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Striving for Holiness

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Hebrews 12:14 – Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Rest in grace. Strive for holiness. It may seem like these two are at odds. But, the one who knows the word of God will see that these are regularly set side-by-side.

In the letter to the Hebrews, the author has shown us that our salvation is not based on our works. Christ, as our perfect high priest, has done the only work that can be done to save our souls. Christ has made the only blood sacrifice that can take away our sins. Christ is our advocate before the Father.

The grace of Christ does not, however, change the calling of God on our lives to work toward being changed. We are never saved by our works. Nor are we kept by our works. But we are commanded to work toward godliness after our salvation. And, in fact, our salvation naturally moves the saved toward God.

In verse 14, we are called to strive “for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” No person sees God without holiness. God is holy. God is unapproachable for the sinner. And if we have no holiness, we can never see or draw near to God.

In Christ, we are granted holiness as a gift. The Savior’s righteousness is imputed to us. This means that, while our lives are not yet made holy in our actual experience, God credits the righteousness of Christ to our account.

We rest in Christ’s holiness for our salvation, but Scripture never allows us to cease pressing toward holy living. That is the point of the verse. If you are saved, you will strain forward to have your life come closer and closer to the holiness that Christ has given you. Step-by-step and day-by-day, you strive to be sanctified. God commands that we strive for the holiness required for any of us to see God. We have that holiness as a gift. We press on to make our lives match what Christ has given us.

This is the place where a Christian should question himself. Am I striving toward holiness? Do I change toward the righteousness of Christ? Am I committed to growth? Do I understand that the Lord must transform me, making me holy? What must I start doing to move toward holiness? What must I put out of my life to have greater holiness?

Christian, be thankful for the gift of grace in Christ. Christian, strive for the holiness without which no one can see God.

A God of Judgment and Grace

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Genesis 7:20-23 – 20 The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark.

A study of Scripture tells us that the character of God has never once changed. A faithful understanding of theology reminds us that Jesus, God the Son, shares exactly the character and nature of the Father and the Holy Spirit. Thus, there is no division in God. He judges perfectly and shows mercy perfectly in keeping with his holiness.

This thought is important as we watch the flood of Genesis 7. Back in chapter 6, the Lord lamented the evil and wickedness of mankind on the earth. In perfect righteousness, God acted. God warned Noah, called him to build an ark, sent him animals to preserve, and then flooded the earth.

As many have pointed out, the story of the ark is not a cute little children’s story of a floating zoo. No, the story of the ark is dark and horrible, literally full of horror. All human life on earth died. All people were put to death by the righteous hand of a holy judge. And the sound and fury of this catastrophe is far greater than we have ever imagined.

One thing I believe is worthy of our note is that God has not changed. The God who judged the world, reining down death on the globe for rebelling against his holiness is the very God we serve today. Jesus judges just like this (cf. Revelation 19). But I wonder if we believe it. Do we really believe that God would judge the world. In his mercy, God promised that he would not flood the world again (Genesis 9). But, in his word, the Lord has made it plain that the wages of sin is death, that death without Christ leads to eternal judgment, and that Christ will both judge and reign supreme forever.

Do you believe that God is willing and righteous to judge? Do you accept that, where God judges, he has every right to do so as the Creator and Lord over all? Do you realize that the earth earned God’s judgment by violating his holy ways and the world is still doing that today?

And God has not changed. The ark provided salvation for those who willingly entered it. God will save a people for himself. God will not lose those he intends to save. His justice and his mercy never change.

Sleep as an Act of Faith

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Psalm 3:5

I lay down and slept;

I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.

In Psalm 3, David is crying out to the Lord for his help. David’s son has attacked Jerusalem, hoping to chase down and murder his father. But David escaped into the wilderness. This, of course, was a terrible period in the life of the king.

In the midst of this psalm, David highlights something special, though I wonder if we see it as such. David, while hiding out, while on the run, lay down and slept. David woke up again, because the Lord had protected and sustained him. And David began a new day with the Lord.

Many things we do in life we take for granted. We assume that all will be the same. But sometimes it is truly worth it for us to just stop and consider what we do. Among these things is sleep.

