Luke 5:8 – But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
In Luke 5, we see a glorious miracle of Jesus, and we see a proper human response from Peter. What has my attention is that Peter’s response is so very different than the response of most people today.
When Peter saw the power of the Lord Jesus, he bowed before Christ and said what we see above, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Peter saw the power of Jesus, and he recognized that he was in the presence of the Holy God. Peter was terrified.
Think about the conversations that you have with those who do not know God. If you talk about God, many of them assume that they are standing pretty well before the Lord. They assume that God is just so darn nice that he would not ever be upset with them for who they are or what they do. The one thing that you never hear in these conversations is fear that being in the presence of the Almighty might lead to their doom.
Now, think about the conversations that you have with Christians. You know what is missing? The same fear that Peter had before Jesus is missing. Yes, as children of God, we have been forgiven and have been made clean in Christ. Yet, is it not appropriate for us to also recognize that we are forgiven sinners, not forgiven good people. We deserved God’s wrath. We are allowed to enter the presence of God in Christ with freedom and confidence (Eph 3:12), but we also must come into God’s presence with right reverence and gratitude for being welcomed as unworthy but graciously forgiven sinners.
People are not saved by God’s grace without first grasping that they were worthy of and in danger of God’s wrath. It is this holy fear that drives us to our knees, crying out to God for mercy. Once we are saved, however, let us not forget. Let us remember that God is holy and we, by nature, are not. Yes, we have been made holy in Christ, but we still have done nothing and will never do anything that would make us earn God’s favor. We are sinful. Christ is holy. Let us love his grace as we remember his greatness and our need.
A.W. Pink on Holiness
A.W. Pink on the attribute of God’s holiness, from chapter 8 of Pink’s book on God’s attributes:
God’s holiness is manifested at the Cross. Wondrously and yet most solemnly does the Atonement display God’s infinite holiness and abhorrence of sin. How hateful must sin be to God for Him to punish it to its utmost deserts when it was imputed to His Son!
Not all the vials of judgment that have or shall be poured out upon the wicked world, nor the flaming furnace of a sinner’s conscience, nor the irreversible sentence pronounced against the rebellious demons, nor the groans of the damned creatures, give such a demonstration of God’s hatred of sin, as the wrath of God let loose upon His Son. Never did Divine holiness appear more beautiful and lovely than at the time our Saviour’s countenance was most marred in the midst of His dying groans. This Himself acknowledges in Psa. 22. When God had turned His smiling face from Him, and thrust His sharp knife into His heart, which forced that terrible cry from Him, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” He adores this perfection—”Thou art holy,” v. 3 (S. Charnock).
Because God is holy He hates all sin. He loves everything which is in conformity to His laws, and loathes everything which is contrary to it. His Word plainly declares, “The froward is an abomination to the Lord” (Prov. 3:32). And again, “The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord” (Prov. 15:26). It follows, therefore, that He must necessarily punish sin. Sin can no more exist without demanding His punishment than without requiring His hatred of it. God has often forgiven sinners, but He never forgives sin; and the sinner is only forgiven on the ground of Another having borne his punishment; for “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). Therefore we are told, “The Lord will, take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserveth Wrath for His enemies” (Nahum 1:2). For one sin God banished our first parents from Eden. For one sin all the posterity of Ham fell under a curse which remains over them to this day (Gen. 9:21). For one sin Moses was excluded from Canaan, Elisha’s servant smitten with leprosy, Ananias and Sapphira cut off out of the land of the living.
An Interesting Take on Affliction (Psalm 119:71, 75)
Psalm 119:71
It is good for me that I was afflicted,
that I might learn your statutes.
How often do we assume that the only good thing for God to do for us is to keep us from affliction? As several people have pointed out over the past few weeks, our prayers are too often that God would keep us from pain instead of to make us more like him. Psalm 119:71 gives s a better way to think about our afflictions than we often recognize.
David, writing in this glorious psalm in praise of God and his word, says that it is good that he was afflicted. Why? How could being afflicted or troubled ever be good? David says that being afflicted helped him to better know and love the law of God.
