Christ Church

Hidden in the Lord (Survey of Isaiah #36) (CC Troy)

Lindsey Gardner on

ISAIAH 26

1 In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.

2 Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.

3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

4 Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength:

5 For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.

6 The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.

7 The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.

8 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.

9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

10 Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.

11 Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.

12 Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.

13 O Lord our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.

14 They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.

15 Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.

16 Lord, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.

17 Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O Lord.

18 We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.

21 For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

 

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The Unchained Word of Life (Acts of the Apostles #12)

Lindsey Gardner on

INTRODUCTION

The Founder of the Christian faith, the Lord Jesus, was murdered by the authorities. This is a fact that cannot be emphasized too much. After He ascended into Heaven, the second generation of Christian leaders all found themselves in jail within a matter of just a few weeks. This should tell you something about the nature of the faith we profess.

 

THE TEXT

“Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison. But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life . . .” (Acts 5:17–26).

 

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The Sadducees were the dominant party in the Temple establishment. They were theological liberals, but conservative enough when it came to protecting their own power. They rose up together, full of indignation (v. 17), arrested the apostles and threw them into jail (v. 18). This set the stage for the first angelic jail break in the book of Acts. The angel opened the doors, brought them out, and gave a command (v. 19). The command was for them to go back into the Temple and by speaking the words of life to the people to disobey the authorities (v. 20). The apostles obeyed this command, doing this first thing in the morning (v. 21). Meanwhile, the authorities convened their council, and sent to have the apostles fetched from the prison (v. 21). The officers went to the prison, but soon enough came back without them (v. 22). They reported that the prison was locked up, and the guards were there, but nobody was inside (v. 23). When the authorities heard this, they began to worry about what could be next (v. 24). So then a messenger came in and said that the escapees were in the Temple, teaching the people (v. 25). And so then the captain and the officers went to bring them in, but gingerly, because they were afraid of being stoned by the crowd (v. 26).

 

DEALING WITH JESUS MOBS

We do have something in common with first century Palestine. We, like they, are living in a time of violent emotions and high tension. And in that moment, in a time like that, Jesus came into the powder keg of Jerusalem, and did not call for dialog. He came as a supremely effective provocateur. He went up to the Temple, and began flipping over tables.

Were there people in the Israel of that day who were on the side of John the Baptist, and Jesus, but who did not fully grasp the import of the Sermon on the Mount? Why were the religious authorities so careful about their plotting against Jesus? They thought “people will stone us” (Luke 20:5-6). The chief priests and scribes “feared the people” (Luke 20:19). They wanted to kill Jesus, but they “feared the people” (Luke 22:2). This is also said a few times in the second gospel (Mark 11:18, 32; 12:12). And when Peter cut off the ear of Malchus, he also had not grasped the nature of the plan that Jesus was living out (John 18:10).

Jesus did not entrust Himself to men (John 2:23-25), but it is also very, very clear that He did not worry about their misunderstandings. Their confusions did not even slow Him down.

 

THE WORD OF GOD IS NEVER BOUND

One of the things that Luke does for us in the Book of Acts is illustrate in a figure how the gospel cannot be thwarted or imprisoned by the wit of man. The gospel cannot be imprisoned, and Luke shows us this multiple times and in multiple ways.

“Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.” (2 Timothy 2:9). At least five of Paul’s epistles were written from prison, bringing life and liberty everywhere those letters have gone.

Luke shows us this by having two angelic jail breaks (here, and in Acts 12). Then he has an earthquake bust the prison of Philippi wide open, thus liberating the jailer (Acts 16). And then Paul is arrested in Acts 21:33, from which position he evangelizes two Roman governors (Acts 24:25; Acts 26:24), King Agrippa (Acts 26:28), a leading citizen of Malta named Publius (Acts 28:7), and the rabbis of Rome (Acts 28:23-24). The Word of God is not bound.

The gospel runs free when the evangelists do, and the gospel also runs free when the evangelists are chained to the wall.

