Christ Church

Sharing Your Gospel

Christ Church on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

In this famous section of Proverbs, the father exhorts his son, “forget not mylaw; but let thine heart keep mycommandments” (Prov. 3:1), with the promise of length of days, long life, and peace (Prov. 3:2). How can a human father, a fallen, fallible father say such a thing? We see something perhaps equally puzzling in Paul’s repeated use of the phrase “mygospel” (Rom. 2:16, 16:25, 2 Tim. 2:8). Couldn’t this be confusing? Doesn’t this seem a little arrogant?

The Text

“My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.9 Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.11 My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction:12 For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth” (Proverbs 3:1-12).

Heart, Neck, Eyes, Barns, and Discipline

The exhortations in our text are to rather abstract virtues (law, mercy, truth, trust, fear, honor), but they are saddled to intensely concrete bodilyitems: days, heart, neck, eyes, bones, barns, and wine (Prov. 3:2-10). This sets up the equation between virtue and practical actions and decisions. Virtue is embodied. We also see that there are five admonitions, and each exhortation is followed by a concrete promise of blessing: do not forget=length of days (Prov. 3:1-2), keep mercy and truth=finding favor (3:3-4), trust in the Lord=straight paths (3:5-6), fear the Lord=good health (3:7-8), honor the Lord=full barn (3:9-10). So without reducing virtue to a mechanical lever, it is still true to say that virtue is embodied and the blessing that follows virtue is also embodied, either now or in the resurrection (Mk. 10:30). And the father reappears at the end of our text, claiming that his discipline is the embodiment of the Lord’s loving discipline (Prov. 3:11-12).

My Law & Commands

While the idea that virtue is embodied is easier to understand, the question is how the father can claim that his discipline is the Lord’s discipline, that his son should keep his law. Shouldn’t the father make it clearer that it isn’t really his law, rather it’s the Lord’s, and his discipline is only as good as it agrees with God’s discipline? Related is also the fact that the father is promising “long life and peace,” which the father may be able to influence but cannot infallibly deliver. Is it really wise for Solomon (or any father) to speak this way? Surely part of the answer is found in the words of Moses: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart… and these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children…You shall bind them as a sign on your hand…” (Dt. 6:5-9) A faithful father was commanded by God to embrace the law of God and bind it to himself and so teach it diligently to his children. A faithful father believes God’s promise for long life and peace and prosperity for fidelity to His law, and in so far as the father is representing God’s law, the father may relay this as his own possession and sure promise to his children.

Mercy & Truth

But the second admonition suggests that there is even more going on: “Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart” (Prov. 3:3). If the first exhortation reminds us of God’s law, this combination seems to be a short hand for the essentials of covenant blessing. In Genesis 24:27, the servant of Abraham blessed God for not forsaking his “mercy and truth” to Abraham by leading him to Rebecca’s family. “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, to such as keep His covenant and His testimonies” (Ps. 25:10, cf. 2 Sam. 15:20, Ps. 57:3, 10, 85:10, 89:14, 100:5). But in Prov. 16:6, Solomon says that by “mercy and truth” atonement is provided for sin. The word atonement reminds us of the Most Holy Place where the Ark of the Covenant was. The golden lid was called the “mercy seat” and the Ten Commandments were inside it (Ex. 25:21, Heb. 9:3-4). All of this pointed to Jesus and specifically His cross, where the mercy and truth of God have come together even more clearly and emphatically: Jesus is both God’s truth about our sin and His merciful sacrifice for it (Jn. 1:14-17). He is our ark, our mercy seat, our “throne of grace” in a time of need (Heb. 4:16, 10:19ff). And Jesus is the embodiment of mercy and truth. When the father says bind mercy and truth around your neck and write them on the tablet of your heart, he is actually saying bind Jesus around your neck and write Jesus on the tablet of your heart.

