Isaiah 9:6 (ESV)
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
John Calvin on Isaiah 9:6 –
Now, to apply this for our own instruction, whenever any distrust arises, and all means of escape are taken away from us, whenever, in short, it appears to us that everything is in a ruinous condition, let us recall to our remembrance that Christ is called Wonderful, because he has inconceivable methods of assisting us, and because his power is far beyond what we are able to conceive. When we need counsel, let us remember that he is the Counsellor. When we need strength, let us remember that he is Mighty and Strong. When new terrors spring up suddenly every instant, and when many deaths threaten us from various quarters, let us rely on that eternity of which he is with good reason called the Father, and by the same comfort let us learn to soothe all temporal distresses. When we are inwardly tossed by various tempests, and when Satan attempts to disturb our consciences, let us remember that Christ is The Prince of Peace, and that it is easy for him quickly to allay all our uneasy feelings. Thus will these titles confirm us more and more in the faith of Christ, and fortify us against Satan and against hell itself.
Preparation for Persecution (John 16:1-4)
John 16:1-4
1 “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3 And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.
“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.
Why would Jesus give us such a dark message of the persecution that we will face? Why would he tell us of the violence that the world will want to do to us? He does so because he does not want us to fall away when it comes.
If you think that following Jesus will lead you to easy living without problems or pain in life, you may find it very difficult to know what to do when faced with a world that is murderously hostile to Jesus and his followers. If you think that Christianity will make you more beloved by your friends and family and will earn you the respect of the immoral, you will be shocked when you hear atheists who say they want to outlaw Christianity, ban parents from raising their children according to their religious faith, and simply will not grant Christians “the oxygen of respectability.”
Jesus wants us to be prepared for the hatred and persecution of the world, so he gives us one more warning. The world will kick us out of its organizations. People will violently oppose Christians, and they will think they are doing the world a service when they do so. And Jesus says in verse 3 that the reason they will do all these things is because they do not know him and thus do not know God.
Why warn us like this, Jesus? “But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.” There you go. He warns us so that we will get ready for them. He told his disciples he was telling them this now because he was about to leave them, and when he leaves them, the persecution will be aimed right at them.
Christians, are you ready for persecution? Are you willing to suffer hardship, scorn, ridicule, pain, or even death for the sake of the gospel of the Lord Jesus? Are you willing to let the town think you a fool for the sake of Jesus? Are you willing to be shut out of social circles, betrayed by friends, and made fun of behind your back in order to follow Jesus? Are you willing to go to prison, to torture, or even to the grave because of your belief in Christ? Jesus wants you to be ready for such things, and that is why he gave us the warnings he did.
Now, ask yourself, “Why is this stuff not happening to me?” Few of us suffer any real persecution for the sake of the gospel. To be sure, some do, but not as many as should. Why do people not want to burn down our building with us in it? Why do people not want to slash our tires, throw bricks through our windows, and have us locked away? Could it be that the reason they do not hate us right now is that they do not see us as that drastically different than they are? Could it be that they do not see Jesus in us, and so they do not hate the Jesus in us that they cannot see? Could it be that we are not giving our all to share the gospel with them in the power of the Holy Spirit to leave them without excuse before God? Ask yourself these questions, and see what God leads you to think.
Share in the Spirit (John 15:26-27)
John 15:26-27
26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”
How do we go out and share the gospel with a world who will hate us for doing so? There is only one way. We need a helper. We need the Helper. And, thanks to God, he sends us the very one we need.
Here Jesus again describes another facet of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit proceeds from God the Father, sent out on a mission. He will come to this earth as a helper for believers. And what will he do? He will bear witness about Jesus.
Then, in the next verse, Jesus adds that, through the Holy Spirit, his followers will tell the world about him too. The disciples, who were with Jesus from the beginning, will tell the world about him. Even though the world will put Jesus to death. Even though the world will murder disciple after disciple, they will keep on telling the world about Jesus because of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
And, though you and I are not part of the original twelve disciples, we have that very same Holy Spirit present in our lives if we truly know Jesus. Every Christian has God’s Holy Spirit present in his or her life. Because of this, every last one of us has the ability, in the Spirit, to tell the lost world that they need God’s Son to be saved.
