We Are Not to Amuse the Goats but to Call the Sheep

In the spirit of the New Year and reflecting on and refocusing our mission in the world as the Church, I've recently introduced my plan to lay out four principles for faithfulness in Gospel ministry in 2011. I plan to couple those with four implications, so that we as the Church will be faithful witnesses of Christ in our various spheres of life in the coming year. I'm going to discuss those principles and implications under four headings. We must (1) know the purpose, (2) know the problem, (3) know the proclamation, and (4) know the prescription.

We'll consider the first of those today. The first principle for faithful ministry that Paul gives us in 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 is to know the purpose of Gospel ministry, the aim. Namely: we are calling Christ’s sheep, not the goats, into the fold.

I get that from verse 3, where Paul says, “even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.” Now, where is that statement coming from? Well, as I briefly mentioned on Friday, Paul wrote the letter of 2 Corinthians primarily to defend his own apostleship against the teachings of certain men of Corinth who Paul later dubbed false apostles (2Cor 11:13). These men were teaching that Paul was not a true apostle, and were advancing many attacks against both his character and his ministry, to the point that the Corinthians began to doubt Paul, and thus doubt the gospel he preached.

For example, these false apostles accused him of being under God’s judgment because of his constant sufferings. The thought was that if Paul was really sent from Christ he wouldn't have such opposition and such turmoil, but rather that God would bless him. And so in 2Cor 1:3-11 Paul defends himself by saying that his sufferings for the Gospel are actually a mark of God’s favor. Far from discrediting him as an apostle, sufferings are a badge of his authenticity as a minister of Christ. Further, they accused him of vacillating, and “purposing according to the flesh” (2Cor 1:17) because he had changed his plans about coming to Corinth. And so in 2Cor 1:15-22 he defends himself by saying his word to the Corinthians is not yes and no, but yes, just as all God’s promises are yes in Christ. They also accused him of being uncredentialed, a sort of Johnny-come-lately apostle who wasn’t part of the original twelve. And so in 2Cor 3:2 he asks the Corinthians, “Do we need letters of commendation to you? You are our letter of commendation. The fact that you now know Christ because of the Gospel we preached to you is evidence of our authenticity.”

And now in chapter 4, we find that another accusation was that his message was obscure. Now remember, the Corinthian culture praised human wisdom and cleverness of speech and oratorical persuasion. They highly regarded those who were skilled in rhetoric and oratory, and looked down upon those who weren’t. And so these men were saying, “Hey, look, Paul, only a few people are believing your message. If it was true, and you were really sent from Christ, more people would believe!” And oh, that sounds like today, doesn’t it? “If God was really blessing you, you’d have more people in your church! If you really had sound doctrine—and if sound doctrine really mattered!—more people would believe!” And Paul’s response to this is to tell the false apostles, “You don’t understand the doctrine of election.” It may be that our gospel is veiled—that is, granted: there are many who do not believe our message—but our gospel is veiled only to those who are perishing.

He says a similar thing in 2Cor 2:14-16: “For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life.” As a preacher of the Gospel, Paul calls himself a fragrance of Christ to God. He likens the preaching of the Gospel to the emission of an odor that finds its way into the nostrils of all people. And among those who hear the Gospel there are two kinds of people: those who are being saved and those who are perishing, those whom God chose in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him (Eph 1:4), and those whom He did not so choose. And when the elect of God smell the fragrance of the Gospel, it is to them an aroma of life that leads to life. But when the non-elect hear it, it is an aroma of death that leads to death.

Christ Himself said the same thing to the Jews in John 10:26-27. He said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish. But you don’t believe because you are not of My sheep.” Get that. Not, "You are not My sheep because you don't believe," but, "You do not believe because you are not of My sheep. You are not of those that the Father has given to Me" (cf. Jn 6:37, 39).

And so Paul’s defense is that one should not expect the goats to believe the Gospel; for it is only the sheep that hear the voice of their Shepherd.

The Implications

Now, understand the implications this doctrine has for our ministry of the Gospel. If we continue to take the unadulterated, Biblical Gospel to the world and they continue to reject it, that is not a sign of the weakness of the message. It’s not even necessarily a sign of the weakness of the messenger, but rather it is the outworking of God’s purpose to redeem a particular people.

