The Savoy Declaration of Faith is a reassertion of the Westminster Confession of Faith with some minor alterations pertaining to Congregational Churches. Here is the section on Freewill:
9.1 God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty, and power of acting upon choice, that it is neither forced, nor, by any absolute necessity of nature, determined to do good or evil.
9.2 Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom and power to will and to do that which was good and well-pleasing to God; but yet, mutably, so that he might fall from it.
9.3 Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.
9.4 When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of grace, He freeth him from his natural bondage under sin; and, by His grace alone, enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good; yet so as that, by reason of his remaining corruption, he doth not perfectly, nor only, will that which is good, but doth also will that which is evil.
9.5 The will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to do good alone in the state of glory only.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Words from BB Warfield
B. B. Warfield cared for his invalid wife for 39 years. They didn't have any children. A man endowed with a massive mind and an even bigger heart. An Underdog.
"The fundamental thought is the universal government of God. All that comes to you is under His controlling hand. The secondary thought is the favour of God to those that love Him. If He governs all, then nothing but good can befall those to whom He would do good. The consolation lies in the shelter which we may thus find beneath His almighty arms. We are weak, we are blind; He is strong and He is wise. Though we are too weak to help ourselves and too blind to ask for what we need, and can only groan in unformed longings, He is the author in us of these very longings—He knows what they really mean—and He will so govern all things that we shall reap only good from all that befalls us." (B. B. Warfield, 'Faith & Life')
Thanks to Warren Cruz for the legwork.
"The fundamental thought is the universal government of God. All that comes to you is under His controlling hand. The secondary thought is the favour of God to those that love Him. If He governs all, then nothing but good can befall those to whom He would do good. The consolation lies in the shelter which we may thus find beneath His almighty arms. We are weak, we are blind; He is strong and He is wise. Though we are too weak to help ourselves and too blind to ask for what we need, and can only groan in unformed longings, He is the author in us of these very longings—He knows what they really mean—and He will so govern all things that we shall reap only good from all that befalls us." (B. B. Warfield, 'Faith & Life')
Thanks to Warren Cruz for the legwork.
Wolves
I've been listening to Christian debates all week. This is something I find very interesting. An atheist and a Christian get together and debate a general topic, like the existence of God. This debate usually occurs at a university or a church. If it's at a university, the audience is usually hostile to the Christian, because universities are basically atheist churches. If it's at a church, the audience is usually sympathetic for the Christian. Notice I didn't say "hostile to the atheist," because usually the Christians are praying for the atheist's relationship with God during the debate.
Now, I do have to say that the atheist is at a disadvantage, regardless of whether the debate is at a university or a church. The reason the atheist is at a disadvantage is because the atheist doesn't actually realize the goal of the debate. He thinks the goal of the debate is to win. The Christian doesn't care about winning the debate. The Christian's goal is to share the gospel with the audience.
Now, the gospel during a debate is a watered-down general form of the gospel, and this version of the gospel cannot change hearts, but it can steer people in the right direction. A debate version of the gospel usually does not include scripture, and scripture is necessary to change hearts.
Why is scripture important to changing hearts? What is special about it? What is the substance of the Word of God that makes it a living Word that converts people away from their sinful lives and into God's kingdom? A biblical preacher or meditation on the Word itself is important. Why?
Well, what is the gospel? What is the key to salvation? Paul tells the jailer in Acts 16:31, "believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved." What does it mean to believe in Jesus? Just to believe in his existence? To believe that he is God? To believe that he died and rose again? What?
Dinesh D'Souza says something during one of these debates that made me curious. His version of the gospel was this: Jesus is different from all other religious figures in that he has paid the penalty for the sins of the world. All we have to do is ADMIT THAT WE ARE GUILTY, and God lets us off the hook, he saves us, because Jesus paid the penalty.
Imagine going into a courtroom for a trial. The trial is yours. The judge asks for your plea. You don't think you've done anything wrong, and so you plea "NOT GUILTY." Then the prosecutor comes over and begins to present his case against you. He proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are guilty of heinous crimes against God and humanity and deserve to be put to death--eternal DEATH. You can't rebut, because you agree with the conclusion. But now it is too late. You have pleaded not guilty.
Now, imagine the same scenario, except this time you plea GUILTY. You have read the Bible, and you have read yourself into the scriptures, the Holy Spirit has revealed the truth to you, and you are truly convinced of your guilt. After your plea, the judge leans in and tells you, "the penalty has been paid. You are free to go."
