Obeying the Gospel

WHOLEHEARTED REPENTANCE VS. PRETENSE (JULY 16)

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"Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord" (Jeremiah 3:10).

AS CHILDREN, WE SOMETIMES EXCUSED OUR FAILURE TO KEEP A PROMISE BY SAYING THAT WE “HAD OUR FINGERS CROSSED.” The promise was not binding (we said) because we didn’t really mean it, as indicated by the secret crossing of our fingers. A lawyer would say the contract was not a “bona fide” (“good faith”) commitment — we never intended to do what we said.

In the days of Jeremiah, the people in Jerusalem and Judah had become guilty of idolatry just like the ten northern tribes of Israel. Having been called to repentance by the preaching of the prophets, there had been occasional reforms, but the repentance had not been genuine or thorough. “Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord.”

Were their fingers crossed when they said they would return to God? Did they not even intend to repent? We don’t know. But in any case, the Lord said they did not return to Him with a “whole heart.” The person lacking a “whole heart” is one whose mind is not made up. He may not be deliberately dishonest in the statement of what he plans to do, but his plans are complicated by doubts. Like a man in a wedding ceremony who pledges to love his wife with “all his heart” but has not really closed the door of his heart to a previous relationship, the people of Judah only pretended that they had put away every “god” except God.

The opposite of wholeheartedness is double-mindedness. It is the problem of the person whose mind is torn between competing loyalties — and it is a problem we are told to get rid of. “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:8).

There is no damage to our souls that Christ cannot repair. But He will not be manipulated by fake repentance on our part. If we expect His forgiveness and help, we’d better lay it all down before Him, with extreme honesty. No exceptions and no excuses will be allowed, and if we have in mind anything other than complete repentance, we’d better not insult Him by saying that we’re sorry.

"Christ can do wonders with a broken heart if He is given all the pieces" (Old Saying).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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THE HEARTS OF THE CHILDREN OF MANKIND (JULY 15)

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". . . then hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways, for you, you only, know the hearts of the children of mankind" (2 Chronicles 6:30).

SOLOMON’S PRAYER WAS THAT, IN THE YEARS TO COME, GOD WOULD HEAR THE PRAYERS OF ISRAEL WHEN THEY CRIED OUT TO HIM IN DISTRESS. “Render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways,” he said, “for you, you only, know the hearts of the children of mankind.” Solomon knew that one important facet of prayer is that God knows the thoughts and motives of our hearts.

Although it is not always true that our troubles are the result of God’s chastening for our sins, sometimes that is precisely the case (Hebrews 12:5-11). In regard to Israel as a nation, Solomon foresaw the same thing that Moses had warned about: if the people were unfaithful, God would bring calamity upon them (Deuteronomy 28:15-68). At such times, their prayers for relief would need to be prayers for forgiveness. So Solomon hoped that God would “hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive.”

When we pray today, three thousand years removed from the days of Solomon, what kinds of things does God know about our hearts when we pray to Him, especially for His forgiveness? It is to be hoped that He sees sincere hearts, truly penitent and willing to accept whatever requirements He has set for our forgiveness. Unfortunately, God often sees today what He saw in ancient Israel: careless, complacent hearts that are deep in denial of the truth.

It has cost God an enormous sacrifice to be able to forgive us. Knowing that, we should at all costs avoid presuming upon His grace, flippantly tossing off requests for His forgiveness as if such requests were a casual thing. We are told that, in Jesus Christ, we may come confidently before God’s throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16), but we had better not come with anything less than a no-strings-attached commitment to change our ways. “No creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). We may fool others about our hearts, but God is not deceived. He knows our motives — and His mercy is a severe mercy that screens out the triflers and pretenders.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat,
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat.
(Julia Ward Howe)

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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INCLINE YOUR HEART TO THE LORD (JULY 14)

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"Then Joshua said to the people, 'You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.' And they said, 'We are witnesses.' He said, 'Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel'" (Joshua 24:22,23).

HAVING CHALLENGED ISRAEL TO CHOOSE WHETHER THEY WOULD SERVE GOD, JOSHUA THEN CALLED ON THEM TO PUT THEIR CHOICE INTO ACTION. If it is your decision to serve God, Joshua said, then “incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.”

That is a powerful way of putting it, is it not? Incline your heart to the Lord. The NIrV renders it “Give yourselves completely to the Lord,” and the CEV, “You must decide once and for all that you really want to obey the Lord God of Israel.” In a related text, we read of David’s charge to Israel at the end of his life: “Now set your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God” (1 Chronicles 22:19). In all such passages, we hear God commanding His people to think of Him as more than a “maybe.” Their hearts must be inclined to Him. They must fix their minds on Him. They must — and here is the main idea — be devoted to Him. This devotion must be the result of a conscious, deliberate choice they have made.

