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The Gospel and Thanksgiving

Joe Harby on November 20, 2011

Introduction

The gospel is good news for everyone, and this includes all those who have already heard and believed it. The gospel is food, not just information, and so when the gospel is declared rightly it creates and reinforces true faith. The gospel does not unsettle true faith. You are a congregation of God’s people, a congregation of saints. So if I address you this morning with a charge to believe the gospel, it is not because your faith in Christ is doubted, but rather because we must all believe the gospel, and we must do so always. At the same time, to encourage you—not unsettle you—I want to declare the gospel to you. Established saints will be strengthened by it, professing Christians (but unconverted) may be quickened by it, and unbelievers who are visiting us may be called to Jesus Christ.

The Texts

“And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions” (Mark 10:17-22).

“What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet” (Rom. 7:7).

Summary of the Texts

When a young man runs up (whom I believe to have been Mark himself), he asks Jesus the way to eternal life. Jesus points him to the law of God, giving him a list of the commandments from the second table of the law, all but one—the prohibition of covetousness in the Tenth Commandment. The young man answered that he had done well on all that. All that obedience and he still did not have eternal life! So Jesus tells him that one thing was still missing. He gives him an assignment that touches the nerve center of his ongoing disobedience to the Tenth Commandment. He went away sad, it says, because he had great possessions, which he wanted to keep.

Saul of Tarsus was another young Jewish man who was prepared for the gospel by that same Tenth Commandment. He would not have known sin except for the law. He would not have known lust if the law had not said “Thou shalt not covet.” The second table of the law can be summarized. The law leads us to Christ by posing the fundamental question, which is, “what do you want?”

Wanting and Thanking

We are told in Scripture not to let anyone beguile us with enticing words (Col. 2:4). We are told to overflow with thanksgiving (Col. 2:7). Thanksgiving and covetousness are therefore mutually exclusive. Being seduced or enticed by covetousness (by what you are wanting) is therefore not possible in a thankful heart.

The Arc of the Story

One of the reasons the doctrine of regeneration is so important is because the doctrine of generation is so important. God fashioned man out of the dust of the ground in the first place, but it was the breath of God that established us after His image. “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen. 2:7). First God formed, and then God breathed. When God breathed the breath of life into our first father, it was then that he became a living soul, created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27). This scriptural language of “image” is closely connected to the reality of generation. When Adam had a son, it was a son in his own image, in his own likeness (Gen. 5:3). This is language that plainly echoes what God had done initially with Adam. Adam had a son after his own image just as God had a son after His own image. In some sense, Adam was son of God by generation.

The way it was with Adam downstream was also the way it was with Adam one generation upstream (Luke 3:38). And keep in mind that Adam means man, or mankind. We may therefore read it as “mankind, the son of God.” Now when Adam sinned, what he was sinned. He was a son of God who sinned. This meant that a new form of generation was established. In some sense, the sons of God became sons of the devil. The mechanism that accomplished this was the mechanism of separating us, as a race, from the life of God. “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Eph. 4:18). First there was generation, then degeneration, and then, for the elect, regeneration.

Here is the fundamental question behind each of these categories. Who’s your daddy? Never seek to define your identity apart from your relationships. When did we become sons of God? We were generated in His image when He breathed the breath of life into our first father. When did we become objects of wrath, children of the devil? When our first father took the fruit that had been forbidden to him, but which he coveted anyway (Gen. 3:6; 1 Jn. 2:16). When were we born again, when were we regenerated? When we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ in truth, moved by the Spirit to do so, and God the Father became our Father once again. In short, it happened when the central covetousness died, and the central thanksgiving was born. What is it to be born again? It is the death of covetous wanting, and the birth of thankful wanting.

The Grace of God’s Law

Theologians refer to the three uses of God’s law. But the first use refers to a revelation of God’s character, the righteousness of God that condemns the unrighteousness of man. With regard to the rich young ruler, we are talking about the first use. In order to come to Christ, the old man must die (in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, which is the glorious gospel). But do not grab the old man, and cut his fingernails, or give him a haircut. Do not arm wrestle with him. He must be crucified—his beating heart, which is wanting, always wanting, must die. When that man is raised in Christ, his grasping covetousness has been replaced.

