In Mark 4, the Lord Jesus speaks a parable about a sower who sows seed on a variety of types of soil. Of the 4 soils, only 1 produces a living, fruit-bearing plant. The other three produce, at the end of the day, only something dead. And the Savior tells us in his explanation of the parable that this all has to do with the sharing of the gospel.
What I wonder, when I consider this, is how many of us heard a gospel preached that, by the simple nature of how it was preached, would be more likely to fall on bad soil. Of course, I know that the Lord is sovereign over our salvation. He is the one who brings dead hearts to life and draws people to himself. So, do not take that out of the equation. But, what I wonder is, by the nature of how we speak, do we almost prepare people to be the rocky or thorny ground?
Mark 4:5-7 – 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.
Jesus says there are a kind of people who, hear the gospel and respond quickly with joy. But, when either hardships or a desire for the things of this life arise, they turn from the gospel and prove to be dead and not alive.
Mark 4:16-19 – 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
Would not a half-gospel, an almost true presentation of Jesus, lead people to be more likely to look like the rocky or thorny ground? Think about it. So many preachers in modern churches offer people the love and forgiveness of God by grace through faith in Christ. But, somehow, in the preaching, the call to repentance and commitment to Christ is left out of the message. There is no lordship in the presentation.
Mark 1:15 – and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
The gospel is a call to repent and believe. It is not a call merely to say some spiritual word.
Romans 10:9 – Bcause, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Paul points out that we both call Jesus Lord and believe in his completed work for salvation. He does not present to us a call simply to have an empty, head only faith. Faith leads to repentance. Faith includes a surrender to Christ.
But, so many presentations out there are a call to just give Jesus a try. The call out there is to pray a prayer, and you will notice everything gets better. People eagerly pray, and they might even be religious for a few months. But, when real life hits them in the face, they turn and run. They were never truly converted.
1 John 2:19 – They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
If merely mouthing ascent to a spiritual proposition, praying a prayer on a street corner, were the true gospel plan of salvation, 1 John 2:19 would make no sense. They could not go out from us, never having been part of us, if to be one of us only required a heartless prayer without commitment or heart-change. No, the good news is not so vacuous as all that.
Now, do not get me wrong. We are saved, if we are saved, by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. There is no religious action to perform in order to seal our salvation. There is no particular work that we do or particular amount of works that we do in order to be saved. Salvation is genuinely a free gift of God.
Part of some gospel presentations includes the idea that, if we want God’s gift of grace, we must take it from his outstretched hands. That is usually a bad version of synergistic teaching in which our act of will works along with God to apply salvation to us. And, of course, that is not true biblically. But, there is a way that I think we can use a gift illustration to help us. If you imagine that salvation is a package that you need to reach out and take from God’s outstretched hand, that is not bad. However, add to this picture this idea: Before you are saved, you are holding inn your two, full hands, the right of ownership over your own life. In order to receive the gift of salvation, you must hand to God the control of your life—lordship. Your hands have to be empty enough to receive the gift of salvation.
I’m not sure if that illustration works, but it may be close. Salvation is a free gift of grace. But, no person can receive that gift of grace while simultaneously keeping full control of his or her life. To genuinely believe in Jesus and receive him as lord includes the action of repenting, of surrendering the authority over our lives to the Lord.
To then tie this back to my concern, far too many supposed gospel presentations include the gift from God while far too few include the concept of repentance and lordship. It is almost like trying to sell someone on the concept of a wedding day without including a marriage. It is like trying to sell someone on the leap from the diving board without including the splash in the pool. May we be more honest than all that. May we not pretend that salvation is something a person receives by the mere mouthing of words. No, salvation comes when God changes our hearts, makes us alive, and causes us both to believe and to, in that belief, yield our lives to him. This is salvation that is not going to die the moment something more comfortable presents itself. This is the kind of salvation that does not disappear when life hardships or worldly success are before us. No, the genuine gospel is an all-life, all-eternity sort of thing.
Embrace the Cross
John 19:16b-18 – So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.
One of the most fascinating things about the way that God’s word records for us the crucifixion of Jesus is the fact that we receive almost zero details regarding the actual event. This passage just told us that Jesus was led out of the city to a place they called Skull Hill, that he carried his cross, that he was crucified, and that two others were crucified beside him. So, though countless books, seminars, movies, and studies have been done on the physical effects of crucifixion, the Bible only focuses us on the details that surrounded the cross, not on the blood and gore of the cross itself.