Now, there are at least two ways this doctrine is abused, and I’m not advocating either of them. First, there are those who are uncompassionate, who take the precious truth of sovereign election to mean that we just bluntly and uncaringly preach a hard message to people, and if they don’t accept it at first hearing, well they’re just not elect. That is an evil way to think. And if there are some of you reading this that struggle with those kinds of thoughts and that kind of an uncaring attitude, I invite you to repent of them, and to hear the words of Jesus who wept over Jerusalem saying: “Oh Jerusalem. How often I wanted to gather your children! Oh if you had known this day the things which make for peace!” And the words of Paul: “We were gentle among you, like a nursing mother caring for her children. I did not cease night and day for three years to admonish each one with tears.” Do not let the doctrine of sovereign election lead you to be uncompassionate. It did not lead there for the Lord Jesus or for the Apostles.

Secondly, there are those who are just plain lazy. They're just too proud to examine their understanding of the Gospel. But get this: if we’re preaching what the Bible calls the greatest news in the universe, and nobody is listening, we have to be humble enough to at least examine whether we are getting in the way of a pure Gospel presentation. We must ensure that what we are taking to the world is indeed the Biblical Gospel.

But if we have taken the Biblical Gospel to our neighbors and our community with the patience and the compassion of Jesus, and they reject it, we must not conclude that we need to start playing rock and roll music and having light shows and performing skits and playing videos in church to attract them. The church is not called to amuse the goats; rather we are to sound the Shepherd’s voice in the Gospel message and call His sheep who know that voice into His fold.

Our gospel is indeed veiled to those who are perishing. And therefore the first principle for faithful ministry that Paul gives us in this text is: success in Gospel ministry is measured not by numbers but by faithfulness to the message. Therefore, in what seems like seasons of external failure, we must not ask what offers the greatest appeal or what will fill the most seats. We must ask, “Have we gotten the Gospel right? Are we preaching the message we’ve received?”

Come back for principle number two.

Series Outline

1. Principles for Faithfulness in Gospel Ministry: Introduction
2. We Are Not to Amuse the Goats but to Call the Sheep
3. The World's Problem is that They Are Blind to Glory
4. We Do Not Preach Ourselves
5. God's Remedy: The Shining of the Light of Life
6. The Gospel of the Glory: What Makes the Good News Good News
7. Postscript

Acknowledging Sin's Role in Suffering

After learning from Jeremiah that one way to suffer righteously is to identify with and suffer along with those who are suffering, we come to this next lesson: we are to acknowledge sin to be at the root of suffering.

Just as it is significant that Jeremiah identifies with the suffering of his people even though he had little to no part in bringing it about, it is also significant that in his deep mourning Jeremiah acknowledges Israel’s sin. Unlike Job, Jeremiah’s lamentations in response to suffering contain no protest of innocence. He confesses that this judgment is due to “the multitude of her transgressions” (Lam 1:5) and that she “sinned greatly” (Lam 1:8-9) and “rebelled against His command” (Lam 1:18). He goes on to say that Israel’s iniquity had exceeded even that of Sodom (Lam 4:6), and that even the prophets and the priests worked unrighteousness (Lam 4:13). He makes no excuses for the people, but accepts their responsibility for the suffering they are experiencing.

Now, it’s important that we make the point that not everyone who suffers suffers as a direct result of particular sin. That’s an error that Job’s counselors made, and they were severely rebuked for it when God showed up at the end of the book. It's also an error Paul's opponents made against him in 2 Corinthians, and throughout that letter he presents his suffering as evidence for the authenticity of his apostleship, not as evidence for its falsehood.

However, we do need to acknowledge that on a general level, all suffering is a result of the condition of sin that we find ourselves in as children of Adam. Had we not sinned in Adam, and had the human race never fallen into sin, we would never have known suffering (Gen 3:7-24; Rom 5:12; Rom 8:19-25).

And because of our sin, we all deserve to suffer infinitely and eternally, to a horrifying degree and all the time. The comfort that we do receive when we suffer from the “Father of mercies” (2Cor 1:3) is just that: mercy. And that the comfort is mercy implies that we do not deserve it, for mercy is the withholding of deserved punishment. Part of our problem in responding to suffering righteously is thinking that we are entitled to something other than suffering. Yet really, we deserve much worse than we even experience.

2 Peter 2:4 – …God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment.

That we are all not suffering eternally in hell at this very moment is a sheer gift of God. The only difference between our sin and the sin of the angels who were damned without mercy is that our sin was graciously paid for by the perfect sacrifice of Christ (cf. Heb 2:16).

And so when we undergo intense suffering, we should not act surprised as if we deserved something better (cf. 1Pet 4:12). We should acknowledge what Jeremiah says in Lamentations 3:39-40: “Why should any living mortal, or any man, offer complaint in view of his sins? Let us examine and probe our ways, and let us return to Yahweh.” When in our times of suffering we are tempted to complain, we should be reminded that we are but dust, are entitled to nothing good at all, and thus -- because in ourselves we are hopelessly sinful -- even in intense suffering we get better than we deserve.