When we sleep, we yield a period of hours to the Lord. While we sleep, we have no control of the world around us. While we sleep, we have no control of our bodies, our breath, our heartbeat, even our thoughts. As we sleep, we, if we would think about it, take a step of faith. We entrust the spinning world to the care of the Lord. We entrust our bodies to the hands of him who knitted us together before we were ever born. We trust that God will sustain our lives, keep our homes standing, make the sun rise the next day, and continue life as we know it.

David was in fear of a dangerous situation. Yet he slept. You and I look at a crazy world, and often we grumble and complain about the evils of politicians and the mess that the world is in. Yet we too sleep. We stop. We take somewhere around a third of our days in many cases, and we must let go of any sense of personal control. May this remind us that, in truth, we have never controlled the world. Only the Lord keeps the globe spinning. Only the Lord keeps our government from becoming as evil as it wants to be. Only the Lord keeps our hearts beating and our blood flowing. And the Lord who has been faithful to keep us until now will keep us for eternity if we belong to him in Christ.

God’s Commands or the World’s Ways

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Ezra 9:1-3 – 1 After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 2 For they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost.” 3 As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled.

In the book of Ezra, we watch as exiles return to the land of Judah. We see the great faithfulness of God as the Lord motivates a foreign king to send captives home. We see the stunning provision of God as he moves the king to fund the reestablishment of the temple in Jerusalem.

But when Ezra, who shows up in the book baring his name in chapter 7, finally arrives in Jerusalem, he finds unfaithfulness. Dealing with that unfaithfulness is the sort of closing climax of this half of the Ezra-Nehemiah scroll.

Not long after things were up and running in Jerusalem and in the temple, Ezra found out that many of the people of Judah, including those who were in positions of community and spiritual leadership, had married foreign wives. And that news rocks Ezra’s world.

We need to be careful not to misunderstand the issue here. This is not an issue of racism. It is not that Ezra would not dare have one of God’s people marry someone of a different skin color. It is an issue of the promises of God on the one hand and faithfulness to God’s commands on the other.

Dealing with God’s commands, we need to remember that the Lord commanded that the people of Israel not marry outside of their nation any who were not willing to embrace the faith. God would not allow the people of Judah to corrupt the faith so that the commands and promises of God would be lost. If God forbad idolatry, but a man married a woman who brought idols into the house and the family culture, there was a major problem. Besides, God’s promises included the bringing of Messiah, the promised one, from a particular family lineage. This must not be lost by so intermingling the nation of Israel with other nations that the Messianic line is no longer recognizable.

So, what Ezra found as he examined the community around him was a few things. First, the people were not at all concerned with God’s promise to bring Messiah through his holy people. Second, the people were not concerned with obedience to the simplest of God’s commands. And, third, the people were willing to compromise the ways of the Lord so as to enjoy the pleasures of the world.

While all this is a fun history lesson, we should see at least a challenge or two for ourselves. Where are we willing to ignore the things of God for the pleasures of the world around us? Where are we willing to compromise the commands of God because we want to be like the world, favored by the world, or simply have the benefits of the world? Where do we allow ourselves to embrace the abominations of the world? And why in the world do we do so?

For sure, a reader of Ezra 9 and 10 should recognize that no follower of God should enter into a marriage with someone who is not similarly saved and committed to the worship of the Lord. Christians marrying outside the faith is forbidden by the word of God.

But the truth is, we should be even more circumspect than to only marry believers. WE should also be circumspect in how we allow our lives to function. We need to be fully devoted to our Lord and his ways. That means that there are worldly partnerships and worldly benefits that we should never embrace. We cannot share the world’s values. We cannot agree with the world’s sins. We must not shape our lives so that they look devoted to the same things as the lost. We live for someone and something different than they do, not because we are better naturally, but because we are saved, adopted, and committed to his Lordship.

Christians, let Ezra’s work remind you that there is a regular temptation to turn from the things of God. There are temptations to embrace things that God forbids. There are temptations to rationalize your desires. But the people of God are devoted to Jesus Christ as Lord. This means that we must not assume that we can live in any way that we choose, in any way that matches the world around us, and all will be acceptable. Surrender to God’s commands. Center your life’s focus on the Lord’s ways and word. And do not bring compromise into your life and into your home.

Two Very Different Messages

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Genesis 3:4-5 – 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Matthew 1:20-21 – 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

As I begin a new read through the Bible, I find myself in familiar ground. But there is great help and wisdom in these familiar places.

