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Reformational Family (What is “Reformed” Anyway? #5) (King’s Cross)

Grace Sensing on March 3, 2024

INTRODUCTION

We live in a world that says you can be anything you want, anything at all – the more bizarre and perverse the better, just don’t be an ordinary, faithful man who marries an ordinary faithful woman, and have a pile of happy, ordinary kids and love and serve the Lord together. Anything but that. And the mischievous Tom Sawyer inside you should grin and say, “Well, now I’m going to normal even harder.”

A significant part of the Protestant Reformation was a recovering of the Bible’s teaching concerning the goodness and power of marriage, children, and family. Celibacy had come to be seen as the “higher calling,” and the duties and responsibilities of family as therefore lower and menial. The devil has always sought to lure people away from the glory of marriage and family precisely because when God’s blessing is upon it, it is such potent goodness. 

The Text: “And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him…” (Gen. 2:18-25)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

In a striking contrast to all the “good” that God has made/seen before, God says it is “not good” for man to be alone (Gen. 2:18). This is not merely a statement about bachelors, it is also a statement about the goodness of family and community. The process of naming the animals was educational: Adam was naming their attributes and learning about how God made the world, concluding in part that other creatures had mates, which he lacked (Gen. 2:19-20). So God put Adam in a coma, removed a rib, and constructed the woman from the rib and brought her to Adam (Gen. 2:21-22). Using a Hebrew superlative, Adam spoke the first recorded poem, calling her the best version of his flesh and bones (Gen. 2:23). He also names the woman “eeshah” which is related to the word for “fire,” suggesting glory, and he simultaneously renames himself “eesh,” a glorified-man. For this reason, a man leaves his father and mother and becomes one flesh with his wife, and this union has no shame (Gen. 2:24-25). 

NUCLEAR MARRIAGE

It is perilously easy to take some ordinary things for granted. But one of the ways God tries to get our attention is through death penalties. Modern Christians are sometimes tempted to be embarrassed of the death penalties in Scripture for rebellious sons, adultery, or homosexuality, but even Jesus cited the death penalty for a certain high-handed dishonor of parents (Mk. 7). If you met the CEO of a nuclear power plant, and he told you they just “wing it,” you would be understandably concerned. If your neighbors announced one day that they bought some uranium and plutonium off the internet and they were going to be doing some experiments in their basement, you would be very concerned. And it should not give you any pause, when they ask why you care so much about what consenting adults do in the privacy of their own home. 

We are living in the nuclear fallout of the sexual revolution. Skyrocketing crime, mass incarceration, substance abuse, suicide, sexual abuse, and 65 million dead babies and counting is our Chernobyl. It is not whether there will be death penalties. The only question is who will be executed. We have not actually repudiated capital punishment; we have simply reassigned it to the most innocent. While the death penalty is only mandatory for murder, other crimes do approach that harm to the image of God and therefore allow for death as a possible maximum sentence. And many of those crimes center on the destruction of marriage and family because that is where people are being made: immortal souls, images of God, that will live forever. 

REFORMED MARRIAGE

A reformed view of marriage understands the gift of marriage to be a great “good,” not an accommodation to human sin or weakness (Gen. 1-2). Sin certainly adds many difficulties, but marriage, sexual intimacy, and the fruitfulness of children were gifts given before the Fall. A reformed view of marriage also affirms the creational good of the original structure of marriage: the woman was made from the man and for the man, and she is therefore, the glory of man (1 Cor. 11:1-12). Closely related is the sacrificial leadership of the husband and the respectful submission of the wife to her own husband (cf. Eph. 5:22-25). All of this is bound by a covenant, enacted by public vows and sealed with sexual union, recognized by God and blessed by Him (Gen. 1:28, Mal. 2:14). This is why a man must love his wife as his own body. God really does make the two into one covenant body, and therefore what a husband/father does impacts everything. The covenant is a multiplier for good or evil. While each member certainly is responsible before God individually, the head is also responsible for the whole body. 

APPLICATIONS

One of the “doctrines of devils” is “forbidding to marry” (1 Tim. 4:3). And sometimes this happens through a kind of hardening that simply rejects the natural use of men/women (Rom. 1:26-27). Therefore, beware of celibacy movements. Nevertheless, encourage singles in chastity and faithfulness even as they bear this hardship. Related, generally aim for earlier marriage, but don’t overshoot. Just because early 20s is good, doesn’t mean that 17 is better. It is not buying into worldly feminism to want your sons and daughters actually prepared for marriage. 

To the married: do not deprive one another sexually (1 Cor. 7:3). There are relatively few warnings about Satan’s attacks, but regular intimacy is one way to guard against them (1 Cor. 7:5). The marriage bed is honorable and undefiled (Heb. 13:4). The Song of Songs is in the Bible.

Children are reinforcements (Ps. 127). Welcome and celebrate children. But a man with five kids and a wife who has had three miscarriages in a row is not necessarily becoming worldly to decide (humanly speaking) to be done having kids. But this is a private decision. So mind your own business, and husbands love your wives as you consider your resources (Lk. 14:31).