Jeremiah's Five Lessons

1. He identifies with, and suffers alongside, his people.
2. He acknowledges that sin is at the root of suffering (even though not all suffering is a direct result of personal sin).
3. He acknowledges God’s absolute sovereignty in his suffering.
4. He recognizes that although God is sovereign, He is not the enemy.
5. He sets his hope entirely on, and rests in, God’s character.

"All Truth is God's Truth"

Whenever I hear this assertion it's usually being given as substantiation for some devaluation of the sufficiency of Scripture. Whether that be trying to force billions of years into Genesis 1-3, claiming that one's counseling methodology ought to be informed by secular psychological theory, or seeking to legitimize an over-concern with worldliness in the name of being missional or contextualizing the Gospel, this phrase gets a lot of mileage from those seeking to evade the teaching of the sufficient Scripture by affording undue authority to other sources of knowledge. When it comes down to it, the question of the validity of this statement is a question of epistemology. How do we know what we know? What is the authoritative source of all knowledge?

The Bible contains the revelation of the specific words of God to specific people. Because of this specificity, the Bible is said to be the "special revelation" of God (cf. Grudem, p. 122-123). General revelation, on the other hand, is "the knowledge of God’s existence, character, and moral law, which comes through creation to all humanity" (Grudem, p. 122). Such revelation is "general," or "common," because it is revealed to all humanity -- it's something we all have in common, so to speak.

The relationship of the authority of special revelation and general revelation is of particular importance to the issues raised above, i.e., the age of the earth, Biblical vs. integrationist counseling, and the nature of the natural man's spiritual death. The scientist, psychologist, or postmodern thinker argues that all truth is God’s truth, and so if something is found to be true by means of scientific analysis of general revelation, well then that is a manifestation of God’s common grace. Since truth which is gleaned from general revelation, it is argued, is just as much God’s truth as truth gleaned from special revelation, both special and general revelation are equally authoritative and thus each ought to have a place in Christian epistemology.

As a dear brother of mine has said, "Perhaps all truth is God's truth, but not all words are God's Word."

The problem with this "All-truth-is-God's-truth" line of reasoning is that it simply does not acknowledge the inherent difference between general revelation and special revelation in both glory and authority. Scripture assigns to itself more authority than it does to general revelation. Though general revelation is perceived through God’s creation, and though God’s creation began as "very good" (Gen 1:31), the consequences of the Fall of man present a twofold problem. First, God subjected the entire creation to futility (Rom 8:20-23), cursing His "very good" creation as a result of Adam's sin (Gen 3:17). Second, when Adam sinned, all humanity died with him (Rom 5:12). So even though it is through creation that the invisible attributes of God have been clearly seen, leaving men with no excuse (Rom 1:20), the depravity of fallen man causes him to suppress that clearly revealed truth in unrighteousness (Rom 1:18), rendering both fallen creation and fallen man unqualified epistemological authorities. The creation in its current state is not a reliable subject of study because of its corruption, and since no part of humanity's existence was unaffected by the Fall, our total depravity makes us unreliable students.

The Word of God, on the other hand, is not fallen. Indeed, the law of Yahweh remains perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, and righteous altogether (Ps 19:7-9). Unlike the corrupted creation and its depraved students, the integrity – and thus, the authority – of special revelation is entirely unblemished by the Fall. Further, Yahweh's perfect law "restores the soul" (Ps 19:7) of depraved mankind, something general revelation cannot do. "Far greater than all general revelation is the glory of God revealed in His Word, because the Word transforms the heart of man" (Street, Counseling, p. 44).

Those who tout "All truth is God's truth" as a way to put observation of creation (scientific or otherwise) on equal footing with Scripture simply do not realize the inherent difference in glory and authority between general revelation and special revelation.

Even though the heavens are declaring the glory of God (Ps 19:1) such that men are without excuse (Rom 1:20), general revelation cannot free man from the corruption that even it is enslaved to (Rom 8:20-23). Only special revelation can do that; that is, the Word of God which is perfect, restoring the soul (Ps 19:7), able to make us wise unto salvation (2Tim 3:15) .

So all truth may be God's truth, but not all words are God's Word. God's decisive, sufficient, perfect Word surpasses even His good, yet corrupted, creation in both glory and authority.

And that must drive our epistemology. Otherwise, it is not a Christian epistemology.