In Genesis 3, we see just how the woman was tempted to oppose the Lord. Note the serpent’s tactic. He wants her to feel foolish. He wants her to feel like the concept of death for eating a piece of fruit is ridiculous. He wants her to think that anybody with sense knows better than to let some sort of religious command about fruit impact what she desires for herself. Doesn’t everybody know that the penalty for such a supposed crime is merely a myth?

How familiar is this theme? The world around us looks at those who hold to the standards of God, and they scoff, “Come on man!” They argue that nobody is really going to be punished by God for something as small as that. They suggest that God would never demand that marriage only be between a man and a woman. They suggest that God is not hung up on gender identity at all. They tell us that it’s crazy to think that God would judge anybody for not believing in Jesus. They suggest that there is no way that anybody should fear the judgment of God simply for doing what they feel is right. No way does God care if you skip worship for a few weeks if you have something you want to get done. Like the serpent, they hiss into our ears that we should not take the faith so seriously that it puts us out-of-step with the changing times.

How do we stand against such a tide? Consider what the angel said to Joseph in Matthew 1. There Joseph planned to divorce Mary because it seemed as though she had been unfaithful. But an angel from God told Joseph not to fear such a thing. Do not fear marrying this young woman. Yes, she is with child. But this child is conceived by the Lord. This child is the promised Savior. He will save his people from their sins.

Compare the garden message of the serpent to the angelic message to Joseph. The serpent tells Eve not to worry about the judgment of God. No way would God do anything to you for opposing his commands and design. The angel says to Joseph not to fear to obey God, because God is doing something glorious. One voice tells us that nobody takes God’s commands seriously enough to change our lives. The other voice tells us that only the word of God is solid enough to shape our lives.

As I begin this new Bible in a Year plan, I find myself encouraged. Only God’s word is solid enough for me to rely on. I cannot listen to the voices in our culture that tell me that I should take the word of God with a grain of salt. Instead, I need to, as Joseph did, know that God has given me his word, and that word is sure. While it may seem crazy in the eyes of the world, God’s word is the only sure foundation for what I think, what I feel, and what I do. May I learn to be faithful to the word regardless of the scoffing world around me.

Two Directions in Faith

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Hebrews 11:1 – Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

We know that living as a Christian is living by faith. Hebrews 11:6 reminds us that we cannot please God without faith. But what is it? Even the definition given at the beginning of the “Hall of Faith” as some call it is something that requires a little thought.

Faith is having a sure trust in something. What makes faith work is not the amount of one’s faith but the object of one’s faith. If I trust in thin ice with all my heart, I still fall through when I step on it. If I am afraid when I step on thick ice, even without faith, I am held because the object is strong.

What I considered when reading this recently, however, which is something I had not thought much about, is the two directions of faith given to us in the definition at the beginning of chapter 1. Faith is about what we hope for. Faith is about what we have not seen. One is the future. One is the past. Both are necessary.

Faith in the past, in things that have happened but which we have not seen, is required for life. In order to have saving faith, you must believe in the person and work of Jesus. You must believe that the Son of God came, lived a perfect life, died to pay for your sins, and rose from the grave. You must believe that Jesus is both willing and able to rescue you from your sins. Without such faith, you have no salvation.

Similarly, those who trust in Jesus have a faith that is future focused. WE believe that Jesus will return. We believe that he will raise us from the dead even if our bodies die in this life. WE believe that he will reign eternally. We believe that all who have trusted in him will live forever, forgiven, and joyful in the presence of God.

Here are two quick quotes from Michael Kruger’s new book on Hebrews that I think help us see what I’m talking about in the two directions of faith:

“Faith is not just a feeling. It is not just saying, “I hope it’s true.” It means being certain about something. Notice the two key words in this first verse: “assurance” and “conviction.” Faith is rock-solid trust that when God makes a promise, it is true and right. It is absolute assurance and confidence that God’s word can be relied upon.”

“Verse 1 highlights the two types of things that we know by faith. “Things hoped for” are things in the future that have not yet happened. “Things not seen” are things in the past—events that we were not there to see. Or, put simply, our faith is in what God has done and in what God will do.”

Michael J. Kruger, Hebrews for You (Charlotte, NC: The Good Book Company, 2021), Chapter 10.

Be a Titus

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What kind of man was Titus? Here are some things that came up in my study as I was preparing for sermons in this book.

