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Joy is Normal (Troy)

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The Text: Psalm 32

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Christ is Lord of Saul (The Continuing Adventures of Jesus #14) (King’s Cross)

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INTRODUCTION

The Lordship of Jesus Christ means the submission and surrender and obedience of all. And this is good news because He died and rose again for our sins, and He knows what He’s doing – He is a gracious Lord. He rules for our happiness. But this may be one of the most hated Christian doctrines.

The lies of our flesh, the world, and the Devil say that God is withholding something from us, He has forgotten us, He would help but He can’t, or else that He isn’t really good. And these lies tempt us to panic, grasp, demand, get angry, and in various ways assert our own lordship which only makes us less happy. In this passage, Christ confronts the plans and misconceptions of Saul and Ananias, and what Jesus says to them, He says to every one of us: “arise and go.”

The Text: “And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem…” (Acts 9:1-22).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Full of animosity, Saul takes his persecution on the road to Damascus, where Jesus confronted him with a bright, blinding light, and gave him radically new orders (Acts 9:1-9). Notice that Jesus addresses Saul personally, by name, and that He takes the persecution of His people personally, reckoning what is done to them as done to Him (Acts 9:4). Three days later, a disciple named Ananias was instructed by the Lord to go find Saul to restore his sight, and to baptize him so that he might receive the Holy Spirit, and despite his concerns, he obeyed (Acts 9:10-18). Saul immediately preached Christ in the synagogues, causing quite a stir, especially as his arguments increased in strength, confounding the Jews (Acts 9:19-22).

Kicking Against the Goads & Obedience to the Lord

When Jesus confronted Saul, He said, “it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” (Acts 9:5). The image Jesus is using is taken from using oxen to plow a field, where a farmer often had a prick or goad that would be used to drive the oxen. Sometimes a goad might even be attached to the plow, such that if the animal kicked, the goad would prick them even more sharply. Sin makes people beastlike, slaves to their lusts, slaves to their passions, slaves to their emotions, slaves to their past. The call of Christ is the call to full and true humanity and freedom.  

Jesus graciously confronts Saul by saying that he is in rebellion and his rebellion is only making it more painful for himself. And Saul responds in surrender: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” And the command from the Lord is to “arise and go” (Acts 9:6). The same command is given a few verses later to Ananias, “Arise and go” (Acts 9:11). Who dares order people around like this? The One who made us, the One who suffered and died for our sins. The One who is worthy of all obedience. Jesus is Lord.

THE SORROWS OF THE WICKED

In Psalm 32, a similar warning is given in the context of confession of sin: “Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about” (Ps. 32:9-10).

The contrast in this psalm is between the sorrows and pains of our beastly stubbornness and the joy and relief of obedience and confession. If you are not a Christian, then you cannot have peace and joy when you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, when you are trying to be your own lord. But if you are a Christian, you cannot have peace and joy if you are refusing to obey your Lord, and in particular refusing to confess your sins. 

Years later, Saul/Paul wrote to Timothy: “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 show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting” (1 Tim. 1:15-16). 

Do not despair. Do not lose hope. If Saul obtained mercy there is mercy for you and there is mercy for anyone. 

CONCLUSION

“For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Cor. 15:9-10).

God’s grace is not a flimsy, weak thing. His grace is fiery and fierce. His grace propels us to great and joyful obedience. In Christ, God’s authority and kindness are married. His will is almighty and all-gracious. He summons us to die, but the summons to die, is an invitation to begin to really live. Your own desires and plans are often not good, right, or healthy. But when you obey the Lord joyfully, you become a force for that good. 

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No Confidence in the Flesh
 (Philippians #10)

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INTRODUCTION

Everyone here has an inner life and an external life. If there had been no fall, no rebellion, there would have been a true unity between the two. But the entry of sin into the world made it possible for us to dissemble and to play the hypocrite. When this happens, a person takes advantage of the separation—he can now present one appearance to the world, a holy appearance, and he can keep a lozenge of diseased unholiness under his tongue. 

THE TEXT

“Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless” (Phil. 3:1–6). 