That's all there is to it, but you must truly believe that you are guilty. This is the biggest hurdle in today's world. We are taught from birth that we are not guilty. Our culture is a victim culture, not a guilty culture. Where does Jesus come in? Well, believing in the Lord Jesus IS EQUAL to believing that you are guilty! They are the same thing. If you don't truly believe in your guilt, you don't truly believe in Jesus. Only through your conviction that you are guilty--a conviction that comes through the Holy Spirit interpreting scripture--do you realize that you need a savior and that Jesus is literally the only figure capable of fulfilling that role.
So, admitting we are guilty, REALLY believing we are guilty, is confessing we need a savior, and that savior is Jesus. Admitting we are guilty IS believing in the Lord Jesus. We become saved only through that honest admission of guilt. This is no off-hand, "yeah, I'm guilty" or a deathbed confession. This has to be true belief in the soul.
And every church skips over this part of the gospel. They don't want to upset anyone, so they don't want to make us feel guilty. However, conviction of sin is paramount to belief. Only when we believe we are miserable sinners, totally depraved, will we honestly believe the gospel. Let's look at some scriptures for today.
After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house!' And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.' (Luke 10:1-11)
This is a common application text for church planters. We automatically assume we are the lambs in this passage, and that is true. We are the lambs, after we have come to Christ. Before we believe in the Lord Jesus, we are the wolves, and WE WON'T BE ABLE to believe in the Lord Jesus until we first believe we are the wolves.
And our preachers and pastors skip right over the wolves part. We are not presented the full gospel of Christ, because we are not harnessed with the role of wolf. Let's look at an old testament passage:
Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her--that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious bosom. For thus says the LORD: I will extend prosperity to her like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse and be carried on her arm, and dandled on her knees. As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your bodies shall flourish like the grass; and it shall be known that the hand of the LORD is with his servants, and his indignation is against his enemies. (Isaiah 66:10-14)
Look! It's the prosperity gospel that I've been preaching against. Well, this passage must prove that the prosperity gospel is true. While it is true that God does want us to prosper, we never look at that last clause and think of ourselves as God's enemies. We cannot get the prosperity of God's gospel until we first understand--truly--that we are enemies of God. We were born enemies of God. We cannot become friends of God under our own power at all. We cannot read this passage except as ourselves as the bad guys. Once we truly we believe we are the BAD GUYS in scripture--another proof for the authenticity of scripture as God's Word (why would anyone write themselves into the story as the bad guys?)--only then can we reach for the antidote: Jesus Christ. Only then can we read ourselves as the blessed recipients of God's love.
And most Christians in the West do not believe they are the bad guys. Christianity in the East and the South is growing rapidly, because they are given the full gospel, including the "wolf" part. We are given a watered-down version of the gospel with a helpful God who wants us to feel good about ourselves. Believe in the Lord Jesus: admit you are guilty.
Now, I do have to say that the atheist is at a disadvantage, regardless of whether the debate is at a university or a church. The reason the atheist is at a disadvantage is because the atheist doesn't actually realize the goal of the debate. He thinks the goal of the debate is to win. The Christian doesn't care about winning the debate. The Christian's goal is to share the gospel with the audience.
Now, the gospel during a debate is a watered-down general form of the gospel, and this version of the gospel cannot change hearts, but it can steer people in the right direction. A debate version of the gospel usually does not include scripture, and scripture is necessary to change hearts.
Why is scripture important to changing hearts? What is special about it? What is the substance of the Word of God that makes it a living Word that converts people away from their sinful lives and into God's kingdom? A biblical preacher or meditation on the Word itself is important. Why?
Well, what is the gospel? What is the key to salvation? Paul tells the jailer in Acts 16:31, "believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved." What does it mean to believe in Jesus? Just to believe in his existence? To believe that he is God? To believe that he died and rose again? What?
Dinesh D'Souza says something during one of these debates that made me curious. His version of the gospel was this: Jesus is different from all other religious figures in that he has paid the penalty for the sins of the world. All we have to do is ADMIT THAT WE ARE GUILTY, and God lets us off the hook, he saves us, because Jesus paid the penalty.