The law of Yahweh is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of Yahweh is sure, making wise the simple.
The precepts of Yahweh are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of Yahweh is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of Yahweh is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of Yahweh are true; they are righteous altogether.
They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them Your servant is warned;
In keeping them there is great reward.
- Psalm 19:7-11 -

All Scripture is inspired by God
and profitable
for teaching, for reproof,
for correction, for training in righteousness;
so that the man of God may be adequate,
equipped for every good work.
- 2 Timothy 3:16-17 -

Better Christmas Stuff

Frank Turk, over at Evangel, has been doing a great series on Christmas. Specifically, he's talking about how the coming of Christ points us to the coming of God's wrath. That is, the reason Christ came into the world is that there was a problem: humanity was under the wrath of God and had no hope of escape. It's a good, sobering reminder to us all that in the midst of the decorations, shopping, Christmas trees, egg nog, and even nativity scenes on your lawn, Christmas is about the birth of a Savior. He came to save His people from their sins (Mt 1:21).

Anyway, I appreciated Frank's most recent post, and wanted to post it here as well. If any of you are tempted to think of Christmas as simply a quaint holiday that's mostly about family and friends and presents with an occasional hat-tip to Jesus, you're in danger of wasting your Christmas this year, and for the rest of your life. Frank exhorts us not to waste our Christmas. Enjoy.

My point, so far, is that God’s wrath is coming, and Jesus — whose birth we celebrate at Christmas — is the savior from that wrath. It’s a point a lot of people got because that’s what a savior is — and it’s a point I have made here before, so you were probably with me on it by way of preparation, one way or the other.

Now, the question is: is that enough? That is, if we understand that what we deserve is God’s wrath and what we get is God’s savior, can we now have some ham and some applesauce and some casserole and maybe (in presbyterian and Lutheran homes, of course) a glass of wine, a decent night’s sleep, and then open the presents on Christmas morn after an appropriately-solemn reading of Luke 2? I mean, seriously: enough’s enough.

Listen: Christmas is not about a logical argument, an intellectual affirmation, and then a secular session of either greed or idolatry (or maybe both). Christmas is about God with us.

When the Jews had the Temple, God’s wasn’t “with us”: He was nearby, to be sure, but He was separated ritually and physically from the people. He had a covenant with the Jews, and He gave them the means to sort of “pay up” or “make up” the ways in which they broke the covenant, but here’s what He says about that:

For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

Two little lines in the book of Hosea — a book in which God says that the right way to see the relationship between Israel (the chosen nation) and God is that God is a faithful husband and Israel is a wife who prefers the life of a prostitute to the life of fidelity. But Hosea has to go and buy his wife back out of prostitution to make himself like God in this object lesson prophecy.

The obvious application is that God is coming back for us when we don’t deserve it — you’ve all heard that one, I am sure. But look: when God is spelling it out for Israel in Hosea 6:6, God is saying, “You know: I don’t want you just to think about what I have done this for you, I want you to acknowledge that I have done this for you and act like I am real to you.”

I think that’s a little dazzling, frankly. God doesn’t want to just save us: God wants us to act like a wife bought out of prostitution.

We don’t have to be people who are in it for the money anymore — because the price for us has been paid forever. We don’t have to work off our debt. Now, that sounds like standard christianese, I am sure — and the best way to overcome that is to describe for you in detail what the life of a prostitute is like. However, homeschool moms are reading this, and they would probably find that a little much — and they might be right. I’ll sum it up in a sentence: imagine a life in which your own body is not safe from the demands and impulses of others who care nothing about you. If you were stuck in a life where you don’t even own your own body, or have a right to your own flesh, how would you act toward the person who paid the price for your body and set you free from that kind of slavery?

That’s the razor’s edge at Christmas: it’s the place where mental assent doesn’t cut it. We can’t just agree that these things are true for us in some religious metaphor, or maybe in some metaphysical transaction. We have to be in love with the one who has actually done this for us. We have to live as if God is with us. God doesn’t want us to go and offer a dove or a lamb or a bull in the temple: God wants us to love Him above all things because He deserves to be loved above all things. And He should get it right now because He is worthy of it right now — in the same way you love your own spouse right now personally, passionately, and somewhat impulsively.

This Christmas thing — it shouldn’t be about an idea of God: It should be about God. In person. Here with us.

When we prepare for Christmas, we ought to be loving God in a real way — because He is saving us in a real way, and He is here with us. Welcome Him into your family and life as if He was your beloved husband and deliverer from slavery.

Examine Yourselves

This short video clip is absolutely amazing. The intended audience is people who profess to be Christians.

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith;
examine yourselves!
Or do you not recognize this about yourselves,
that Jesus Christ is in you--
unless indeed you fail the test?
- 2 Corinthians 13:5 -

The Dead Cannot See

Last time, we talked about the concept of spiritual death, or what's often called "total depravity." We saw that the Bible's assessment of humanity is that we are spiritually dead, and that if we are going to have any access or relationship with God, we must be born again. This doctrine vividly illustrates how absolutely powerless we are to gain favor from God. We do not contribute to our salvation any more than a baby contributes to being born. Or, said another way, we don't contribute to our salvation any more than a corpse contributes to being resurrected. For these reasons, this doctrine is also often called "total inability."

