It is a big problem when people do not believe what God says. It is bad when a believer does not believe what God says about them. It is bad when a non-believer does not believe what God says about them. It is bad when a believer does not believe what God says about other believers or about non-believers. We need to believe what the Lord says.
The apostle Peter ran into this problem, and learned a valuable lesson from the Lord. God called Peter to visit the home of a Roman centurion, a gentile, to share with him the message of Jesus Christ. But, before God sent Peter there, he made a point to Peter in a vision.
Acts 11:7-9 – 7 And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’
God showed Peter some animals, and he called Peter to eat. Peter refused, arguing that he would never eat a ceremonially unclean animal. But God then told Peter never to call unclean something that God has now called clean.
In that vision, God was primarily helping Peter to know that, since the resurrection of Jesus, there is no longer a difference between Jew and gentile. Whether a person was physically descended from Abraham or not, any person can be made into a child of God by God’s grace alone through faith alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. So, Peter had no reason at all to avoid visiting the home of a gentile. There are not going to be two races in the house of God. There are not going to be two classes in the house of God. We who trust in Jesus are going to be made into one family.
What Peter had to grasp was that God is the one who speaks clean or unclean over a person. And Peter learned that he needs to believe what God said. No matter what his natural reflex, Peter has to trust the word of God over what his tradition told him.
This then leads us to understand that we too must grasp what God says about us and about others. First, for the non-Christian, God speaks about you. He tells you that you are in grave danger of facing his judgment. This is not because you are worse than other people on earth, but simply because you have failed to live up to God’s standard of perfection. The Lord says that you are under judgment if you do not turn from your sin, believe in Jesus, and come to him for salvation. It is vital that a non-believer learn to believe what the Lord has said about him or her before it is too late.
For the believer, it is vital that you grasp what the Lord says about those who are not yet in Christ. God says that these folks are in danger. We are not better than these folks. We are only forgiven by the grace of God. And so we should eagerly and happily warn our friends and loved ones that they need the grace of Christ.
Believers also need to believe what God says about other believers. If God has called a person clean, saved, beloved, a child of God, we need to affirm that. In a simple bit of application, that should do away with any sort of ethnic boundaries in the church. That was what God was doing with Peter. The gospel is for all people. People of Hebrew descent are not better than gentiles. People of any skin color are not better than people of any other skin color. Poor people are neither more or less the people of God than are rich people. Americans are not the good Christians while folks from other nations are lesser. God has made us into one people and called us clean if we are genuinely in Christ.
And, believer, how about believing what God says about you? This one may be the hardest of all for some of us. To some believers, the idea that God would look at you and call you clean, saved, a beloved child of God is really hard to imagine. We know our hearts. We know our failings. We know our shortcomings. We know our sin. We cannot imagine that God would really be able to see us without distaste, anger, or even hatred. But the Lord says that all who have turned from their sin and trusted in Christ have his salvation. God did it. God brought us to spiritual life, drew us to himself, granted us the ability to trust in Christ, and then granted us salvation and sonship because of the finished work of Christ. So, if you are a Christian, and if you still put yourself down as a worm, it may be necessary for you to actually speak about yourself in the way that God speaks of you and not to call unclean what the Lord has called clean.
Now, that last paragraph is not to excuse sin our make us full of ourselves. Left to ourselves, we are indeed objects of wrath. We are still to repent of sin and strive to live up to what God says about us. There is no room for arrogance in our lives. But, God calls those under the grace of Christ clean, and we need to believe what the Lord says about us even as we battle sin and long for the day when he will make our lives finally match the words he says about us.
A Booming Silence
Sometimes you can learn as much by what a person does not do as you can from things that they do. A reaction to a word or phrase can tell you something about a person. A lack of reaction can also communicate. This is especially true of something we see the Lord Jesus not do after his resurrection.
In order to get to the significant point, let us first be sure that we see an important biblical command. The first of the Ten Commandments forbids us from worshipping anyone other than the Lord, God, our creator.
Exodus 20:3 – “You shall have no other gods before me.”
I think that, in general, all people who know the Bible realize that God has clearly and completely forbidden us from worshipping someone not God. This is why, when Peter went to the house of Cornelius, he made sure that this good gentile did not bow and worship him.
Acts 10:25-26 – 25 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. 26 But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.”
We can also see the same pattern from Paul and Barnabas when the people of Lystra tried to offer sacrifice to them.
Acts 14:13-18 – 13 And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. 14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, 15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. 16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” 18 Even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them.
Even an angel commanded the apostle John not to bow to him in worship.
Revelation 19:10 – Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
So, we can establish from Old Testament commands and New Testament practices that we are not to bow down to worship someone who is not God. Similarly, we learn from Peter, Paul, and an angel that the proper response of someone who is not God to a person trying to worship him is to put a stop to it. It would be blasphemy to receive worship as God for one who is not God.
Which makes something that Jesus does not do at the end of the Gospel According to John totally fascinating. Watch what Jesus does not do after he reveals to doubting Thomas that he has truly risen from the dead and Thomas responds.
John 20:27-29- 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Jesus tells Thomas to come and touch him as Thomas had demanded to do before he would believe. Thomas responds with worship. He cries out that Jesus is his Lord and God.
Now, it is blasphemous for Jesus to receive this praise from Thomas, to not put it away, if Jesus is not God. If Jesus did not believe himself to be the Lord God, he should have told Thomas, “Don’t say that. I too am a servant like you.” But Jesus did not do so. Instead, Jesus affirmed that it is good for Thomas to see this, and it is even better for those who believe without having a physical encounter with the risen Lord.
By his refusal to correct Thomas, Jesus declares to us all that he really is the Lord God. Jesus is worthy of worship. Jesus is the one who made us, who paid for our sins, and who rose from the grave. He is not a mere man. He is not a prophet alone. Jesus is deity, the same God who gave the Ten Commandments, and he knows it.