Imagine going into a courtroom for a trial. The trial is yours. The judge asks for your plea. You don't think you've done anything wrong, and so you plea "NOT GUILTY." Then the prosecutor comes over and begins to present his case against you. He proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are guilty of heinous crimes against God and humanity and deserve to be put to death--eternal DEATH. You can't rebut, because you agree with the conclusion. But now it is too late. You have pleaded not guilty.
Now, imagine the same scenario, except this time you plea GUILTY. You have read the Bible, and you have read yourself into the scriptures, the Holy Spirit has revealed the truth to you, and you are truly convinced of your guilt. After your plea, the judge leans in and tells you, "the penalty has been paid. You are free to go."
That's all there is to it, but you must truly believe that you are guilty. This is the biggest hurdle in today's world. We are taught from birth that we are not guilty. Our culture is a victim culture, not a guilty culture. Where does Jesus come in? Well, believing in the Lord Jesus IS EQUAL to believing that you are guilty! They are the same thing. If you don't truly believe in your guilt, you don't truly believe in Jesus. Only through your conviction that you are guilty--a conviction that comes through the Holy Spirit interpreting scripture--do you realize that you need a savior and that Jesus is literally the only figure capable of fulfilling that role.
So, admitting we are guilty, REALLY believing we are guilty, is confessing we need a savior, and that savior is Jesus. Admitting we are guilty IS believing in the Lord Jesus. We become saved only through that honest admission of guilt. This is no off-hand, "yeah, I'm guilty" or a deathbed confession. This has to be true belief in the soul.
And every church skips over this part of the gospel. They don't want to upset anyone, so they don't want to make us feel guilty. However, conviction of sin is paramount to belief. Only when we believe we are miserable sinners, totally depraved, will we honestly believe the gospel. Let's look at some scriptures for today.
After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house!' And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.' (Luke 10:1-11)
This is a common application text for church planters. We automatically assume we are the lambs in this passage, and that is true. We are the lambs, after we have come to Christ. Before we believe in the Lord Jesus, we are the wolves, and WE WON'T BE ABLE to believe in the Lord Jesus until we first believe we are the wolves.
And our preachers and pastors skip right over the wolves part. We are not presented the full gospel of Christ, because we are not harnessed with the role of wolf. Let's look at an old testament passage:
Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her--that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious bosom. For thus says the LORD: I will extend prosperity to her like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse and be carried on her arm, and dandled on her knees. As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your bodies shall flourish like the grass; and it shall be known that the hand of the LORD is with his servants, and his indignation is against his enemies. (Isaiah 66:10-14)
Look! It's the prosperity gospel that I've been preaching against. Well, this passage must prove that the prosperity gospel is true. While it is true that God does want us to prosper, we never look at that last clause and think of ourselves as God's enemies. We cannot get the prosperity of God's gospel until we first understand--truly--that we are enemies of God. We were born enemies of God. We cannot become friends of God under our own power at all. We cannot read this passage except as ourselves as the bad guys. Once we truly we believe we are the BAD GUYS in scripture--another proof for the authenticity of scripture as God's Word (why would anyone write themselves into the story as the bad guys?)--only then can we reach for the antidote: Jesus Christ. Only then can we read ourselves as the blessed recipients of God's love.
And most Christians in the West do not believe they are the bad guys. Christianity in the East and the South is growing rapidly, because they are given the full gospel, including the "wolf" part. We are given a watered-down version of the gospel with a helpful God who wants us to feel good about ourselves. Believe in the Lord Jesus: admit you are guilty.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
True Calling
I want to talk about true calling. Now, in our Gospel passage today, we have the following three instances of calling. Let's look at them:
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:57-62)
We are going to look at the first and third "calling" first. What do you see that they have in common? Let's start with number three. We have someone coming to Jesus and wanting to follow him. But there is a condition. He tells Jesus that he must do something first. I'll follow you, but... I call this the "Jesus-but" situation. These are the people who are "trying" Christianity out. They are experimenting. They are dabbling in faith. They may be trying Christianity out this week, but Buddhism will be next week, etc. There's always a condition, and it's a hurdle that needs to be overcome before following.
Now, Jesus responds to this individual that anyone who hesitates, anyone who has a condition, is not fit for the kingdom of God. But, we see in the book of Kings that Elijah calls Elisha, who then says goodbye to his family before joining him, and there's no problem. Matthew Levi is called by Jesus, and he . . . throws a party. Conditions or hesitations are not really obstacles to following Jesus.
