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Isaiah: Isaiah 1:1-15.

Isaiah’s writings express a deep awareness of God’s majesty and holiness. The prophet denounced not only Canaanite idolatry but also the religious worship of his own people that were only external ceremonies which lacked sincerity (1:10–17; 29:13). He preached impending judgment on the idolatrous Judeans, declaring that only a righteous remnant would survive (6:13).

In Isaiah 1:1–15 the prophet describes the wickedness of the southern Jewish Kingdom of Judah in the 8th century B.C. The prophet writes the following.   

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. 2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” 4     Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.”

 5 Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6 From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil. 7 Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence foreigners devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners. 8 And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.”

9 If the Lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah. 10 Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 11 “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. 12 “When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? 13 Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.”

The oracle of doom and judgment upon Judah is profoundly expressed in Isaiah 1-39. These first 39 chapters warns the Jews about the impending Assyrian invasion of Judah (605 B.C.) while the second section (40-66) encourages the captives returning from the Babylonian captivity (535). The oracle of doom begins in the initial 15 verses of chapter one. A suggested outline is as follows.

 

I. The Wickedness of Judah. 1:1-31.

A. Its Crimes. 1:1-15.

What were Judah’s crimes against Yahweh in the 8th century B.C.? It should not surprise us that they are similar to the sins of today’s contemporary culture.

The nation’s sin began with a willful, thoughtful and emotional rebellion against the LORD (1:1-2). Why did Judah rebel against God? It was because in spite of His self-revelation through creation and in His Word (Psalm 19), Judah did not know the LORD or have a covenant relationship with Him (1:3). Consequently, Judah became a sinful nation laden with iniquity and immorality. They utterly despised the LORD (1:4).

The LORD’s evaluation of the nation was they were spiritually sick and faint, from head to toe (1:5-6). As a consequence, their land lay in ruins (1:7-8). Yet there was no repentance.

However, there was worship, but it was shallow and hypocritical. It was pretentious or phony. It was insincere (9-15) and the LORD had had enough of it.

I wonder about America’s churches at this moment in history. Might the LORD says the same things about this nation and its supposed religious people? A people who worship the LORD on Sunday, but advocate the mass infanticide of its children as a woman’s right to choose.

LORD, please be gracious to a rebellious people. May your salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone make an impact upon the people of this nation so that they in turn will become holy as you are holy. Amen!

Soli deo Gloria!

 

 

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Profiles of Holiness: The Impact of Isaiah.

Isaiah’s writings express a deep awareness of God’s majesty and holiness. The prophet denounced not only Canaanite idolatry but also the religious worship of his own people that were only external ceremonies which lacked sincerity (1:10–17; 29:13). He preached impending judgment on the idolatrous Judeans, declaring that only a righteous remnant would survive (6:13).

As previously stated, Isaiah was the son of Amoz (Isaiah 1:1; 2:1; 20:2; 21; 2 Kings 19:2, 20:1; 2 Chronicles 26:22; 32:20). Although little is known of Amoz, he may be the person mentioned in 2 Chronicles 25:7–8. Isaiah married “the prophetess” (Isaiah 8:3) and they had two sons:

  1. Shear-jashub (יָשׁ֣וּב שְׁאָ֖ר, yashuv she’ar; “a remnant shall return”; Isaiah 7:3). When Shear-jashub accompanied Isaiah to visit Ahaz, his name suggested that the invaders of Judah would be defeated and only a remnant of the enemy forces would return.
  2. Maher-shalal-hash-baz (“quickly the plunder; it hurries, the loot”; Isaiah 8:1, 3). Isaiah interpreted this as a prediction of the demise of Syria and Israel by an Assyrian invasion (Isaiah 8:4).

The prophet foretold the coming of the Messiah, the “peaceful prince,” “the Servant of Yahweh,” and the ruler of God’s kingdom (Isaiah 11:1–11; cf. 9:6–7; 52:13-53:12). Isaiah was preeminent among the prophets for the variety and grandeur of his imagery. His imagination produced forceful, brilliant figures of speech.

Isaiah prophesied during the last three decades of the northern kingdom of Israel (752-722 B.C.), but because he lived in Jerusalem of Judah, he made little direct reference to Israel. However, when that kingdom fell, Judah lay open to conquest by Assyria. Isaiah advised King Ahaz to avoid foreign entanglements and depend on God alone to protect his people. Ignoring that advice, Ahaz made an alliance with Assyria (Isaiah 7).

