Christ Church


Warning: Undefined variable $title in /srv/users/christkirk-com/apps/christkirk-com/public/wp-content/themes/christkirk/functions.php on line 879

Warning: Attempt to read property "name" on string in /srv/users/christkirk-com/apps/christkirk-com/public/wp-content/themes/christkirk/inc/genesis-changes.php on line 159

The Wicked Pride of Good Intentions (Psalms | King’s Cross) (King’s Cross)


Warning: Undefined variable $author_nicename in /srv/users/christkirk-com/apps/christkirk-com/public/wp-content/themes/christkirk/functions.php on line 895

Christ Church on

INTRODUCTION

This Psalm is a cry for justice for the poor and helpless in the face of the arrogant violence of the wicked. But the justice of God and this prideful wickedness is a line that runs through our world and right down the middle of every human heart. And it is a line that is often hidden in the secret places of “good intentions.”

The Text: “Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?…” (Psalm 10:1-18)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The psalm begins with a plea in the form of a question of what the psalmist feels – it feels as if God is far away and ignoring the trouble he is facing (10:1). And the psalmist cries out, “why?” Of course, God is not actually far away or hiding, otherwise, how could David pray at all?

The first half of the psalm describes the trouble of the wicked as a continuous and arrogant hunting of the poor (10:2). This flows from the wicked man’s commitment to doing whatever he wants, not seeking the Lord, and all his thinking assumes there is no God (10:3-4). He ignores God’s judgments while appearing to prosper and without any fear of trouble (10:5-6). You can tell the wicked because his mouth is full of cursing, which multiplies lies, fraud, and misery as he sets ambushes, lurking like a lion for prey (10:7-9). And the result is the helpless are crushed, and the wicked think there is nothing to worry about (10:10-11).

The second half of the psalm renews the plea for God to arise and act (10:12). Since God actually has seen all of it (answering the initial cry), he asks why God seems to be allowing the wicked to get away with their taunts (10:13-14)? The psalm asks God to break their arms and bring them up on charges (10:15). Finally, the psalm ends in confidence, proclaiming that the Lord is king forever, and those who hate Him cannot remain (10:16); God hears the prayers of the afflicted, and therefore He will strengthen their hearts and do justice for the fatherless and helpless (10:17-18).

ARROGANT IGNORANCE

One of the marks of evil men is their arrogant ignorance. He persecutes the poor in his pride (Ps. 10:2, 4). Part of this pride is the denial of God’s existence and knowledge (Ps. 10:4, 11), but this often takes the form of a kind of “benevolent” pride. The unbelieving heart reasons that since there is no God, human beings and our programs and solutions are all we have. Religion is seen (at best) as a quaint superstition, and therefore, if we really want to help the poor, we have to “do” something but it cannot be a solution found in the Bible Ps. 10:5). This is his pride: he will not seek after God or God’s ways.

Therefore, often, in the name of helping the poor, the wicked are actually persecuting the poor. While there are some wicked who literally lurk in secret places to hunt down the helpless (e.g. human trafficking, terrorist attacks), a great deal of evil is perpetrated in the “secret places” of good intentions. In the name of “helping” the poor, the wicked load them with the chains of welfare. In the name of “helping” the poor, the wicked load them with medications to mask their follies. In the name of “helping” the poor, the wicked destroy their agency by blaming others and propping up their victimhood. These are often the “lurking places of the villages” (Ps. 10:8).

C.S. Lewis described this well: “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

This can happen in public policy, but this also happens in hearts and homes. C.S. Lewis again: “She’s the sort of woman who lives for others – you can always tell the others by their hunted expression.” It is perilously easy for Christians (of all people) to hide their wickedness in the secret places of what we consider our virtues. This can be a woman who has determined to “live for others” or “to be a servant of all” but refuses to allow God to define for her what that means. His judgments are out of her sight (Ps. 10:5). And in her pride she is actually persecuting everyone around her, all in the name of being helpful. And of course men can do this too.

LOOSE LIPS

The old saying is that “loose lips sink ships,” referring to the care that soldiers and citizens needed to have during certain wartime conflicts in order to protect the mission. But the principle stands: words are potent and powerful because we are made in the image of the Triune God who spoke the world into existence and whose Word became flesh.