Christians, it is our duty and our delight to tell the world about the glorious Son of God. Though it is frightening to bring this message to a hostile world, we can do so with confidence, because we have the Spirit of God as our Helper. Some who hear will be saved. Others will hate us, hating the very Spirit of God inside us. But we will continue to share in the power of God’s Spirit for the sake of God’s glory. So don’t back down. Don’t let fear defeat you. Share the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Pursuit of Holiness – A Review [Repost]
Jerry Bridges writes a piercing, challenging, and practical charge for Christians to give their lives to be holy as God commands. In The Pursuit of Holiness, readers will find practical helps, biblical conviction, and realistically high expectations.
What I Liked
Bridges clearly points Christians toward a higher level of following Christ. Far too many believers fail to live a holy life because they have compromised their understanding of what it means to be holy. The command of God is not for us to be more holy than our neighbors, it is to be holy like God. As Bridges writes, “This is where holiness begins—not with ourselves, but with God. It is only as we see His holiness, His absolute purity and moral hatred of sin, that we will be gripped by the awfulness of sin against the Holy God” (20). One major help for any believer to grow in holiness will be to see God in his true, awesome, terrifying, holiness.
Bridges rightly calls believers to seek to be holy by submitting themselves to the word of God. He writes, “We express our dependence on the Holy Spirit for a holy life in two ways. The first is through a humble and consistent intake of the Scripture. If we truly desire to live in the realm of the Spirit we must continually feed our minds with His truth. It is hypocritical to pray for victory over our sins yet be careless in our intake of the Word of God” (75). Bridges also claims, “Obedience is the pathway to holiness, but it is only as we have His commands that we can obey them. God’s Word must be so strongly fixed in our minds that it becomes the dominant influence in our thoughts, our attitudes, and our actions” (85). Again, Bridges says, “The Bible speaks to us primarily through our reason, and this is why it is so vitally important for our minds to be constantly brought under its influence. There is absolutely no shortcut to holiness that bypasses or gives little priority to a consistent intake of the Bible” (125). It is good, very good, for Christians to hear authors call them to sanctification through the Scriptures.
Though I could point out several other things, I’ll only list one more for right now. Bridges does an excellent job of calling Christians to accept the fact their sin is their responsibility. He argues, “We are to do something. We are not to “stop trying and start trusting”; we are to put to death the misdeeds of the body” (78). Bridges also writes, “So we see that God has made provision for our holiness. Through Christ He has delivered us from sin’s reign so that we now can resist sin. But the responsibility for resisting is ours. God does not do that for us” (57). Again, Bridges powerfully wraps up the book by asking, “Truly the choice is ours. What will we choose? Will we accept our responsibility and discipline ourselves to live in habitual obedience to the will of God? Will we persevere in the face of frequent failure, resolving never to give up? Will we decide that personal holiness is worth the price of saying no to our body’s demands to indulge its appetites?” (152).
What I didn’t Like
There are a few shortcomings in this book, though not very many. Bridges would have made an even stronger case for personal holiness had he done more to truly identify what it means that God is holy. Bridges aimed at this goal, and brushed up against it on occasion, but he never truly gave the reader a deep sense of awe of God’s holiness. I write this fully aware that Bridges was not trying to write Sproul’s The Holiness of God, but was instead writing a book aimed at calling us to be holy. However, I would have liked another chapter or two on the importance of what it means that God is holy.
At the end of the book, Bridges points out the other shortcoming that I will mention. He (or his publisher) points out that this book focuses mainly on how to put off sin, but does not focus as much on putting on the godly alternatives that will help a believer to live in righteousness. In the final pages, readers find an encouragement to read The Practice of Godliness for this kind of advice. However, if more of how to put on righteousness had been in this book, it would have been stronger.
My Recommendation
The Pursuit of Holiness is a book that any believer could benefit from reading. The chapters are short, easy-to-read, and power-packed. This book would be ideal for small group studies between friends or for personal devotional reading. I highly recommend this book to anyone who desires to have more joy in his Christian life by living more of what God calls him to be.
Audio
The review of the content came from a reading of the written work. However, I have also been given a copy of the excellent audio version of this work as part of the Christian Audio reviewers program.