Acts 15:1–2 – 1 But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.

Paul, writing about this time, says to us…

Galatians 2:1–3 – 1 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. 3 But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek.

Titus was a gentile. He was a convert to the faith. And Titus was man enough to go with Paul and stand with him in the Jerusalem council. Titus was willing to be the converted and uncircumcised gentile standing in front of the apostles and the circumcision party to declare that gentiles can indeed be saved without reverting to following Jewish laws.

Later, Titus is the man Paul sent to Corinth to deal with that crazy church and all its issues. Titus was the man left on Crete to appoint elders in every church to guard them against bullying and deceptive false teachers.

May God give us a few more Tituses in our churches today.

Turning Down Ungodly partnership

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Ezra 4:1-3 – 1 Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, 2 they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.” 3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

During the earlier days of the Jewish return from Babylon in the 6th century BC, the Jews worked to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. This work was started, stopped, and started again. We read of the drama here in Ezra 4-6.

Fairly early in the project, the people of God were approached by others who are here called adversaries. These are the Samaritans, people who were settled into the land of the northern kingdom after the Assyrian conquest in 722 BC. They declare their desire to join with the Jews in the building of the temple, claiming to have worshipped the same God over the past two centuries.

But the Jews would have none of it. They knew that the Samaritans did not worship the Lord. Nor did the Samaritans follow the word of the Lord. Perhaps the Samaritans used some of the same words as did the Jews, perhaps even using God’s name and some of his commands, but their religion was different.

The leaders of the people of God responded to the Samaritan demand to join in the temple building with a flat refusal, saying, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us” (v3). The Jews were not willing to include the Samaritans in the project. Nor were the Jews willing to pretend that the Samaritans and they shared any sort of common faith.

With the story in mind, I think we can find an important application for all believers today. There are always those who are quick to say, “for we worship your God as you do” (v2). And when this happens, we need to have a ready biblical response.

First, understand that not all people, even well-intentioned, are correct when they claim to share with us a common faith. Many a person around us will say that they worship our God. Many will say to us that they believe in “God” too. And we need to be very careful. Before we embrace every person who claims belief in a higher power or even who names the name of Jesus, we need to examine their claim to see if they actually share with us a true and common faith. Do those who claim to worship God actually know Jesus? Do they understand that Jesus is God the Son, God in flesh, who lived out perfection, died as an atoning sacrifice, and rose from the grave for our justification? Do they understand that salvation is by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone? Do they grasp that following Jesus includes a surrender to his lordship under the commands of the Scriptures? If not, how can they claim a common faith?

Second, we need to guard against accepting supposed help from those who are not of our faith. I think here more of government aid than I do of temple rebuilding. In our culture, many community doors are flung wide to religious groups who will work together in an interfaith capacity. If Christians are willing to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with other religious groupings, there are all sorts of social benefits. The problem is, eventually those benefits run out. This is especially true when the Christians are actually faithful to proclaim the gospel. AS we truly point to Jesus, the support that we receive from others—support upon which we will rely too heavily if we are not careful—will dry up.

The truth is, the gospel is offensive. The gospel says that we are hopeless sinners on our own. The gospel says that people of other religions, people of sincere faith, are destined for the wrath of God in hell. The gospel proclaims that only those who will reject their former religions, who will reject all forms of human achievement for spiritual credit, only those who turn their eyes to Christ alone in faith will be saved. That exclusivity which cites the Bible as our sole authority and Jesus as our only Lord, a Lord above all governments and social opinions, will quickly turn a supposedly helpful and partnering world against us.

Christians, let us learn from the men rebuilding the temple. Let us be guarded against allowing those who do not know the Lord to claim that they are just like us. Let us not accept help today that will either mislead the lost or lead to our temptation toward compromise. Let us instead stand strong on the word of God trusting that the Lord will provide for all our needs by his mighty power and for his glory.

Responding to Wrath

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Revelation 16:4-7 – 4 The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say,
“Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was,
for you brought these judgments.
6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,
and you have given them blood to drink.
It is what they deserve!”
7 And I heard the altar saying,
“Yes, Lord God the Almighty,
true and just are your judgments!”

How do you respond to the concept of the judgment of God? What is a godly way to respond to the Lord’s judgments? This is a bit complicated for us, as we are human, guilty of sin, and full of emotion. But we must always begin and end with our understanding that the Lord defines perfection and always does what is right.