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Remember that one of the themes of this letter is the necessity of rejoicing in the Lord. This is stated again here (v. 1). Paul does not mind repeating himself, which he certainly does here, and he regards the repetition as being a safety for them (v. 1). Sound doctrine is the foundation of all true joy, and so it is crucial that they be warned away from the false teachers. These false teachers he calls dogs (v. 2), evil workers (v. 2), and the party of mutilation (v. 2). They call what they are doing “circumcision,” but that honor actually goes to the orthodox Christians (v. 3). They are the ones characterized by three things—they worship God in the spirit, they rejoice in Christ, and they put no confidence in fleshly work (v. 3). If it were possible for any man to have confidence in the flesh, Paul could certainly outdo him (v. 4). Paul then pulls out his resume—circumcised on day eight, Israelite stock, a Benjaminite, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee concerning the law, a zealous persecutor (v. 6), and blameless if you wanted to call this kind of thing blameless. 

TWO KINDS OF BLAMELESSNESS UNDER THE LAW

Throughout the book of Psalms, we see petitions lifted up on the basis of the psalmist’s innocence or blamelessness—“Judge me, O Lord; for I have walked in mine integrity . . .” (Psalm 26:1). 

Zecharias and Elizabeth were blameless in this way:

“And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” (Luke 1:6). 

But they were not sinless, as can be seen in how Zecharias was disciplined for his failure to believe Gabriel (Luke 1:19-20). If God were to mark iniquities . . . (Ps. 130:3). But they were nevertheless conscientious believers, and they were faithful to the covenant of their God—a covenant that made ample provision for sin.  

But prior to his conversion, Paul was not at all like this. He was blameless in the sense that all his papers were in order, but he was also a blasphemer (1 Tim. 1:13), and an insolent man (v. 13). His was an external blamelessness. Internally, he was a rat’s nest of corruptions (Rom. 7:19-20).

One time I asked a leading theologian in a movement that is called the New Perspective on Paul whether or not he believed that Zecharias and Elizabeth, on the one hand, and Paul, on the other, were all basically in the same category. Sure, Paul was something of a hothead, but were they all “blameless according to the law” in the same basic way? He said they were. But this is obviously false. Zecharias was regenerate and Paul, prior to the Damascus road, was unregenerate. The distance between them was the distance between Heaven and Hell.  

MY BIBLE IS MORE UNDERLINED THAN YOURS

The easiest thing in the world is to disparage the external markers of holiness that other traditions or religions hold as precious. In the Middle East, men can buy make-up that will mimic a callus on your forehead, the kind of callus that forms when you pray toward Mecca the way you ought. The bishop wears a mitered hat in order to accentuate his dignity. A pop evangelical preacher wears a Daffy Duck t-shirt to accentuate his relevance and approachability. Funny hat, funny shirt, tomayto, tomahto.

When the Pharisee and the tax collector prayed in the Temple, and the Pharisee prayed like a good Reformed man—soli Deo gloria—“I thank thee, God . . .” he went home unjustified. But how many of us thank God that at least we are not like that Pharisee?

How many Reformed believers know that we cannot take any glory in the creature, none whatever, and somehow take glory in the fact that this is something we understand. Self-righteousness can feed upon doctrines as well as upon flowing robes and stoles. We are fallen and can take ego-credit for anything, and can be quite proud of our humility.

We have to keep an eye on all these twists and turns. As the Baptist minister once put it, with a twinkle in his eye, “We Baptists don’t believe in tradition. It is contrary to our historic position.” 

HEART RELIGION

What indicators can the devil duplicate? The devil can sign an orthodox creed (Jas. 2:19). The devil can quote Scripture from memory (Matt. 4:6). The devil can perform miracles (Matt. 24:24). The devil can conduct his temptations on the pinnacle of the Temple (Matt. 4:5). The devil can dazzle you the way a shining angel could (2 Cor. 11:14).  

What can’t the devil do? He cannot wash your sins away. He cannot usher you into joy. “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.” If you were wearing a beautiful cross around your neck, and I were to use that as an illustration in the sermon, as a thing that some trust in instead of Christ, you could not fix the problem by taking off the necklace. It fixes nothing to replace the “necklace” with “no necklace.” No, the thing must be replaced with joy. 