Savoring God’s Love (John 13:36-38)
John 13:36-38
36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” 37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.
Jesus has just called the disciples to love one another, but Peter can’t focus on the call to love just yet. Instead, he is taken by Jesus’ words in verse 33 that he was leaving. He asks Jesus where he is going.
Jesus, for his part, tells Peter that Jesus is headed to a place Peter cannot follow. Jesus is going to the cross. HE is going to lay down his life to atone for the sins of others. This is something that Peter simply lacks the ability to do. And so Jesus lets Peter know that, at this time, Peter cannot follow him.
Peter, wanting to show his love and commitment to Jesus and sounding like a child who wants to leave with mom and dad, asks why he can’t come now. He then declares his willingness to lay down his life for Jesus.
Jesus appears to have caught the irony of the moment. Peter would lay down his life for Jesus? Peter does not understand that Jesus is on his way to lay down his life for Peter, and for all those who will be forgiven by God. No, Peter can’t come.
Then, in a very gracious display, Jesus tells Peter that no, Peter will not follow Jesus now. In fact, in a few hours, before daybreak, Peter will deny Jesus three times. The man who is brash and confident at the dinner table will run away and disown Jesus when faced with danger.
Why do I call this a gracious display? Think with me for a minute. Jesus tells Peter what Peter will do before it happens. Thus, Jesus makes it clear that he is not surprised by Peter’s actions. He knows that Peter will deny him, sinning greatly in the process. But, as he says it, it is not as though Jesus is sending Peter away, cutting him off, or telling Peter that Peter would be damned for his unbelief. No. Jesus shows Peter that he knows what will happen, but Jesus still treats Peter with grace. And, at the end of this gospel, we will watch as Jesus helps Peter to understand that he is forgiven, restored to his place as one of the followers of Jesus.
In Peter, I’m guessing that we all can see ourselves. How many times and in how many ways have you denied the Savior? How many times have you chosen to do things your way instead of God’s way? How many times have you chosen to remain in the background instead of proclaiming the gospel? How many times have you indulged your desires instead of honoring God? How many times have you hidden from conflict instead of declaring God’s truth? How many times have you chosen evil instead of good? Yes, we all have denied Jesus in one form or another.
And here is the good news. Jesus knew Peter’s sin, but he still chose to go to the cross and die for Peter’s sin. And, I’ll let you in on something wonderful; Jesus knows your sin, and he still chose to go to the cross. He still offers us all forgiveness, even though he knows that we all will deny and dishonor him.
Today, remember. Remember the great Savior who knew how wicked would be your heart, but chose to die for your sin anyway. Remember the Lord who gave his life in your place, knowing full well how you would fail. Let your heart be filled with that love. Let your mind just try to comprehend that glory. Savor the love of God as you remember his grace to you.
God’s Glory in Christ’s Death (John 13:31-33)
John 13:31-33
31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’
Once Judas left the Passover room with the intent of handing Jesus over to the authorities, Jesus turned to his remaining 11 disciples and began to teach them. From verse 31 of chapter 13 all the way through the end of chapter 17, we will see Jesus prepare his disciples for the events to come. He has already started getting them ready through the foot washing at the beginning of chapter 13, but it will become more intense as time passes.
And Jesus begins this preparing of his disciples by telling them that now he, the Son of Man, is glorified. Now? Now that Judas has left to betray Jesus, now that the pieces are set in motion, now Jesus is truly glorified.
Keep going. God the Father is glorified in Jesus because Jesus is glorified in the way he is glorified. If God is glorified, which we know he is, then God the Father will in turn glorify Jesus. So, whatever is going on here, it is causing a reflection of glory to be shared between God the Father and God the Son. What is happening right now, right in the midst of a dark and sad room, is somehow serving to magnify the glory of God both in Christ and in his Father.
And, in case you think of the glory of Jesus as some future event that is to come upon his return, notice that Jesus says that the Father will glorify the Son at once. Right away will the Lord Jesus be glorified. Right now, the glory is happening. Right now, God is glorified in Jesus and Jesus is glorified in his Father. Right now.