Of course, there is language in the Scriptures where God is the one who is asked to incline the hearts of His people. For example, “May [the Lord] . . . incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules” (1 Kings 8:57,58). And, “O Lord, . . . keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you” (1 Chronicles 29:18). There is no contradiction here. God will help us and surround us with good influences, but it is we who must make the decision. In the end, only we have the power to decide what (or Whom) we will incline our hearts to.

If we are deciding whether to obey the gospel of Christ, this is what it all comes down to: having alienated ourselves from God, will we or won’t we give Him back our ultimate loyalty? Had we never sinned, He would have always had our loyalty. But now, in Christ, He is making it possible for us to “incline our hearts” to Him once again. This is good news, much too good not to embrace enthusiastically.

"It is but right that our hearts should be on God, when the heart of God is so much on us" (Richard Baxter).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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A DANGEROUSLY FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY (JULY 13)

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"In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, 'There is no God.' His ways prosper at all times; your judgments are on high, out of his sight; as for all his foes, he puffs at them. He says in his heart, 'I shall not be moved; throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity'" (Psalm 10:4-6).

THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO DISREGARD GOD. In addition to the obvious atheism of denying that God exists, there are many other varieties of atheism. In fact, millions of religious people are guilty of the kind of attitude reflected in Psalm 10 (and Psalm 14). They say they believe, but their lives are independent of Him. In my opinion, there is no worse sin than this “pious atheism.” It is at the heart of many other sins, and it is the soul-cancer eating away inwardly at so many “good” people who are living “well-adjusted” lives in one of the advanced nations of the world.

“IN THE PRIDE OF HIS FACE” (V.4). It is nothing but arrogant to think that because we prosper, our self-management must be working well for us. And Christ’s letter to Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22) shows just how deluded Christians themselves can be about this.

“I SHALL NOT BE MOVED . . . I SHALL NOT MEET ADVERSITY” (V.6). If we’ve shoved God out of the way and gotten away with it, we may think we’re bullet-proof. But “I shall not be moved” is a poor prophecy.

“GOD HAS FORGOTTEN, HE HAS HIDDEN HIS FACE, HE WILL NEVER SEE IT” (V.11). We figure we can squeeze in some years of disobedience and get back on track later. God isn’t paying attention. He won’t notice.

“YOU WILL NOT CALL TO ACCOUNT” (V.13). In our foolish pride we suppose that we won’t have to answer to God, or if we do, that event is so far in the future it doesn’t make any practical difference.

But obviously, living this way is a foolish enterprise (Psalm 14:1; Luke 12:20). In the long run, it will not succeed. It is a precarious life, a house of cards that is going to collapse eventually.

But this pride is also satanic. The man in Psalm 10 does not worship Satan directly, but he is doing the very thing Satan wants us all to do: manage our own lives. And that pride is what has led us onto the downward slope of destruction. Since he can make it look so respectable and progressive, I imagine Satan is quite proud of it.

"For a thing to be satanic does not mean that it is abominable and immoral; the satanically-managed man is . . . absolutely self-governed and has no need of God" (Oswald Chambers).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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YOU SHALL BE HOLY (JULY 12)

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"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" (Leviticus 11:45).

BEGINNING WITH ABRAHAM, GOD BUILT A FAMILY THROUGH WHICH HE WOULD BRING INTO THE WORLD HIS SON, THE MESSIAH (“ANOINTED ONE”). When Abraham’s family became numerous enough to be a nation, He delivered them from slavery in Egypt and established them in the land He had promised to Abraham. But prior to their entry into this land, God gave them this remarkable command: “You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”

The root idea of “holiness” is “separateness.” Synonyms that come to mind are distinctness, uniqueness, unlikeness, and difference. Unfortunately, we often limit our discussions about holiness to moral purity, but moral purity is only one of the ways that those who belong to God are to be separate. God’s holiness does not consist solely in His moral difference; it includes every way in which His character is different from that of His adversaries. And if He commands us to be holy, we must learn to have a character that is distinct in the same ways that His character is distinct.

Israel’s separateness from the world of its day anticipated the holiness of God’s redeemed people in Christ, made up of Jews and Gentiles. Writing to Christians in the Roman Empire living under the threat of persecution, Peter quoted from Leviticus 11:45: “As he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15,16).

Sometimes holiness requires physical separation (and we are extremely foolish if we don’t understand this). But with or without physical separation, holiness requires that our principles, our values, and our decision-making — i.e., our character — be different. And how could it not be? If we’ve repented of our rebellion against God, will that not make us unlike those still in rebellion? James asked it this way: “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?” (James 4:4). For you and me today, this is an issue that requires some serious thinking and courageous choices.

"It is time for us Christians to face up to our responsibility for holiness . . . It might be well if we stopped using the terms victory and defeat to describe our progress in holiness. Rather we should use the terms obedience and disobedience" (Jerry Bridges).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com

WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD (JULY 11)

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"For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt" (Exodus 12:12,13).