“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” (Romans 14:17). 

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Christ Saves the African Eunuch (The Continuing Adventures of Jesus #13) (King’s Cross)

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INTRODUCTION

Having invaded the land of Samaria with His grace, Christ now sends an advance unit to Africa. And in so doing, Christ teaches us that the tip of the spear is the Word of God by which He comes to us and directs us where we should go and fills us with rejoicing. 

The Text: “And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went: and behold, a man of Ethiopia…” (Acts 8:26-40)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The Lord sends Philip to speak to a prominent eunuch of Ethiopia, a servant of the queen, studying the prophecy of Isaiah in his chariot (Acts 8:26-29). When Philip asked if he understood what he was reading, the eunuch replied that he needed someone to guide him, and invited Philip to come into the chariot where he was reading and asked if the suffering servant in the passage was Isaiah or someone else (Acts 8:30-34). To which Philip answered by preaching Jesus, the lamb who was crucified for sinners (Acts 8:35). And seeing some water, the eunuch asked to be baptized, and when he professed faith in Christ, they went down into the water and Philip baptized him before the Spirit took Philip away to preach in the cities of Caesarea and the Ethiopian went on his way rejoicing (Acts 8:36-40).

ANGELS & THE WORD OF GOD

Many Christians wish angels would tell them where to go, like Philip, but that is exactly what the Bible is: God’s authoritative message for all time. The same Spirit that instructed Philip (Acts 8:29) and then took him away (Acts 8:39) inspired the Scriptures so that we would know what to do (2 Pet. 1:21, 2 Tim. 3:16). And it’s striking that the angel and the Spirit led Philip to help the eunuch, instead of a direct revelation. God’s ordinary means of direction is through the Word and His people in the church. The word “angel” is messenger, and God’s message has been written down in the Bible and faithful ministers help us understand it. The word “gospel” is the “good message,” and the death and resurrection of Jesus is the central message, the key to understanding all of it. 

Some commentators point out that Gaza had been destroyed and this road was probably literally a desert (Acts 8:26). From a fruitful ministry in Samaria, it may have seemed strange to go to a desert, but obedience to the Word put Philip in the strategic position of being ready to be used by God. So too, we must obey our Lord: confess your sins, forgive quickly, love your wife, respect your husband, obey your parents, tell the truth, read the Word, worship Your King. 

THHE SUFFERING SERVANT

Philip runs up to the entourage and hears the Ethiopian reading Isaiah out loud, and the passage he is reading is from Isaiah 53:7-8. Perhaps what particularly caught the eunuch’s attention was the fact that this servant of the Lord was wounded, crushed, and cut off from the living and his generation. But the promise is astonishing: “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when though shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand” (Is. 53:10). In Dt. 23:1, eunuchs are forbidden from entering the congregation of Israel, which means that this Ethiopian could not have been a full Jew, even if he wanted to be. And yet, here was a prophecy of someone else who had experienced the shame and pain of being crushed, bruised, and cut off from life and descendants, who then came under the blessing of the Lord and had children and long life. 

Philip explained that this is talking about Jesus: a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, who bore our grief and carried our sorrows, who was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, a faithful lamb for all the sheep who have gone astray (Is. 53:3-7). And this good news is for all men, all nations. In the midst of the false and idolatrous promises of superficial multiculturalism through the secular-liberal state, it must not be forgotten that all men share the sin-infected blood of Adam, and there is no other salvation except by the blood of a Jewish man named Jesus Christ.

CONCLUSION: WALKING IN THE JOY OF SALVATION

We are not told exactly which texts Philip used in his message, but in Isaiah 56 there is a glorious promise specifically for eunuchs: “For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off” (Is. 56:4-5). 

This is the Christian hope of all people. Everyone is called to deny themselves, take up a cross and follow Jesus. Jesus said that all who give up houses, families, and lands for His sake and the sake of the gospel will receive it back with persecutions plus eternal life (Mk. 10:29-30). This means surrendering everything in principle to God, and then receiving back an everlasting name, everlasting life, and therefore an everlasting joy that can never be taken away, and then everything else is extra. The Spirit took Philip away, but the Ethiopian eunuch had by that time something far greater: Christ.

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