Luke 18:13-14 (ESV)
13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Jesus tells a story that compares two men. One is a religious guy who stands before God in full confidence. The religious man believes himself to be righteous before God because he has obeyed a set of rules and has done what is required to be a good person.
The other man in the story is a sinful tax-collector. This man knows that he has no basis for good standing before God. He has done evil, and he knows it.
When Jesus compares the two prayers of the two men, the religious guy lists off to God his litany of good accomplishments. The tax collector, for his part, simply cries out to God for mercy.
Jesus tells us which one is justified before God. It is not the rulesy religious man; the tax-collector who humbles himself to cry out to God for mercy, he is justified.
Does your gospel understand these verses? When you tell others about Jesus, what are you telling them? Do you help people to know that they are sinners before a holy God? Do you tell them that, as sinners, they have no hope to be right with God apart from his mercy? Or, do you tell them that God really wants to make their lives better if they will only let him? Trust the words of Jesus. No one will be right with God if they think they have a leg to stand on by themselves. The only one who will be truly saved is the one who recognizes himself or herself helpless before God and who will cry out to him for mercy.
The Process of Repentance (2 Timothy 3:16)
2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
One interesting lesson that we can find in 2 Timothy 3:16 is not related to the inspiration of Scripture. Though many rightly use this verse as an argument for the hand of God in the perfect inspiration of the Bible, there is more here to be found. One such thing to be found in this text is a beautiful picture of repentance.
Years ago, Jay Adams wrote a book entitled How to Help People Change. In that work, Adams presented a pattern of life change which he saw present in 2 Timothy 3:16. I have since taken Adams’ idea, and worked it in a slightly different way to display how it is that we repent of sin.
If Adams and I are correct about this verse teaching life change or repentance, there are four major steps that God’s word will take us through to help us turn away from sin and to Christ. The first is teaching. The Scriptures teach us the truth. A person who is walking in sin may not grasp the reality of his or her circumstances. The Bible shines the light of God on our lives to reveal to us the truths about our thoughts and actions. Thus, we are forced to think differently about our behavior—the first step in repentance.
The second step is rebuke or reproof. The word of God not only teaches us, but it also makes us feel the proper pain that we should feel when we do wrong. It reprimands us and calls us to the proper Godly sorrow that leads to repentance. When thinking differently about our sin leads us to feeling sorrow over our sin, that is the second major phase of repentance.
Scripture also corrects us. This has to do with course correction. If we are heading down the wrong path, Scripture helps us to slam on the breaks and start turning the wheel. Turning away from sin is a third aspect to repenting.
Finally, this text tells us that Scripture trains us in righteousness. Not only is it right for us to put off our sin, we also must put on righteous alternatives. Training in righteousness is teaching us to do what is right in place of what is wrong. Only when we have gone at least to this point have we truly repented of our sin.
2 Timothy 3:16 is a great place to look to see if you are rightly handling issues of sin in your life. Have you been taught—are you seeing your sin for what it is? Have you been reproved—are you feeling proper sorrow for your sin? Have you been corrected—have you stopped the wrong thing? Have you been trained in righteousness—are you learning to do what is right? These aspects are how we change for the glory of God by the Spirit of God working in the word of God
Keeping Your Vex in Check (Proverbs 12:16)
Proverbs 12:16
The vexation of a fool is known at once,
but the prudent ignores an insult.
How is your temperament when hurt or insulted? When you are vexed, when you become angry with someone for some reason, how do you react? Does your anger flash out quickly? Do people know the instant you are perturbed? If so, look at the words of Proverbs 12. God says to us that, if we are the kind of people whose tempers flare up and are instantly visible, we are acting like fools.
Remember also that the proverbs constantly talk about the fool as the person who says in his or her own heart that there is no God. Thus, for us to allow our tempers to flare immediately is for us to act like the godless. When we cannot hold our anger in check, not even for a moment, we show that we lack trust that God is there and that God will handle the situation. We say with our flashing anger that we are the deity, that we are the ones most offended, and that it is our justice that must be served. However, none of those thoughts are true. God is God; we are not. God is the one whose justice will always be satisfied in the end. God is the one who is always most insulted when wrong is committed.
Ponder the proverb the next time you are tempted to fly off the handle. When you lose your grip on your anger, you act like one who believes there is no God. However, when you look at your circumstances through a lens that tells you that God is in control, your emotions will remain under control.