The third "calling" and the first have this in common: Jesus never called them. Jesus rejects the "but" guy, because he was never called. The "but" guy approached Jesus. That's the real problem.
Same with the first guy. Let's call him the Jesus-and guy. Here he offers to follow Jesus, without conditions. This sounds like the prefect disciple, but once again, Jesus never called him. Calling is the initiation of Jesus. We only respond to the call. This first guy was never called.
He is also a Jesus-and guy. He will follow Jesus, but he is going to do it on his own terms. He approaches Jesus. He has decided that he wants this. This is something that he has chosen to do. We see this in the church all the time. We see people in places of leadership, regardless of denomination, who have worked their way to the top, and they are now in positions of power, and they are leading people astray with false teachings. Why? Because they were never called.
We also see this in church leaders who cannot overcome an addiction that interferes with their ministry. Once again, regardless of denomination, we have people who feel called, but then they are downloading pornography onto the church computer. Guess what? You weren't called. You don't need therapy. You don't need to try harder next time. You weren't called to be there in the first place. Still get help, but get out of the church first.
Jesus responds cryptically, but it makes sense when you realize that following Jesus means poverty, means homelessness, means SERVICE, not STATUS. The Jesus-and crowd are in it for the status. They are gregarious and laugh the loudest. Jesus never called them.
Now, for the middle guy. Jesus calls him. "Follow me." Now, the guy has conditions, and he's hamming and hawing, but Jesus will not be stopped. We assume because the first and third guys are rejected, that Jesus also rejects the middle guy. No, Jesus just plunges on ahead and gives the guy an assignment.
Moses, Jeremiah, and many others hem and haw, and try to get out of the calling, but God will not be stopped. God plunges on ahead and gives them the assignment. Moses says he can't speak well. Jeremiah says he is just a child. God doesn't care. Here's your assignment.
We also assume that following Jesus means literally walking after him. Some are called to go to faraway countries as missionaries, but some are called to stay right where they are and preach the Word to their hometown. Jesus gives that sort of assignment to the middle guy. He is not to walk after Jesus with the disciples, but he is to proclaim the Word of God to his area. This is no less following Jesus, and this is no less a calling.
Think of the call you heard and think of others you know. How do we know true calling? Well, are you or your friends dabbling in Christianity? That's the Jesus-but. Are you or your friends seeking status in the Church? That's a Jesus-and. Are you proclaiming the Word to the place where you have been sent--even if it is where you live? You have been called.
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:57-62)
We are going to look at the first and third "calling" first. What do you see that they have in common? Let's start with number three. We have someone coming to Jesus and wanting to follow him. But there is a condition. He tells Jesus that he must do something first. I'll follow you, but... I call this the "Jesus-but" situation. These are the people who are "trying" Christianity out. They are experimenting. They are dabbling in faith. They may be trying Christianity out this week, but Buddhism will be next week, etc. There's always a condition, and it's a hurdle that needs to be overcome before following.
Now, Jesus responds to this individual that anyone who hesitates, anyone who has a condition, is not fit for the kingdom of God. But, we see in the book of Kings that Elijah calls Elisha, who then says goodbye to his family before joining him, and there's no problem. Matthew Levi is called by Jesus, and he . . . throws a party. Conditions or hesitations are not really obstacles to following Jesus.
The third "calling" and the first have this in common: Jesus never called them. Jesus rejects the "but" guy, because he was never called. The "but" guy approached Jesus. That's the real problem.
Same with the first guy. Let's call him the Jesus-and guy. Here he offers to follow Jesus, without conditions. This sounds like the prefect disciple, but once again, Jesus never called him. Calling is the initiation of Jesus. We only respond to the call. This first guy was never called.
He is also a Jesus-and guy. He will follow Jesus, but he is going to do it on his own terms. He approaches Jesus. He has decided that he wants this. This is something that he has chosen to do. We see this in the church all the time. We see people in places of leadership, regardless of denomination, who have worked their way to the top, and they are now in positions of power, and they are leading people astray with false teachings. Why? Because they were never called.
We also see this in church leaders who cannot overcome an addiction that interferes with their ministry. Once again, regardless of denomination, we have people who feel called, but then they are downloading pornography onto the church computer. Guess what? You weren't called. You don't need therapy. You don't need to try harder next time. You weren't called to be there in the first place. Still get help, but get out of the church first.