William Hendriksen grasps this point when he writes:
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It has been well said that the person who was crucified “died a thousand deaths.” Large nails were driven through hands and feet (20:25; cf. Luke 24:40). Among the horrors which one suffered while thus suspended (with the feet resting upon a little tablet, not very far away from the ground) were the following: severe inflammation, the swelling of the wounds in the region of the nails, unbearable pain from torn tendons, fearful discomfort from the strained position of the body, throbbing headache, and burning thirst (19:28).
In the case of Jesus the emphasis, however, should not be placed on this physical torture which he endured. It has been said that only the damned in hell know what Jesus suffered when he died on the cross. In a sense this is true, for they too, suffer eternal death. One should add, however, that they have never been in heaven. The Son of God, on the other hand, descended from the regions of infinite delight in the closest possible fellowship with his Father (1:1; 17:5) to the abysmal depths of hell. On the cross he cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46).[1]
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Hendriksen has it exactly right. The physical suffering that Jesus went through on the cross was horrific; however, the focus is more on what he suffered spiritually. The spiritual aspect of what was going on is, I believe, at the center of John’s mind. This is why John emphasizes that Jesus was led out of the city, as a criminal, with two criminals, and hung on a tree as one accursed. Just listen to these texts of scripture, and see how much we should see in these events.
On Christ being led outside the city:
Leviticus 16:27 – And the bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. Their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be burned up with fire.
Hebrews 13:11-12 – 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.
On Christ being hung on a tree:
Deuteronomy 21:22-23 – 22 “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.
Galatians 3:13 – Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
On Christ being counted with criminals:
Isaiah 53:12 – Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors ; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
What is it that God wants us to see in Christ walking out of the city, suffering the torture of the cross? God wants us to see that Christ was becoming an offering for the sins of others. He was becoming accursed for the sins for which you and I should be cursed. He was being counted guilty though he was innocent. Or, as Paul writes so clearly, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).
Embrace the cross because of the atonement. If you have placed your faith in Jesus, it was on the cross where God punished your sin. Jesus was your sacrificial substitute who paid the price for what you have done. On the cross, God satisfied his justice by fully carrying out the righteous sentence for your sin. He also satisfied and displayed his mercy by allowing Christ to serve as your substitute, because he could bear the punishment that you never could.
What Do We Have to Offer
Recently, I listened to Steven Lawson’s presentation from the 2017 Ligonier Conference. Lawson was given the topic of the recovery of preaching in the reformation. How did the preaching of the word impact the recovery of biblical Christianity in the lives of men like Luther and Calvin.
Lawson showed from history how Luther and Calvin gave themselves to preaching the word of God day after day after day. These men preached thousands of sermons, walking their congregations through verse after verse, chapter after chapter. They preached multiple times on Sundays. They preached during the week.
This presentation has gotten me thinking about this question: What do we have to offer? I serve a small church. There are not hundreds or even thousands of us. We do not have a building of our own. We do not have massive programs or tons of financial resources. We do not have the capacity to entertain the culture around us in any form that would match what the world offers. Besides, we live in Las Vegas, where the entertainment focus is beyond anything I’ve ever seen before.
What then can we do that is our own? What do we have to offer the world that they cannot get somewhere else? There are charities around us giving food and help to many. There is no lack of high-quality music all over the city. There are social clubs galore. There are programs for kids and for adults. What do we have to offer?
2 Timothy 3:16-4:4 – All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
What do we have? We have the word of God. We have the infallible, inerrant, living and active Scriptures. We have the ability to preach the word. That is what we have that others lack.
What then must be at the center of the life of our church? It must be the word of God. Our church must be given to the preaching of the word. We must love the Lord by loving his word and obeying it. We must love one another by living as family and by helping each other to be accountable to the word of God.
In so many ways, this is better than the average church in America. So many churches are focusing their lives and ministries on trying to match the offerings of the world. Some try to match the world’s music. Some try to match the world’s entertainment options with social opportunities and kids’ programs. Some try to be the best charity in their community. But, so many of those same churches actually take the one thing they have to offer that is different from the world and they shunt it aside.