The Priesthood of All Believers
Have you heard of the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers? It is one of those things that began with New Testament Christianity, and it was recovered during the reformation. Sadly, many of us have not thought much about it, and that costs us in our understanding of the beauty of the gospel.
In Old Testament times, the nation of Israel had one priestly tribe, the Levites. Even as the nation traveled in the wilderness, the Levites had the job of serving as a tribe of priests before the Lord. They were physically to camp closer to the tabernacle, surrounding it and guarding it from the other tribes. In simple terms, the tribe of Levi served as a protective barrier, keeping the people of the other 11 tribes from coming too close to the holy things and incurring the wrath of God.
Numbers 1:53 But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the people of Israel. And the Levites shall keep guard over the tabernacle of the testimony.”
The priesthood was a barrier of protection between the people and God. They kept the people from bringing the profane to the tabernacle. They also kept the people from experiencing the deadly holiness of God. This system was necessary to prevent the wrath of God from breaking out against the nation in such a way as to destroy all the people and put an end to the promises of God.
But, in the New Testament, under the New Covenant, the priestly system is done away with. There is no longer a class of citizens who serve as a barrier between the believer and his or her Lord. There is no longer a go-between to communicate to God on our behalf or to return God’s responses to us. Believers have direct access to the Lord God through our one great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh himself.
Ephesians 3:11-12 – 11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.
1 Peter 2:9 – But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
With the gospel came a new system for relating to the Lord. No longer are the people of God to approach a special class of people who shelter them from the Lord and from whom the Lord is kept at a distance from them. Instead, because of the blood of Jesus and the indwelling Holy Spirit, every believer is united in a common priesthood of all believers. Every believer has the right to approach the Lord God in worship, prayer, and obedience. Every believer has the right to read and learn from the word of God.
The danger of over-interpreting this doctrine should be apparent. God designed the church to work together as a body. This doctrine is not “the priesthood of the believer” but “the priesthood of all believers.” It is not an individualistic freedom to determine new doctrines based on whatever pops into your head. It is not an allowance to live to yourself, separated from the body of Christ, and constantly warped by your own limited understanding. Rather, the doctrine implies that we will unite in a community, a family, a body, a flock, a living temple of believers who all may approach the Lord in worship and prayer as we honor the Lord together, encouraging, teaching, and correcting one another.
Neither is the priesthood of all believers a call for every individual Christian to serve as a pastor. James warns us quite sharply that not all are to be teachers (James 3:1), and the standards for elders found in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 clearly prevent some from serving in this role. Church elders are called by God to study the word of God and rightly handle the word of truth as they proclaim the Scripture to the body of Christ.
The beauty, however, is that no person in the congregation is any less a part of the community of the priests than a pastor or other church worker. A computer programmer, a stay-at-home mom, a retiree, a police officer, a carpenter, a judge, a flight attendant, all are part of the priesthood of all believers. Every person in the body may access the word of God. Every part of the body may come before the Lord to pray God’s good on all the rest of the body. Every person, even as he or she does his or her job, may honor the Lord through the work that he or she does. Teaching the word, catching criminals, debugging code, or changing diapers all may honor the Lord in the lives of his family of priests.
So, let us give God thanks for taking away the dividing barrier between his people and himself. Because of the final and perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we are no longer separated from personal communion with the Lord. No, let this not make you individualistic about your faith. But, yes, let it remind you that you may approach the throne of grace in the freedom and confidence of Christ’s finished work.
God keeps His Promises
The Lord keeps his promises. Do you like this truth? Does it excite you to know that all the promises of God will ultimately be fulfilled? Before you allow yourself to be excited by those promises, remember that not every promise of God is a promise of soft living and easy futures.
As I came across the end of the book of Leviticus, I was reminded of some promises of God that not everybody keeps in their memory verse lists. Leviticus 26 contains many a promise of God. The early verses of the chapter contain many of the promises that prosperity preachers misuse, taking them out of their original context to apply them as blanket declarations of goodness for the people of God. But, a look at Leviticus 26 shows us that God was communicating with Israel that the blessings he was promising there were for the nation if it would obey his commands.
But, the vast majority of Leviticus 26 is not full of promises of goodness. Instead, the majority of the chapter is made up of the promised judgments of God on his people for when they, as a nation, refused to obey the laws that God had just given in the book. God knew that Israel would disobey. God knew that some of his laws would never be kept, not even once. And God told Israel exactly what would come to pass when they refused to obey him.
Here is one example.
Leviticus 26:34-35 – 34 “Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest, and enjoy its Sabbaths. 35 As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, the rest that it did not have on your Sabbaths when you were dwelling in it.
God knew that Israel would never obey the command to allow the land to rest for the Sabbath years. So, God told Israel what would come. If the land would not get its Sabbaths because the people obeyed, God would drive his people out of their promised land until the land got the rest that God had ordered back in Leviticus25.
Of course, if you know the history of the nation, they went captive to Babylon. Judah was captured and carried away from the land for seventy years. Why seventy years?
2 Chronicles 36:20-21 – 20 He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
Judah was captured for seventy years because they had refused to give the land seventy Sabbaths of rest. God perfectly and accurately kept his promises.
Why would God give the Sabbath rest command if he knew Israel and Judah would not keep it? The law was given, not to save the people, but to help them recognize their great need of a Savior. Israel failed to obey. They drew down upon themselves the promises of judgment. The Old Testament illustrates that and helps us to see that God will keep all his promises and that, if we are going to be under his grace, it will not be because we earn it through obedience. Human beings are naturally disobedient. This is why we all need a Savior to fulfill the provisions of the law on our behalf.
