’s Spirit, taking the oath, taking the curse upon himself. This is how God makes Abraham sure.

The Promise of the Spirit

In making this oath, God invited a curse upon his own Spirit if he failed to fulfil his promise to Abraham. And with that Abraham could be confident. But notice that this is how God regularly deploys his Spirit – to make us confident. Consider Eph. 1:13-14. What is the point of a down payment or a guarantee? What happens if the one giving the guarantee then backs out of the deal? The deposit is forfeited. This is what God has done with the Holy Spirit on our behalf. If God fails to save those onto whom he has poured out his Spirit, then the Trinity would be ripped asunder. Can that happen? No. Then God’s saints can’t be lost. “Now he who established us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee” (2 Cor. 1:21-22).

God has given his Spirit as a guarantee of his promise. He has done so corporately to Israel in the Abrahamic covenant and in the Exodus, and to the church at Pentecost, guaranteeing the fulfilment of his promises to Abraham, now being fulfilled in the Great Commission. And he has given his Spirit to each individual believer as a promise of his coming inheritance of eternal life (Rom. 8:9-11).

Confidence

If God just wanted us saved, he didn’t have to do this. And, calculating according to the flesh, he shouldn’t have done this. It was reckless. But the Spirit is a member of the Trinity. And the attributes of the Spirit, the personality of the Spirit, are a part of God’s character. God is a confident God, as his Spirit reveals. And as a confident God, he wants confident people. “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure” (2 Pet. 1:12).

God does not delight in seeing you squirm with doubts. But this is often what we think. Satan is the accuser. Satan is the one that wants to see God’s people wonder if his promises are really true, really certain.

But God wants his people confident.

Father Abraham

Douglas Wilson on May 27, 2012

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Introduction

God’s covenant with Abraham unfolds in the course of several episodes in the first half of Genesis. In Gen. 12:1-3, God first called Abram in Haran and announced his promise to him. Here he commanded Abram to move forward to a new land in faith, forsaking the life that he once knew, and as a result God would bless him so that he would become a great nation, a nation that would bless the entire world, a nation that would eventually topple all who stood against it. God repeated and expanded on this promise to Abram several times in the following chapters – Gen. 13:14-16, 15:5, 17:1-8 and 22:17-18. In Gen. 17, as God once more renewed this covenant with Abram, he gave two signs of this covenant to Abraham: he commands Abram to be circumcised (17:9-27) and he renames Abram, changing him from Abram to Abraham (17:5).

Abraham

Abram’s name originally meant – “Father is exalted.” Remember that he was born in Ur and, according to Josh 24:2, his father worshipped the pagan gods of Ur. Therefore, it is likely that this “exalted father” was not necessarily God the Father. But God changed Abram’s name, making him a new kind of father. He added the Hebrew word hamon to his name. Our English translation renders this as “many nations.” This is accurate as the translation of the passage into Greek in Rom. 4:17 shows us. However, it is a very mild translation of a very vivid image. Hamon specifically refers to a noise.

The Promise

This image is consistent with the promises of God to Abraham that pile up throughout Genesis. Consider a brief overview of the covenant with Abraham.

First we see the continued promise that this was something that would be realized through Abraham’s children. This was surprising to Abraham because when the promise first came (Gen. 12 and Gen 15), Abraham had no children because his wife was barren. But the promise was that Sarah would give him a son. Even when Abraham’s name was changed (Gen. 17), he still had not had a son by Sarah and was hoping that the promise could be realized through Ishmael. But God promised that this great blessing would come through Abraham’s children.

Second, we see that this was a promise of blessing. God promised Abraham “I will bless you” (Gen. 12:2) “blessing I will bless you” (Gen. 22:17). But the way that God would bless Abraham was by turning Abraham into a blessing for the world.
“I will bless those that bless you, and I will curse him who curses you” (Gen. 12:3). God sends his covenanted people into the world and those that receive them with blessing receive also the blessing of God’s covenant, with the result that “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3, cf. 22:18).

Third, we see that the promise went from a single seed to innumerable descendents, from a single nation, to all nations, from a single land, to all of the world. “I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you” (Gen. 17:6)
“In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3).

“In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 22:18).

And they would be an innumerable host. “And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then you descendants also could be numbered” (Gen. 13:16). ‘Then he brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward the heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And he said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be’” (Gen. 15:5). “I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore” (Gen. 22:17).

The New Testament

But the authors of the New Testament reveal to us that there is even more to this promise. First, the Apostle Paul tells us in Gal. 3:8-9 that this covenant with Abraham was actually the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When Abraham got up and left his family, left his people, left his country and went where God told him to go, that was him hearing the Gospel. And when you receive the Gospel, you receive the same blessing, which he received, and you become that same blessing to the world.

Second, Paul argues here that not only was Abraham receiving the same Gospel which we receive, he also says that Abraham received that Gospel the same way that we receive it – through faith. In Gal. 3:6 and in Rom. 4:3, he points out that Abraham received this promise, not by works of the law, but by believing in it just like us. “So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham” (Gal. 3:9).