Embodied Discipleship

But it still seems somewhat puzzling: why does the father point to himself in the first instance and not immediately away to God? Part of the answer is that the father does point to the Lord (3:5, 3:7, 3:9) – so every father should do the same. But the father still feels very comfortable calling the law “my law” and likening his instruction/discipline with the correction/chastening of the Lord (3:1-2, 11-12). The answer is found in God’s determination that discipleship be intensely personal and therefore embodied. Discipleship is teaching virtues such as truth and mercy and obedience and honor, but those virtues must be embodied and imitated. Christian discipleship does look to the Lord, but Jesus sent mento disciple the nations. Therefore, discipleship also simultaneously includes immediate human relationships, like father-son. Jesus embodies this in the first instance as the perfect Son of the perfect Father. The scribes and Pharisees were scandalized by His insistence that He is the embodiment of the Father (Jn. 10:29-30), but we often merely chalk this up to the deity of Christ: Jesus is God, so He can say things like that (which is true).

But Jesus also indicates that what He came to do, as an ambassador of His Father, He intends to pass on to His disciples. He calls the disciples away from their earthly fathers and their fishing boats and nets and says He will likewise make them fishers of men, or we might say fathers of men (Lk. 5:10). And we see this in Paul’s own ministry: “I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore I urge you, imitate me. For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church” (1 Cor. 4:14-17, cf. Phil. 2:22, 1 Thess. 2:11). As Jesus called the first disciples to “follow me,” Paul imitates and says, “follow me,” and presumably he taught Timothy to say the same thing. This is why Paul frequently refers to the gospel as “my gospel” or “our gospel” (Rom. 2:16, 16:25, 2 Cor. 4:3, 1 Thess. 1:5, 2 Thess. 2:14, 2 Tim. 2:8).

Conclusion

Because we have been given the Spirit of the Father and the Son, we have access to the Father and therefore we have the boldness to represent Him to others. In the gift of salvation, the living and eternal God has taken up residence in you. His law has become your law. His mercy and truth are bound around your neck, written on the tablet of your heart. His gospel is now your gospel. If we understand this, we must learn to say with Jesus: Come, follow me, keep my law and commandments. This is my gospel: Jesus Christ was crucified for sinners and raised from the dead for our justification. My son, my daughter, my friend, do not forget my law. This is all a gift, all of grace, but grace gives this authority. “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Cor. 15:10).

Read Full Article

Under the Mercy

Christ Church on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Text

17 And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 18 Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it.19 And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.20 And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord.21 Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel,22 And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin.23 And of Jezebel also spake the Lord, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.24 Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.25 But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.26 And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.27 And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.28 And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,29 Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house. 1 Kings 21:17-29

Introduction

There was no one like Ahab, who sold himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, committing abominations, following idols, and stirred up to great evil by his wife Jezebel. And yet when Ahab humbled himself before the Lord, the Lord relented from the immediate judgment he had promised. This story reminds us that God’s merciful kindness is great.

Summary of the Text

Getting a running start, remember that we first met Ahab in 1 Kings 16 when he became King of the northern kingdom of Israel (Samaria), and we are told that Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him (1 Kgs. 16:33). Under Ahab’s reign Jericho was rebuilt, with the foundations dedicated in the blood of two sons (16:34). Recall the animosity of Ahab for Elijah, beginning with Elijah’s announcement of a severe drought on the land (17:1), followed by the great showdown between Ahab’s prophets of Baal and Elijah three years later (18:17-46), and the great manhunt for Elijah forcing him into exile in the wilderness (19:1-21). Just before our text, Ahab has displayed manic-like bouts of rage and depression, where the Lord gave great military victories, but Ahab failed to deliver a crushing blow and he went home to his house in a furious displeasure (1 Kgs. 20:43). Following this, Ahab tried to buy Naboth’s vineyard, but failing that he once again throws a royal fit on his bed (21:4). And it is after his wife, Jezebel, has orchestrated the lynching of Naboth that our text picks up with the Lord instructing Elijah to go to Ahab and pronounce His sentence of the utter destruction of his family (1 Kgs. 21:17-24). The narrator once again reminds us (as if we needed reminding) that there was none like Ahab who did wickedness in the sight of the Lord (21:25-26). But when Ahab tears his clothes, puts on sackcloth, fasts, and goes about in humility, the Lord takes notice and tells Elijah that Ahab has humbled himself and therefore the judgment will be postponed (21:27-28).