The wicked man has a mouth full of cursing, but it doesn’t stop there: the cursing is friends with treachery, and the treachery lives right next door to oppression (Ps. 10:7). And under his tongue can be found trouble and misery (Ps. 10:7). James says that the tongue is like a flame thrower, that defiles the whole body and can set whole worlds ablaze (Js. 3:5-6). He says that these kinds of destructive words flow from hearts full of “bitter envy” (Js. 3:14). He also says that these words are often a counterfeit “wisdom” that is earthly, sensual, and devilish (Js. 3:15). But the wisdom that is from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruit, without partiality, and without hypocrisy (Js. 3:17).

CONCLUSION: WHY GOD HIDES

So we return the opening question: why does God let evil grow? Why does it seem that He is far off in times of trouble? At least one answer to that question is so that we will learn to pray, sing, worship, and think like this psalm. Like a faithful Father determined to grow His children up, God sometimes “leaves” us some space to grow up into this wisdom. Do you see evil for what it really is? Are you desperate for God to come down and break its evil arms and see it fade away? Do you see it out there in the world? Good. And now, do you see it in your own heart? And do you see that you are often the problem? And what you often think of as your virtue or your good traits need to die.

Now hear this: The Lord Jesus is King forever and ever, and He must reign until all of His enemies have been put beneath His feet. This includes the wicked machinations of globalists and jihadists, and this includes the plots and scams of your devilish flesh. Christ is King forever and ever. He will hear your cries, and He will always save.

Read Full Article

Life According to the Lamb (Christ Church)


Warning: Undefined variable $author_nicename in /srv/users/christkirk-com/apps/christkirk-com/public/wp-content/themes/christkirk/functions.php on line 895

Christ Church on

INTRODUCTION

As we have seen in the book of Acts, the time between the resurrection of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 was a time of overlap between the old and new covenants. Christ Himself was the sacrifice of the new covenant, which was better by far than the blood of bulls and goats. Christ is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and our text today is designed in order that we would join with those heavenly voices saying, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain” (Revelation 5:12).

SURVEY OF THE TEXT: HEBREWS 10:11-22

“Every priest in the Old Testament had to offer sacrifices continually (v. 11). Whatever those sacrifices did, they didn’t accomplish the job in a once for all fashion. Those priests stood daily and could never sit down and call it quits. But the man Jesus Christ, after offering but one sacrifice, did sit down (v. 12) to have all His enemies made His footstool (v. 13). By that one offering, He did not only cover sin but perfected His sanctified ones forever (v. 14). The Holy Ghost testifies to this perfection (v. 15) by writing God’s law on hearts in the new covenant (v. 16). In that new covenant, God has sworn an oath of amnesia, forgetting our sins (v. 17). No more sacrifice for sin can be offered to God because it would only be met with God saying, “And what is this for” (v. 18)? By the blood of Christ’s sacrifice, we have boldness to walk into God’s throne room (v. 19). The way into that throne room is through the living flesh of Christ (v. 20), our high priest over God’s house (v. 21). So we must draw near to God with hearts assured seeing we have our bodies and consciences washed clean (v. 22).

THE BLOOD OF BULLS AND GOATS

The book of Hebrews makes the point repeatedly that the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sins. However, we should not think that this means the Old Testament saints were not forgiven in real time. David says in Psalm 32:5, “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, ‘I will confess my transgression unto the LORD.’ And thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.” While it was not the virtue of the Old Testament sacrifices themselves that accomplished this forgiveness, they did have a role to play. Israelites were instructed to bring sacrifices when they had sinned and Leviticus says in several places, “and the priest shall make an atonement for him for his sin which he hath sinned, and it shall be forgiven him” (Leviticus 5:10; 4:20; 26, 31; 6:7).

If these sacrifices were offered disingenuously, then God despised them, “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” (Isaiah 1:12-13). But when they were offered genuinely from the heart, God did not despise them but covered their sin: “the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou will not despise” (Psalm 51:17).

FORGIVENESS AND PERFECTION

However, even when those sacrifices were genuinely offered, the forgiven worshippers were not made perfect:

“For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw nigh unto God” (Hebrews 7:19). “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect” (Hebrews 10:1). If those sacrifices had made the worshippers perfect, “then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins” (Hebrews 10:2).