 

THE UNCHAINED WORD OF LIFE

We see in this passage the total legitimacy of activities like Bible smuggling. Is it against the law? That actually doesn’t matter. We don’t care. The civil authorities do not have the authority to prohibit the gospel from functioning in their realm. What does the Great Commission rest on (Matt. 28:18-19)? “All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to me . . .” No civil authority has the right to say no to the gospel of free grace.

On top of that, neither do religious authorities have the right to get a bit and bridle on those who preach the word in truth. John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim’s Progress, spent years in prison, and in a Christian country, and for what? Not for preaching, but for preaching without a license. When free grace starts running around freely, it is just a matter of time before some ecclesiastical fussers want to get their foot on the brake. They will come to a man, preaching hot gospel, and they will ask him, as they asked Jesus, “By what authority do you do these things?” Look to your Bibles. Whose question is this (Matt. 21:23; Mark 11:28; Luke 20:2)?

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Holy War: A Post-Election Sermon (King’s Cross)

Lindsey Gardner on

INTRODUCTION

In the aftermath of this most recent election, we have much to be grateful for. Our God is surely merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness. He has not given us what we deserve. But the mercy of God is always a test: hard hearts get right back to sin and apathy, but soft hearts are driven to worship, repentance, and a renewed zeal for holiness.

While our holy war is not primarily or fundamentally fleshly or carnal, our weapons are mighty for pulling down strongholds, “casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled” (2 Cor. 10:3-6). This does not mean no political action, but it means that obedience to Christ must drive everything we do.

 

HOLINESS AS POWER

Holiness is power. Holiness is that which is set apart, pure, and whole. God is holy, holy, holy, and this holiness drives His omnipotence and power: “Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Ex. 15:11) “And [Jesus was] declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4).

Human beings were created to reflect and share in God’s holiness, and this is what is being restored in Christ (Eph. 4:24). Ephesians says that growing in this means coming to know the exceeding greatness of His power at work in us, which raised Jesus from the dead, far above all principality, power and might (Eph. 1:17-21). If American Christians seem remarkably impotent culturally and politically, it is because we do not understand or care about holiness. We are more concerned about pragmatic, short term gains than long term victory, but God disciplines us so that we might share in His holiness (Heb. 12:10). God cares more about holiness than political freedom because without holiness, there can be no freedom. So how do we pursue God’s holiness?

 

HOLY WORSHIP

“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus…” (Heb. 10:19ff). While all of life and nature proclaim God’s holiness (the whole earth is full of His glory), He designed the world and people such that we participate in God’s holiness by setting time and space apart to worship Him, by “drawing near.” This is why God set apart the Trees in the Garden, holy ground at the burning bush, and the holy places in the tabernacle and temple. He also set apart one day in seven and made it holy for rest and worship (Gen. 2:3, Ex. 20:8-11). In the New Covenant, after the curtain of the Most Holy Place was torn, any space can be set apart for worship, as can any day, but the Lord’s Day is the first day Sabbath and when God’s people gather together they are His holy priesthood and temple (1 Pet. 2).

The Bible calls this obedient, formal, public worship the “beauty of holiness” (Ps. 29:2) on the “mountain of holiness” (Ps. 48:1, cf. Heb. 12). God’s power of holiness is the source of our power (Ps. 110:3). “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron…” (Ps. 149:6-8). In Revelation, it is the worship of the saints that God uses to send air strikes on the earth.

This also happens as individuals and families are transformed by the renewing of our minds, through offering their bodies in worship (Rom. 12:1-2). Planting churches is the New Covenant equivalent to Abraham building altars in Canaan. Wherever the gospel establishes communities of biblical worship, we are acknowledging that Jesus purchased that land, that nation with His blood and insisting that it must and will bow to Him.

 

HOLY MARRIAGE & HOMES

“Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge” (Heb. 13:4). Holiness is not prudish or sanctimonious. Holiness in the home is earthy, physical, material, and full of joy. The Holy Spirit created the heavens and the earth, and He filled the artisans with skill to build the tabernacle (Gen. 1:2, Ex. 35:31).