What would it look like for a church to set the word aside? Sermons would get shorter, as the focus of the services would be the entertainment value of music, drama, and other such things. The time that used to be given to the instruction of people in the word would fade as churches simply stop doing extra teaching. Evening Bible studies and classes of depth would simply go away. And, when teaching is done, it will be messages that are primarily illustration, story-telling and supposed application, and the simple exposition of Scripture will be hard to spot.
What challenges me is the call to preach the word in and out of season. In many places, it is out of season for the regular, repeated, intense preaching of the word. So many Christians have their time taken up with so many other things that they are barely bumped by the word of God for half an hour per week. May this not be so in our lives. May we find ways to continually open the word together for the sake of the honor of the Lord. May we learn to obey the word as we regularly see it alongside each other. No, may we not neglect loving one another and taking the gospel to our neighbors. But may we know that the word of God and the ordinances of the church are the things we have that are not available in some other social club in our cities and towns.
Do you want excellent music? Go to a concert. Do you want excellent drama? Go to a play. Do you want to be surrounded by cheering people who all have the same goals as you? Go to a sporting event. Do you want great activities for your kids while you get a little time off? Go to any number of kids’’ clubs, day-cares, or even the Y.
But, do you want to hear the voice of God ringing from the pages of holy Scripture? Do you want to hear who your Lord is and what he calls you to do and be? Do you want to know why you exist and how to have the highest possible joy? Do you want to know how to have a life beyond the few years you live on this earth? Do you want to know how to live in accord with the way that God designed you? Then find a church where the word of God is opened and faithfully taught. Find a church where they know that the word is what makes them different. Find a church where the preaching of the word is given priority. Find a church where they will let go of trying to compete with the world’s level of entertainment. Instead, find a church where Scripture, Scripture, and more Scripture are the orders of the day.
Elementary My Dear Scribes
I for some reason thought of a detective novel when reading through Mark 2. There, Jesus performed a wonderful miracle. But, before he did so, Jesus allowed the watching religious leaders to completely put their foot in it as the old saying goes. They speak an objection that will ultimately do more to help prove the case of the deity of Jesus.
Mark 2:6-7 – 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
You see, when Jesus saw the paralytic on the mat, his and his friends’ faith, he pronounced a glorious blessing. He told the poor man that his sins were forgiven. This, of course, caused an outrage among the scribes. They wondered just who Jesus thinks he is. Only God can forgive sins.
Unfortunately for the hapless scribes, that very question sets them up for failure. Like the crook who says something before a detective that only the guilty party could possibly know, the scribes give Jesus the ammunition necessary to close the case.
Mark 2:8-12 – 8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” 12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
If Jesus were not seated in the house, teaching the mass of people crowding into the small room, I would almost expect him to pace the room just like Sherlock Holmes as he unravels the mystery. How, indeed, can Jesus declare to forgive this man’s sins? It is a given that only God has that authority. Thus, for Jesus to forgive is for him to declare himself divine.
Then Jesus asks the scribes a significant question. Which is easier to say? Is it easier to declare sins forgiven or to heal a paralyzed man? The scribes would have to understand that the statement of forgiveness is easier to make. After all, there is no proof that such a declaration is indeed true. However, a command to get up and carry your bed home, a declaration of immediate healing, is immediately subject to inspection. Thus, the scribes have to admit that the healing is the more difficult thing to do.
Then Jesus closes the case. If he can heal this man, which the scribes understand to be a supernatural action available only to one with the power of God, he must also be proving his right to forgive. If Jesus can do the harder thing, he must actually be giving proof to the claim that he is God in the flesh.
Then Jesus turns to the paralytic, commands him to get up, take his mat, and walk home. And all in the house see that Jesus has healed the man. Jesus has done what no human being has the power to do. Jesus has shown the power of God in himself. Jesus has, by the more difficult act, proved that he is the one who has the right to forgive. And, Jesus, by the very words of the scribes, has just given proof that he is the God who has that right to forgive. Jesus is God. It’s elementary, my dear scribes, elementary!