It was Hezekiah, Ahaz’s righteous son, who sought to remove Judah from this dangerous situation. When the Assyrians under Sennacherib approached Jerusalem, Isaiah inspired Hezekiah and the Judeans to rely on the Lord for the city’s defense, and “the angel of the Lord” destroyed Sennacherib’s army (37:36–38), securing a short period of peace for Hezekiah and the Judeans.

In the Old Testament, the name “Isaiah” occurs 35 times in four Old Testament books, including 16 times alone in the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 1:1; 2:1; 7:3; 13:1; 20:2–3; 37:2, 5–6, 21; 38:1, 4, 21; 39:3, 5, 8). Three other Old Testament books also mention Isaiah. These include 13 times in 2 Kings (2 Kings 19:1–20:19), three times in 1 Chronicles (1 Chronicles 25:1–15; 26:25) and three times in 2 Chronicles (2 Chronicles 26:22; 32:20–32).

In the New Testament, Isaiah is directly quoted 66 times, second only to the Psalms (quoted 79 times). Allusions to the prophet, or his writings, in the New Testament are numbered at 348 times, more than any other Old Testament book, including Psalms (alluded to 333 times).

Isaiah gives two major contributions to Christian theology. First, his presentation of the young woman who will give birth to Emmanuel in Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6. This is later interpreted by Matthew to refer to Jesus Christ and the virgin conception (Matthew 1:18-25). Second, the Suffering Servant as a vicarious and substitutionary atonement for his people and the only means of accomplishing this ultimate salvation (Isaiah 52:13–53:12).

John Calvin writes, “It is evident at the very least that he (Isaiah) prophesied for sixty-four years; for Jotham reigned sixteen years (2 Kings 15:33), Ahaz as many (2 Kings 16:2), and Hezekiah twenty-nine (2 Kings 18:2). Add the years that he prophesied during the reign of Uzziah, and afterwards during the reign of Manasseh, by whom he was put to death and there will be, at least, sixty-four years during which Isaiah continued, without interruption, to discharge the office of a Prophet.”

 Having briefly examined the life of the Prophet Isaiah, it seems appropriate to now examine some of the most stirring chapters contained in his prophetical book, aside from Isaiah 6:1-7 which we have already studied. More to follow.

Ask God today to prepare your heart to receive His truth from the Book of  Isaiah.

Soli deo Gloria!  

 

 

 

 

 

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Profiles of Holiness: Isaiah ben Amoz.

In the aftermath of our study on the biblical doctrine of holiness, the LORD laid on my heart the idea of profiling the Old Testament Prophet most association with holiness in general, and the holiness of God in particular. That prophet would be Isaiah.

What is known about this prophet and his prophecy which dominates the Old and New Testament Scriptures? For the next several days, we are going on a journey to not only discover who Isaiah was but also to examine the days in which he lived and served the LORD.

Isaiah means “The Lord is salvation,” and is similar to the names Joshua, Elisha, and Jesus. Isaiah is quoted directly in the New Testament over 65 times and is mentioned by name over 20 times.

Isaiah, who was the son of Amoz, ministered in and around Jerusalem as a prophet to the Nation of Judah during the reigns of four kings: Uzziah (called “Azariah” in 2 Kings), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (Isa. 1:1), from c. 739–686 B.C. He evidently came from a family of some rank, because he had easy access to the king (7:3).

Growing up in Jerusalem, Isaiah received the best education the capital city could supply. He was also deeply knowledgeable about people, and he became the political and religious counselor of the nation. He appears to have had easy access to the monarchs and to have been the historiographer at the Judean court for several reigns (2 Chronicles 26:22; 32:32).

Isaiah’s wife is referred to as a prophetess (Isaiah 8:3) and they had at least two sons, Shear-jashub (7:3) and Maher-shalal-hash-baz (8:3). Isaiah’s customary clothing was sandals and a garment of goat’s hair or sackcloth. At one point during his ministry, the Lord commanded Isaiah to go naked and barefoot for a period of three years (20:2–6). This would have been humiliating in a culture then that evaluated an individual’s status by meticulous dress codes.