Romans 39: And Hearing By The Word Of God (10:14-21)

Joe Harby on November 8, 2009

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Introduction

In this portion of Romans, we start to see the intersection of two realities—decretal realities and covenantal realities. This will come to full flower in the next chapter, but we see it begin here. God is utterly sovereign, and rightly understood, this means that when He chooses to use created instruments to accomplish His purposes, we do not have the right to give Him any backchat about it.

The Text

“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? . . .” (Rom 10:14-21).

Summary of the Text

In chapter 8, we considered the golden chain of redemption at the divine level—predestined, called, justified, and gloried. Here we have another glorious, redemptive chain—sending, preaching, hearing, believing, and calling (vv. 14-15). The beautiful feet of the gospel messenger is an image taken from Is. 52:7. But the beautiful message is not always beautifully received—just a few verses later, Isaiah laments the lack of faith (v. 16; Is. 53:1). Nevertheless, faith still comes by hearing, and hearing by the (sent and preached) word of God (v. 17). But there are two kinds of hearing—the one that leads to believing and calling on the Lord, and the other that leads to hardening. Did not the unbelieving Israelites hear? Yes, after a fashion (v. 18; Ps. 19:4). Paul asks the question again—surely Israel did hear in some way (v. 19). Yes, of course, (v. 19; Dt. 32:21). In contrast, Isaiah boldly prophesies that God would be found by Gentiles who weren’t looking for Him (v. 20; Is. 65:1). And at the same time, God was rejected by Israel (v. 21; Is. 65:2), that same Israel that pretended to be pursuing Him.

A Line of Quotations

In this brief passage, Paul quotes six passages from the Old Testament—four from Isaiah, one from Psalms, and one from Deuteronomy. The first shows a division in Israel (Is. 52:7). In the chapter immediately before the glorious statement of Christ’s substitutionary death, we see Israel divided between those who blaspheme (Is. 52:5) and those who burst into songs of joy (Is. 52:9). On the threshold of the greatest statement of the gospel in the Old Testament, Isaiah laments the fact that no one believes him (Is. 53:1). This is quoted more fully in John 12:38, and is based on God striking Israel with a judicial blindness (John 12:39-41; Is. 6:10). Isaiah sees the glory of God in Christ and is told to tell Israel that they do not and cannot see (Jn. 12:39, 41). So did the Jews not see at all? No, they saw, but did so the way all men see the general revelation of God—suppressing the truth about what they see even as they see (Rom. 1: 20). The glory of God is revealed through the whole creation (Ps. 19:4), and this is explicitly compared to the Torah in that psalm (Ps. 19:7ff). He then appeals to the Song of Moses, in which Moses makes the Israelites include a song in their liturgy that prophesies that they will be provoked to envy by Gentiles (Dt. 32:21). In order to be provoked by Gentiles finding God, the Israelites would have to see those Gentiles finding God. Moses also made them sing an invitation to the Gentiles (Dt. 32:43), an invitation cited by Paul a little bit later (Rom. 15:10). So did they see? Of course they did, but only enough to condemn them. Isaiah prophesies that the Gentiles will come (Is. 65:1), and that the Jews would refuse, despite God’s grace to them (Is. 65:2).

Envy and The Gospel

There is no way successfully to avoid seeing Christ, but there are two ways to see Him. Envy has more twists and turns than simple faith does, and this is often because envy has a sharper eye, and sees more, even though it does not want to. The attitude we should have in looking to God and His Word for our direction (Ps. 123:2) is the kind of sharp eye for detail that drives the envious. The envious who hate Christ are often far more aware than we are of the import of Christ. But note: the energy that sinful envy provides is something that God is most willing to use (v. 19). God is made jealous by idolatry among His covenant people (Dt. 32:21) and so He pours out His blessing where no one expected it. Everything is thrown into turmoil, all the religious fussers fuss, and the kingdom of God advances in glory.