But as I started to say at the end of the last post, what does it mean to be spiritually dead? I mean, non-Christian people are alive, right? They’re walking around, going to work, having families, doing things. What in the world does the Bible mean when it says that people are dead? Well, in Jesus' interaction with Nicodemus, we find some insight into the nature of this spiritual death, as well as the nature of the new birth that He says is necessary.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Now, why in the world does Jesus respond to Nicodemus in such a way? Nicodemus comes to Him respectfully. He calls Him, "Rabbi," and "teacher." He even comes praising Him for the signs and wonders that He’s performing. And he even testifies of Jesus' divinity, acknowledging that God is with Him! You might think Jesus would respond by commending Nicodemus. But He doesn't. Not even close. He tells him, "Unless you're born again, you can't see the kingdom of God." What is that about?

Jesus chooses His words quite purposefully here. He responds the way He does because Nicodemus can’t really see these miracles he’s talking about for what they are. What do I mean?

Well, in Matthew 12:28 Jesus says, "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." He identifies the miracles he works with the kingdom of God. So when Jesus tells Nicodemus, who is praising Him for His miracles, that he can't see the kingdom of God, it's not a coincidence. In effect Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, “Listen, you might think you’re coming here praising me for this signs that I’m doing, but you can’t really see those signs for what they are and for what they were intended to do. Because you're spiritually dead. You need to be born again to see these things, to see the kingdom of God.”

Jesus is telling Nicodemus that He can't believe because He can't see. He talks like this elsewhere.

• John 8:43-47 – Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. … He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.
• John 10:24-29 – … But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. …

"You don't understand me because you can't hear my words" (John 8:43-47). "You don't believe me because you're not of My sheep, and only My sheep believe me" (John 10:24-29). And so here: "You don't believe because you can't see."

So Jesus is telling Nicodemus -- and all of us -- “Unless you’re born again, you can’t see the kingdom of God.” There is a connection here between new spiritual life and the ability to see. That connection is also borne out in John 1:4: "In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men."

So here we have these two concepts intertwined again: Life, and Light. John 1:4 teaches that true, spiritual life is found only in Jesus. And so Jesus Himself is the Light that rescues men from the darkness. He is the Light that enables them to see (cf. also John 8:12, 12:46).

"But wait a second. What do you mean Nicodemus can't see? He's looking right at Him! If He can't see the miracles, how'd he even know to praise Jesus for them?" "What do you mean, 'You can't hear My words' (John 8:43)? If they can't hear You, why are You talking to them?"

These are legitimate questions. Evidently, all of us can look at something, perceive it with our eyes, and not really see it. Apparently we can listen to someone speak, and not really hear them. The Bible often speaks this way.

• Matthew 13:13-14: Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE.
• Deuteronomy 29:2-4 – And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land; the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear.”
  

We can hear with our ears, but not understand with our heart. We can see with our eyes, but not perceive with our heart. Because our heart is dead. One more verse:

2 Corinthians 4:3-6 – And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

So what do we mean when we talk about spiritual death? How does spiritual death manifest itself?

Spiritual death is the absence of the Light necessary to see Jesus and His kingdom as they actually are, namely, as glorious and supremely desirable.

Spiritually dead people can look directly at the glory of Christ -- whether they be rulers of the Jews in the Ancient Near East witnessing miracles, or Americans reading their Bibles -- and they can be entirely unaffected. Jesus looks foolish. Or He looks like a mythical, psychological crutch made up for weak people. Or He's just boring. Because unless we're born again, we can't see Christ for what He is.

So these passages teach us that faith in Christ -- our spiritual life -- is the same thing as seeing Jesus Christ as ULTIMATELY and INCOMPARABLY GLORIOUS!

So here’s the picture. The picture is: we are dead, which means we can’t see things as they are. When we are regenerated -- when God decides to graciously grant new life -- we get new eyes so that we can see. Now, we’re able to evaluate things as they truly are… to evaluate sin as it truly is, and to evaluate Jesus as He truly is, compare the two, and make a choice. And now, finally seeing the perfect glory of Jesus in all His fullness, and seeing the rotting garbage of sin and worldly “pleasures” right next to Him, with your brand new eyes that can actually see things, you choose Jesus.