John Piper, at T4G 2008, pointed out that he has never met a person who says that the time they grew the most or went the deepest with God was during the time of ease. Piper pointed out that it is in the dark times, in the troubled times, in the times of near despair that many people find their faith growing the most and being the most strengthened.
How do you respond to adversity? Do you assume that troubled times means that you are in sin and being chastised by God? Do you assume that something has gone horribly wrong? Can you stretch your mind around the possibility that God could have a plan for your affliction? And is your faith strong enough to acknowledge that growing closer to God and loving his word more is reward enough to say that it is good that you were afflicted? David said being afflicted was worth it so that he might love God more through his word. We too should have that kind of attitude toward our Lord.
[Update[
Add this verse from the next day’s reading:
Psalm 119:75
I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous,
and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
Gospel and Wrath (1 Kings 9:6-9)
1 Kings 9:6-9 (ESV)
6 But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’ ”
The gospel seems to find its way into every book of the Bible. In fact, one can come across the gospel in the most surprising of places.
Take as an example the above passage. As God answers Solomon’s prayer for his blessing on the people and on the newly built temple, we see something of how God will judge people rightly. God told Solomon that, if the people of God are faithful to worship him, he would bless them. If, however, the people of God turned away from him and chased after false gods, God would destroy the temple. All who saw the ruin of the temple would know that what God had done was right, for all would know that for a person to turn away from the living God is to earn for one’s self the wrath of God.
How is this the gospel? What we see here is the perfect wrath of God. When men turn away from God, they will find their souls eternally ruined because of their refusal to come to God and serve him.
But wait a minute, isn’t the gospel all about people coming to God through saving faith in Jesus. Absolutely it is. For all who come to God through saving faith in Christ, their eternity is glorious. For all, however, who turn their backs on Christ and choose to find their own way—to worship their own little false gods of self-sufficiency, money, power, etc.—they will find that rejecting Jesus is rejecting God. God will always do justice. He will always give right recompense to all who turn from him and to false gods. The only way to come to God rightly is through Christ. Anything else is a false god.
The way that I can say that the gospel is in the above passage is that it shows yet again that God has a way to please him. To reject God’s way leads to death. However, it is also well-known that to come to God in his way, according to his terms, leads to eternal blessing.
Counterfeit Gods – A Review
Idolatry is at the heart of every evil action or evil inaction of our lives. Tim Keller makes that point very well for us in Counterfeit Gods. As Keller exposes the idols behind the idols of sex, money, power, and all the rest, he also faithfully challenges Christians to not only identify, but to replace their idols with righteous alternatives.
Positives
Keller’s delving into what he calls “deep idols” is an extremely helpful point in this work. What are deep idols? Deep idols are the driving sins behind the surface sins in many of our lives. For example, a person’s financial greed is often driven by something else. A greedy person might be driven by a desire for control. Another greedy person is driven by a desire for the pleasures that the money may bring. Another might be driven by the feeling of superiority that a financial fortune brings. The major point is that addressing the idols on the surface will not change the deep idols, and those deep idols are what we must address to truly repent of sin.
I also very much enjoyed Keller’s insightful handling of many of the biblical stories. Whether dealing with Jonah, Naaman the Syrian, Nebuchadnezzar, or Jacob, Keller brings narrative passages to life for his readers in a way that helps them to find solid application as they grasp the biblical meaning in the story.
Finally, Keller rightly handles the issue of repentance. Far too many authors tell Christians that they need to stop certain activities in their lives without giving them help to do so. Keller is among the few insightful souls who tell people to defeat their idols by replacing them with Christ, the righteous alternative. The replacement concept in repentance is very much refreshing in a modern work.
Negatives
The only negatives that I found myself pondering as I read through this work were generally quibbles. For example, I’m not fond of the frequent references to psychological concepts. I also would also occasionally question some of Keller’s smaller conclusions that he draws from various texts.
Recommendation
Keller’s book is worth the read. He’s insightful, easy-to-read, and helpful for believers of any generation or culture. I’d recommend you give this one a chance. No, don’t expect an earth-shattering paradigm-shift. Just read this for a faithful walk through the concept of idolatry in our lives.