So Hear the Lord Christ

The point in verse 14 is often missed because of a translation issue. When it says “and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard,” it creates the impression that faith is created when people hear preachers talking about Jesus. But while this is true, much more is involved in this. A better translation here would be “and how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard,” with no of. Men, women and children do not come to faith because they hear about Christ, but rather because they hear and see Christ Himself. How does this happen? It happens in full accordance with the folly of God—preaching (1 Cor. 1:18-21). God’s plan for the transformation of the world is this: sending, preaching, hearing, believing, calling. When we ordain evangelists, missionaries, and church planters, what are we doing? We are sending Christ. Those sent preach Christ. The people hear Christ, and believe in Christ. What do they then do? They call upon Christ, and they are saved.

So this is not a mantra, or a magical incantation. It is the gospel. Jesus Christ was born of a woman, born under the law. He lived a perfect and sinless life, and was broken on the cross for our sins. He was laid in a tomb, in full accordance with the Scriptures, and He rose from the dead on the third day. He then ascended in glory to the right hand of God the Father, and what can all the assembled unbelievers, and their parliaments, armies and laws, do about it? Absolutely nothing, that’s what. As the prophet Isaiah also says, speaking of the glory of the gospel’s work in this world (Is. 64:4; I Cor. 2:9) “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him” (Is. 64:4).

Romans 38: The Gospel Stone (10:5-13)

Joe Harby on November 1, 2009

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Introduction

If Christ is the stone, then the message of Christ is the message stone. People confess with their mouth and are saved, and people stumble over the words of grace and are lost forever. Preaching the stone is therefore a preaching of a gospel stone, and not a gospel cushion or pillow. The stone, when it is good news, is a stone. The stone, when it offends, is a stone.

The Text

“For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law . . .” (Rom. 10:5-13).

Summary of the Text

Remember that we have two different responses to the one stone. For the one with faith, it is a cornerstone. For the unbeliever, it is a stone of stumbling and offense. The gospel stone works the same way. Moses describes one kind of man, the man who wants to go about to establish his own righteousness. He says, the man who does these things shall live by them (v. 5). This is a quotation from Lev. 18:5. Interestingly, this is part of the preamble to a list of sexual prohibitions. But Moses also is the voice of the other kind of righteousness, the righteousness that is “of faith.” It says (v. 6), quoting Deuteronomy 30:12, that men should not pretend that Christ is way up in Heaven, needing to be fetched. Don’t pretend there was no Incarnation. And it also says that men should not pretend that Christ is beneath the sea (v. 7; Dt. 30:13), as though there was no resurrection. No, Moses told the Israelites that the word was near them, in their hearts, and in their mouths (v. 8; Dt. 30:14). So what was in their mouths and hearts? The Torah—that is, Paul says the word of faith that he is preaching (v. 8). Christ is the end of the law, remember (v. 4)? The summary is this: if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord (v. 9), and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead (v. 9), you will be saved. For men believe unto righteousness, and they confess unto salvation (v. 10). This is true because everyone who believes on the Stone (Is. 28:16) will never be put to shame. This is the cornerstone; who may build upon it? There is no difference between Jew or Gentile here (v. 12). The Lord is rich to all who call upon Him. How do we know? Joel promises that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (v. 13; Joel 2:32). Who have we just confessed as Lord? Jesus. Who is Joel talking about? Yahweh. Jesus is Yahweh, Jesus is Jehovah.

Righteousness of the Law

In Leviticus 18, Moses tells the people first that they are not to do what is customary in Egypt, where they came from (18:3), or in Canaan, where they are going (v. 4). They must obey the law of God (18:4), and the man who obeys them will live by them (v. 5). What follows is a prohibition of multiple forms of incest (vv. 6-18), sex during a woman’s period (v. 19), adultery (v. 20), child sacrifice (v. 21), homosexuality (v. 22), or bestiality (v. 23).