One author describes the prophet this way: “Isaiah was a contemporary of (the prophets) Hosea and Micah. His writing style has no rival in its versatility of expression, brilliance of imagery, and richness of vocabulary. The early church father Jerome likened him to Demosthenes, the legendary Greek orator. His writing features a range of 2,186 different words, compared to 1,535 in Ezekiel, 1,653 in Jeremiah, and 2,170 in the Psalms. Second Chronicles 32:32 records that he also wrote a biography of King Hezekiah.”

The Tyndale Bible Dictionary states that, “Isaiah worked to reform social and political wrongs. Even the highest members of society did not escape his censure. He berated soothsayers and denounced wealthy, influential people who ignored the responsibilities of their position. He exhorted the masses to be obedient rather than indifferent to God’s covenant. He rebuked kings for their willfulness and lack of concern.”  

Isaiah lived until at least 681 B.C. when he wrote an account of Assyrian King Sennacherib’s death (cf. 37:38). Tradition has it that Isiah died under Judah’s King Manasseh (c. 695–642 B.C.) by being cut in two with a wooden saw (cf. Heb. 11:37).

More about the Prophet Isaiah, and his writings, when next we meet. Until then, Soli deo Gloria!

 

 

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The Belgic Confession: LORD’S DAY 18, 2020.

On each Lord’s Day this year, we will reproduce devotional articles taken from The Belgic Confession. The Belgic Confession, written in 1561, owes its origin to the need for a clear and comprehensive statement of Reformed Theology during the time of the Spanish inquisition in the Lowlands. Guido de Brès, its primary author, was pleading for understanding and toleration from King Philip II of Spain who was determined to root out all Protestant factions in his jurisdiction. Hence, this confession takes pains to point out the continuity of Reformed Theology with that of the ancient Christian creeds.

The oldest of the doctrinal standards of the Christian Reformed Church and the Reformed Church in America is the Confession of Faith, popularly known as the Belgic Confession, following the seventeenth-century Latin designation “Confessio Belgica.” “Belgica” referred to the whole of the Netherlands, both north and south, which today is divided into the Netherlands and Belgium. The confession’s chief author was Guido de Brès, a preacher of the Reformed churches of the Netherlands, who died a martyr to the faith in the year 1567.

During the sixteenth century the churches in this country were exposed to terrible persecution by the Roman Catholic government. To protest against this cruel oppression, and to prove to the persecutors that the adherents of the Reformed faith were not rebels, as was laid to their charge, but law-abiding citizens who professed the true Christian doctrine according to the Holy Scriptures, de Brès prepared this confession in the year 1561. In the following year a copy was sent to King Philip II, together with an address in which the petitioners declared that they were ready to obey the government in all lawful things, but that they would “offer their backs to stripes, their tongues to knives, their mouths to gags, and their whole bodies to the fire,” rather than deny the truth expressed in this confession.

Along with The Heidelberg Catechism and the Canons of Dort, The Belgic Confession comprise what is collectively referred to as the Thee Forms of Unity. Article #20-21 of the Belgic Confession is as follows.

Article #20: The Justice and Mercy of God in Christ.

We believe that God—who is perfectly merciful and also very just—sent the Son to assume the nature in which the disobedience had been committed, in order to bear in it the punishment of sin by his most bitter passion and death. So God made known his justice toward his Son, who was charged with our sin, and he poured out his goodness and mercy on us, who are guilty and worthy of damnation, giving to us his Son to die, by a most perfect love, and raising him to life for our justification, in order that by him we might have immortality and eternal life.

Article #21. The Atonement. 

We believe that Jesus Christ is a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek—made such by an oath—and that he presented himself in our name
before his Father, to appease his Father’s wrath with full satisfaction by offering himself on the tree of the cross and pouring out his precious blood for the cleansing of our sins, as the prophets had predicted.

For it is written that “the punishment that made us whole” was placed on the Son of God and that “by his bruises we are healed.” He was “like a lamb that is led to the slaughter”; he was “numbered with the transgressors”46 and condemned as a criminal by Pontius Pilate, though Pilate had declared that he was innocent. So he paid back what he had not stolen,47 and he suffered—“the righteous for the unrighteous,”48 in both his body and his soul—in such a way that when he sensed the horrible punishment required by our sins “his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.”49 He cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”50 And he endured all this for the forgiveness of our sins.