Jesus responds cryptically, but it makes sense when you realize that following Jesus means poverty, means homelessness, means SERVICE, not STATUS. The Jesus-and crowd are in it for the status. They are gregarious and laugh the loudest. Jesus never called them.
Now, for the middle guy. Jesus calls him. "Follow me." Now, the guy has conditions, and he's hamming and hawing, but Jesus will not be stopped. We assume because the first and third guys are rejected, that Jesus also rejects the middle guy. No, Jesus just plunges on ahead and gives the guy an assignment.
Moses, Jeremiah, and many others hem and haw, and try to get out of the calling, but God will not be stopped. God plunges on ahead and gives them the assignment. Moses says he can't speak well. Jeremiah says he is just a child. God doesn't care. Here's your assignment.
We also assume that following Jesus means literally walking after him. Some are called to go to faraway countries as missionaries, but some are called to stay right where they are and preach the Word to their hometown. Jesus gives that sort of assignment to the middle guy. He is not to walk after Jesus with the disciples, but he is to proclaim the Word of God to his area. This is no less following Jesus, and this is no less a calling.
Think of the call you heard and think of others you know. How do we know true calling? Well, are you or your friends dabbling in Christianity? That's the Jesus-but. Are you or your friends seeking status in the Church? That's a Jesus-and. Are you proclaiming the Word to the place where you have been sent--even if it is where you live? You have been called.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Fear of Civilization
Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me"--for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, "What is your name?" He said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him. (Luke 8:26-39)
Let's talk about the civilizing effect of Christianity. What is this man like in Luke 8? He was a man possessed with demons. He had not put on any clothing for a long time, and he was not living in a house but amongst the tombs. Let us think of our current culture: it's a culture of death, and this isn't new. This has been the case forever. All of the countries that surrounded Israel were cultures of death. Egypt was a culture of death. The most opulent part of Egyptian culture was the tombs. When Pharaoh died, he took all of his stuff with him into the tomb. It was the most important part of Egyptian culture. It was a culture of death, and that hasn't changed.
We live in a culture of death now. The things that people can't get enough of are horror movies, and they tell you it's because they like to be thrilled. We have a fascination with the evil, with the darkness, and its a preoccupation. We have Twilight, which is about vampires, which don't exist, but the concept of the dead feeding on the living is real to our fallen, evil nature. We are into zombie movies; we like the dead feeding on the living. This has always been the case throughout history, and it's a sign of a culture that is doomed to hell, doomed to separation from God.
So here is a man that is no longer civilized; he is out in the tombs, symbolic of death (and us living in a world of death). Now, after Jesus casts out demons--and I'm not saying that we are possessed by demons, but there is such a thing as demon possession, and there are principalities and powers among us, trying to undermine us, but they can be separated from us and still have influence over us. There is direct possession--not for a Christian or someone who has accepted Jesus--but we can be tormented externally by demons, and the world is suffering from demonic possession as a whole, in actuality and also metaphorically. So we do suffer from demons in many ways.
So here Jesus is, casting out these demons from this man, and they are going into the pigs, which drown, and the rest of the city comes up to see what has happened, and they see three things. They see the man, and there are three things about the man. One: he is sitting at the feet of Jesus. Two: he is clothed, and three: he is in his right mind.
He is sitting at the feet of Jesus. This is the first of the civilizing effects of coming to Christ. We are learning, and it's not just any kind of of learning: it is apostolic learning; it is Christ-centered learning. Cornelius Van Til said not only is someone who does not have Christ in their life misunderstanding Christianity, misunderstanding the nature of reality, misunderstanding a God-centered universe, but he doesn't have proper understanding of ANYTHING. Without Christ, all knowledge is corrupted; even secular knowledge is corrupted.
You can see it: without the foundation of God, the most brilliant scientists reach wrong conclusions about things, about what they are studying. Sir Isaac Newton is what is considered the greatest scientist in history, and it's because it's because he always had a foundation of Christ beneath everything he studied. He was learning about God's creation. He told people he was learning at the feet of Jesus; he was sitting at the feet of Jesus. I know people who are brilliant, or they SEEM brilliant; they seem like brilliant people, until you start to think about what they've said. You think about what they have ponderously and thoroughly reflected upon--sometimes for hours, sometimes greatly philosophical and deep--and you realize that their conclusions have been corrupted. They have reached the wrong conclusions. As it says in Proverbs--the first verse in Proverbs--"fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. These people do not have fear of the Lord. They, therefore, do not have the beginning of wisdom, even the BEGINNING of wisdom. It's like playing chess with a man who stares at the chessboard for 3 to 4 times longer than you do, and then he inevitably makes the wrong move, and ends up with a checkmated king. He has spent so much time thinking--and overthinking--and he still comes up with this stupid move. Van Til says this is what happens without God, when you are ungodly, meaning without God, you are corrupted to the point where you can't think properly. Even the most civilized atheist cannot think properly.