The point is not that the Old Testament saints received a faux forgiveness. Their sins were like stains on the carpet. Those stains were covered and God really said, “All is well.” But they knew the stain was still there and the covered stain still weighed on their conscience. The marvel of the new covenant is that Christ’s bodily death has done what the blood of bulls and goats could not do, namely take sin away entirely and thereby make us perfect: “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14). There is no more stain. Consequently, “there is no more offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:18).

PERFECTED FOREVER

The import of all of this is that you must live according to the Lamb who was slain. He says, “No more stain.” He says, “I have perfected you and your people.” And the Lamb is the One worthy of “power, and riches, and wisdom” (Revelation 5:12). You must agree with God that you and your people have been perfected through the once for all sacrifice of Christ. This is a potent truth, a bit too potent for some. “You can’t tell them that their sins have been taken away once for all,” comes the reply, “if you do that there is no telling what sin they will tamper with.” But, how can they who have had sins taken away still tamper with them?

Paul says in another place that you must “reckon yourselves to be dead to sin” (Romans 6:11). And by the same standard here, you must reckon yourselves perfected by the sacrifice of Christ. You can reason from the blood of the Lamb. But you may have no other starting point.

APPLICATIONS

This point has several applications. Your whole life must be lived in Jesus name and that includes your service, your good works. Having been perfected, we serve the Living God and there is no other way to serve Him: “For if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:13-14)?

The same goes for confessions. The corrupt heart of man wants to take his confession as the starting point, as the fundamental axiom from which he can get to the sacrifice of Christ. But the truth is the reverse. Having been perfected, we confess our imperfections.

And the same goes for forgiveness. Having been perfected, we forgive others and are forgiven. When you forgive another person, you are not accepting their apology as a blood sacrifice and thereby reckoning them clean. It is that kind of thinking that keeps people riddled with bitterness because that sacrifice simply isn’t enough. We forgive others because of the once for all sacrifice, the one that took our sins and theirs away.

This same logic appears in our worship. The worship that we now offer up to Almighty God is perfect because it is offered up in Jesus’ name. Having been perfected by His blood, we walk into the holiest place and we walk into that throne room of God in the only manner worthy of that blood, boldly.

Read Full Article

Strong & Kind Husbands (King’s Cross Moscow)


Warning: Undefined variable $author_nicename in /srv/users/christkirk-com/apps/christkirk-com/public/wp-content/themes/christkirk/functions.php on line 895

Christ Church on

TEXT

“Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered” (1 Peter 3:7 NKJV).

INTRODUCTION

God, in His infinite wisdom, made men and women different. These differences are in accordance with our roles and duties, and in marriage, they complement each other. The glory of men is their strength. But this strength must be wielded rightly if you desire to glorify God and love your wife, as the Lord commands.

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

After exhorting wives regarding their role in marriage and duty toward their husbands, the Apostle Peter turns his attention to husbands. He calls them to dwell with their wives with understanding – meaning a husband is to know his wife and be considerate of her. One way a husband demonstrates that he is endeavoring to do this is by giving her honor, respecting her as the weaker vessel but also as co-heir of the grace of life. The warning for husbands is that if they do not love and honor their wives, the Lord will not honor them and shut His ears to their prayers.

HOW HUSBANDS FAIL

There are two ways husbands fail in their duties toward their wives. The first is to be strong in a way that is selfish and has no benefit for your wife. The second is to be simply weak, allowing your wife’s weakness (both pure and sinful) to dominate the home. Both of these are an abdication of your God-given role as head and a failure of leadership.

JUST AS CHRIST LOVED THE CHURCH

But Christ shows men a better way. He demonstrated how husbands can both be strong and kind. How a husband can use his God-given strength to enter into his wife’s weakness with both compassion and truth.

CONCLUSION: “HOLY FRIENDSHIP”

John Calvin called marriage a “holy friendship.”

The German reformer Johannas Oecolampadius wrote, “…the woman was drawn out from the side of Adam, not from a higher part lest she be deemed more worthy, not from a lower part lest she be able to be regarded as worth less, but from the side so that she would be at his side and so be his helper.”

Your great duty in this life is to lead your wife and your family before the Lord. In this, you are to imitate your Head, Christ, entering into your wife’s struggles and laying down your life. When a husband truly leads and loves his wife, and when a wife honors and submits to her husband with full trust—there is an immense blessing and joy that fills your cup, and overflows to your children, your children’s children, and to the world.

Read Full Article