Now if we have learned the gospel rightly, the man who sees Christ in this part of the Torah is living by faith. The man who sees rules is not. Flipped around, the man with faith sees Christ. The man in unbelief sees rules. The man of faith sees a sexual stone to build on. The man of unbelief is crushed by the sexual stone, crushed by his lust. How so?

How Easy, How Hard

At first glance, this list of rules looks pretty easy. A fairly low bar, right? Avoid sex with your sister, your aunt, and with barnyard animals. Going to Heaven is a cakewalk, right? Not so fast.

First, note that these things were customary in Egypt and in Canaan. The underlying command here is not to “not have sex with,” but “not to imitate.” Judging from how easily modern Christian imitate the unbelieving culture around us, we ought not to pat ourselves on the back too readily. Second, if you are not looking to Christ, then you have no choice but to reflect the image of that which is not Christ. And not Christ eventually looks like this list of perversions, whether or not it is studying the Torah, a scriptural devotional, or looking at hard-R raunch. Third, this is because the law (pursued as not Christ) is law that provokes and stirs up sin (Rom. 3:20; 5:20), and the sexual element is never far away (Rom. 7: 7). One of the things we are not to covet is our neighbor’s wife, also mentioned here in this list (Lev. 18:20). This means that traditional values without Christ are nothing less than a perversion generator. And open immorality is no better. There is no salvation anywhere apart from Jesus.

Speaking of Jesus…

Jesus Christ is everywhere. He is in Heaven, and He came down from Heaven. He is beneath the sea, and He rose up from Sheol, just as Jonah did. He is pervasive throughout the Torah, for those who have the eyes of faith to see. He is in the gospel declared and preached, for those who respond in faith. For those without faith, He is God AWOL and all that is left are the dry bones and dusty rags of moralism.

Jesus Is Truly Lord

The confession of verse 9 is glorious—if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord (of your mouth), and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, out of the graveyard of your heart, then you shall be saved. If the Spirit has been teaching us, we should see that fulfilling what this verse is talking about is not like touching second base as you run by. Christ is found in every word of v. 9—do you believe? Christ is found in every sexual prohibition of Leviticus 18—do you believe? And Jesus is Lord is just another phrase that Jesus can be missing from, if it is found in the mouth of a man with no faith.

Who will touch the eyes of the blind men? Who will speak to the ears of deaf? Who will tell the lame to leap for joy? How will this be done? How will it happen? When Paul tells us that Moses is speaking about the word of faith that he, Paul, is preaching, he is not wrenching words out of context. “And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live” (Dt. 30:6). In short, you must be born again.

With this regenerate heart, which alone is capable of believing, what do you see brought down from Heaven? What do you see brought up from the depths of Jonah’s sea? You see the good of the land. “See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it” (Dt. 30:15-16). This is the gospel stone. Built upon it, and live.

Romans 33: Jacob I Have Loved (9:7-13)

Christ Church on September 13, 2009

Introduction

We come now to the central lesson of all evangelical religion. We come now to the glorious revelation of the sovereign grace of God, as revealed in the gospel, and only through the gospel. We come now to the promises, which are great and precious.

The Text

“Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God . . .” (Rom. 9:7-13).

Summary of the Text

We have seen that not everyone who is of Israel is to be counted as Israel. This answers the objection God’s word has somehow failed (v. 6). But how does this work out in the course of scriptural history? For example, in order to be a “child of Abraham” it is necessary to be more than a child of Abraham. The promise was given to the line of Isaac (v. 7). Paul quotes Gen. 21:12 here. He then says that Abraham had two kinds of children—children of the flesh and children of the promise. The children of the promise are the ones who are considered to be his seed (v. 8). Quoting Gen. 18:10,14, Paul quotes the promise directly. Not only that, but the same thing is repeated over again in the next generation. Rebecca conceived twins by one man, the patriarch Isaac (v. 10). And then Paul says that before these twins were born, and so that God’s prerogatives in election would stand unchallenged (v. 11), God declared through a prophecy that the elder would serve the younger (v. 12). This is found in Gen. 25:23. And finishing the thought, the apostle quotes from Mal. 1:2-3. Jacob was loved by God, and Esau was hated and rejected by Him (v. 13).