Let me say that this is not easy. I need this advice for myself as much as anyone does. Though I’m not one whose anger flashes easily, I am one whose emotions—self pity, doubt, discouragement—can grab my heart far too quickly. Only if I remember God is in control will I have a proper grip on myself.
Needing Mercy (Nehemiah 9:32-37)
Nehemiah 9:32-37 (ESV)
32 “Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. 33 Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly. 34 Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them. 35 Even in their own kingdom, and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. 36 Behold, we are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves. 37 And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress.
Nehemiah chapter 9 is dominated by a beautiful prayer of remembrance and repentance on behalf of the people of God. The exiles who have returned from Babylon are still not fully resettled in the promised land. In a very real sense, the people considered themselves not to yet be rightly reconciled to God.
The people had been driven away from the land that God had promised them. They were taken away from the place where they could worship God as he had commanded. They suffered greatly. Even when God brought them back to the land, they still suffered under the rule of the Persian Empire.
Verse 33 tells us the central message of this entire chapter. The people declare, “Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly.” This is the proper attitude of anyone who has sinned against God. No matter how difficult our lives are, we have never been cheated by God. God has always been faithful. God has always held back his punishment. We have earned his wrath, just like Israel did, but God has always treated us with kindness, just like he treated Israel.
It is also true that there comes a point in anyone’s dealing with God that the time of mercy is dangerously close to running out. Israel was given hundreds of years to turn from sin and to avoid God’s wrath, but they never changed. You and I are given one lifetime to have our sins forgiven by God. If we want to avoid his judgment, we have to turn from our sin, and receive his forgiveness.
The prayer of this section is a simple one. The people ask God to take pity on them for what they have suffered. They are willing to turn from their sins and follow God. They know, however, that they cannot be rescued from their sins if God does not choose to have mercy on them. And so they cry for help.
You and I also need God’s pity, his mercy, his grace. IF we will be willing to turn from our sin and seek his grace, God will forgive us. Jesus Christ is a wonderful and merciful Savior. All who come to him will find grace. Whether you are a Christian who needs encouragement or a non-Christian who needs to be forgiven by God, Christ Jesus is the merciful God to whom you should cry for salvation.
Conference Call Comedy
My brother tells me this is too realistic.
Wrong Questions about Suffering (Luke 13:1-5)
Luke 13:1-5 (ESV)
1 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
When we see suffering, we often have questions that we want to ask God. “How could you allow this to happen?” “Why are these specific people suffering?” “did these people do something to cause what has happened to them?” The problem is, we are asking the wrong questions.
One day, Jesus was asked about a group of people who suffered a terrible death at the hands of an evil ruler. The people who asked wanted to know why those men suffered worse than others seem to. Jesus told his inquisitors that they were asking the wrong question and thinking in the wrong way. They wanted to know why God allowed certain people to suffer tragedy. In reality, what Jesus wanted them to do was to understand that all people deserve the wrath of God. Anything less than his wrath that we receive is his mercy.
How do I know that this is Jesus’ point? He tells the people, if they do not repent, they will perish themselves. Jesus wants them to understand that they deserve to have hardship befall them—they deserve God’s wrath. God has the right to allow us to perish. Because of his great love and mercy, he has provided a way for us to live and be forgiven (cf. John 3:16).
What is the way for us to survive and avoid the wrath of God? The word Jesus uses is repentance. If we will willingly turn away from our evil thinking and evil acting and instead place our full trust in God, we will be forgiven. More specifically, again from John 3:16, we must turn from ourselves and place our full trust in Jesus Christ to avoid perishing.
We like to think that nobody deserves to perish, and so something radical and strange has happened when God allows someone to perish. We have forgotten that all have sinned before God and earned death for that sin (cf. Romans 3:23; 6:23). Thus, our entire attitude should have a paradigm shift. When we see how much we deserve to be judged by a holy God, we will be grateful to him for any mercy he has shown us. When we see hardships, we will be reminded of the grace that God has given so many and of our need to repent and turn to God for mercy.
How Can God Forgive Me? (2 Chronicles 33:10-13)
2 Chronicles 33:10-13
10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. 11 Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. 12 And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13 He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.