So, are you glad God keeps his promises? It probably will ultimately depend on whether or not you are in a saving relationship with God. If you are forgiven in Christ, rejoice over God’s faithfulness. God promises salvation by grace alone through faith alone for all who trust in Christ alone. For such a person, there is great comfort in the fact that God keeps his word.
But, for the one who is opposing the Lord, please understand that God will keep all the promises he ever made about our judgment too. God is not faithful to promises of grace and yet unfaithful to promises of wrath. We must be under his grace or face his righteous retribution for rebelling against the Lord, our Maker.
Shepherds’ Conference 2017 Session 4 Notes
Shepherds’ Conference 2017
Session 4
Ligon Duncan
John 6
Jesus: The Bread of Life
John here shows us our deepest need, and how we are blind to that need.
We need to study this and believe it for ourselves.
We need to be fed and refreshed by the word.
To feed only to feed others is an occupational hazard.
If we are not satisfied by the bread of life, we will poorly commend the bread of life.
This passage is not about the Lord’s Supper. It is about Jesus.
But the Lord’s Supper is very much about Jesus, and points to this passage.
John 6:22-59
Just fed the 5,000.
Jesus also walked on water.
A crowd pursuing Jesus while spiritually not understanding him
They are seeking, but not seeking for the right reason.
And we have Jesus’ message to them.
He stresses 3 things:
They needed to know what they really needed.
They are seeking him for the wrong reasons.
They are looking to him for the wrong things.
How practical is this?
Jesus in his reply is designed to teach them how to get what they need.
How do they appropriate what they need?
They need to understand who Jesus is, because he is the bread of heaven.
He is the sign.
He is the miracle, a far greater miracle than manna.
Jesus the bread of life is life and gives life by this death, and the life he gives is our deepest satisfaction, our eternal security, our salvation and communion.
3 things:
The bread that perishes in contrast to the bread of life (2-27)
The utter necessity of faith in the bread of life. (28-29)
The glory of Jesus as the bread of life. (30-ff)
The crowd wants another food miracle.
They hint at it in 30-31.
Jesus does not give this crowd what they are seeking.
He explains to them that they do not know what they need.
V26.
You’ve already seen signs.
They are there because they have seen a sign.
And they keep asking for a sign.
There is no lacking in miraculous manifestation in Jesus’ ministry to these folks.
Notice Jesus’ concern for their souls.
Crowds show up.
Jesus does not assume that the presence of crowds means that something good is happening.
How important is that for us?
We are all vulnerable to the calculation that when more come, good things are happening.
Narcissistic people in the ministry feed on this kind of stuff.
Jesus cares about the people’s souls.
He confronts them with their real need and their blindness to that need.
All sorts of people are following Christian ministries because they see Christ and the gospel as a ticket to what they really want, and it is not the bread of life.
This is not just out there in the charismatic world.
That can happen in our own people.
Why are they at church?
They want fellowship?
They want respectability?
V28
The question reminds us of other places where people ask what to do to do the works of God.
What must I do to be saved? Acts 2
Jesus’ answer is remarkable.
He focuses them on faith.
This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.
Belief in him is of divine origin.
Philippians 2:13 stresses that God is at work in us for sanctification.
God must therefore be at work in our justification.
Faith is coming and eating, 2 things.
He who comes to me will not hunger.
He who believes in me will not thirst.
Coming to Jesus is believing in Jesus.
V53
Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life.
That is designed to cause maximal offense.
Eating a sacrifice was not unheard of.
No Jew drank sacrificial blood.
Blood was forbidden.
So, the phrase, “drink my blood,” is designed to offend.
His point is that these are the constituent parts of a blood sacrifice, the flesh and blood.
Unless you put your full trust in me, you die.
We use eating imagery all the time.
We devour a good book.
We drink in a good lesson.
Jesus is saying that we need him more than we need food.
If you do not eat and drink Jesus, if you do not trust in his death, you will die like a starving and thirsting man dies without food and water.
Next, Jesus declares to them who he is.
He displays himself, in his glory, as the bread of life.
V35.
I am the bread of life.
This is very similar to how he described himself to the woman at the well in chapter 4.
The same thing happens in this passage.
They miss the deep level he is going to.
They want a miracle with bread.
He is the bread of life.
They want a miracle.
He is a miracle.
Manna pointed to Jesus.
He already fed 5,000 and walked on water yesterday.
Don’t ask me to show you something.
You have already seen signs and not believed.
You need me.
Why do you need me?
V35
He who comes will not hunger.
Same language as with the woman at the well and water.
This is the language of satisfaction.
The root of every sin is our seeking satisfaction in something other than God.
That is original sin.
Satan convinced Eve that there was something to satisfy outside of God.
The people wanted bread to satisfy apart from Jesus.
Jesus tells them that he is what they are made for.
He is the bread they need.
V37
All the father gives me will come to me. The one who comes, I will certainly not cast out.
V39, I will lose none of what he gives me.
You come to me, you will not be lost. I will not lose you.
Great illustration of Psalm 119,
V1 says the one who follows the word is blessed.
175 verses declare how great it is to follow God.
V176 says I have gone astray and asks the Lord to come get me.
Back to John
V40, v50 a lot of live language.
V50, eat and not die.
Gen 2 and 3, eat and die.
V56, he who eats and drinks abides in me and I in him.
Jesus is the one true sacrifice.
His flesh and blood are given for the life of the world.
He came that we may have life.
How will he give us life?
He will lay down his life for his sheep.
That abiding language is the language of communion, not the ceremony, but real communion.
He tells them he is what they need.
They do not get it.
John 4 the woman starts off missing the point.
But she gets it.
She eats and drinks of his flesh and blood, she receives him, the water of life.