READY TO LEAVE EGYPT AS SOON AS THE WORD CAME, ISRAEL HAD BEEN TOLD TO STAY IN THEIR HOMES AND WAIT. Each family had eaten their Passover lamb, according to God’s command, and the blood of the lambs had been put on the doorposts of their dwellings. As God went through the land in judgment that night, the people of Israel waited, trusting the protection of God’s promise: “When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.”

Blood represents life, and the sacrifice of the lambs that night was a vivid reminder that death is the consequence of sin (Genesis 2:16,17). If the one who sins is not to die, the blood (i.e., the life) of another must be offered, one without sin and not under the penalty of death. Now, if the Hebrews were spared God’s judgment on that night, it wasn’t because they were free of idolatry (Joshua 24:14). It was in grace and mercy that God exempted them — “passing over” those in the homes where a lamb had been slain. This is a powerful object lesson. What can we learn from it about the gospel of Christ?

In the New Testament, there was an occasion when John the Baptist saw Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Unlike the lambs in Egypt, which by themselves could never take away sin, Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, providing our full atonement. And if it was God’s right to say that He would spare only those who put the blood on their doorposts, He can also set the conditions upon which His Son’s blood will provide atonement. In neither case do those spared deserve to be spared. But in His mercy, God “passes over” those who will reverently accept the conditions of His grace. Before time began, it was always His plan to make this gift possible.

Before lambs bled in Egypt, One was given.
Before the worm tore Eden, pain was faced.
Somewhere, before earth’s cornerstone was placed,
a hammer crashed in heaven — nails were driven.
(Keith Patman).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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YOU SHALL NOT ADD OR TAKE AWAY (JULY 10)

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"You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you" (Deuteronomy 4:2).

THE FACT THAT GOD HAS SPOKEN TO MANKIND IS A MARVELOUS REALITY. But not satisfied with the contents of God’s revelation, the human race has always had a tendency to “improve” His instructions, trimming away the objectionable parts and adding in other things more suitable. But Moses reminded Israel of the seriousness of this error. Speaking to the nation prior to their entrance into Canaan, he said, “You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it.” As someone has said, “Where God puts a period, we are not to put a question mark.”

On the side of “adding to,” the problem is that we tend to make rules where God has not. Concerning the gospel, for example, if I decided that to receive the forgiveness of sins a person had to be born in Brazil, I would have added to what God has revealed. But an example of “taking away” would be saying that the act of baptism, commanded by God, is not necessary, perhaps arguing that it’s “a good idea” to be baptized but it’s not required for one’s forgiveness.

Obviously, we need to be careful to take God’s word as it is — making it neither more nor less restrictive than it is. Our study of the Scriptures must be diligent, and our attitude that of young Samuel: “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears” (1 Samuel 3:9,10).

If we accept that God has, in fact, revealed His will, the question is not whether we’d like to modify it but whether we’re going to do it. And this confrontation with the word of God is a test of our character. There can be no salvation for us if we won’t humble ourselves before God, and it is in our attitude toward the commandments of God that we get some of our first feedback as to how far along the road of humility we are. If we would be so presumptuous as to add to God’s word or take away from it, then we’ve got some adjustments to make before any further steps can be taken in accepting the gospel. No doubt this need for adjustment is one reason that relatively “few” (Matthew 7:13,14) will follow Christ.

"Once you and I are face to face with the Word of God . . . we can only accept or reject it. Jesus becomes the two-edged sword that cuts right down the middle, dividing us into believers and nonbelievers" (John Powell).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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BOTH JUST AND THE JUSTIFIER (JULY 9)

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"It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:26).

THERE WAS, NO DOUBT, MORE THAN ONE PURPOSE IN GOD’S GIVING THE LAW OF MOSES TO THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL. But one thing was not in His purpose: to give them a tool whereby they could, as sinful people, work their way back into a perfect relationship with Him. No person who is guilty of sin, regardless of when he lived or what expression of God’s law he lived under, has ever been able to keep enough of God’s commandments to regain the perfection of holiness necessary for eternal life. By law-keeping, we can’t pile up enough credits to counterbalance our debits. It simply can’t be done.

But the penalty of sin is death (Genesis 2:16,17; Romans 5:12), and God cannot set aside that law arbitrarily. If He desires to save us from our sins, how can He do that? Is there any way He can maintain His own justice and at the same time justify us from our lawlessness? The answer, of course, is the cross of Christ. By taking upon Himself the death that was our due, He satisfied the law’s demand, but He also made it possible to forgive us and treat us as if we had not sinned. In this way, God became both “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

It was a masterful plan, but it was very costly. It required the ultimate sacrifice on God’s part, and our wildest dreams are not enough to imagine that kind of love. Yet the plan also has a requirement on our end: we must be willing to accept it on God’s terms. We must give up the idea that we can ever be righteous enough to save ourselves — we have to accept that we will be saved “not because of works done by us in righteousness” (Titus 3:5) but by a “righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Philippians 3:9).