Third, Paul argues in Rom. 4 that not only did Abraham receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but we have also received the promises that were given to Abraham (Rom. 4:16). Who is the seed of Abraham? Those who have his faith. And those who have an Abrahamic faith, have the Abrahamic promises.

Abrahamic Faith

This means that back when we were trying to understand what it meant for Abraham to be promised that his descendents would be hamon nations and we were imagining the army getting suited up for battle, we were picturing ourselves. We are the blessing to the world, because we carry the Gospel to the world. “Go, make disciples of all the nations” (Mat. 28:19).

This means that we are an advancing force. Abraham was promised, “your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies” (Gen. 22:17). That only happens when you are marching on your enemies’ strongholds. When Rebekah left to marry Isaac, here brothers prophesied of the blessing that she was stepping into “Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands; and may your descendants possess the gates of those who hate them” (Gen. 24:60). And Jesus, knowing that his church was the seed that inherited this promise said of the church “the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Mat. 16:18).

So in the week to come think about where God has put you on offense. Where can you advance this week? You are called to be a blessing to the world. Where do you have opportunities to be that blessing? Where is the world encountering you and having to make up its mind as whether it will respond to you with blessing or cursing?

Good News for the Fatherless (Father Hunger 5)

Douglas Wilson on April 15, 2012

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The Text

“I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.¹⁵For though ye have ten thousand instructers in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.¹⁶Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.¹⁷For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.” (1 Cor. 4:14-17)

Midlife Crisising Around the Drum Circle

We want to be careful about not focusing on fatherhood in such a way that we turn this into a gimmicky sort of thing. God gave us masculinity in order to teach us a deeper truth about what he is like. But if you take just physical machismo in the raw and act like this kind of manliness is some great virtue all on its own, then you will find yourself not getting the point. Guys like this are always hollow, they have a form of masculinity, but they miss the heart of the matter. And movements that want to reclaim masculinity or the office of father get distracted by the trappings and the gimmicks and miss the real thing. Masculine renewal movements regularly veer off into farcical displays of machismo, calling it masculinity. What starts as a good idea, addressing a real need, ends up as a bunch of men midlife-crisising in a drum circle around a fire in the woods. We should beware of teaching that merely exalts the trappings of masculinity or an understanding of fatherhood that is not deeply rooted in a biblical understanding of fatherhood.

Fathers Not Instructors

Paul makes an important distinction in this passage, which helps to see the difference between the trappings of masculinity and the heart of the matter. Instructors are a dime a dozen. Everyone has a new method or system, especially when it comes to parenting. But because this kind of thing is most on display, we often mistakenly put the highest priority on this. The teachers at Logos can do this for you. They are good at logistics. But they are instructors, not fathers, to your children. But Paul says that you need a father.

Good News for the Fatherless

Paul begins his comments here with the observation that the Corinthian Christians do not have very many fathers. His words apply to us as well. We have not had many fathers. But Paul’s exhortation is good news for the fatherless, because no matter what your situation, no matter what your story is, you have a perfect father, since you have a Heavenly Father that has begotten you. His begetting is his act of adoption (Rom. 8:15, Eph. 1:5).

A Progressive Work

But just because we have been adopted, does not mean that we have been perfected and the story is over. As any family that has adopted knows, this is just the beginning of a long and bumpy road. Particularly, if your story includes growing up with a father who failed in significant ways, a father who didn’t know the Lord at all, who gave you no example of what a Christian man looked like. Minimizing the impact of fatherlessness in your own life will only impede your own ability to deal with the damage.

On the other hand those who have had the blessing of being raised in a very godly family have another danger to look out for. A solid family, particularly a solid family in a world of messed up families, will raise children with deep loyalty to their parents and the family culture that they came from. But no family is perfect. We all miss it as some point. A man who had a terrible childhood is under no delusion about the need to correct where his parents went wrong. But a man who had a fantastic childhood has a much harder time bringing himself to correct where his parents missed something.

Imitating God the Father

We must constantly look to God the Father to get a clear picture in our mind of what a real father is like.

He pursues: One of the hardest things about coming to the understanding of the doctrines of grace that were articulated during the Reformation is the realization that when you were saved you brought nothing to the deal. But that same humbling truth, once it is swallowed, becomes one of the sweetest and most comforting truths. God chose you, pursued you, hunted you down, and saved you, while you were still lost. He loved you when you were an enemy. This demeanor is essential to godly parenting. Your children are yours to pursue, regardless of how you feel about your task at any given moment.
He is constant: God is not a father who turns over an ew leaf once in while and get engaged. He is a constant father. Your children will know you from what you are the nine days of out ten,, not the one out of ten.
He regenerates: Lastly, the Heavenly Father begets. He makes spiritual children. Earthly fathers are called to imitate him in this. Talk about the gospel with your children. Pray with them. Walk them through the confession of sin. God is sovereign over all the physical realm as much as much as the spiritual realm. But why is it we are temped to hyper-calvinism with the spiritual and not with the physical? If they don’t clean their rooms there is hell to pay. But if they don’t deal with their sin, we say, well it is up to God to bring that change about. Be a father.

To the Third and the Fourth vs. to the Thousandth

Take comfort in the fact that, in the end, even in this fallen world, God has established things such that father blessing will outstrip father cursing.