Shepherds’ Conference 2017 Session 3 Notes
Shepherds’ Conference 2017
Session 3
Michael Reeves
John 1:1-3
Familiar sentences are familiar because of how defining they are.
These are revolutionary words.
They set Christianity apart from every other belief system
John is exegeting Genesis 1.
Why was the Spirit of God hovering over the waters?
He was there to anoint the word as he went out to do his work.
God speaks, and on his divine breath, his word goes out.
Light and life and all creation are brought into being.
It is not that in the beginning, the word came into existence.
The word was with God and was God.
We are not hearing here that God just happens to speak.
Other religions have their deity speaking.
But, it is of the very nature of this God to have a word to speak.
This God cannot b wordless.
For the word is God.
God could not ever be anything but communicative.
God cannot be without his word.
He cannot be reclusive.
God cannot be contained.
He is overflowing.
He is not needy but supremely full.
He is a glorious God of grace.
He loves to give himself.
Clearly, Genesis 1 was dominant in John’s mind as he wrote.
In the beginning.
The light shines in the darkness.
John has a Hebrew, Scriptural idea of what the word means.
This is not a Hellenistic import.
What else might have been on John’s mind?
John 1:14, the word became flesh and dwelt among us.
John used an unusual verb here.
The word tented among us.
Tent and glory are connected here.
John is thinking of the tabernacle.
It was the tent where God was with his people and where his glory was seen.
As the Israelites saw the bright glory cloud over the tabernacle, so the word shows us his glory.
In the inner part of the tabernacle, the Lord is enthroned above the mercy seat on the ark of the Covenant.
1 Samuel 4:4; Lev 16:2
The Ten Commandments were in the ark, the throne of God.
The Ten Commandments are the word of God.
The word belongs as near to God as possible.
The word displays the inner most reality of who God is.
He is the radiance of God’s glory.
He is the exact representation of his being.
He is God himself.
He is God’s Amen, the faithful and true witness.
Early church had to defend the humanity of Christ.
But the biggest battle was to display that Jesus truly is God, the Lord God of Israel.
God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one being with the Father.
Those words are pastoral dynamite.
Owen, Communion with God, explained how many Christians labor under the misapprehension that behind gracious Jesus, the friend of sinners, is a more sinister being.
Is God the Father thinner on compassion and grace, beauty and goodness.?
Is he one we would less like to know?
Since Jesus is God, you can be rid of that horrible idea.
Jesus shows us what the Father is like.
Jesus is the perfect radiance of God.
There is no god in heaven who is unlike Jesus.
One with his Father, the word, the expression, the radiance, the glory of who his Father is.
If you have seen him, you have seen the Father.
Through Christ, I can know what God is truly like.
That upsets all my idols.
Through Christ, we see how much God detests sin.
And through Christ, I see that, like the sinful dying thief, a sinner like me can cry, “Remember me,” for I know how he will react.
I have seen how he has treated such as I.
I know what he is like towards people like me.
He is righteous and gracious.
Stephen Charnock quote
Light without darkness, purity without filth, all excellency to please
True knowledge of the living God is found in and through Christ.
This is deep and transforming.
It can make the dead spring to life.
Nothing of God looks terrible in Christ to a believer.
The sun has risen, shadows have vanished, God walks on the battlements of love.
Justice has left its sting in the Savior’s side.
In Jesus Christ, you exchange darkness for light when you think of God.
He shows us an unsurpassably full and desirable God.
He is a righteous and a Kind God.
God who makes us tremble in awe and rejoice in wonder.
All things were made through him.
Without him was not anything made that was made.
Christ the eternal word is the one through whom all things were made.
But, secular thinking in the west has eaten away at belief in this like acid in the church.
We think he is a Savior.
But, we deny him as Creator of all.
We sing his praises on a Sunday, and believe it.
But, walking home through the streets, past the people, past real life, we do not feel this is all Christ’s world.
It is as if the universe is a neutral place, a secular place essentially.
We act as if Christianity is something you can simply smear on top of secular, real life.
The result is that Jesus is nothing more than a comforting nibble of spiritual chocolate.
He is a nice option alongside other hobbies.
He is an imaginary friend.
The Bible knows of no such laughable little christlet.
But all things were made through him.
Therefore Christians are not playing with a hobby that we can put on one side when we walk out into the world.
He is the agent of creation.
All things bear his stamp.
The heavens cannot but declare his glory in his craftsmanship when they continue to exist and continue to move.
The glory of Jesus is intimately written into the very grain of the universe.
He continues each moment to uphold and sustain the creation he brought into being.
To think against Christ the logos is to think against logic.
To do so is to descend into folly.
In his world, all our faculties work better the more they are harnessed to faith in him.
Trusting in him, we are working with a map of the universe as he intended it.
That makes us able to think, be creative, and to reason rightly.
John 1:14
He is not just God’s eternal word, he is God’s eternal Son.
There is a difference.
Word speaks of his oneness with God.
Son brings out the other element, that he has a relationship with the Father.
This goes against every other belief system in the world.
This is an infinitely superior belief system.
No human mind has ever dreamed of such a thing.
John is saying that God is eternally a Father who has and loves his Son.
John 17:24, you loved me before the foundation of the world.
Every other system has nothingness before the world.
Or they have gods existing who hated each other.
Pagan gods are mean, like to throw their weight around, want slaves and so they create.
Here, at bottom, before anything, we do not see nothingness or chaos or gods exercising arbitrary power; here we see Almighty God who is love.
This God would not be who he is if he didn’t love.
‘To be the Father, he must love the Son.
To be the Father means to love, to beget the Son.
This is why the eternal Sonship is so precious to Christians.
Arius declared that there once was a time when the Son was not.
He had choirs sing his false theology.
Arius thought that God did not want to dirty his hands with creation, so he created the son to do his dirty work for him.