Obviously, such a plan leaves no room for us to boast. No human being, from Adam and Eve until the end of time, will ever have succeeded in being good enough to tip the scales of justice in their favor. It was on the cross of Christ that God tipped those scales — and it is in Christ that we enjoy the benefits of that.

"In the self-offering of Christ, God's own righteousness is vindicated and the believing sinner is justified. For Christ occupies a unique position as God's representative with man and man's representative with God. As the representative Man He absorbs the judgment incurred by human sin; as the representative of God He conveys God’s pardoning grace to men" (F. F. Bruce).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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THE EXCITEMENT OF FINDING THE MESSIAH (JULY 8)

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"One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, 'We have found the Messiah' (which means Christ)" (John 1:40,41).

TO BE A JEW IN FIRST-CENTURY JUDEA WAS TO BE IN A CULTURE OF GREAT CHANGE. Politically, socially, and religiously, the pot was boiling with trends and movements. If you cared about what was right, you would have had a number of decisions to make.

As various individuals turned up claiming to be the Messiah of Jewish prophecy, their conflicting claims needed to be examined. Were any of these people telling the truth? You could have been cynical (as many people are today in the face of religious confusion) or, realizing what was at stake, you could have dug in, studied the Scriptures carefully, and looked for the right answers.

But think for a moment about the hope involved in these world-changing events. Read Isaiah 52:13-53:12, for example, and ask yourself how you would feel if you lived at the same time as Andrew and found out that the person in Isaiah’s prophecy had been born and was now proclaiming the gospel. Could there have been a more exciting prospect than the idea that the Messiah might actually have come into the world? If you, like Andrew, could truthfully say, “We have found the Messiah,” would you not be as thrilled as he was? Andrew did not yet understand much of what was involved in Jesus’ messiahship, but he had seen enough to know that Jesus was the One the prophets had predicted. And he was eager to share the news.

Andrew’s example is one we should meditate on. Perceiving that Jesus was the Messiah, he first found his brother and broke the news to him. As one of the twelve who would become the Lord’s apostles, Andrew would later preach the gospel to many people, but he began with his brother. Those closest to us may not listen as receptively as Peter listened to Andrew, but they should be the first ones with whom we share the exciting truth.

"Andrew is characteristically the man who was always introducing others to Jesus. There are only three times in the gospel story when Andrew is brought into the centre of the stage. There is this incident here, in which he brings Peter to Jesus. There is the incident in John 6:8,9 when he brings to Jesus the boy with the five loaves and two small fishes. And there is the incident in John 12:22 when he brings the enquiring Greeks into the presence of Jesus. It was Andrew’s great joy to bring others to Jesus" (William Barclay).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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THE LION OF JUDAH (JULY 7)

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"Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; and as a lion, who shall rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people" (Genesis 49:9,10 NKJV).

WHEN JACOB BLESSED HIS SONS BEFORE HE DIED, HE UTTERED A VERY PARTICULAR PROPHECY CONCERNING THE TRIBE OF JUDAH. “Gather together,” he said to his sons, “that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days” (Genesis 49:1 NKJV). The expression “the last days” is a familiar prophetic expression, so Jacob was being moved by God’s Spirit as he made these pronouncements to his sons. This is seen most clearly in his words concerning Judah: the time would come when a person from Judah would arise and “to Him shall be the obedience of the people.”

Judah was the tribe from which David later came, and it was to David that God made this promise: “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom . . . your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:12-16 NKJV).

Genesis 49:9,10 looked ahead to the kingship of David — and more importantly, it looked beyond that to an even greater King. Jacob’s prophecy meant that Judah would be the royal tribe, the tribe which held the “scepter” (the rod in the hand of a king symbolizing his sovereignty). But there would come another King whose sovereignty would extend far beyond that of any other Davidic king. “To Him shall be the obedience of the people,” said Jacob.

Jacob said that Judah would be a “lion.” It is no coincidence that Jesus is described in Revelation 5:5 as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David.” He is the King foretold by Jacob when he blessed his sons. His is an eternal kingdom that overarches every other kingdom that has ever existed. Since this kingdom is not “of this world” (John 18:36), it has no earthly throne or apparatus — yet all the kingdoms of this world rise and fall at the will of this King.

". . . we are more than justified in concluding that [Genesis 49:10] is a messianic text that adds to the Messiah’s credentials the fact that he will govern, not only the nation of Israel, but all the nations of the world. The reason he can claim such a high prerogative is because it is his right to do so, for all rule and authority are derived from him" (Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.).

Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com

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