Every covenant brings with it blessings and curses. The central thing that God blesses is faith, but this faith is alive and it obeys. And therefore the instructions to family members are not arbitrary. Husbands love and lead like Christ. Wives respect and obey in the Lord. Parents teach and discipline. Children obey. The stakes are very high, but the blessings are very rich. 

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Psalm 148: Praise That Plunges

Grace Sensing on February 25, 2024

INTRODUCTION

This is a psalm of praise in action. It begins in the highest heaven, and descends to the deeps, and invites everyone and everything in between to join in with this chorus of praise. Moreover, this wonderful psalm concludes with a promise that is attached to all heartfelt praise. God is exalted in a particular kind of praise, and He makes sure to exalt that kind of praise in turn. There is a reciprocity in praise that will usher in tremendous blessings when we come to understand it.

THE TEXT

“Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the LORD from the heavens: praise him in the heights. Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts. Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created. He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass. Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps: Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word: Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars: Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl: Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth: Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children: Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven. He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the LORD” (Ps. 148:1-14).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

We have here another hallelujah psalm. It begins with yet another hallelujah. Praise ye the LORD (v 1). But this is praise that begins on the high dive—in the heavens, praise Him from the heights (v. 1). The residents of this high heaven are summoned to praise Him—the angels and heavenly host (v. 2). Moving through the high places, the sun, moon and stars are called into the rising praise (v. 3). The heaven of heavens, and the waters that are above the heavens are told to join in (v. 4). Let everything that is high praise the name of their Creator (v. 5). He is the one who established them for good and all (v. 6).

But then the psalmist takes a leap, and all that praise plunges to earth—praise the Lord, you dragons and deeps (v. 7). What down here shall praise the Lord? Well, fire does, and hail, and snow, and vapor. Then there are the stormy winds that do His pleasure (v. 8). Remember the astonishment of the disciples—even the winds and waves obey Him (Matt. 8:27). The choir includes both mountains and hills, fruit trees and cedar trees (v. 9). We then move out to the animal kingdom—beasts, cattle, and birds (v. 10). And don’t forget the creeping things (v. 10). One of the things we know about our Creator is that He has, as the fellow said, “an inordinate fondness for beetles.” There are over 400,000 species of beetle.

We come finally to the human part of the choir. At the risk of sounding like a Christian nationalist, kings and princes are told to praise Jehovah (v. 11). As Calvin noted, they might be among those who are the most reluctant to do so, and so they are singled out. But all the people, and all judges, receive the same summons (v. 11). Executive, legislative, and judiciary—praise ye the Lord. The psalmist leaves no one out—young men, old men, maidens, and children (v. 12). All are to praise Him, and the reason is then given to us—His name is excellent, and His glory transcendent (v. 13). And then comes the great promise. When we exalt Him, He exalts us (v. 14). He exalts the kind of praise that exalts Him. This is actually the meaning of revival—when the Spirit of God anoints and adorns the worship of God. So praise ye the Lord.

NOT DEAD MATTER

The cosmos is not simply an inert collection of atoms. It is not a mass of dead matter. The cosmos is teeming with life—angels, the heavenly host, principalities and powers, thrones, and dominions. And there are some things that are commonly assumed by modern materialists to be simply inanimate objects, but Scripture tells us otherwise. “Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is, but only what a star is made of.” The heavenly host—exhorted here to sing louder—is the very same heavenly host that came down and announced to the astonished shepherds that they needed to go into town to see something (Luke 2:13). And then there are things in this stretch of the Psalms that really are inanimate—cymbals, say. Nevertheless, everything that makes noise need to be employed in this triumph of praise.

So there is far more here than human beings looking at the stars and praising God for them. Rather, this would be the stars themselves doing the praising. A cascading waterfall praises God. Thunder in the mountains, and echoing valleys, praise the Lord. Cows grazing in the meadow, apparently not doing much, are praising God. All the insect life on the floor of that meadow—that too is a constant stream of praise.  

RECIPROCITY AND REVIVAL

We live in an astonishing world. When God gives the gift of a quickening revival, we get a glimpse of that astonishing world—both material and spiritual, both creational and redemptive, and we begin to praise. The praise catches fire—and the Holy Spirit is that fire—and the praise ascends to Heaven, tracing its way back up by the path that this psalm came down. The psalm is given by God from the heights, and it lands in the deeps. We pick it up, and offer it back to God. And what does He do?

He exalts our horn. A praising people is exalted by God, and one of the things He exalts is the nature of that praise itself. God Himself inhabits the praises of His people (Ps. 22:3), which is what makes it glorious. This is why we can go out to battle with the choir in the vanguard. This is the beauty of holiness, which does not mean the cuteness of holiness. It is truly dreadful, and awesome, and terrible, and worthy of all praise (2 Chron. 20:21). The God who created the choir of all creation is the same God who anoints that same choir. And when He does this, there is no standing against Him.