My wife’s real name is not Mitzi—that’s a nickname—her actual name is Manassah. Her dad named her after one of Joseph’s two sons, Manasseh. The Bible says, “Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For he said, ‘God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house’” (Gen 41:51). I, however, like to tease my wife that she was named after King Manasseh, the most wicked king that Judah ever knew (she thinks this less funny than I do).
Manasseh was a bad king. If you read his story in 2 Chronicles 33:1-9, you will see that this guy was just plain nasty. He worshipped idols. He sacrificed his own children to false gods. He set up idols in the temple itself, a great abomination before God. He was the kind of wicked guy that you just pray will get what’s coming to him.
Then we read what I cited above. Manasseh did not listen to God. And we say, “No kidding.” So then God sent an army to drag him off and punish him. And we say, “Yeah baby!” Then the Scripture tells us that Manasseh repented, God heard his cry, and restored him. And we say, in the words of the late Gary Coleman, “What’chu talkin’ ’bout, Willis?”
How could this be? How could God forgive a guy like Manasseh? How could God let this guy off? How could God not utterly destroy Judah’s most wicked king ever?
My answer to that question is this: God could forgive Manasseh in just the same way that he can forgive a sinner like me or like you. God has always revealed himself to us in his word as the Lord who is slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness (c. Exo 34:6). God has shown that he is always forgiving toward those who will turn from their sin and place their trust in him. Without question, God does not forgive everybody. Without question, God has specific requirements for men and women to find forgiveness. But God is very much willing to forgive anyone who will come to him on his terms.
Do you remember John 3:16? God is willing to forgive anyone who will put their trust in Jesus. That means God will forgive the socially good guy who has sinned before God in his pride and it means the socially evil guy who has committed atrocities. God will forgive anybody who will turn away from their sin and place their hope and trust in the completed work of the Lord Jesus.
We must acknowledge that we are sinful before God and without hope on our own. We must believe that Jesus paid the price for our sins in his death and resurrection. Then we put all our hope in Jesus and what he has done, ask God to forgive us, and our lives change so that we follow and worship the Lord.
(If this text intrigues you, It will be the topic of the Sunday morning message at Olney Southern Baptist Church this week—10:00 AM, 205 E Mack Ave, Olney.)
Dangerous Creativity (2 Chronicles 26:16-21)
2 Chronicles 26:16-21
16 But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17 But Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the Lord who were men of valor, 18 and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the Lord God.” 19 Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the Lord, by the altar of incense. 20 And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead! And they rushed him out quickly, and he himself hurried to go out, because the Lord had struck him. 21 And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the Lord. And Jotham his son was over the king’s household, governing the people of the land.
One of the things that we see valued among some groups of believers is being extremely free in worship. Occasionally you will go to a church or conference where the worship leader—well-meaning no doubt—calls you to try worshipping in a new way, to forget about your tradition, and to just let go, be free, and worship. In such a setting, the worship leader is trying to free you from monotony, from meaningless or heartless repetition.
However, there is a danger in overemphasizing human freedom in worship. We see that danger in the life of King Uzziah. This man was a good king over Israel. He did many right things to try to lead the nation toward God. He clearly had a passion to worship. But, uzziah went too far.
As we read above, one day, Uzziah decided that he was going to worship God in a new way for him. He knew that the priests in the temple took censers of smoking incense and burned it before the Lord as an act of worship. Uzziah decided that he too would like to be involved in this practice. The problem was, God had not said that this was something all men could do. God had restricted that task to the priests. Thus, in an attempt to take his worship to a new level, Uzziah dishonored God by doing something that was forbidden him, and God punished Uzziah for it.
Uzziah forgot to treat the Lord his God as holy. He failed to see that God is so perfect that we do not deserve to approach him however we choose. Uzziah failed to recognize that it is for God to decide how we ought to worship him, not for us to make up our own way.
Analyze your own thoughts as you approach worship. Will you do what God has commanded? What if you have done that repeatedly; will you change things up and come up with a new way to worship? God is so good and so gracious. It is gracious of God to allow us to even think of him. Perhaps what we need is not a new style or new creative worship activity, and instead, what we need are new hearts to see how glorious it is that God would let us sing his praises, pray in his name, read his word, and bow before his throne. Truly, all obedience to the commands of God is worship. But we ought to be careful thinking that we will somehow make worship better or more meaningful by reaching out for a new action that we have not done in worship before. Be biblical in your worship and worship with all your heart; in doing so, you will never find worship dull.