That is the moment of faith. You are spiritually awakened, which means you are given eyes that can actually see. You see the beauty of Christ, and you believe that He is the Son of God who became man, who lived a perfect life and died in your place to pay the penalty that you incurred for your sin. You believe that there's no other way to commend yourself to God than on the basis of His righteousness. And because you finally see Him, He is so sweet to you. You love Him! You can't resist Him! And you embrace Him with the glad, open arms of faith, and you are saved.

If that's happened to you, I rejoice with you! Let me exhort you to understand your new birth in this way, that is, as finally being given eyes to see the glory of God in the face of Christ for what it is.

If that's not happened to you, I rejoice that you've read this. Let me exhort you to recognize and admit that you are, as the Bible says, spiritually dead. Recognize that you've never been given eyes to see, and so Jesus hasn't ever been this compellingly glorious, supremely desirable person; He's been boring, or foolish, or silly. Confess that to God. Tell Him that you're sorry that you've never regarded His Son as He deserves, and pray that He'd grant you spiritual life, that He'd give you eyes to see.

For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,”
is the One who has shone in our hearts
to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Christ.
- 2 Corinthians 4:6 -

For this is the will of My Father,
that everyone who beholds the Son
and believes in Him
will have eternal life,
and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.
- John 6:40 -

1. The Theology of the New Birth
1.1. Man's Spiritual Death (Total Depravity)
1.2. The Dead Cannot See
1.3. The Wind Blows Where it Wishes: The Freedom of God and Irresistible Grace
1.4. Regeneration and Faith: Temporally Simultaneous but Logically Distinct

2. Implications for the Christian Life
2.1. God Grants What He Requires
2.2. The Impossible is No Longer Burdensome
2.3. The Means of Justification is the Means of Sanctification

3. Implications for Gospel Ministry
3.1. Introduction
3.2. Evangelism
3.3. Apologetics

The Theology of Regeneration: Man's Total Depravity

The place to begin when speaking about the doctrine of regeneration (or the command to be born again) is to ask, "Why?" Why do we need to be born again? That’s a bit of a radical thing to say, isn’t it? "Born again? Is there something wrong with the way I was born the first time?"

Well, yes, actually, there is.

If we see nothing else up front in Jesus' statement that Nicodemus needs to be born again (John 3:3, 5, 7), we need to see that that statement is a woeful diagnosis of our condition. There is something so profoundly wrong with us -- with the entire human race -- that no natural remedy exists. We can't just be reformed. We can't just work on ourselves a bit. Far from finding that people are "basically good" people who just do bad things sometimes, Jesus' diagnosis of humanity is that we're so terribly messed up that no amount of behavior modification will fix what is wrong with us. According to Jesus, the only way to be right with God our Creator, and thus be able to see and enter the kingdom of God, is if we are born again.

To put it in spiritual terms, we must be born again because we are born the first time spiritually dead.

But how did that happen? Well, in Romans 5, the Bible teaches that spiritual death entered the world through sin. "OK, so where did sin come from?" Well, in that same passage, the Bible says that sin entered the world through a man. Here's what it says:

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin...

So there we have it. Death came through sin, and sin entered the world through one man. That one man was Adam, the first human being ever created. And we all know about Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, the serpent, the forbidden fruit, etc. God created Adam and Eve as innocent before Him, and they enjoyed perfect fellowship with God in His garden of Paradise. He gave them one command, which they broke: at the temptation of Satan, they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tree, of which God said, "...in the day that you eat from it you will surely die" (Gen 2:17). And so we see right there, death came through sin which came through Adam.

But that's not the end of the verse in Romans 5. It also says this:

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned...

So not only did sin enter through Adam, and death through sin, but then death spread to all men. This is how we become spiritually dead even before we are born. When Adam sinned, death not only entered the world, but spread to all of humanity. There was no person who would ever be created that wasn't affected by this original sin.

Now, you might be thinking that that isn't fair. I mean, you didn't eat the fruit. You didn't disobey the one command God gave in Paradise. Adam did. Why should you be held responsible for his sin? Well, the answer to why death spread to all men is given in that verse. It says, "because all sinned" (Rom 5:12).

"All who?" Every human being who ever lived. It's interesting, isn't it? The text there teaches that every human being in history sinned (past tense) when Adam sinned. "But I wasn't even there!" Well, this text teaches that in some mystical, yet very real, sense, you were. Death spread to every human being because every human being was reckoned, or counted, as being in Adam when he sinned. Adam was the representative of all human beings. And we were "in his loins" when he rebelled against God and sinned against Him.

As so as a result of the Fall, all human beings are totally depraved (spiritually dead) even from the womb. There is no aspect of our being that this spiritual death, this depravity, has not reached and corrupted. All that we are, no matter how good we look to other people, is fatally tainted by our sin.