How unbiblical.
If Arius is correct, God is not eternally a father.
In fact, since he just created this thing, he is not a father at all.
And, Arius does not have the Father truly loving the Son.
The Son is just a workman for the Father.
The only way that the Son pleased the Father was by doing good works.
Thus, the way to get to the Father is earning it through good works.
No gospel of grace is available in this system.
Arius also had to miss Philippians 2
If the Son had never sat upon the throne as God, he was motivated to gain a position that he had never had before.
Thus, the motivation for the incarnation and sacrifice would have been for his own gain, not love.
Only with an eternal Son can this not be.
Jesus is eternally beloved and eternally at the Father’s side.
His motivation was not to get a glory he never had before.
He wanted to share with us what he had always enjoyed, sonship.
Who Jesus is entirely shapes what he offers in the gospel.
The person of Christ shapes the work of Christ and the nature of the gospel of Christ.
For the eternally beloved Son comes to share with us the very love that the Father has lavished on him.
He comes to us to bring us into the life that is his.
We are not just forgiven and not just righteous, he shares with us sonship, family, eternal love.
John 1:18, the Son is eternally in the bosom or lap of the Father.
In John 14, he wants believers to be with him where he is.
John 13:23, John was reclining in the bosom of Jesus.
John 17:23, you have loved them as you have loved me.
The Son sharing with us his sonship caps off every aspect of our salvation and sanctification.
The Son shares with us his own sonship.
Without the eternal Son, we don’t get that gospel.
If God is not a Father, he cannot make us his children.
If he does not have eternal fellowship with his Son, does he have fellowship to offer us?
If the Son had not been with the Father eternally, in the bosom of the Father, how could he share closeness with us?
If the Son had never been close, he could not bring us to that children of God relationship.
This would make salvation sound completely different.
John 17:23, love them as you have loved me.
No other deity could do this other than the God of the Bible.
No other deity could bring us so close.
Only this God could teach us to pray, “Our Father.”
The Most High delights to hear us as his children.
The eternal Son enables a hearty, delighted prayer life.
With this God, prayer can be a privilege.
Salvation is about grace from first to last.
If salvation is not about being adopted into the family of God, it is not clear that it is entirely of grace.
If our only problem is sin, we might try to work that out.
But sonship cannot be won by actions.
Effort can have nothing to do with your salvation.
Efforts can make you a slave. No amount of effort can make you a son.
All efforts to produce salvation will only produce slaves.
Sonship is free.
500 years ago, the neglect of the eternal Son and how his person and being shapes the gospel was at the very heart of the problem in the church.
At that time, the identity of Christ did not drive the gospel as people heard it.
Medieval views of grace were like spiritual Red Bull for the lazy.
Grace was there to give you the energy to do what you have to do to earn heaven.
The prize became heaven, not Christ.
Jesus was reduced to being one little brick in the wall in the system.
And, in fact, Jesus was not even necessary to be the one to give you the strength.
The other saints could do it for you.
But in the reformation, a profound truth was rediscovered.
God does not give you a thing called grace to strengthen you to earn heaven.
The eternal Son is the gift from heaven.
You receive him, not a separate thing called grace, and you receive the right to be called children of God.
In him you are adopted as the children of God.
In him you are saved.
In him you are kept to the uttermost.
When the church lost the vision of the sonship of Christ, when Christ became only the deliverer, the church lost the gospel.
Suddenly, merit became the center of the life of the church.
Heaven became the prize, not Christ.
Jesus was reduced to being one little element, one little brick in the wall, of the system.
God does not give us some thing called grace to energize us to do things to earn salvation.
No, we receive Jesus and have the right to become children of God.
It is in him, the Son, we are adopted.
In Him, we are saved and kept.
The reformation helped us to see that Christ is the treasure.
Solas Christos is the center of the solas.
It shapes what the reformers meant when they talked about grace and faith.
Grace alone, not that we are given a thing called grace, but we are given Christ by the grace of God.
Faith is not a thing we do, it is the empty hand that receives Christ.
Scripture, our supreme authority, is about him.
You cannot give God alone the glory without exalting Jesus Christ.
Only through Christ is the living God glorified.
Preach Christ.
There is no gospel without him.
There is no gospel if you do not preach Christ alone.
This is the center we must hold fast to and pledge ourselves to.
We see in him the radiance of the glory of God, so what better center is there to pledge ourselves to.
We preach Christ alone.
We preach him to ourselves, to our people, to the world.
We preach his glorious person and his all-sufficient work.
That is the beginning of all reformation.
This is what will reform lives and reform the church in our day.
When Christ alone is faithfully preached, the world will see his glory, and that is the only light that will drive out and overcome all darkness.
Keeping Up Appearances in Church
It is often wise for us to consider what lies behind an action that we or others take. Quite often, the things we do, the right or wrong things we do, are symptoms of something much deeper in our hearts. Like the fruit on the branches of a tree, our behaviors come from deep down, at the roots of our hearts.
What has my attention as I write this is our behavior in the church. How often do we, if we are not careful, try to shape our actions in the local church to make ourselves look good? Because of the nature of the local church, the community structure, we can sometimes look at the church as a place to get ahead. Some like being a big fish in the small pond of the local body, and we try to get there by acting more spiritual than we really are.
Think of the different tactics we might use. We might pretend to sacrifice more than we are really sacrificing. We might pretend to be more spiritually rich than we really are. We might pretend to be doing well when we are really hurting deeply. We will put on all sorts of masks to try to get others to think we are stronger than we are, more disciplined than we are, or more sanctified than we are.
Sometimes the deception is active, intentionally pretending something you are not. Sometimes the deception is more passive, simply holding back from telling others the truth. But either way, deceiving others in the body, putting on airs, is not wise.