Arise and Go Down to Meet Ahab

This whole story really is astounding. First off, put yourself in Elijah’s shoes. Ahab had married Jezebel – daughter of the king of the Sidonians and champion of Baal worship (1 Kgs. 16:31). Remember all the prophets murdered, and all the prophets still hiding from Ahab and Jezebel (1 Kgs. 18:13). Remember Jezebel’s oath to kill Elijah and him running for his life (1 Kgs. 19:2-3). Remember Elijah’s exhaustion and deep discouragement after the Mt. Carmel showdown (1 Kgs. 19:10). Remember how so many in Israel had turned away from God (1 Kgs. 19:14). Remember Ahab’s awful attitude (1 Kgs. 20:43, 21:4). Remember Jezebel’s plotting and Naboth’s murder – and think of Naboth’s family. The assignment of going to Ahab yet again to announce God’s judgment would have been very hard. What good would it do? Why tell him of his wickedness again? There was no one who had sold himself to work more wickedness in the sight of the Lord than Ahab (1 Kgs. 21:25). Even Ahab’s initial greeting is utterly disheartening and dripping with hatred: “Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?” (1 Kgs. 21:20). Are there people in this world, in your life that seem to be in the same category? Could they be more hard-hearted? Could they be more antagonistic? Could they be more of an enemy? Is there something in you that says, Why bother? What good will it do?

Bright Light for a Dark World

Part of our problem is that we have been fed the lie that we must choose between law and grace, high standards and mercy. But that is the one thing, as Christians, we must notdo. There is no radical grace apart from the law establishing our pitch-black guilt, and there is no pure mercy apart from the high standards we have utterly failed. “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Ps. 85:10). “Grace, mercy, and peace be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love” (2 Jn. 1:3). Mercy and truth, righteousness and grace can only be rightly held together in Jesus Christ. Otherwise, well-meaning people will veer between crushing legalism and sentimental licentiousness. We will swerve between pure condemnation and pliable accommodation. But this means that every refusal to hold mercy and truth together is a rejection of Jesus.

This is why we insist on proclaiming the horror of sin in all of its hideousness because Jesus was crucified for our hideous sin. “But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. And he did abominably in following idols…” (1 Kgs. 21:25-26). The message from Elijah was not sugar-coated; it was direct and harsh in its delivery (1 Kgs. 21:20-23). The point of this is not to encourage you to deliver this exact message to every pro-abort person in your family, office, or Facebook feed. The point is simply that we must name sin biblically – hatred, adultery, murder, lust, idolatry, prostitution, abomination, vile affections, perversion, unnatural affection, shameful. All our excuses, all our blaming, all of our “victimologies” and rapidly multiplying “intersectionalities” of victimhood are attempts to lighten certain sins, and this is fundamentally an attack on grace, an attempt to rob the world of God’s merciful kindness. We name sin in all of its hideousness because Jesus endured the hideousness of the cross. We proclaim the darkness of sin so that the light of complete forgiveness might shine on every man. We speak the truth in this love (Eph. 4:15).

For His Merciful Kindness is Great

“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting” (1 Tim. 1:15-16). So the first application is straightforward: What have you done? What have you thought? What have you said? What have you looked at? What have you failed to do? Do you think you are beyond the reach of God’s mercy? Do you think that it is so dark, so disgusting, so shameful that God cannot have anything to do with it? But the Bible is the story of God’s grace. This is why we should love the genealogies. Long lists of sinners, mostly unknown to us, belovedto their God. The only difference between the saved and the damned is pride. The saved were not better people, the damned were not worse. The saved humbled themselves, cast themselves on God’s mercy, but the damned refuse His offer. If God notices the fleeting, desperate humility of Ahab will he not notice you when you call out to Him? If God saved Paul to show forth all longsuffering, then this was a pattern for you.

But all of this is also for the world. What is your attitude toward the other Ahabs and Jezebels of this world? Do you hate sin because you love grace? Are you eagerfor their forgiveness?

Read Full Article

Christ Hidden in Your Calling

Christ Church on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

First we must begin with a statement of our problem. Many glorious truths were recovered in the Reformation, and one of them was the doctrine of vocation. Unfortunately, this is part of our Protestant heritage that we have shamefully neglected, and have almost lost. One of the principal indications that we have lost this doctrine is that we speak so easily and readily of “full-time Christian work,” as though there were anything else for a Christian to do. The reestablishment of two “holiness” layers of occupation in Christendom has been a terrible loss.