Therefore we rightly say with Paul that we know nothing “except Jesus Christ, and him crucified”;51 we “regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus [our] Lord.”52  We find all comforts in his wounds and have no need to seek or invent any other means to reconcile ourselves with God than this one and only sacrifice, once made, which renders believers perfect forever. This is also why the angel of God called him Jesus—that is, “Savior”—because he would save his people from their sins.53

46Isa. 53:4-12
47Ps. 69:4
481 Pet. 3:18
49Luke 22:44
50Matt. 27:46
511 Cor. 2:2
52Phil. 3:8
53Matt. 1:21

Soli deo Gloria!

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Holiness: The Motivation for Holiness.

As we come to the conclusion of our study of holiness, I am sure that I have not exhausted this subject of its breadth, length, depth, and height. Nevertheless, the concluding theme today is in the form of a question. What is to be Christian’s motivation in striving to be holy? I’ve listed three reasons for your consideration.

First, the believer’s motivation for holiness is to be like our Lord. Leviticus 11:44 says, “For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground.”

I Peter 1:13-16 says, “13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Second, the believer’s motivation to be holy is because of our love for the Lord. This motivation is found in the following verses.

Deuteronomy 6:1-11 says, “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Matthew 22:34-40 says, “34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

I Peter 1:3-9 says, “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

Finally, believer’s motivation for holiness is because of the soon return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our King is coming soon.

2 Peter 3:11-13 says, “11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

I John 2:28-29 says, “28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.”

J.C. Ryle brings us home when he writes, “Christ is all (Colossians 3:11). These three words are the essence and substance of Christianity. If our hearts can really go along with them, it is well with our souls. If not, we may be sure we have yet much to learn. Christ is the mainspring both of doctrinal and practical Christianity. A right knowledge of Christ is essential to a right knowledge of sanctification as well as justification. He that follows after holiness will make no progress unless he gives to Christ His rightful place.”  

That rightful place is that Jesus Christ is both Savior and Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

  

 

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Holiness: The Holy Fight.

 “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (I Timothy 6:12)

 J.C. Ryle, in describing the fight for holiness, explains, “Where there is grace there will be conflict. The believer is a soldier.  There is no holiness without a warfare. Saved souls will always be found to have fought a fight.”

What kind of fight is the good fight of faith? It is a necessary fight. Believers in Christ cannot be neutral regarding holiness.

It is also a fight in which all believers are to be engaged. There are no exceptions. All believers in Christ face the pitfalls of pride, sloth, love of money, lust for a forbidden something or someone. The devil, the world, and especially our sinful flesh is ever near.

It is an ongoing fight. There are no timeouts, halftime, or rain delays. Worship services may be canceled due to weather of pandemics, but there is no cancellation to the spiritual fight for holiness. As Bishop Ryle so eloquently wrote, “We must fight until we die.”

I conclude today with these thoughts from Bishop Ryle. “We may take comfort about our souls if we know anything of an inward fight and conflict. It is the invariable companion of genuine Christian holiness. It is not everything, I am well aware, but it is something. Do we find in our heart of hearts a spiritual struggle? Do we feel anything of the flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, so that we cannot do the things we would (Galatians 5:17)? Are we conscious of the two principles within us, contending for the mastery? Do we feel anything of war within our inward man? Well, let us thank God for it! It is a good sign. It is strongly probable evidence of the great work of sanctification. All true saints are soldiers.”

And what do soldiers do?  The fight the enemy. May we continue to fight the world, the flesh and the devil. While we may be at war on three fronts, may we rest assured that God has established with us His eternal peace (Romans 5:1).

Soli deo Gloria!

 

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Holiness: In Time of War.

“8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” ( I Peter 5:8-11)

Bishop J.C. Wyle explains in the believer’s battle with the devil that, “That old enemy of mankind is not dead. Ever since the Fall of Adam and Eve, he has been “going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it,” and striving to compass one great end—the ruin of man’s soul. Never slumbering and never sleeping, he is always going about as a lion seeking whom he may devour. An unseen, he is always near us, about our path and about our bed, and spying out all our ways. A murderer and a liar from the beginning (John 8:44), he labors night and day to cast us down to hell. Sometimes by leading into superstition, sometimes by suggesting infidelity, sometimes by one kind of tactic and sometimes by another, he is always carrying on a campaign against our souls.”