Back in the early church, as growth was taking place in Jerusalem, there was a couple who decided to take an active role in making themselves look spiritual. Ananias and Sapphira sold a piece of property and lied to the church about how much money they got from it. They wanted to pretend that they were giving to the church all of the profits of the sale, when in fact, they were holding back some funds for themselves. If you know the story, you also know that this led to the death of the couple, God striking them down for their actions.
Acts 5: 4-5 – 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.
Here is what is fascinating. In Peter’s words to Ananias, we see the problem. God was not upset that the couple did not want to give 100% of the profits. It would have been fine for them not to sell their land. It would have been fine for them to sell and say, “Here is 75% of what we got.” But what was not fine was for them to pretend they were giving more than they really were. The couple wanted to make themselves look good in the sight of others in the church, and they were dishonest in the process. They lied in their actions, being dishonest before God, and it cost them their lives.
And this all makes me wonder, how close do we come to being like Ananias and Sapphira? When we put on a false face of spiritual maturity when we lack it, are we not lying in much the same way? When we pretend to have given our all in some spiritual activity, but we really barely limped through, are we not lying like this couple? When we pretend to be different than we really are so that others in the church will think we are stronger than we really are, how different is that from Ananias and Sapphira?
Maybe it would be wise for us to consider the dangerous life of honesty, even in the local church. No, I’m not suggesting that every person in the body has to know every detail of your emotions. But, I wonder how much different we would be if being true to the Lord was our first priority instead of being seen by others as good, strong, or as having it together. May we tell the truth. When we are doing well, be honest. When we are doing well, do not exaggerate it. When we are struggling, be honest without exaggeration. When we need someone to pray for us because we hurt, why not say so instead of keeping it quiet? When we present a false face because we want to look better in the eyes of other people, we walk a dangerous line, one that I would bet Ananias and Sapphira would prefer not to have walked.
Shepherds’ Conference 2017 Session 2 Notes
Shepherds Conference 2017
Session 2
Phil Johnson
No Other Gospel
Galatians 1:6-7
Galatia was a region, not a single city.
Paul went through there in Acts 13-14.
Lystra, Derbe, other places were Galatian cities.
False teachers liked to follow Paul and tell the gentile converts that, if they wanted to become real Christians, they must be first converted to Judaism.
Paul showed in Romans that Abram was saved long before he was circumcised.
Acts 15 describes the false doctrine Paul had to battle in Galatians.
Two different words for another gospel in this passage.
Heteros, another of a different kind.
Allos another of the same kind.
They bring another gospel that is not another.
There is no other gospel.
Paul presents a harsh, double curse for those who would offer a different gospel.
You must not miss the significance of the language Paul used here.
Paul does not invite these people to debate with him on the false gospel.
He just calls them heretics and tells the Galatians to have nothing at all to do with them.
The point of not listening to an angel is hypothetical,
Such would never happen.
It is clearly not always right to be warm and welcoming.
Sometimes a curse is required.
That does not mean you should be a full time contrarian.
1 Pet 3:9, no repaying evil for evil.
Bless those who persecute you.
But the problem here is not Paul’s personal honor.
This was an attack on the gospel.
Him who called you is the Lord, not Paul.
These false teachers were turning people against Christ.
That is why Paul fought hard.
He was defending the message, not the messenger.
Many protestants have forgotten the problem with the Roman Catholic gospel.
The prosperity preachers of TBN are offering earthly blessing for money. They are selling indulgences as much as were sold in the 16th century.
We need a generation of men with the spirit of Luther and Calvin.
We need to wage war against false gospels.
The best scholars throughout church history have always been passionate polemicists.
We need clear and uncompromising voices.
V6
First verse after the introduction.
Intro usually has words of praise after Paul’s name.
He even had praise for the believers in Corinth.
Paul thanked God for the Corinthians and for God’s grace on them.
Every one of Paul’s letters has kind things to say to the church except the book of Galatians.
But there is no commendation in Galatians, all through the book.
Paul’s rebuke is passionate.
This book is a strong reprimand.
Paul remains stern and never blunts his voice of rebuke in this letter.
Paul’s opening words in a letter always contain some sort of gospel words.
V4 has the gospel and substitutionary atonement.
In Scripture, people are surprised at how rapidly heresy infected and damaged the churches.
Revelation and Galatians show us this.
This is one reason why we cannot assume that, just because something became a practice, even in the early church, it is what should be our practice today.
Part of being fallen is to desire a different gospel than the one God presents.
The gospel offends our sinful hearts.
An R. C. Sproul story.
A person told him the gospel was primitive and obscene.
Primitive is proper.
God is making the gospel accessible to ordinary, primitive people.
It is obscene.
How else could we deal with the ugliness of the accumulated sin that God will forgive?
Most gospel corrupters do not set out to be heretics.
Most are deceived before they become deceivers.
They are self-deceived.
They think they can fix what is distasteful about the message of the cross.
The desire to fix the gospel and make it not offensive is a sinful desire.
People who think we can be so radically contextualized so as to be cool and popular in our world will always end up compromising the gospel somewhere.
2 Cor 11:3, a main strategy of Satan is to draw us away from the simplicity of the gospel.
Outline
Point 1: An itch for something new.
Why do evangelicals move from fad to fad with such ease?
The people we minister to are far too easily corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
People say we need to follow the styles of popular culture to reach the culture.
Today’s fads will be the brunt of tomorrow’s jokes.
Consider that no person of influence in evangelicalism today is talking about The Prayer of jabez.
That which is true is not new, and that which is new is not true.
Paul was astonished at their jumping for the new stuff.
While he was with them, in person, he already warned them not to buy into a new message.
Acts 17:21, spending your time only talking about and listening for what is new.