The Right of the Creator
I have heard it said that, if you can believe Genesis 1:1, the rest of the Bible should be no problem. I agree. If you can allow your heart to grasp and submit to the truth that, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1), you should have no difficulty believing any miracle or claim of the Lord’s that follows. If God created, no other miracle is beyond his power. And, if God created, he has the full right to command us to do or to think anything he desires.
Now, it seems logical that the Creator has the right of ownership. Does, however, Scripture reveal this truth to us?
Deuteronomy 10:14 – Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.
Psalm 95:4-5
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
God claims the earth and heavens as his. Why? Look specifically at why God claims the sea as his property in Psalm 95, “because he made it.” The creation declares God’s right of ownership.
Consider what this means for you and me. We are made by God. If we are not, we are not special. If we are created by God, we have worth. And, if we are created by God, he has full right of ownership of us. He has the right to do with us as he pleases. He has the right to command us as he pleases.
Also, if the Lord created us, as Scripture clearly declares, God knows us. I illustrated the importance of this to some students recently with a video game illustration. If a player is stuck on a particular level of a game and simply cannot solve the problem or defeat the main enemy, that is a problem. However, imagine that a person tells the player, “I know how you can get through this level.” When the player asks how this person could possibly know, the man responds, “I designed and programmed the game.” If this were to happen, the player should most certainly listen. The programmer would know better than any person how to best navigate the game to victory.
The Lord has made us. He is the programmer of the game, and there are no bugs, no cheat codes, and no hacks. God has designed us and shaped us. He is above us. He knows what is best for us. He has the right to tell us how he wants us to proceed.
So, may we learn from the mandate of creation that the Lord, he is God. May we learn, as Deuteronomy 10:14 reminds us, “Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.” And we are part of the all that is in the earth. We belong to God, and this is what makes us special. Believe the Lord created you. Submit to his rule. Rest in his knowledge.
Be Still and Know
Psalm 46 is a poem that inspires sweet confidence in the Lord. David writes about a city. That city is a good city with strong walls and a river watering it. He clearly is depicting the people of God, connecting them with the city of Jerusalem.
But, the city is threatened. It looks like armies are surrounding the city. They are crashing against the walls. Their campfires are dotting the fields at night. The people inside the city must be afraid. There is danger. How will they survive? How can they fight such a battle.
Then the Lord speaks. Interestingly, in his speaking, we do not know for sure whether the Lord is speaking only to the people inside the city, or if he is including the people outside the city.
Psalm 46:10-11
10 “Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
God says to be still. Many have said that this is a phrase that means to stop fighting, to cease striving. Instead of fighting, people are to know that he is God.
Now, if that was spoken to the armies outside the city walls, that phrase is a powerful command. Put down your weapons. Stand aside. Do not think for a moment you can take this city. God is not going to let you. He is God. You cannot beat him.
If, however, God is speaking to those inside the city, the words are sweet words of comfort. Don’t fret. Don’t think you have to fight this battle. God is God. He is on his throne. He will not be moved. He will not be defeated. The Lord of hosts, the God over all the heavenly armies, is with you, your mighty fortress. You will not be ultimately defeated.
Either way, this gives us so much hope. The church lives in a world of opposition. The polarization between the church and the community is growing stronger and stronger day by day. The laws of the land in America are turning against the freedom of Christians to believe the Bible and to live according to its principles. The hostility of skeptics and atheists and special interest groups is ramping up at a dramatic pace.
Yet, the Lord says to be still and know he is God. Be still, stop fighting. That does not mean to give up or give ground. But it certainly means to not fret. We are not to sit around and gripe and complain about how dreadful the world is. God is God. He has the battle. He will be victorious. No nation will defeat him. No people will overcome the Lord. Kings and governments have tried to destroy the plan of God forever. Just think of how many have tried: Satan in the garden, Pharaoh in Egypt, Assyria multiple times, Babylon, Haman in Persia, Syria under Antiochus IV, Rome under Titus, and that just takes us through the 1st century A.D. How many other governments have tried to put Christianity away? But the Lord has never given and will never give his church over to ultimate defeat. That, by the way, is the major point in the book of Revelation. Things may get bad, really bad, but the Lord will not ever lose.