How? How is Jesus being glorified? Look at what he says in verse 33. Jesus tells his disciples that he is going away from them. He tells them that, just like he told the Jews earlier in chapters 7 and 8, where he is going they cannot follow. Though they look for him, they will not be able to find him.
Now, tie this together with me to see what God wants us to learn here. Jesus is glorified. What does it mean to be glorified? To be glorified has in its meaning the concept of being seen as big, heavy, or weighty. So, when Jesus is glorified, he is saying that what is happening shows his importance, his value, his gravity, his weight, his worth. The glory and importance of Jesus is made known, made clear, by what is going on. And that glory is shared between Jesus and the rest of the holy trinity. God the Father is glorified in Jesus and God the Father glorifies Jesus. Whatever is happening, it is happening for the purpose of showing the world the great value and importance, the overall supremacy and bigness of the Lord Jesus and God the Father.
What is happening to glorify Jesus? Well, he says in verse 32 that it is happening right away. In verse 33, he tells his disciples that he is going somewhere they cannot. There is no doubt; Jesus is talking about the cross. In less than 24 hours, Jesus will be nailed to a Roman cross. In less than 24 hours, the perfect and sinless Son of God will suffer, bleed, and die. He will do this, not because he did wrong. Instead, he will suffer and die in order to pay for the sins of those whom God will save. It is the event of the sacrifice of the Son of God, the vilest act in all of human history, which is also the moment of the display of the glory of God for all to see.
Think of it in the words of an old and wonderful hymn.
Hallelujah What A Savior
Man of Sorrows! What a name
For the Son of God, Who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Guilty, vile, and helpless we;
Spotless Lamb of God was He;
“Full atonement!” can it be?
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Lifted up was He to die;
“It is finished!” was His cry;
Now in heav’n exalted high.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring,
Then anew His song we’ll sing:
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
When you think about the cross, do you think about glory? Do you see that the cross, besides being the instrument of your salvation, is also the tool by which God shows you how big, how awesome, how loving, and how glorious is he? Do you see in the wounds of the Lord Jesus only sorrow; or do you see in his stripes the markings of rank, of honor, of glory?
Christians, may we never be ashamed of the cross. May we never look at the sacrifice of Jesus as a small thing. May we never lose our understanding that the Lord’s death was a way for him to show us his glory. Remember the cross, and see the glory of the Lord Jesus.
Sovereign Over Empires (Daniel 5:30-31)
Daniel 5:30-31
30 That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. 31 And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.
The world’s understanding of security is nothing in comparison to the truth of the sovereign power of God. God is over the rulers of nations. God is beyond the strength of empires.
In Daniel 5, we see the fall of the Babylonian Empire. Nobody thought this was going to happen. It just didn’t seem possible. One night, the Babylonian king is feasting, celebrating, and resting comfortably in his position. That night, God writes on the wall of his kingdom saying that it is fallen. Nobody would think this to be possible. Yet, by morning, the king is dead, the Medes and Persians are in control, and God’s word has come to pass.
What do you trust in that is not God? It won’t stand without him. The God who spoke the universe into existence has no problem raising up kingdoms and putting others away. The God who flung the stars into space has no problem turning aside armies or giving victories to the most unlikely of forces. The God who made you and me has no problem putting us wherever he wants us to be. He is God; thus he is totally in control.
How to Serve Humbly (John 13:3-5)
John 13:3-5
3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
Jesus served. Strange to think, isn’t it? The Lord over all creation, the one through whom all things were made, he served. God in flesh knelt down and washed the feet of his disciples. How could he do this? How could he humble himself so greatly?
Notice in verses 3-4, that Jesus knew something quite well. As Jesus got up from the table and took off his outer garment, he knew it. As Jesus played the role of a servant, he was completely aware of it. Jesus knew who he was. That knowledge allowed him to serve with no problem.
Think about times in your life when you have been unwilling to humble yourself. Isn’t it true that your lack of humility usually stems from wanting another to understand your worth? You think to yourself, “If I lower myself before this jerk, he will think I’m worthless. I’ll show him.” We insist on proving, in our own way, our own value. In doing so, we refuse to allow another to see us as beneath them.