That is like the Internet.
There is only one gospel, and it cannot be improved upon.
Some people would rather talk about anything other than the simple content of the gospel.
Sin, righteousness, and judgment are omitted from the pulpits of today in the name of being relevant.
But that is what the Spirit will teach us.
Point 2: An urge to modify.
V7, some want to distort the gospel.
They probably thought they were improving the gospel.
It is not always a love of the new.
The circumcision party wanted to preserve the old.
They wanted to modify the gospel.
The urge to modify is the Bain of many who work in the academic realm
Novelty is required in many dissertations.
Scholars spin out new perspectives and other modified doctrines.
The circumcision party wanted to make a little tweak, a slight change in the ordo solutis.
They wanted to put a good work before justification.
A minimal expression of obedience was something they thought should come before justification.
In many of our worlds, people would not find this enough to disagree about.
Just think of all they agreed on.
Deity of Christ, imputation, faith, resurrection, etc.
But Paul would not compromise.
The circumcision party made justification hinge on a work done by the sinner.
That was enough to lose the gospel completely.
To make any kind of human work instrumental in justification is to destroy the doctrine completely.
When it comes to the gospel, the urge to modify is damnably sinful.
Point 3: A craving for the applause of men.
V10
Paul could have pleased a lot of people had he went along with the circumcision or just ignored them.
Paul knew what it was like to crave the applause of men.
He did that in his former life.
There is no greater impediment to genuine faith than seeking the praise of men.
You cannot faithfully proclaim the gospel if you mince words.
Why the Food Laws?
We have as a people a potentially unhealthy fascination with the motivation of God behind his laws. Many preachers and commentators will go well beyond the boundaries of faithful, biblical interpretation to tell us exactly what was in God’s mind as he gave a certain command. If we are not careful, we will develop an attitude that says to the Lord, “If I can understand why you gave this command, I will obey it. But, if not, I’ll do what I like.”
Take, for example, the way we often try to handle the food laws. In Leviticus 11, we come across the laws relating to clean and unclean animals. Of course, the concept of clean and unclean animals has been in biblical thought from long before the time of Moses. Noah carried different numbers of clean and unclean animals on the ark. But here, we see God instruct the nation and especially the priests with great specificity.
The rules are not terribly complicated. The people can eat land animals that are among the domesticated plant-eaters. They can eat fish with fins and scales, sorry, no shrimp. They can eat birds that are not birds of prey. And, they can eat insects that are hoppers, no crawlies.
Why did God make these rules and these distinctions? Why couldn’t the Israelites eat meat-eating animals? Was it because of the prohibition against eating blood? Was it about health reasons? Was it about pagan religious practices and not looking like the Canaanites?
Here is what God said about why to obey his food laws:.
Leviticus 11:45 – “For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”
God basically tells the Israelites in response to any question as to why not eat pork or owls, “Because I said so.” I think we need to grasp that this is a good, significant answer. God does not need to explain himself to the nation, not at all. Neither does he need to explain himself to us. If, for a season, God told his people, “no bacon,” we need to say, “Yes, Lord.” We can also thank God that we now live in the day when God has lifted that non-baconic legislation.
Mark 7:18-19 – 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)
It would be better for us, before exercising curiosity as to the potential rationale behind the commands, to see that God has the right to give such commands for no reason at all other than that he wants to. He might give those commands as a way to make Israel look different from other nations simply because he wanted them to. It could have been about health, about polemics, about blood, or about something else. But what is most important to us is that it was about the will of the Lord and his right to tell us what to do. And, he does not owe us any sort of explanation.
We must grasp that this is also true in the New Testament. For example, we can look behind the regulations for Christian living, and often we can explain why God’s rules are better for human flourishing than are the sinful ways of the world. However, we do not make the commands hang on our understanding of them for the betterment of mankind. No, the biggest reason that marriage is defined by God or that our sexuality is restricted by God or that divorce is regulated by God or that drunkenness is forbidden by God or that any other command is given by God is that God is God, holy, sovereign, and Lord over all. His rules are right and to be obeyed because he is God. His ways are by definition right because of his holiness. If we can understand the benefits of his commands, that is all well and good. If we cannot, we are still required to obey them for his glory, to distinguish ourselves from those who hate him, and to find joy in bringing honor to his name.
Sheperds’ Conference 2017 Session 1 Notes
February 28, 2017
Session 1
John MacArthur
2 Corinthians 4:5
We do not preach ourselves…
2 Timothy 4
Paul anticipated a heavenly reward.
There were no earthly crowds to give Paul praise for his achievements.
Timothy was away.
He was afraid, and perhaps considering bailing out of the ministry.
Everybody has deserted Paul.
There is a loneliness in Paul’s last words.
How do you go through what Paul went through and stay steadfast?
How do you get there?
2 Corinthians 4
V1 and 16
We do not lose heart brackets the section
Weak translation of the phrase.
Paul may be saying that we do not give in to evil.
It is not so much about being cowardly or slipping.
It is about not giving in to evil or acting badly.
We do not sinfully defect.
Paul’s experience at Corinth would drive someone toward defection.
Look at their sin and cruelty, even toward Paul.
Apollos would not stay there.
It was the church nobody wanted to pastor.
Paul wrote them 4 letters.
Somehow, after Letter 1, they opened themselves to false teachers.
Paul visited, felt worse than before, wrote a very strong letter, and went away.
He may not have wanted to return again.
He was attacked and slandered.
Paul was depressed.
Paul was reluctant to write 2 Cor.
He defended his apostleship against the attacks of false teachers.
Chapter 1, Paul talks about comforts
Chapter 2, Paul talks about sorrow.
Paul regularly talks about his pain in this book.
Paul hurt, but he did not give into evil.
He remained faithful right there.