What Has God Said is Most Important? (Psalm 138:2)
Psalm 138:2
I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted above all things
your name and your word.
When we see God declare that something is above all or more than anything, we should pay attention. If God’s word tells us that God has exalted something above all other things, we need to recognize that that thing is the top priority there is. We must not miss it.
Note that this psalm gives us a picture of what is of the highest priority to God. God has exalted or raised up above all things his name and his word. God’s name is not simply the word by which he is called. My name is Travis, but in the sense that this passage speaks of name, it is more than the word “Travis” that would be my name. Name in this passage points toward one’s reputation and character. God has not exalted the word “God” above all things, he has exalted his own reputation, glory, and character above all else.
Thus, what is most important? What is most important in God’s eyes is his reputation, his glory, is identity as God. When things we do shine positive light on the name, the reputation, and the glory of God, we do what God says is of highest importance. When our thoughts and actions show the universe around us that God is of greatest importance, we magnify his name and do the most important thing in the world.
God has also exalted his word above all things. God’s word, his revealing of himself and his will, is of utmost importance. Too often, we assume that our own opinions and thoughts are the highest measure. Too often we make ourselves the authorities that will sit in judgment over God and his ways. But when we do so, we are wrong.
Use this thought as an example of us exalting our opinion over God’s word. In the above verse, we saw that God has exalted his name above all things. Yet, how many of us naturally revolt against this idea? How many of us act as though it is wrong of God to set his name above all? Do you naturally say that God is selfish for making his own name and reputation the most important thing in the universe? If you do, you have exalted your opinion above God’s word. You have decided that you will, by your own wisdom, sit in judgment over the decisions and word of God. This is not a good position to be in.
God’s passion for his own glory is a very good thing for his children. In fact, it is the most loving thing that God could do for us. I could spend pages making that argument, but John Piper has already done so; if you’re interested, read his stuff.
What we want to learn from this is the fact that it is true that God’s name and God’s word are supreme. Everything we do should be done in the light of glorifying God’s name. Everything we do and think should be in submission to God’s word. This changes everything. Ask god this day to help you to focus your all on his name and submit to his word for his glory.
Guilty but Forgiven (Revelation 12:10-11)
Revelation 12:10-11
10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.
What are we to do with ourselves when we feel guilty? What are we to do when we hear the voice of condemnation in our hearts?
There are many major mistakes that we can make as we respond to guilt. If we act as though we are not guilty and deserving of judgment, we lie. If we act as though we have to do good to earn God’s favor, we become legalists. If we ignore our guilt with a shrug, we clearly devalue the word and the holiness of God.
In the verses above, the victorious saints conquered on the grounds of the blood of their Savior. The key for victory was not to pretend innocence, but to admit guilt while clinging to the infinite worth of the blood of the Son of God.
This thought hit me this morning while reading D.A. Carson’s new book, Scandalous. Carson does a wonderful job of spelling out for us how to respond to our true guilt.
D.A. Carson, Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 98-99.
“ The great redemptive act that freed them from their sins (1:5) and established their right to reign as priests and kings (5:9) is also what gives them authority over Satan and enables them to overcome Satan and all of his accusations (12:11). Satan accuses Christians day and night. It is not just that he will work on our conscience to make us feel as dirty, guilty, defeated, destroyed, weak, and ugly as he possibly can; it is something worse: his entire ploy in the past is to accuse us before God day and night, bringing charges against us that we know we can never answer before the majesty of God’s holiness. What can we say in response? Will our defense be, “Oh, I’m not that bad!”? You will never beat Satan that way. Never. What you must say is, “Satan, I’m even worse than you think, but God loves me anyway. He has accepted me because of the blood of the Lamb.” “
When I read this from Carson, I also thought of the words of Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress. Christian, being accused of his sin, responds with much the same answer that Carson puts forth.
From Pilgrim’s Progress, the fourth stage,
“All this is true, and much more which thou hast left out; but the Prince whom I serve and honor is merciful, and ready to forgive.“
There is no glory for God if we pretend we are not guilty. There is no glory if we pretend our sin does not matter. But God is greatly glorified if we recognize that our sin is an infinite offense to him which is covered by his glorious, infinitely holy sacrifice.