The Text

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship” (Exodus 31:1-5).

Summary of the Text

So the word of the Lord comes to Moses (v. 1). A particular man was called by name out of the tribe of Judah. His name was Bezaleel (v. 2), and the Lord filled him with the Spirit of God (v. 3). This is the first instance of anyone being described as filled with the Spirit in the Bible.

And what were the indications of the Spirit’s filling? They were wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and craftsmanship (v. 3), which gave him the ability to do cunning work—as a goldsmith, a silversmith, a worker in brass (v. 4), as a jeweler (or possibly a mason), a woodworker, along with any other similar work.

So when the Spirit descends to fill a man for the first time in the Bible, it is surprisingly not to come down upon a theologian reading a big, fat scroll. He does do that, but later. Now the important thing here is that Bezaleel was called. The Latin verb that means “to call” is vocare, from which we get our word “vocation,” calling. This is not to disparage the importance of a call to the mission field, or the ministry—of course not. But all Christians are called, and are called to labor self-consciously and faithfully in their calling, whether it is law, real estate, carpentry, medicine, brick-laying, shop-keeping, changing diapers, writing novels or songs, digging latrines, or planting trees. All of God is in all of it. Christians who think like Christians should function in terms of calling, and not in terms of “a job.”

The Foundation

We do not hold to this on the basis of a mere assertion. There is a doctrinal foundation for it. We must fix it in our minds that God is in everything, and works through everything. If God is sovereign in this way, which we affirm, this means that Christ is hidden in the artisan, and Christ is hidden in the customer. Christ is hidden in the one behind the counter, and He is hidden in the one in front of the counter. He is hidden in the dentist, and hidden in the patient in the chair.

First, God provides for us through means. We benefit from the work of the farmer, the fertilizer salesman, the trucker, the grocery store clerk, the dairyman, and when we bow our heads to thank God for the breakfast cereal, we are thanking Him for His work in and through all of these people, whether they know Him or not. We receive from Godthrough the work of others. We acknowledge this when we pray for our daily bread (Matt. 6:11). We know that God is working in and through all things (Rom. 8:28), and this includes all of our countless daily kindnesses.

Second, Christ receives from us as we work in each of our vocations. God gratefully receives from us through the work we do for others. “Lord, when did I ever give you hot French fries when you were famished?” “Don’t you remember? It was that time at the drive-through window.” This is the other side of vocation, the flip side of it. God keeps track of every cup of cold water (Matt. 10:42), and He reckons everything we do for others as done to and for Him (Matt. 25: 34-46).

This means that Christ is hidden in our vocation, and He is hidden in our neighbor. We are to discover Him there with the eye of faith. We were created for work (Gen. 2:15), and called to work diligently six days out of seven (Ex. 20:9-11). We are to render all our work to Christ, and not just to the boss when he is present. “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” (Col. 3:23). Christ is in your boss, and Christ is in your customer, and Christ is in you.

And so we are to receive all the work done for us as a gift from Jesus Himself (Matt. 6:11). The mother gives milk to the child, but who fills her breasts with milk in the first place? When the farmer first planted the wheat, he did not know he was making milk for the baby.

What Vocation Does Not Mean

All work is full of glory but it is a glory apprehended by faith. This faith does not necessarily mean that a Christian carpenter pounds nails differently than an unregenerate carpenter does. But it does mean that he should understand the meaning of what he does, and, over time, this should result in differences in craft competence.

Neither should this doctrine be taken as an excuse to become a one-trick pony. Your vocation is varied, and extends to every aspect of your life. This means that you are not only called to be, say, a software designer, but you are also called to be a son, a student, a husband, a brother, a citizen, a churchman, and a putter of model ships into bottles. Incidentally, parents, this means that education should be equipping your child for his or her vocation in this broad sense, not the narrow sense. And this, incidentally, is the meaning of a liberal arts education.

And vocation is not a talisman against worldly difficulties. Americans love “three steps to automatic success,” but that is not what the Scriptures promise. Diligence in this vocational way of thinking will generally result in long term satisfaction with what you do—instead of the constant flitting from job to job that is so common in our day—but don’t think that God-given changes are a sign that something is necessarily wrong. And don’t think that vocation means that you will just float through your work day—the diapers can really stink, the customers can really be unreasonably irate, the promised shipments really can be subject to exasperating delays. Rain falls on the just and the unjust (Matt. 5:45). And Christ is in all.