But Jesus, who knew exactly who he was, had no problem putting himself beneath his often silly and childish disciples. Why? Jesus knew that his rank could not be compromised by serving. Jesus knew that his identity could lose none of its splendor. Jesus is God in flesh. His deity is not changed by his kindness. His place on the throne of the universe is not risked by his clothing himself in humility.
Christians, if we will remember who we are, we will serve much better. No, we are not kings and queens of the universe, at least not yet in our lives. We are sinners saved by grace. We could never lower ourselves to the lowly state that we should actually occupy because of our sin. At the same time, we are children of God, princes and princesses of the universe. God has adopted us into his family and made us part of his household. We can lose none of that identity by serving. So, at one and the same time, we cannot lower ourselves to a lowly enough state and we cannot lose our glorious and lofty rank.
So, the next time that you want to put yourself forward, remember Jesus. You do not have to show off your rank. God has already seated you with Christ in the heavenly places. That seat cannot be lost by your humility on earth. But, if you will humble yourself and serve graciously, you shine a light of glory on your Master, your Lord, your Savior himself. Jesus served, and if you will remember who you were, who you are, and whose you are, you will be able to serve humbly and joyfully too.
Sing as Thanksgiving (2 Chronicles 7:6)
2 Chronicles 7:6
The priests stood at their posts; the Levites also, with the instruments for music to the Lord that King David had made for giving thanks to the Lord—for his steadfast love endures forever—whenever David offered praises by their ministry; opposite them the priests sounded trumpets, and all Israel stood.
It is not only that Israel obeyed God and made sacrifices to show their thankfulness to God. They also did something that God has commanded time after time after time. They sang. They played instruments. They listened to one another. They made music for the glory of God.
Psalm 33:1-3
1 Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!
Praise befits the upright.
2 Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
3 Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
Ephesians 5:17-21
17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
I can say with total confidence that God wants us to be a thankful, singing people. We are to sing new songs and old songs. We are to sing with instruments and all kinds of music. We are to sing with joy. Honestly, we need to do a better job at this. We need to do a better job of rejoicing with one another and singing the praises of god. We need to learn to love singing new songs and old songs, fast songs and slow songs, hymns and worship songs, piano songs and guitar songs and all sorts of songs that declare the truth of the glory of our God.
When the people sang of God, they said, “for his steadfast love endures forever.” They sang songs of thanks to God for his kindness, for his love, for his character, for his faithfulness, for his saving grace and covenant-keeping love. When you get a glimpse of God’s glory and when you remember what God has done to show you his goodness and kindness, you should offer him thanks. And one of the ways that we can be a rightly thankful people is for us to sing songs of thanksgiving to our God.
Celebrate to Show Your Thankfulness (2 Chronicles 7:8-9)
2 Chronicles 7:8-9
8 At that time Solomon held the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt. 9 And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for they had kept the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days.
The dedication of the temple connected with a time of feasting in Israel and amounted to a fifteen-day celebration. It lasted from the eighth to the twenty-second day of the month. In this celebration, the dedication of the temple, the Day of Atonement, and the Festival of Booths all took place.
This time would have been an amazing time to be present. The people likely would have been fed by the meat from the sacrifices. The fat of the animals would have been burned, but there would have been remaining meat that the people could eat together. In sharing in that meat, the people may have felt honored as the guests of a king would have felt honored to share in his banquet.
One thing that we in our own culture do have figured out is that we often eat together to celebrate. This has been a practice since the earliest days of mankind, and it continues. There is something special about gathering together with people around a common purpose, a common joy, and a common table. There is something special in sitting down together to share in a meal of celebration and to do so while giving thanks to God for what he has done.
As the people dedicated the temple, they feasted and celebrated together for15 days. For a full half month, the people set aside their outside concerns and got together with the purpose of enjoying the kindness of the Lord. This is something we could do well to learn to model. While we will not plan any major 15 day celebrations anytime soon, we do have a day, today, in which we will celebrate. Let us learn to celebrate and to celebrate well. Let us eat together and remember how God has blessed us. Let us share what God has given us with others so as to spread around the blessing. When you share your Thanksgiving meal this year, be sure that it really is a meal of giving thanks to the Lord for how he has shared his bounty with you. Even if you are going through hard times, God still has blessed you far beyond anything you could ever imagine.
Pastor Travis Peterson 