Holiness means husbands loving their wives like Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her and wives submitting to their husbands as the Church does to Christ: so that husbands might present their wives holy and without blemish (Eph. 5:22-27). But this is not merely spiritual, this includes loving and protecting your wife as your own body (Eph. 5:28-29) and raising joyful, obedient children (Eph. 6:1-4, 1 Tim. 3:4-5). This means dealing with sin quickly, forgiving one another, and covering sins in love. We cannot be a force for good in this land, if our homes are not models of order and peace.

 

HOLY WORK

Jesus said clearly that he who is faithful in little will be faithful in much, and this includes faithfulness in justice (Lk. 16:10-12). “And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?” Our vocational labors are the practice field for authority and fruitfulness in the world. Honesty, integrity, hard work, fixing mistakes, learning to communicate, and multiplying your talents is the path to influence and blessing (Mt. 25:14).

“Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men” (Eph. 6:6-7). We cannot establish justice in the land if we are not practicing justice in our daily labors.

 

CONCLUSION

Thank God for a clear Trump victory. Now the Church must gird up our loins to fight. We must fight sin and corruption at every level, beginning in our own hearts, families, businesses, churches, and cities. We cannot be a free or powerful America apart from obedience to Christ, apart from holiness.

So think of this time like Joseph’s seven years of plenty. We have 2-4 years to store up and build strong families, businesses, and churches. May God grant us longer and may He grant a true Reformation and Revival, but we must build houses on the rock that are ready for storms.

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A Ziggurat of the Unborn (Politics in the Pulpit #2) (CC Downtown)

Lindsey Gardner on

INTRODUCTION

The conservative Christian cause emerged victorious on many levels this week. But one of the most important principles of warfare is to not get lost in the fog of victory and give way to gathering spoil before the enemy is entirely scattered. God has kindly given us a tailwind for advancing Biblical justice and truth in the civic sphere. The enemies of God have made it plain that they will not renounce or retreat from the need to heartlessly destroy the unborn. Victory is not permission to set down your weapons. Rather, it is the best opportunity to press our advantage.

 

THE TEXT

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.
Isaiah 49:15

 

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Isaiah foretold the various exiles that were approaching both Israel and Judah for their rebellion and idolatry. When the just calamities arrived, Zion would be tempted to ask whether God had forgotten them. To answer this, Isaiah, by the Spirit’s inspiration, gives one of the most tender statements of God’s mercy which is found in Scripture. God summons to mind the image of a nursing mother tenderly cherishing the son of her womb. God points at that and asks a question. Could a mother treat the child which was knit in her womb with disdainful indifference? Could a nursing mother forget to kiss those sweet cheeks, or to nurture the vulnerable life of her infant?

The picture of a woman nurturing her child is a true picture. It is feminine glory. To mar that image is to mar femininity itself. Nevertheless, there have always been horrific instances of women who neglect, abandon, or even slay their young child (Cf. Deu. 28:56-57). Such mothers may vandalize this painting, but the Painter of that image, which is the Truth behind that image, will not and cannot mar it. God declares to Zion that He will not forget her.

The consequences for our sin may cause us to think God has forsaken and forgotten us. But the wonder of the Gospel is found in this incomprehensible mercy of God. He will not forget. He has graven the name of His people upon the palms of His hand. The Gospel, as presented here in Isaiah, requires a true portrait of maternal and feminine glory. For that image is a shadow of the true mercy found in the heart of God the Father towards the Church.

 

THE HORROR WE DON’T ABHOR

Therefore, the horror of abortion which we have culturally tolerated is an affront to the very Gospel. It is not a long and involved argument to show from Scripture that human life begins at conception in the womb of the mother. Jeremiah was set apart by the Lord from the womb (Jer. 1:5). Moses’ Law applied lex talionis for the crime of striking a woman and causing her to miscarry (Ex. 21:22-25). In both the story of Jacob & Esau doing jiujitsu in Rebekah’s womb, along with the story of John the Baptist leaping at the voice of Mary, who was already pregnant with Jesus, we see undeniable evidence that life begins in the womb. Not only that but significant theological categories are established in these stories. Many Psalms praise the providential hand of God knitting us together within our mother’s womb, and being our covenant God from our conception. The incarnation of Christ in Mary’s womb requires us to affirm that the union of God with human flesh took place at the holy conception.