The Apostle Peter, throughout his first epistle extensively addressed the issue of the believer’s suffering for Christ while living in this world. The apostle did not shy away from this biblical truth. However, what, if any, hope does the believer have that the trials of life will eventually end? Does God provide any promise that our trials will give way to something better and greater? Will our battle with the world, the flesh and the devil ever be concluded?

As Peter neared the conclusion of his letter to suffering saints, the Holy Spirit led him to provide some lasting encouragement to those beset by temporary trials. One pastor writes, “Christians are to live with the understanding that God’s purposes realized in the future require some pain in the present. While the believer is personally attacked by the enemy (I Peter 5:8-9), he is being personally perfected by the Lord.”

Peter acknowledged the reality of suffering at the beginning of I Peter 5:10. The word suffered (πάσχω; pascho), which is also in I Peter 4:13, means to undergo an experience of pain. See Luke 22:15. However, the believer’s suffering is only for a little while (ὀλίγος; oligos), a small amount or a short period of time.

This parallels what the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. “16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

What does God promise to do? To begin with, we see that Peter identified God as the God of all grace (θεός πᾶς χάρις; theos pas charis). Grace, which is unmerited favor and divine kindness, belongs to and originates from God and God alone. This is who God is.

What the God of all grace has done is that He has called us to His eternal glory in Christ. To call (καλέω; kaleo) means to summon and to invite. This was done by God at a particular time and which impacted our entire being. Consistently, the call of God refers to His effectual, saving call of the sinner unto salvation (I Peter 1:5; 2:9, 21; 3:9). His eternal glory (αἰώνιος δόξα; aionios doxa) refers to the believers everlasting life in heaven. This eternal glory is because the believer is in union with Christ. While our sufferings are temporary, our life in Christ is eternal.

Because of the believer’s status in Christ before the God of all grace, God promises to do four things on the believer’s behalf. First, God promises to restore the believer. To restore (καταρτίζω; katartizo) means to make adequate or furnish completely. To confirm (στηρίζω; sterizo) means to strengthen and to make more firm. To strengthen (σθενόω; sthenoo) means to make more able. Finally, to establish (θεμελιόω; themelioo) means to literally lay a foundation. All four verbs are in the future tense indicating that these actions are what God will do.

These four verbs all speak of strength and steadfastness of the Christian’s character. God is working through the believer’s temporary struggles and battle for holiness, to strengthen the believer’s eternal and godly character. While the struggles are temporary, God uses them to bring about everlasting results.

What was Peter’s response to all of this? The apostle acknowledged that God is sovereign and has dominion (κράτος; kratos) power, might and strength (Acts 19:20; Ephesians 1:19; 6:10; Colossians 1:11; I Timothy 6:16; Hebrews 2:14; Jude 25; Revelation 1:6). Our sufferings are not cause by the impersonality of fate, but rather are purposed by the eternal, sovereign God of the universe. He is in control and we bow down to Him.

Peter’s concluding word in I Peter 5:11 is the familiar conclusion “Amen.” It means that what the apostle has written is true and that what we read in I Peter we acknowledge as truth from God.

In this similar benediction to the one found in I Peter 4:11, the Apostle Peter praised Christ who has all power for all time (Romans 11:36; 1 Timothy 6:16). Jesus Christ certainly has the power to strengthen His church as and when she undergoes persecution.

A wise general once said, “In time of war it is the worst mistake to underrate your enemy, and to try to make a little war.” However, it is also an equally serious mistake to underrate our Lord in the time of our spiritual war. Christian warfare is no light matter. Take time today to thank God and worship Him as the sovereign God of your salvation. He is working in you from beginning to end and everything in between.

Soli deo Gloria!

 

 

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Holiness: The Enemies of Holiness: The Devil.

“The principle fight of the Christian is with the world, the flesh and the devil. These are his never—dying foes. These are the three chief enemies against whom he must wage war. Unless he gets victory over these three, all other victories are useless and vain. If he had a nature like an angel, and were not a fallen creature, the warfare would not be so essential. But with a corrupt heart, a busy devil and an ensnaring world, he must either ‘fight’ or be lost.” J.C. Ryle

I find Bishop Ryle’s statement referring to Satan as “a busy devil” to be most intriguing. The devil certainly is a busy character.

I Peter 5:8-10 says, “8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

God command’s believers to be sober-minded and watchful. Both statements are also God given commands. Even though God is sovereign in the believer’s circumstances, we are not to be lazy and careless regarding spiritual disciplines.