So, we learn to be still. We stop. We breathe. We rest. We trust. We remember the promises of God. Yes, we keep serving. Yes, we keep working. Yes, we keep sharing the gospel. Yes, we keep discipling our children. Yes, we keep loving God and each other. And, yes, the world keeps being hard to live in. But, ultimately, we remember that the Lord, he is God. He is over all. He will be victorious. So, we be still, and we know that he is God.
Circumstances Do Not Speak Clearly
How do we know what God is telling us in our lives? How do we discern his will? If you look into this topic, you will find several schools of thought. But in many of them, interpreting our life circumstances is often at the center. When a good thing or a bad thing happens, many people believe that they can understand that God is telling them something by their life’s ease or hardship. But, this is seldom reliable.
When the apostle Paul was shipwrecked on the isle of Malta, he was bitten by a snake. Those who saw it happen interpreted Paul’s circumstances as a supernatural sign. But, if you’ll take note, you’ll see that they missed, twice.
Acts 28:3-6 – 3 When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. 4 When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” 5 He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.
So, the first time the people saw that Paul was snakebitten, they assume he is a murderer. He must be, after all, because how could God allow a good man to have a viper latch onto his hand after he survived a shipwreck? But then the people change their minds. When Paul survives the bite with no ill effects, the people decide that Paul must be deity.
The people of Malta misinterpreted the snakebite two times. They did their best to interpret the circumstances in front of them, to figure out what God might be saying or doing, and they missed badly. Why? We are not equipped, apart from Scripture, to let our life circumstances tell us anything about the Lord or the Lord’s will.
Consider the fact that, in Scripture, we see time and time again people misreading the situation and failing to know or do what God wants. In Exodus and Numbers, the people grumble and complain against God, believing that God must be out to destroy them simply because their desert trek is hard and their enemies are big. In Joshua 9, the nation of Israel is tricked by the Gibeonites because they only look at the circumstances without seeking the word of God. In Job, Job’s 3 friends assume that Job must be on God’s bad side because of his suffering. Elijah assumes that he is the only man left in the land who is committed to God simply based on his personal experience. In Luke 24, the disciples walking to Emmaus complain to the resurrected Jesus that they clearly misunderstood who Jesus was because he died—missing the point about as badly as humanly possible.
No, people are not good at interpreting our circumstances. Without Scriptural guidance, we will miss and miss badly. We cannot assume that, if something is hard to accomplish, it is not God’s will. We cannot assume that, because something is easy, it must carry God’s blessing. We cannot assume that, because something is successful, it has honored God. We cannot assume that, because something is unsuccessful, it has dishonored God.
What then do we do? We rely on what God has actually said. God has told us what to do. He has told us how to please him. He has told us what honors him and what dishonors him. All this is found in his holy word. Peter reminded us that God has given us all that we need to live a godly life (2 Pet. 1:3) and then pointed us to the supreme reliability of Scripture (2 Peter 1:19-21). Paul told us that it is Scripture which God has exhaled and which equips us for godliness (2 Tim. 3:16-17). So, if we want to live life without overinterpreting or misinterpreting our circumstances, the only way to do so is to base our actions, our beliefs, and our standards solely on the Scriptures. Nothing else works. Nothing else is reliable and without error. No interpretation of a life circumstance is infallible. But, the word of God, properly handled and trusted, is totally reliable.
Some Thoughts from Deuteronomy 4
Sometimes it is worth just writing down some of my little musings as I read through a chapter. Here are some from Deuteronomy 4.
Deuteronomy 4:2 – You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.
Sola Scriptura is not only a reformation principle, it is a biblical principle. I find it fascinating that, as Moses sends the Israelites into the promised land, just 40 years after the Exodus from Egypt, he is adamantly clear that no person is to tinker with, change, add to, or subtract from the word of God. The Lord has given his commandments to his people, and no person has the right to mess with the word of God.
This is a principle still in play today. While we understand that the New Testament has shown us that many Old Testament laws are fulfilled in the person and completed work of Christ, the word of God still stands. We should not mess with it. We should not attempt to reshape Scripture to fit our culture. We dare not hide from Scripture for social popularity. God’s word is sound. We must hear it and obey it for God’s glory and our good.
Deuteronomy 4:8 – And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?
God’s people were given God’s law, and that set them apart from every other nation. All nations out there which are not a nation of the people of God have laws that are not as wise and not as righteous as the laws of God. God taught his people how to live righteously. But only the people of God carry with them the laws of God given to them by the revelation of God.