And that's the reason why Scripture speaks the way it does about humanity. We are spiritually dead.

• Romans 3:10-12 – As it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one."

Have you ever thought at any point in your life you were seeking God? Well, this text teaches that that's entirely false, if you're outside of Jesus Christ. There is none who seeks for God.

Have you ever thought that you've done good? Well, certainly on a human, horizontal level that's true. But on the level that counts, on the level of reality, in God's sight, there is none who does good. "None?!" Nope, not even one.

• Colossians 2:13a – When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh…
• Ephesians 2:1-3 – And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

Here is the truth we've been speaking about now presented in the language of Scripture. We were dead in our trespasses, transgressions, and sins. And not only that, but Ephesians 2:3 says that we were by nature children of wrath. That means that without anything happening out of the ordinary, we, by default, are born under the wrath of God. If we are born, and nothing happens to overcome our sinfulness, we will suffer the wrath of God. That's why John says, "He who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36). It abides, or remains on him. It's already there, because we are by nature children of wrath.

• Psalm 51:5 – Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
• Psalm 58:3 – The wicked are estranged from the womb; These who speak lies go astray from birth.

These verses demonstrate, again, that we are not born innocent and then become sinful. Rather, we were all conceived in sin. We are estranged and go astray from the womb, from birth.

• Romans 8:6-8 - For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Here again is the testimony of our death. But here, God tells us that we're not just passive. Our death isn't just a neutral lying around and not doing anything. He tells us that our spiritual death causes us to be hostile toward God. We actively hate Him by continuing in our natural state of depravity. And because we're as sinful as we are, we aren't even able to submit to the law of God. There is no way for depraved sinners to please Him.

This is Jesus' sad, condemning diagnosis of humanity: "You are dead. You are totally depraved. And because of that you can do nothing to improve yourself to gain acceptance with Me or My Father. In fact, you are so hopeless that the only thing that's going to make any bit of difference is if you are born again."

It is of paramount importance that we understand this diagnosis of our spiritual condition from the Great Physician. If we don't understand the nature of humanity -- our nature -- we'll never understand God, ourselves, or anything about our lives.

Because that's true, I want to take some more time to contemplate what it means to be spiritually dead. What is the nature of this death? I mean, I'm not saying that people are actually dead, right? They breathe, they walk, they talk, they go to work. They do stuff! How can I say they're dead!

That's coming for next time. Until then, meditate on what the Scripture has to say about your condition by nature, without a Savior. You need to be born again.

The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it?
- Jeremiah 17:9 -

1. The Theology of the New Birth
1.1. Man's Spiritual Death (Total Depravity)
1.2. The Dead Cannot See
1.3. The Wind Blows Where it Wishes: The Freedom of God and Irresistible Grace
1.4. Regeneration and Faith: Temporally Simultaneous but Logically Distinct

2. Implications for the Christian Life
2.1. God Grants What He Requires
2.2. The Impossible is No Longer Burdensome
2.3. The Means of Justification is the Means of Sanctification

3. Implications for Gospel Ministry
3.1. Introduction
3.2. Evangelism
3.3. Apologetics

"And Let Us Make for Ourselves a Name"

This is the second post in a three-part series on the sin of those who purposed to build the Tower of Babel.

Last time, I introduced the scene at the Tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-9) and observed that the sin of the 'Babel-onians' was twofold. First, by their desire to not be scattered abroad over the whole earth, there was direct disobedience of God's command to fill the earth (Gen 1:28; 9:1). We focused on this aspect of their sin and found ourselves right there with them, building that tower, as we discovered the desperate sickness of the rebellion of our hearts against our God.

Today I'm going to focus on the second aspect.

Treason

The direct disobedience that manifested the wickedness of their (our) hearts is not all there is to it. The repulsiveness of sin is seen in their (our) treasonous hearts: "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."

I hope that sends chills down your spine. Hear the deceitful treason in the desires of their heart. "I want to be great! I want to have renown! I want to be feared among all the people! I want a great name!

"I... want... glory!!!"

And here friends, we see the fountainhead of all the wickedness of our heart spoken of in Friday's post. Our most fundamental problem is that we want glory for ourselves. And yet we're not worthy of it. And we cannot take any glory for ourselves without stealing it from the One who is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise.

From just a fraction of His revelation, listen to Yahweh's passion for His own Name:

• Exodus 9:16 - But, indeed, for this reason I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth.
• Isaiah 29:23 - They will sanctify My name; Indeed, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob And will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
• Isaiah 42:8 - I am Yahweh, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another!
• Isaiah 48:11 - For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.
• Malachi 1:11 - For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations," says Yahweh of hosts.