Twin Nations

In debates between Calvinists and Arminians, a point is often made about that inflammatory quote—”Esau I hated”—and it is a point we should readily grant, but only to a point. The quotation is not from the book of Genesis, like the others here, and is rather from the last book of the Old Testament (Mal. 1:2-3). Malachi in context is talking about the nations of Israel and Edom. It is the word of the Lord to Israel (Mal. 1:1), and His hatred of Esau is why Edom is referred to as judged (v. 4). If we are following Paul’s argument here in Romans, the corporate love that God showed to Israel did not mean that every Israelite was saved. Neither did His hatred of Esau mean that every Edomite was lost (Job 1:1). At the same time, it does mean something. If God’s sovereign dispensing of grace apart from works extends to entire nations, why would be balk in applying it to individuals?

Ishmaelites and Edomites

The unbelieving Jews of Paul’s day drew themselves up to their full height. “We are children of Abraham,” they said. “Oh,” he replied, “Ishmaelites then?” “No,” they retorted. “We are descended from Isaac.” “Oh,” he replied. “Edomites then?” They had the generations of the patriarchs to learn the lesson, but their unbelief had blinded them. Every generation has to learn the same lesson over again, and it can only be learned by the sovereign grace of God. Learning this lesson is the gift of God.

Sovereign Authority in the Promise

The unbelieving heart always wants to trap God in the fine print. Paul’s point here is that we are not nearly so adept at reading that fine print as we think we are. We say that God promised salvation to the seed of Abraham, and there, we have Him. Paul points out, in the fine print, that Ishmael is the seed of Abraham in a certain sense. Right? We retreat—God promised salvation to the seed of Isaac. Surely He can’t wriggle out of t hat. Paul points to the next paragraph down. What about Esau? Is he part of this salvation? The point is that when God reveals, at the culmination of history, that the seed of Abraham are all those who share the faith of Abraham (Gal. 3:28-29), this is not moving the goalposts. This is not a fourth quarter rule change. God has been doing this from the very beginning. It has always been for the children of the promise, and never for the children of the flesh alone.

Not of Works

Related to this, the fundamental contrast for Paul is always between grace and works, and note that the allure of “works” here is centuries before the Torah was given. Jacob had the position he did by grace, and it was not of works (v. 11). Jacob was given something apart from works long before his great, great grandson Moses, giver of the Torah, was born (Ex. 6:16-20). The Torah wasn’t around but works were. Works always are, whispering in your ear.

The Elder Serves the Younger

We know that God draws straight with crooked lines, but we sometimes rush to assign blame where the Bible does not. While she was pregnant, Rebecca inquired of the Lord and was told by God that the older twin would serve the younger (Gen. 25:23). Contrary to this word, Isaac favored Esau (Gen. 25:28), despite the fact that Jacob was a perfect man (Gen. 25:27). Rebecca believed in the word of the Lord, and she favored her righteous son while Isaac favored the son who gave him the kind of food he liked (Gen. 25:28). Isaac was willing to give the blessing for the sake of food, and Esau was willing to sell his birthright for the sake of food. The deception of Rebecca and Jacob saved Isaac from a spiritual disaster. Isaac tried to reject the word of the Lord, but was graciously prevented.

Not the Children of God

Now we need to embrace both sides of what Paul is saying. The children of the flesh are of the children of God in one sense (v. 6) but, as he says in v. 8, they are not the children of God in another. We are the children of God by faith (Gal. 3:26). Evangelists of Christ must never be shy about telling Christians that they aren’t, or telling evangelicals that they need to be born again. And pastors of Christ must never tire of telling Christians that they are accepted in the Beloved.

Romans 31: Untouchable (8:32-39)

Christ Church on August 16, 2009

Text

“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:32-39