Second, he was clothed. Now, this is something that fascinates me, because if you have a conversation with someone, especially one of our younger people, there's a lack of modesty with ideas that are not founded in God. There's a preoccupation with challenging societal norms. There are thoughts and ideas that come rushing to the forefront that involve what they think is breaking down these "societal norms", norms that they think were created by man, and now it's their turn to change the world. But where did these cultural things come from--these aspects of civilization, like wearing clothes and living in houses? They are not things that we decided to come up with arbitrarily. They are things that came from God as helps for us. They came from God and naturally come to us as things that we should do when we have a foundation of God in our lives. God provided the first clothing for Adam and Eve, when they had transgressed his law, when they had fallen. After the curses are announced, and all the horror and defilement have now been heaped upon themselves, because they broke the one law that God had given them, he has mercy and compassion and he clothes them, and this is one of the aspects of the civilizing nature of Christianity.
So what happens with the secular world, what happens with the anti-Christian crowd, is they try to attack this. You'll be talking to a young person and the conversation will eventually come around with a how, "I think that we should be wearing no clothes" or "nudity is nothing to be ashamed of" or, this is a good one: "in Europe they've detached sex from nudity, and so people can be nude and walking around without it meaning anything sexual; because we in America are puritanical, and blah blah blah blah" and then, in the next breath they say, "Europeans can't understand why we have cheerleaders, because that's sexual," so there's the hypocrisy there. But what is happening is they are looking to destroy these cultural norms and want everybody to walk around naked, and they want other immodest proposals like covering your body with tattoos or putting metal through your face, all of these self-mutilation things, because the norms need to be destroyed, and they're trying to destroy something that they think man came up with, when it was really a stabilizing effect of Christianity, so keep your eyes and ears open for that. You'll notice that people tend to try to undo basic civilization, basic things that they think that we came up with to oppress people, but really it was a natural progression of being civilized by Christianity.
The final thing is being in your right mind. CS Lewis said that reason is supernatural; it is something we have that none of the other animals have; it separates us from the animals--the ability to reason, to be able to reach right conclusions. This is also about thinking properly, which I already talked about. Your reason can be faulty, and when this man was possessed by demons, he was not in his right mind; he was incapable of thinking properly; and now that Jesus cast out these demons, he is suddenly in his right mind. As Augustine said, "Faith precedes understanding." You cannot have understanding without faith, which is a belief in God, in the promises of God, and what God has said, that it is true. The Holy Spirit incites belief, because our natural proclivity is to not believe. So faith precedes understanding; the Holy Spirit precedes faith; God is always previous.
The last thing I want to talk about is what happens when the city comes up and sees this civilized man--this man who for years was not civilized--and they see the civilized man sitting at the feet of Jesus, fully clothed, and in his right mind. What happens? They are all afraid, and they send Jesus away. This is our natural state: we FEAR civilization; we fear transformation in a person. We fear. We want to have nothing to do with it; we say, "can't we all just get along? Leave this person alone! They're living their own lives out here by the tombs, the way they want to live. Why must he be transformed?"
Looking at John chapter 6 or John chapter 5 and 6, what happens after Jesus feeds the 5000? What happens? They try to seize him; they try to make him king, because he is a magic genie who will give them food without them working for it, without them lifting a finger for it. They want to make him king, so he will just provide for them, and they can go on living their lives exactly the way they've always been living: no transformation, no change. Jesus will take care of us! Look at our culture today: Obama's going to take care of us; the governments going to take care of us; the world will take care of us! We don't want to change! We want a magic genie! We want manna to fall from the sky every day, and even if it tastes like tree bark we will eat it, because it was free; it was something we did not have to work for, because we're fallen sinful people. We don't want to be transformed. We want to stand on the edge of the abyss, the place where the demons don't even want to go; we want to stand on the edge of the abyss, we want to hold hands, we want to grab each other arm in arm and just hold hands and jump in and say, "let's go!" Whee! And here we are: civilized Christians, people transformed by Jesus, and we're saying, "no, that's not the way to go! Don't go into the abyss! Go to Jesus's feet! Clothe yourselves! Stop mutilating yourselves! Be civilized! Be in your right mind!" And they say, "no thanks, hater! We don't want your intolerant hating anymore!" And they hold hands and they say, "Whee!" and they jump into the abyss and we watch them and we cry for them, and we pray for them. Fear of change, fear of transforming our lives. Jesus has come to transform our lives, to make us in our right minds, to clothe us, to civilize us, to give us homes, to cast out away our demons, to cast them away from us, to cast them out of us, to bring us to his feet, so that we may learn, because knowledge of God is everlasting life. Amen.