A Priceless Shopping Experience
On Friday, I found myself at a department store looking for a gift for my wife. Some friends were helping me in the process, and my three-year-old son, Josiah, was along. While conversing with a nice lady on the other side of a jewelry counter, I told her that our family was going to soon take a trip to Disney World in Orlando. Wanting to involve Josiah in the conversation, I instructed him, “Tell her what you are going to do at Disney World.”
You must understand, at this point, that what I expected was for Josiah to tell her that he was going to see Mickey Mouse, ride rides, or something like that. We’re looking for what kind of thing has him excited about going to the happiest place on earth.
Imagine, then, my fatherly pride when my boy piped up and told the saleslady, “I’m gonna tell Mickey Mouse that I can pee-pee in the potty.”
Gift for my wife: $$$
Dinner: $
Gas for the trip: $$
Hearing my son tell a jewelry department lady that he is going to converse with a stranger in a costume about his ability to pee-pee in the potty: Priceless
Don’t Forget What Saved means (2 Samuel 22)
Has the word “saved” lost its luster in your eyes? When you, if you are a Christian, describe yourself as saved, do you feel truly saved, rescued, brought out of certain death? When you think of saved, is it a rescue, a heart-pounding, adrenaline-rushing, panting relief as you remember being delivered from certain death, certain destruction, certain ruin?
I can remember back to my teen years. There were times there when I did foolish things that should have cost me, at the least, great injury. There are times that I could have died. As I think through those scenes, if I will really let myself dwell on those moments, I can still feel the hollowness of fear in my stomach. I can still feel my face flush with the return of blood after it has drained of color. I can still feel my pulse quicken as I realize, without question, I could have been killed.
Have you lost that feeling when you look to your spiritual salvation? Has being saved become more to you about deciding whether or not to take upon yourself a certain religion? If so, you are either not saved, or you have allowed your mind to become dulled to the glory of what it means to be truly rescued.
Listen, if you will, to the words of King David. In this song, David describes being saved by God from physical threats. But the salvation language used by David should be the same language that we would use of our rescue in Christ. All the following verses come from 2 Samuel 22:
2 He said,
“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
3 my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation,
my stronghold and my refuge,
my savior; you save me from violence.
5 “For the waves of death encompassed me,
the torrents of destruction assailed me;
6 the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.
7 “In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I called.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry came to his ears.
17 “He sent from on high, he took me;
he drew me out of many waters.
18 He rescued me from my strong enemy,
from those who hated me,
for they were too mighty for me.
19 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.
47 “The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock,
and exalted be my God, the rock of my salvation,
When, Christians, have you last exalted the Lord who is your true Rock and Salvation? When did you last allow your heart to pound in your ears as you see that you truly deserved God’s wrath, you truly deserved hell, and God, the very God you were rebelling against, chose to rescue you and make you his child?
Christians, let’s not stop using the word “saved.” IT is a very good word. But let us also not lose the meaning of the word. Hear your rescue in that word. Hear your soul being pulled out of eternal death by the only hands strong enough to bring you to life. Let us sing, shout, and rejoice that our God has truly, amazingly, graciously saved our very souls.
Donald Miller, Father Fiction – a Review
Donald Miller is, without question, a name that his easily recognized in modern Christianity. Some love his works; some, not so much. Father Fiction is my first reading of Miller’s works, and my own response is mixed.
In this work, miller talks to young men about growing up without a dad in his life. The Authors own father was not present in his life, and this led to him struggling through many important developmental issues.
Positives
Many authors Endeavour to adopt a style that is conversational in tone. Sadly, most make the reader feel like they are struggling to manage this feat. Not Miller. Miller’s style is easy-to-read. As a reader, I found myself feeling like I was listening to a guy sitting across my living room or addressing a small group. This makes the pages fly by, and gives a great note of realism to Miller’s work.
This book has some very helpful, down-to-earth, advice to offer. Miller talks with frankness to young men about the need to grow up, to take responsibility for life, and to not let their past determine their future. The author speaks strongly about the need for young men to learn to pay their bills, to study for themselves, and to treat women and sexuality appropriately. There is an undertone of devotion to God that flows through these pages as the thing that will make all this actually able to come right.