But our nation has insisted that the authoritative Word need not shape how we think about life in the womb. We have chosen instead to draw an arbitrary line the sand for when life is viable according to the expertise of the all-wise and never fallible physician. For instance, Arizona passed a constitutional amendment enshrining the right of every individual to abort their child before “fetal viability” which they define this way: “Fetal viability” means the point in pregnancy when, in the good faith judgment of a treating health care professional and based on the particular facts of the case, there is a significant likelihood of the fetus’s sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.

The white lab coats of the medical industry have become the robes of a priestly class. It is by their omens and priestcraft that it can be discerned when a child must be sacrificed to the gods. Our nation has refused the Word of God and has submitted to the word of health care professionals.

 

THE TENDER MERCIES OF THE WICKED

The abomination that is abortion demonstrates that truth of Proverbs 12:10 that the tendermercies of the wicked are cruel. When God made an image of Himself He made man with righteousness, knowledge, spiritual life, and authority. Genesis teaches that image is displayed in both male and female, not male alone. This is because in the union of husband and wife there is the possibility of the conception of more image bearers. The womb of the woman is where those image bearers are seemingly brought out of nothingness into being.

The wicked feign compassion for women’s rights. Yet their mercy is as a tender as a bludgeon. Their compassion is as soft as a brick to the back of the head. They have persuaded an entire generation of women to despise the glory of bearing in their wombs a being which will exist forever. A being whose purpose is to hymn God’s praise for everlasting days, dwelling in the joy of God’s joyful life and light. The progressives and squishy conservatives have deluded themselves into thinking that women can determine to snuff out such a life without any eternal consequence or guilt. Mothers are told they can crush that skull, dismember that body, poison it with saline, turn it away through a blockade of pills and not bear any guilt or shame.

We might stand astonished at the tales of gruesome horror from ages and cultures in the past like Nineveh or the Aztecs. But we daily erect a ziggurat of unborn babies throughout our nation. And we have the deluded pride to proclaim that it is health care for women. That’s like a little boy throwing a baseball through his parent’s living room window and then claiming to be a home renovator. The health of a woman is found in honoring God with her feminine glory, and in that alone. This is worship. Offering up our bodies as living sacrifices. This is faith. For the Christian, bearing godly seed (Mal. 2:15) is an act of faith that this world will be remade and will be filled with a countless multitude of redeemed men and women.

 

A WORD TO OUR NATION

So, to God’s people, do not despise the feminine glory of a mother nurturing her child from conception. For this is to cherish the greater glory of God’s everlasting mercy to His people.

To the State and Federal Government, the Word of Christ demands that you end this atrocity speedily. Christ, by His Word, commands that you unsheathe the sword of justice against this grievous injustice.

Nationally, we have sinned grievously. The various calamities which have visited us are the result of our stubbornness. Yet God points to a picture of a nurturing mother and says His tender-mercy is like that, only greater and higher and further.

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Availing Prayer (CCTroy)

Lindsey Gardner on

The Text
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit (James 5:16–18 NKJV).

What Kind of Prayer Avails Much?
I. Effective, fervent
II. Righteous

Why the Example of Elijah? (1 Kings 17–18)
I. He was a righteous man, “with a nature like ours”
II. He prayed earnestly

Concluding Applications
I. Be encouraged to pray, not discouraged. If you are seeking to live a godly life through the power of the Holy Spirit, then you have God’s attention.
II. Recognize where you pray already, and do so earnestly and with renewed faith.
III. Take practical steps to cultivate additional times of focused prayer—because God is faithful and kind.

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