Does the Babel-onians' treason give you chills yet? "Let us make for ourselves a name!"

And oh feel the thunder of God's voice and the fire of His eyes when He answers these traitors, when He declares how zealously He will pursue glory for His name! Feel the force of these declarations! "No! Your name will not be great among the nations! My name will be great among the nations! My name will be proclaimed in all the earth! My name will be sanctified! I will by no means give My glory to you!"

So Yahweh scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth.

This is how God reacts to pride, to those who, unworthy though we be, would steal His glory! And friends, He will not delay to do the same to us who would gather together to build towers to heaven to receive glory for ourselves, to be praised, to be adulated, to be affirmed, to be made much of.

Oh how pervasive pride is in all of us! Oh how we love people to be impressed by our clever thoughts and words! How we love them to see our accomplishments and praise us for them! How we love them to see even our progress by grace in the Christian life, which is not of ourselves (1Cor 4:7), though we would receive glory for it! Oh how we love the praise of men, and desire to make for ourselves a name!

This is your heart. This is, straight from the mouth of Almighty God, what your heart is. Oh, may it keep you near the cross!

How can you believe when you receive glory from one another,
and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?
- John 5:44 -

Our Heart is Desperately Sick

This post is the first of a three-part series on the sin of those who purposed to build the Tower of Babel.

⁴They said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." ⁵The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. ⁶The LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. ⁷"Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another's speech." ⁸So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. ⁹Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.
- Genesis 11:4-9 -

So for most of my life I haven't understood this passage.

What was the problem with these guys just building a tower? Yeah, I guess they were prideful in imagining they could reach heaven, but they wouldn't have been able to do it anyway. Did God really feel threatened? Would a successful effort on the part of these 'Babel-onians' have really opened the door of omnipotence to them? And was all God after in confounding their language getting them to give up because they just couldn't understand each other?

In the past couple weeks, for my Old Testament studies class, I've had to read Genesis twice. I've read that story a couple more times as well (quick review before class, lecture during class, etc.). There's a benefit of reading large portions of Scripture repeatedly. As I did this, I believe I gained some insight into why the Babel-onians' sin was specifically offensive to God. And the insight the Word of God gives us into their sin will help us know our own sin, and will therefore aid in that process of the mortification of the flesh (8:12-13), in which, as Christians, we are engaged.

Their sin of congregating and building this tower is twofold: there was direct disobedience of God's command, and there was grievous treason. Today, we'll look at the direct disobedience and seek to find ourselves there, building that tower, as well.

Disobedience

The part of their sin that I want to focus on first is revealed by the following: "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."

And you say, "What's the problem with that? They like hanging out with each other. Is it really such a big deal that they didn't want to be scattered abroad?"

The problem was that it was in direct defiance of the very first command God gave man after He made them.

• Genesis 1:28 - God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

After destroying the earth by the Flood, because every intent of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually (Gen 6:5), He also gave this charge to mankind, now to the descendants of Noah.

• Genesis 9:1 - And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth."

And so in chapter 11, one of the Babel-onians' intentions was to avoid being scattered abroad, in direct disobedience of a command they'd received once from their Creator, through their federal head, and then again through their ancestor Noah (only 4 or 5 generations back).

Where this intersects with all of us is: it illustrates the same truth as Genesis 6:5. You say, "No, we're not like those 'every-thought-only-evil-continually' people! God wiped them out! These guys may have been bad, but if they were that bad God would have wiped them out again."

Not at all. God's mercy that has flowed to us through the blessings of the Noahic Covenant did not come because we were a better product than those alive before the flood. Listen to God's reasoning for why He decided never to destroy the earth again by water:

• Genesis 8 - ...and the LORD said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done."

God basically says that if He gave us what we deserved, He'd have to destroy the earth every couple of generations or so! The intent of man's heart is evil from his youth. And even though that's the case, He'll bless us by not wiping us off the face of the earth as we deserve.

And so when God gives us a command to fill the earth, our wicked, rebellious hearts that think only evil continually decide that we'll stay put. Know the depth of your depravity, friends. Know that, when met with our corrupted flesh, God's holy, righteous, and good Law (Rom 7:12) serves only to aggravate our sin all the more, to drive us to despair, and to cause us to call out for mercy from the One who was born under the Law so that He might redeem those who were under the Law (Gal 4:4-5), from the One who became a curse for us in order that we might receive the blessing of the promise of the Spirit (Gal 3:13-14).

This is your heart. This is, straight from the mouth of Almighty God, what your heart is. Oh, may it keep you near the cross!

The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it?
- Jeremiah 17:9 -

Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth,
and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
- Genesis 6:5 -