To be sober-minded (νήφω; nepho) means that with one’s entire being our minds and thoughts are to be restrained and self-controlled. It means to not succumb to irrationality.

To be watchful (γρηγορέω; gregoreo) means that with one’s entire being we are to be alert and vigilant to be self-controlled and restrained. In short, to be aware of the enemy. Who is our enemy?

Our adversary (ἀντίδικος; antidikos) accuser and enemy is none other than the devil (διάβολος; diabolos) who is by nature a slanderer and a wicked being. Along with the fallen world (I John 2:15-17), and our flesh or sinful nature (Romans 7:13-20), the devil is the believers mortal enemy, not unlike an opposing attorney in a legal dispute.

Much like a roaring lion, the devil and his demons are on the prowl. The word prowl (περιπατέω; peripateo) means to go about with a singular purpose to destroy. Peter emphasizes this truth by then using the phrase “seeking someone to devour.” To seek (ζητέω; zateo) means to actively and continually try to find something.

What is the devil trying to find? The devil and his demons are trying to find someone they can devour. To devour (καταπίνω; katapino) literally means to swallow one’s prey. It means to completely ruin and destroy. Therefore, the destroyer is constantly seeking someone to destroy through temptation, persecution and discouragement. This is the devil’s nature and his mission (Psalm 22:13; 104:21; Ezekiel 22:25).

Along with being sober-minded and watchful, the believer must also resist the devil. To resist (ἀνθίστημι; anthistemi) is a God-given command to actively oppose the devil’s pressure and power to sin against God. We are able to resist by remaining firm (στερεός; stereos) and steadfast in our faith (πίστις; pistis), which is our commitment to, dependence upon, trust in and worship of God alone through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The encouragement Peter gives his readers is that they are not alone in their suffering along with the devil’s constant attacks and accusations before God against them (Job 1:6-12; Revelation 12:10). Believers throughout the world, then and now, are under the same oppression.

Martin Luther once wrote, “When the devil throws our sins up to us and declares that we deserve death and hell, we ought to speak thus: I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it? Does this mean that I shall be sentenced to eternal damnation? By no means! For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Where He is, there I shall be also.”

Martin also wrote, from Psalm 46,

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us;
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

We must, and we can resist the devil. Let me encourage you today to read Colossians 2:5-17. The Apostle Paul gives us some practical instruction regarding being sober-minded and watchful. Get behind me devil. You have no claim over me. I belong to Jesus and forever I shall be.

Soli deo Gloria!

 

 

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Holiness: The Enemies of Holiness. Part 2.

4 “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:4)

One of the many evidences the Bible is the Word of God is that it tells its readers what they need to hear and not necessarily what they want to hear. You see, people want to be told that they are alright, no matter what they do. In other words, that they’re okay. The Bible, on the other hand, doesn’t tell us what we want to hear, but rather what we need to hear. Especially when the subject happens to be salvation.

The Scriptures reveal to sinners, there’s an inflammatory word, that they are bound for hell if they do not receive God’s righteousness by grace alone, through faith alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. The Bible says that sinners need to be delivered from the penalty of their sin. The Bible holds forth that this salvation is available only by a trust in, commitment to, dependence upon and worship of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord (Romans 3:21-26; Ephesians 2:1-10).

The Bible also promises that there will be a deliverance for every believer in Christ from the very presence of sin. The Bible calls this glorification (Romans 8:28-30; I Corinthians 15:35-49; I John 3:1-3).

The Bible also sets forth that there is a deliverance for every believer in Christ from the power of sin. This is called the process of sanctification (I Thessalonians 4:1-12). This is living a life of obedience before God which is pleasing to God.

In all three areas of salvation, the believers faces enemies or opposition. Those enemies include our sinful nature or flesh. While its power is eliminated at salvation, its residual influence remains with each believer in Christ. In effect, the believer encounters a war within their soul (Galatians 5:16-26).

A second enemy of the believer’s sanctification and life or holiness is the fallen, world system. This is the worldview that God does not exist, that there is no absolute right or wrong, there is no ultimate purpose to life resulting in people having to figure out their own reason for living and being.