Here, in chapter 4, we see convictions that kept Paul faithful.
Verse 1, An unwavering conviction
Conviction 1: A conviction about the superiority and glory of the New Covenant over the Old one.
The therefore transitions after the last chapter comparing old and new.
Paul did not watch this change from afar.
He was a zealous Jew.
Acts 9 has Paul’s physical conversion.
Philippians 3 has Paul’s spiritual mindset.
All that old zeal became manure.
2 Cor 3:6
New Covenant gives life.
Law kills.
3:7 Old is a ministry of death.
New is a ministry of life.
3:9 New is a ministry of righteousness.
Old was temporary.
New covenant is permanent.
Old had no hope.
3:12 New has hope
New is clear
Old is dark, vailed.
New is Christ-centered v14.
New covenant is empowered by the Holy Spirit.
New moves us from glory to glory.
Paul came out of the Old Covenant.
He came into the New.
He never lost the wonder over the reality of the New Covenant.
We must never forget the privilege of being called into the New Covenant.
If nobody ever believed under Paul’s ministry, if he was mostly an aroma of death to death, it was still the highest of all honors and the greatest of all joys to proclaim salvation in Christ.
Conviction 2: Paul was certain that ministry was a mercy.
Again, v1.
Your ministry is a mercy.
You did not earn it.
You do not keep it because you are qualified.
Paul was amazed to be given this mercy.
You are in ministry, not because you are better than others, but because you demonstrate God’s grace and mercy.
All our ministries are mercy.
You did not earn your ministry.
Conviction 3: The conviction that he needed to have a pure heart
V2 We have renounced the things hidden because of shame.
The enemies in Corinth accused Paul of much corruption: sexual, financial, etc.
Paul does not have a hidden life.
He was not perfect.
But he was open.
Paul renounced hidden things of shame.
This was a continual thing.
Paul’s reputation as a perfect Pharisee showed he was good at hiding his shame.
He renounced that kind of hypocrisy.
In 1:12, Paul declared he had a clear conscience.
He knew he was not perfect.
But he did not cling to his sin and hide it.
We want a clear conscience.
It doesn’t matter what comes at you if your conscience is clear.
How do you keep your conscience clear?
You do so by winning the battle against sin on the inside.
Charles Wesley hymn on the conscience.
Conviction 4: He was certain of the responsibility to accurately preach the word of God.
V2, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God
Paul knows not to adulterate the word of God.
His job is to communicate truth, genuine truth.
No sneaky means used.
Quote
“It is criminal to take the word of God and manipulate it to achieve your ends.”
If you tamper with the word of God, you may make a friend, but you will not change a heart.
You do not have to defend the word of God.
It has a glory all its own.
Changing the word will not work and will not honor God.
Conviction 5: Paul was certain that the results did not depend on him.
The results did not depend on Paul at all.
Altering the message is a declaration that success depends on you.
If the gospel is vailed, it is not the minister’s fault or failing.
They are blinded, really, totally blinded.
Welcome to the ministry.
If the gospel is vailed, then the people are in the category of those who are perishing.
The perishing cannot respond.
When they do respond, it is because of the wondrous work of God.
Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.
The doctrine of depravity is both discouraging and encouraging.
It encourages me that I can’t do anything to awaken the dead sinner. So, let me just be faithful to the manifestation of the truth in the word of God.
All the results come from God.
V6 God said light shall shine out of darkness.
God showed the light of the knowledge and glory of Christ in our hearts.
When God does a miracle like the miracle of “Let there be light” in Genesis 1, then we see the light.
Only God can say into the darkness of a human soul, “Let there be light.”
I’m happy to give up all of the credit for changing lives so that I can also give up the responsibility.
I preach the word and leave the results to the Creator.
Conviction 6: Paul was certain about his own insignificance.
V7, this treasure is in jars of clay.
What treasure?
The treasure of the gospel.
We have that in clay pots.
They said Paul was unskilled.
That was no problem.
That was not amazing.
What was amazing is that God would put the gospel in a container like Paul.
Clay pots are not special.
They may be chamber pots.
Paul saw himself as the least of the apostles.
1 Cor 4:9
Paul says he and the others are a spectacle.
They are the scum of the earth, the dregs of all things.
We are the bottom of the garbage container.
The power of the glorious gospel has nothing to do with us.
We have that treasure in clay pots. We are fragile and ordinary.
But such has nothing to do with the success of the gospel.
How does Paul sustain his faithfulness in the face of hardship?
The convictions.
Conviction 7: He was convinced of the benefit of suffering. V8
2 cor 12:7-ff
Paul had a messenger from Satan attacking.
A person, angolos, is not an illness.
Some of the persons in our church may be there to humble us.
Power is perfected in weakness.
Was that person possessed?
Paul asks for God to stop this person.
God tells Paul no, because Paul must see that his strength is in weakness.
If you don’t embrace your suffering, you are more likely to defect from ministry.
Paul could never be the explanation for his impact.
They saw that he seemed to be nothing.
They tormented him, attacking every way they could.
The power of God came through his weakness.
Conviction 8: He was certain of the need for courage.. v13.
I believe. I spoke.
If I believe it, I say it.
I only think of one thing: Is this what is true?
What would the church be like today if Pastors did this?
I can’t believe something and not say it.
Aren’t’ you afraid you might die?
No, v14.
So what if they kill you.
You will be resurrected.
V15, I do this for your sake so you will be converted and give God thanks.
Conviction 9: Paul was certain that future glory was better than anything this world could offer.
Vv16-18.
Even in the midst of being battered by the struggle, Paul had confidence in an eternal weight of glory.
No human on earth gave him a trophy at the end.
But the reward of the Savior is coming.
You will not lose heart, defect, if you live by these convictions.
Pastor Travis Peterson 