Today, we live in societies which are not the people of God. Our laws in our lands do not all reflect the glory of God. We should be reminded that, only when Christ returns and reigns as king, will we really have perfect laws. At the same time, we should pray for and work toward helping our laws inn our land be laws that honor the principles of the Lord’s commands. We want the righteousness of God’s law to cover our land, because the law of God is good. No, I’m not a theonomist. I do not believe that we should try to institute formally Old Testament laws for a non-Israelite, modern context. However, I will say that we should, as a people, pray that God grant us the grace to have righteous laws rather than laws that formalize support of things that are evil, dangerous, and dishonoring to God.
Deuteronomy 4:12 – Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.
Moses reminded the people of Israel that, when God spoke to them out of the fire on top of the mountain, they saw no form. They only heard the word of God. They did not see any shapes.
One of the glorious recoveries of the protestant reformation is the understanding that the church is a word-centered people. We are not a people who focus our lives and worship on visual images. True worship is always first and foremost focused on the clear, perfect, powerful, life-changing, binding, authoritative word of God. We are a word people, not a drama people or an image people.
Deuteronomy 4:15-19 – 15 “Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. 19 And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.
We are a word-based people. And the Lord has commanded his people not to become focused on developing images to depict him. Why? We can’t do it. No matter how good of an image we can produce for the Lord, we will always fall infinitely short of his glory. God chose not to give us a visual representation of himself. We should be wise enough not to try to come up with one for him.
While that passage obviously applies to the use of images in worship, idols and the like, it also should give us a strong reminder about how we represent God. God is very passionate about being properly represented. When a person says, “I like to think of God as…,” they are in danger of developing an image of God that is false. We must only represent God as God has represented himself. We must only depict God as the God of Scripture, the God who reveals himself to us, not in pictures or images, but in his perfect and holy word.
Deuteronomy 4:29-31 – 29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice. 31 For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.
I find it fascinating that, here in Deuteronomy 4, God spells out for the nation what they will face. They will rebel. They will be scattered. And, in the latter days, they will return to the Lord. Christians do not believe that this return has occurred for Israel, but look forward to that return as Paul promised in Romans 11. The return will not be to the old temple system, but will be a return to the Lord as they recognize Jesus as the promised Savior.
Deuteronomy 4:35 – To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.
What has God done? He has shown his glory through his perfect word and his mighty deeds. God proved to Israel and to all who read and understand his word that he is the Lord, there is no other. There is only 1 God, the God of the Bible. He proved that by doing things that only he can do. Later, he affirmed it by not only rescuing Israel from Egypt, but by raising Jesus, God the Son, from the grave. There is no room in Scripture for people to believe that there are multiple paths to heaven. Such is not Gods word or way.
Unless You Do This, You Cannot Be Saved
When the apostle Paul was being transported, under guard, to the city of Rome, he found himself in a nasty, storm-tossed sea. In fact, the ship itself was put at risk. They might sink.
When the ship neared land, the sailors thought to escape the doomed vessel by taking the ship’s boat. But, Paul, who had been given confidence of what was to come by a message from God, spoke up. If the sailors left the ship, for whatever reason, many would drown.
Acts 27:30-32 – 30 And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered the ship’s boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, 31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it go.
When Paul spoke to the Roman soldiers who guarded him, he was quite clear. If they did not stop the sailors from escaping, none of the soldiers would survive. And the soldiers believed Paul. They took action. And, eventually, all on the ship were able to get to land safely.
What fascinates me with this passage is the parallel to salvation. No, I do not assume that this is the intent behind this passage, but simply that it provides a nice, illustrative parallel. Paul says that they cannot be “saved” if they let the sailors escape. Of course, he is there talking of physical salvation. At the same time, we can see some very real truths in parallel with spiritual salvation.
Like the people in the ship, we are all in a doomed situation. We are destined to sink. We have no hope of survival on our own. This is because of our personal sin against a holy God, and not because of a stormy sea.
Like the sailors, many of us believe that we can come up with a way out of our predicament. We think that we can either do enough good works to earn God’s favor, be better than others around us, or take part in enough religious rituals to be OK with God. Others decide that they simply refuse to believe in God and his commands, and they convince themselves that this will allow them to not have to face the Lord.