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Samson (Judges #13) (CCD)

Grace Sensing on February 25, 2024

THE TEXT:

Judges 13

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Sickness in the Head (Survey of Isaiah #17) (Troy)

Grace Sensing on February 25, 2024

THE TEXT

Isaiah 9:8-21

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Psalm 147: God of the High and Low

Grace Sensing on February 18, 2024

INTRODUCTION

On the one hand, we know that God is far above us, higher than the highest heaven. But we must also confess that He is beneath our feet, supporting us in every possible way. He is the God of the macrocosm, but He is also an infinitely skilled miniaturist, folding enormous libraries of information into trillions of cells—and that is just in one body. He is the God of general, natural revelation, and He is the God who reveals Himself in the propositions of human language.  

THE TEXT

“Praise ye the Lord: For it is good to sing praises unto our God; For it is pleasant; and praise is comely. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is infinite. The Lord lifteth up the meek: He casteth the wicked down to the ground. Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; Sing praise upon the harp unto our God . . . Praise ye the Lord” (Psalm 147:1-20). 

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The one thing we can say about praising the God of Heaven is that such praise is fitting (v. 1). The builds up the city where He has set His name, and He does it by gathering up the riff raff (v. 2). He heals the broken-hearted, and binds their wounds (v. 3). He knows how many stars there are, and He names each one (v. 4). The Lord is truly great; His knowledge is infinite (v. 5). He lifts the meek, and throws down the wicked (v. 6). Sing to Him; play the harp for Him (v. 7). He fills the sky with clouds, and gives rain to the earth (v. 8). He feeds all the beasts of the field; He feeds the young ravens as they cry (v. 9). He is not impressed by horse power, or by man power (v. 10), probably a reference to cavalry and infantry. When people fear Him, the Lord is pleased. He is pleased by those who look to Him for mercy (v. 11). Again, praise from Jerusalem and Zion is fitting (v. 12). God has built up her defenses, and given lots of blessed children (v. 13). He gives peace along the border, and He bestows abundant crops (v. 14). The world does not run on impersonal natural law, but rather God sends forth His commandment, which runs swiftly (v. 15). He gives us snow; He gives us rime, or hoarfrost (v. 16). He scatters ice, and brings in the freezing cold (v. 17). After giving the ice, He melts the ice (v. 18). He grants the chinook, and everything melts (v. 18). He reveals His laws to Jacob, His commandments to Israel (v. 19). He hath not dealt so with any nation: And as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the Lord” (v. 20). 

A HALLELUJAH SANDWICH

The first and last word in this psalm is hallelujah—“praise Yah.” Each hallelujah is a piece of bread, and one goes on the top and the other one on the bottom. But in some circles, Christians want to sing hallelujah over and over, like a Hindu mantra. But in biblical terms, this is like making a bread sandwich, bread on each side and bread in the middle. Biblical praise is modeled for us in this psalm—we have here a biblical Dagwood. There is the bread, then salami, then ham, then cheese, then onions, then prosciutto, then a different kind of cheese, and then the other piece of bread. There is substance in the middle. The bread frames the praise, but the actual praise is the content of what we say. And if you look carefully at this psalm, you see all different kinds of content.   

DISTINCTION WITHOUT SEPARATION

One of the perennial temptations that theologians have is that of thinking that the necessary distinctions they must make are distinctions that somehow create a division or separation. For example, we may distinguish the love and justice of God, but these two attributes are not separated in Him. We distinguish them for our sake, because Scripture does, but a distinction does not require separation. Here would be another example. A small child can distinguish height and breadth and depth. It is easy to distinguish them, but impossible to separate them. If you remove the height of this pulpit, you do not have a very flat pulpit, but rather no pulpit at all. 

The reason for addressing this is that theologians are fond of distinguishing natural revelation and special revelation. Natural revelation is the way in which the created order reveal the majesty and nature of God. Special revelation is given to us in the words of Scripture. We distinguish them, and it is good that we do so. But look at the two together in this psalm. He speaks through the stars, through agriculture, through His providential care of ravens, and He shouts whenever He gives us rime. But woven through all of this, He is also the one whose commandments run swiftly (v. 15), and He reveals His laws and commandments to Israel (v. 19).

THE WORLD IS NOT IMPERSONAL

Too many Christians assume that the world is just the kind of impersonal place that Voltaire thought it was, only we believe that God is at the top, along with some angels, and we are down here at the bottom, with our souls tucked away under the sternum. Everything else, we think, is just atoms banging around. Or, if we are more Deistic than materialist, we think it is a cold, impersonal clock, following its pre-programmed routine. But the world is not like that at all. Christ is the one who holds all things together, not gravity (Col. 1:17-18). What we call natural law is simply God being kind to us. Most of the time the car keys are right where we left them yesterday. But the universe does not have an autonomous or independent existence apart from God. In Him, we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). 

WHY GOD IS PLEASED WITH YOU

We are evangelical and Calvinistic enough to know that everything I am about to say is all of grace, and nothing but grace. We have not earned or deserved anything on our own. But because of Christ, and through Christ, and in Christ, what does God think of you? You have fled to Christ for mercy, and what is God’s disposition toward those who do this? “The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.” (Psalm 147:11). You come to Him for mercy because you sinned. God takes pleasure in receiving you. You look to Him as a God-fearing woman or man, or girl, or boy. And what is God’s response? Because of Christ, He takes pleasure in it. 

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