Negatives
While there is a sort of God undertone in this book that comes to the forefront, it is not nearly as prominent as would have made me happy with the work. Miller very seldom sites the holy Scriptures, and thus his writing smacks of Dr. Phil’s advice as much as it does Christian writing. Perhaps this is intentionally geared by Miller for a lost audience, but as a believer, it seemed that Miller gave good advice without going to the real source of power for life-change.
In a couple of instances, miller borders on crudeness. Of course, this is not at all uncommon for authors in Millers subgenre. His particular statement about what makes a “real man,” the possession of—shall we say—the proper physical equipment, is very edgy and not something I would particularly like an immature person to be spouting. Don’t get me wrong, I understand Miller’s point, and he is not nearly as edgy as several others in his field. However, this section stands out, and I consider it more negative than positive.
Recommendation
Father Fiction has the potential to speak with piercing clarity to many young men. If you have a young man in your life who is struggling with the lack of a father figure in his life or who is giving himself to too long an adolescence, this book might help. There are certainly points in the book that spoke to me, and I had a dad at home, and I’m glad to have heard them. However, I wish the book had a better use of Scripture and a more developed theology in evidence. Also, it could be used poorly by someone who is too immature to handle earthy language without it doing him harm.
For this review, I read the excellent audio book from www.ChristianAudio.com.
Delighting in God’s Commands (Psalm 112:1)
Psalm 112:1
Praise the Lord!
Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
who greatly delights in his commandments!
We live in a world full of people who bristle at the idea of God daring to command them to do or avoid anything. This is strange. These same folks seem to take it as their right to order God about in their prayers; yet, let them be confronted with the word of God, and they battle against the concept that the Lord of all creation might dare expect anything of them.
One way that this response to the authority of God is so sad is that battling the authority of God is a sure way to keep yourself from being blessed. Look at the words of the psalmist. He opens this psalm with praise to God. He is clearly glad to offer God glory.
The psalmist follows up his praise with a beatitude, a statement of blessing. Who is blessed? One thing is for sure, the one who is blessed is not the one who ignores the commands of God. No, the blessed one is the one who fears God. The blessed one is the one who greatly—not just a little bit—delights in the commands of the Lord.
For the lost or worldly person, the idea that the commands of God are pleasant should seem strange. However, to the Christian, the concept of the sweetness of God’s word should be as clear as day. So, Christian, ask yourself, “Do I greatly delight in the commands of God?” Do you love when God calls you to change? Do you think, when you read God’s holy standards, “Yes, Lord, this is truly perfect!” God’s word is perfect, you know. God’s standards are the perfect picture of what is right. Let us learn to fear God and greatly delight in his commands. Along this path is joy and blessing.
E.M. Bounds: Man of Prayer – a Review
I’ve heard the name of E.M. Bounds many times, though before reading E.M. Bounds: Man of Prayer by Lyle Dorsett, I could not have told you anything about him. Bounds, a moderately influential Methodist minister and author from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s, served God in Missouri, Tennessee, and Georgia while authoring a dozen books, several of which are still in print today. Bounds is most widely-known for his works on prayer.
Positives
Dorsett is concise and to-the-point in his journey through the life of E.M. Bounds. Sadly, there is simply not much factual data for him to have gathered. Happily, Dorsett does not take it upon himself to bring in a great deal of speculation and imagination to make his small book a larger work. He describes Bounds’ life, marriages (once widowed), and ministerial career.
What most interested me was Dorsett’s description of Bounds’ involvement in the Methodist church in the south during the initial rise of theological liberalism in the 1890s. Bounds was unwilling to accept the low view of Scripture that was invading Methodism from Europe.
Negatives
While interesting, I cannot say that this book inspired me. If anything, Dorsett’s work has made me want to pick up one of Bounds’ books on prayer. But, for the most part, the book feels like reading a long and informative magazine article about the life of a name you kind of know, but not very well.
Recommendation
If you have read Bounds and would like to know his life story, I’d guess that this is about the best book you could turn to for that knowledge. If you just like reading biographies, even those without a great deal of drama, this is a fine choice. Otherwise, you might not find this book riveting.
The audio recording of this book from www.christianaudio.com is very well done. I found this narrator one of the easiest to listen to that I’ve heard. And, because the book is short, it only required a download of 2 files—much better than the large number of files in some books.
Pastor Travis Peterson 