In Revelation 16, we see the bowls of the wrath of God rapidly poured out on a rebellious earth. As we watch, we see the third bowl judgment poured out over the waters from which people would drink. This judgment is horrifying. And we see a pair of responses.

In verses 5-6, we see that an angel who is over the waters declares this judgment of God’s to be just. The people of the world have killed God’s saints. They have shed the blood of the innocent. And thus the Lord giving them blood to drink is, in the angelic opinion, right. In verse 7, we hear another voice, that of the altar. Back in chapter 6, we saw that the altar has under it the souls of martyrs. They too declare that God’s judgments are true and just.

At the same time, we know that the Lord does not delight in these just judgments. In Ezekiel 18:23, the Lord declares, “’Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?’” god is not cruel. He does not dance a jig at the destruction of the wicked.

What then do we do with the judgment of God and our emotion? WE see two things. On the one hand, there is sorrow. There is always sorrow when evil men refuse to repent. There is sorrow when men who were created in the image of God fall under the judgment of God.

But, and this is vital for our minds to grasp, the judgment of god is both just and good. The Lord has never once punished anyone wrongly. When the Lord pours out his wrath, his wrath is holy, good, right, pure, and perfect in every way.

OK, actually, let me amend my thoughts here. There is one time. Once in human history, the Lord poured out his wrath on one who did not deserve it. This, of course, is the time the Lord poured out his wrath on Jesus, God the Son, who died to bear away our guilt so that God might welcome the saved into his family.

Christians, weep over and affirm the wrath of God. Weep, because the death of any human being is sad. Affirm, because the wrath of God is always, absolutely always, perfect and right. The wrath of God is never wrong. It is never too far. It is not a thing to be ashamed of. But, as we see in the voice of the angel and the altar, God’s ways are just and right.

Jesus is a Great High Priest

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Hebrews 7:23-28 – 23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

Hebrews and the discussion of Melchizedek can get a little obscure for some believers. But a look at this section of Scripture can give us some beautiful reasons to thank God that we know Jesus and are under the New Covenant.

Thinking of Jesus as our great high priest, we see two things that help us understand just how great a Savior he truly is. Jesus is sinless and permanent.

Unlike every priest who ever lived before or after the time of Jesus, our Savior is sinless. Jesus never needed to approach his Father with the blood of any sacrifice. Jesus is always welcome in the presence of the Father, because Jesus, the Son, has never been guilty of sin. In the Old Testament, every priest had to be ceremonially clean. Every priest also had to be atoned for by a sacrifice before ever approaching the holiest of places. But Jesus is always perfectly righteous, perfectly clean.

A major point in the letter to the Hebrews is that Jesus is qualitatively superior to all Old Testament priests. Yes, the priests accomplished something in their ministry. They carried out sacrifices that pointed to the one actual sacrifice that could take away sins. The good ones directed the people of God toward his holiness, toward repenting of sin, toward humble submission to the law. But none of those priests was holy enough to approach God on their own. Neither was any of them able to permanently remove the punishment men deserve for sinning against God.

Jesus is also permanent. Every high priest in the Old Testament eventually died. These men were sinners; and the wages of sin is death. No priest, not even a good one, could forever speak to the Father on behalf of a sinner. That is, none could do so until Jesus.

The author of Hebrews says to us that Jesus is able to save “to the uttermost” all who have come to him in faith and repentance. Jesus is not limited, as were the priests, to only being able to go to God for people for a limited time. Jesus, who died and rose from the grave, lives eternally to perfectly plead our case before God. Jesus is able to point to his perfect, infinitely valuable, truly finished work in the cross and empty tomb as an argument for our eternal salvation. Jesus has never been compromised. Jesus is not weakened. Jesus did not do a symbolic work that might lead to salvation for people. Jesus saved a people for himself to the glory of God.

Let us love that we live under the New Covenant. The Old was not a bad covenant. It pointed to the salvation to come. It showed us the character of God. It showed us our need for a sacrifice and a Savior. But praise God that we are not living on a treadmill of sin, sacrifice, repeat. No, in Christ, our sin is defeated once and for all. Yes, we still fail. But now we approach the one who has already sacrificed himself for our sin and who pleads that perfect sacrifice over us forever.

Praise Jesus, our sinless high priest. Praise Jesus, our permanent intercessor.