Today’s text, from James 4:4, indicates that friendship with the fallen world by the believer in Christ is to become an enemy of God. The word friendship (φιλία; philia) means to have an affection for and to have an association with the world’s view of life and living. The word enmity (ἔχθρα; echthra) means to be an enemy or to be in opposition to God. That is James’ conclusion. There is no middle ground.

This is what Jesus said about the world system, and what followers of Jesus could expect from the world, in John 15:18-21. 18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.”

The answer to the world’s hatred of our faith in Christ is not to make our walk with Christ so like the fallen world’s rebellious system of thought and behavior against God that there is little, to no, distinction between the two. This becomes the epitome of worldliness.

I John 2:15-7 says, “15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

J.C. Ryle writes, “He (the Christian) must fight the world. The subtle influence of that mighty enemy must be daily resisted, and without a daily battle can never be overcome. The love of the world’s good things, the fear of the world’s laughter or blame, the secret desire to keep in with the world, the secret wish to do as others in the world do, and not to run into extremes–all these are spiritual foes which beset the Christian continually on his way to heaven and must be conquered.” See Galatians 6:14; I John 5:4; Romans 12:2.

Our goal to be holy must include a consistent pattern of behavior which is obedient to the Lord and His Word, and consequently in contrast and opposition to the world.

As one pastor observed, “We are not supposed to go looking for persecution or hostility, but if we never experience it, that should be a wake-up call to tell us we may not be as committed to Christ as we say we are. Every believer will at some point face hatred from the world to some degree. If we are never hated for the gospel’s sake, we are likely not being true to the gospel.”

Soli deo Gloria!

 

 

 

 

 

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Holiness: The Enemies of Holiness.

“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” (James 4:1-3)

Biblically, there are three enemies to our pursuit and consistent acquisition of being holy as the Lord is holy (I Peter 1:13-16). The first of the three that we will examine is our remaining sinful flesh. Within this context, the flesh refers to the earthbound, mortal, and still incarcerated sinful humanness. As believers in Christ, we are no longer in the flesh. However, until glorification, the remnant of our sinful flesh remains in us.

James describes how this remaining remnant of the flesh within believers in Christ can manifest itself in unholy behavior within the church. Fights and quarrels arise from within the church due to hedonistic passions or lusts which arise from within the soul of individuals. If this remains unchecked, it can lead to devastating consequences.

The Apostle Paul knew well of this battle for holiness against the flesh.  He documented it in Romans 7:14-25. Some have interpreted the apostle’s self-description as pertaining to his pre-converted life. However, Paul was describing the believer’s inner conflict of desiring to obey God’s law while at the same time realizing how far they fall short.

14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”

The Apostle Peter also acknowledged the believer’s internal battle for holiness. I Peter 2:11-12 says, “11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” 

 Dr. John Walvoord explains, “Understanding the conflict in personal sanctification involves seeing the relationship between a believer and his indwelling sin.”

 Dr. R. C. Sproul states that, “The war between flesh and spirit depicted in Scripture (Galatians 5:16-26) is not a war between body and soul but rather a war within ourselves — a war of our desires. We have new life from the Spirit, and our remaining sin, that part of our Adamic heritage that we have not yet fully cast aside, hates this new life (John 3:1–8; Rom. 7:7–25; Eph. 4:17–24). Of course, having trusted in Christ alone, we have been set free from enslavement to sin and enabled to live according to His commandments. Our sinful flesh, however, remains present until we are glorified, and until then it rises up and strives to quench and grieve the Holy Spirit’s influence (Eph. 4:30; 1 John 1:8–9). Until we are glorified, we are commanded to put our fleshly nature to death so that we will keep in step with the Spirit (Col. 3:5). This is achieved through taking up God’s armor against our flesh. And through the defeat of the flesh, we defeat the Devil, who entices our flesh to rise up against the Lord (Eph. 6:10–20).”

J.C. Ryle writes, “He (the Christian) must fight the flesh. Even after conversion he carries within him a nature prone to evil and a heart weak and unstable as water. that heart will never be free from imperfection in this world, and it is a miserable delusion to expect it. To keep that heart from going astray, the Lord Jesus bids us to, ‘Watch and pray.’ ” See Mark 14:38; I Corinthians 9:24-27; Colossians 3:5.

This is why the pursuit of holiness is so crucial for the believer. It is only as the Christian is pursuing holiness that they will obey the Lord and consequently have consistent victory over the flesh.

Soli deo Gloria!