Let's talk about the civilizing effect of Christianity. What is this man like in Luke 8? He was a man possessed with demons. He had not put on any clothing for a long time, and he was not living in a house but amongst the tombs. Let us think of our current culture: it's a culture of death, and this isn't new. This has been the case forever. All of the countries that surrounded Israel were cultures of death. Egypt was a culture of death. The most opulent part of Egyptian culture was the tombs. When Pharaoh died, he took all of his stuff with him into the tomb. It was the most important part of Egyptian culture. It was a culture of death, and that hasn't changed.
We live in a culture of death now. The things that people can't get enough of are horror movies, and they tell you it's because they like to be thrilled. We have a fascination with the evil, with the darkness, and its a preoccupation. We have Twilight, which is about vampires, which don't exist, but the concept of the dead feeding on the living is real to our fallen, evil nature. We are into zombie movies; we like the dead feeding on the living. This has always been the case throughout history, and it's a sign of a culture that is doomed to hell, doomed to separation from God.
So here is a man that is no longer civilized; he is out in the tombs, symbolic of death (and us living in a world of death). Now, after Jesus casts out demons--and I'm not saying that we are possessed by demons, but there is such a thing as demon possession, and there are principalities and powers among us, trying to undermine us, but they can be separated from us and still have influence over us. There is direct possession--not for a Christian or someone who has accepted Jesus--but we can be tormented externally by demons, and the world is suffering from demonic possession as a whole, in actuality and also metaphorically. So we do suffer from demons in many ways.
So here Jesus is, casting out these demons from this man, and they are going into the pigs, which drown, and the rest of the city comes up to see what has happened, and they see three things. They see the man, and there are three things about the man. One: he is sitting at the feet of Jesus. Two: he is clothed, and three: he is in his right mind.
He is sitting at the feet of Jesus. This is the first of the civilizing effects of coming to Christ. We are learning, and it's not just any kind of of learning: it is apostolic learning; it is Christ-centered learning. Cornelius Van Til said not only is someone who does not have Christ in their life misunderstanding Christianity, misunderstanding the nature of reality, misunderstanding a God-centered universe, but he doesn't have proper understanding of ANYTHING. Without Christ, all knowledge is corrupted; even secular knowledge is corrupted.
You can see it: without the foundation of God, the most brilliant scientists reach wrong conclusions about things, about what they are studying. Sir Isaac Newton is what is considered the greatest scientist in history, and it's because it's because he always had a foundation of Christ beneath everything he studied. He was learning about God's creation. He told people he was learning at the feet of Jesus; he was sitting at the feet of Jesus. I know people who are brilliant, or they SEEM brilliant; they seem like brilliant people, until you start to think about what they've said. You think about what they have ponderously and thoroughly reflected upon--sometimes for hours, sometimes greatly philosophical and deep--and you realize that their conclusions have been corrupted. They have reached the wrong conclusions. As it says in Proverbs--the first verse in Proverbs--"fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. These people do not have fear of the Lord. They, therefore, do not have the beginning of wisdom, even the BEGINNING of wisdom. It's like playing chess with a man who stares at the chessboard for 3 to 4 times longer than you do, and then he inevitably makes the wrong move, and ends up with a checkmated king. He has spent so much time thinking--and overthinking--and he still comes up with this stupid move. Van Til says this is what happens without God, when you are ungodly, meaning without God, you are corrupted to the point where you can't think properly. Even the most civilized atheist cannot think properly.