Finding Your Way

We are called, all of us, to live in the will of God. But remember the difference between His revealed will for all Christians, and, after that, what are yourabilities, youropportunities, and yourdesires. The first is a function of obedience. The second is a function of wisdom.

When those three things line up, then go for it. “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps” (Prov. 16:9). And as you go, remember this: “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men” (Prov. 22:29). This is not carnal ambition—it is what enables us to see death and resurrectionin our daily callings.

A message on this subject would be grossly deficient if we did not quote Luther at some point. His wonderful grasp of vocation, the most heavenly and earthy of truths, was remarkable. “God Himself milks the cows through the vocation of the milkmaid.” And amen.

Read Full Article

What It Means to be Forgiven

Christ Church on

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Introduction

When we are forgiven for our sins, there are two aspects to it. First we are delivered, definitively, all at once, from the penalty of sin. You need to think of this as though the angel of the Lord Himself was appointed as the foreman of your jury, and he entered the heavenly courtroom and read out the verdict. Pointing to the altar where Jesus sprinkled His own blood, he says, in a bright clear voice that the whole cosmos hears, “not guilty.” This is forgiveness proper.

But we are also delivered from the power of sin. There is a stark break with what might be called reigning sin (Gal. 5:24), which is followed by a progressive and unrelenting campaign against all remaining sin (Col. 3:5; Rom. 8:13).

The Text

Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lordhath spoken it (Is. 1:10-20).

Summary of the Text

The message I have entrusted to deliver to you is a message of free grace, radical grace, nothing but grace. The message of the cross of Jesus, and the resurrection of the Christ, is a message of everlasting and undeserved kindness. That being the case, and because our thought processes are so corrupted by sin, we have a hard time getting our minds around what God is offering us.

Either we say that God is the only lifeguard, and so He must be saving us from drowning by leaving us on the bottom of the pool, or we acknowledge that we must be saved from drowning by getting out of the pool, and concluding that we must by our own efforts help the lifeguard to save us. Being saved by grace means being saved by grace from sin (Rom. 6:14). Being under law means being under condemnation for those sins that have you in bondage. Being under grace means you are liberated from that.

Consider how the prophet Isaiah presents this glorious reality. First, he addresses the Jews under the figure of Sodom and Gomorrah (v. 10). He asks the first what their intentions were in bringing Him sacrifices (v. 11). He asks them (sarcastically) who required you to show up here in my courts (v. 12). He tells them to pack up all their liturgical gear, and get out (v. 13). Solemn meetings and iniquity do not go together. God hates their religiosity (v. 14). When they spread out their hands in a pious gesture, God turns away. Their hands are covered with blood (v. 15). Repent, turn away, learn a different way (vv. 16-17). And then comes the glorious promise—a promise that only God could fulfill (v. 18). God makes them a most reasonable offer. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though their sins be like crimson, they shall be like wool. The sins are blood red; the salvation is blood red; the forgiveness is pure white.

If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land (v. 19). If you are stubborn and kick, then you will be destroyed (v. 20).

Forgiven Means Forgiving

A sheep bleats because it is a sheep. But you don’t become a sheep bybleating. An apple tree produces apples because it is an apple tree. But a bramble bush can’t become an apple tree bygrowing apples. A person rescued from the bottom of the pool will be dried off, but we don’t hand him a towel on the bottom of the pool.

And forgiven people forgive. That is just what happens.

“Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven” (Luke 6:37).

“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even asGod for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph. 4:32).

This is how absolute forgiveness is simultaneously absolute grace, free grace, and at the same time is morally rigorous. This is because God does not just give us cleansing from the defilement of sin, but also from the power of sin to defile. He gives us more, not less.

What It Is Like

“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord” (Is. 54:17).

“I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressionsfor mine own sake, and will not rememberthy sins. Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: Declare thou, that thou mayest be justified” (Is. 43:25–26).

“Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, And passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever, Because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; And thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:18–19).

“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressionsfrom us” (Ps. 103:12).

Read Full Article