Paul said to the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” There was a very clear and simple condition placed on the salvation of the soldiers. We are not given the reason why. But, there was exclusively one way for the Roman soldiers to survive the shipwreck. They had to keep the sailors on board.
This parallels the exclusive call of God on the lives of all people. Jesus told us that, unless we come to the Father through him, we will not come to the Father at all (John 14:6)Jesus told a crowd in Luke 13 that, unless they repent, they will all perish (Luke 13:3, 5). Jesus told a prominent Jewish scholar that, unless he is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3); and then the Savior made it known that those who believe him are the ones who have eternal life (John 3:16).
Notice what did not happen when Paul talked to the Centurion. The Roman guard did not say, “Hey, how dare you try to say that our plan for survival is not good enough!” He did not complain about the exclusivity of Paul’s command. He did not try to argue that all survival plans ultimately lead to the beach. He did not try to point out that, in his mind, Paul’s plan did not make logical sense. No, the centurion simply gave the order, the soldiers cut the ropes, and the lives of all were saved.
This is perhaps the best part of the parallel. At the end of the day, all who want to be spiritually saved, forgiven by God and granted eternal life, must place their entire trust for their entire souls in Jesus. They must both believe in the Savior and yield mastery of their lives to him—repentance. There is no other way to go to heaven. There is no other way to be forgiven. God saves those who come to Christ in faith and repentance. To be saved requires a genuine belief that will naturally lead to an action—the soldiers believed and then cut the ropes; Christians believe and repent of sin, yielding to Christ. This does not have to make sense to us. We are not required to be more open-minded or to prove God’s point. Our job is to, like Paul, tell the truth. The right response of the one who wants salvation is to , like the soldiers, hear the command and obey it.
You Are Crazy
As we have studied Matthew 10 at our church over the past couple of weeks, we have taken note of some of the variety of difficulties that Jesus promised would face the fledgling church. He promised hardships and persecutions along with Godly provision and reward for those who would remain steadfast. Jesus warned of rejection, but he only began to spell out what Christians might face.
Consider what Christians face in the U.S. today. Seldom do we face violence. We are not subject to imprisonment for our beliefs, at least not yet. Telling people about Jesus is certainly not the capital crime that it is in other countries.
But, there is a strategy that those who oppose Christianity employ that is powerful, dangerous, and not at all new. At this point, Christians face ridicule from a watching world. Media, Hollywood, and other sources like to paint the faithful as simply dumb, or even worse, crazy.
The apostle Paul faced such opposition in his ministry. Paul was put on trial before a set of rulers in the city of Caesarea. There Paul presented a defense for what he preached and why he preached. But, as Paul described his faith in the resurrection of Jesus, one ruler could no longer hold his tongue.
Acts 26:24And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.”
Festus simply could not let Paul go on without calling him nuts. Festus understood, of course, that Paul was a very bright man. Paul was widely respected as a learned man. So, Festus took a shot at Paul’s credibility by simply calling him mad.
Today, Christians face this charge as much as any. Now, the world might not call us nuts, though some refer to people of faith as the weak-minded. But, the world also loves to paint Bible-believing Christians as closed-minded, backward, or on the wrong side of history. The world likes to depict Christians as unhinged as they dismiss our views from the public square. Newspapers put Christian concern for religious liberty in scare quotes, showing a watching world that no person in their right mind would agree with us.
What should we do? What did Paul do?
Acts 26:25-26 – 25 But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words. 26 For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner.
Paul says he is not nuts. He points to evidence of his claims. And he just keeps telling the truth. He does not try to find any position that would earn him popularity. He does not compromise God’s truth for the sake of being accepted. He just keeps telling the truth and pleading with others to trust in Christ.
And, Christians, this is what we must do too. We need to stop worrying who thinks we are nuts. If we are faithful, we will not be the most popular group in town. But that does not matter. Nor does it matter if people think our faith in the supernatural, in the resurrection of Jesus, in the exclusivity of salvation in Christ, or anything else is crazy. We can live with them thinking we are backward if, by the grace of God, we may please our Lord and continue to tell the truth to the world.
Pastor Travis Peterson 