Second, he was clothed. Now, this is something that fascinates me, because if you have a conversation with someone, especially one of our younger people, there's a lack of modesty with ideas that are not founded in God. There's a preoccupation with challenging societal norms. There are thoughts and ideas that come rushing to the forefront that involve what they think is breaking down these "societal norms", norms that they think were created by man, and now it's their turn to change the world. But where did these cultural things come from--these aspects of civilization, like wearing clothes and living in houses? They are not things that we decided to come up with arbitrarily. They are things that came from God as helps for us. They came from God and naturally come to us as things that we should do when we have a foundation of God in our lives. God provided the first clothing for Adam and Eve, when they had transgressed his law, when they had fallen. After the curses are announced, and all the horror and defilement have now been heaped upon themselves, because they broke the one law that God had given them, he has mercy and compassion and he clothes them, and this is one of the aspects of the civilizing nature of Christianity.
So what happens with the secular world, what happens with the anti-Christian crowd, is they try to attack this. You'll be talking to a young person and the conversation will eventually come around with a how, "I think that we should be wearing no clothes" or "nudity is nothing to be ashamed of" or, this is a good one: "in Europe they've detached sex from nudity, and so people can be nude and walking around without it meaning anything sexual; because we in America are puritanical, and blah blah blah blah" and then, in the next breath they say, "Europeans can't understand why we have cheerleaders, because that's sexual," so there's the hypocrisy there. But what is happening is they are looking to destroy these cultural norms and want everybody to walk around naked, and they want other immodest proposals like covering your body with tattoos or putting metal through your face, all of these self-mutilation things, because the norms need to be destroyed, and they're trying to destroy something that they think man came up with, when it was really a stabilizing effect of Christianity, so keep your eyes and ears open for that. You'll notice that people tend to try to undo basic civilization, basic things that they think that we came up with to oppress people, but really it was a natural progression of being civilized by Christianity.
The final thing is being in your right mind. CS Lewis said that reason is supernatural; it is something we have that none of the other animals have; it separates us from the animals--the ability to reason, to be able to reach right conclusions. This is also about thinking properly, which I already talked about. Your reason can be faulty, and when this man was possessed by demons, he was not in his right mind; he was incapable of thinking properly; and now that Jesus cast out these demons, he is suddenly in his right mind. As Augustine said, "Faith precedes understanding." You cannot have understanding without faith, which is a belief in God, in the promises of God, and what God has said, that it is true. The Holy Spirit incites belief, because our natural proclivity is to not believe. So faith precedes understanding; the Holy Spirit precedes faith; God is always previous.
The last thing I want to talk about is what happens when the city comes up and sees this civilized man--this man who for years was not civilized--and they see the civilized man sitting at the feet of Jesus, fully clothed, and in his right mind. What happens? They are all afraid, and they send Jesus away. This is our natural state: we FEAR civilization; we fear transformation in a person. We fear. We want to have nothing to do with it; we say, "can't we all just get along? Leave this person alone! They're living their own lives out here by the tombs, the way they want to live. Why must he be transformed?"
Looking at John chapter 6 or John chapter 5 and 6, what happens after Jesus feeds the 5000? What happens? They try to seize him; they try to make him king, because he is a magic genie who will give them food without them working for it, without them lifting a finger for it. They want to make him king, so he will just provide for them, and they can go on living their lives exactly the way they've always been living: no transformation, no change. Jesus will take care of us! Look at our culture today: Obama's going to take care of us; the governments going to take care of us; the world will take care of us! We don't want to change! We want a magic genie! We want manna to fall from the sky every day, and even if it tastes like tree bark we will eat it, because it was free; it was something we did not have to work for, because we're fallen sinful people. We don't want to be transformed. We want to stand on the edge of the abyss, the place where the demons don't even want to go; we want to stand on the edge of the abyss, we want to hold hands, we want to grab each other arm in arm and just hold hands and jump in and say, "let's go!" Whee! And here we are: civilized Christians, people transformed by Jesus, and we're saying, "no, that's not the way to go! Don't go into the abyss! Go to Jesus's feet! Clothe yourselves! Stop mutilating yourselves! Be civilized! Be in your right mind!" And they say, "no thanks, hater! We don't want your intolerant hating anymore!" And they hold hands and they say, "Whee!" and they jump into the abyss and we watch them and we cry for them, and we pray for them. Fear of change, fear of transforming our lives. Jesus has come to transform our lives, to make us in our right minds, to clothe us, to civilize us, to give us homes, to cast out away our demons, to cast them away from us, to cast them out of us, to bring us to his feet, so that we may learn, because knowledge of God is everlasting life. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)