Author Archives: ivanjamestruman

When God Shut the Mouth of a Poisonous Snake

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It’s good to rehearse true stories that remind us of God’s care. Here’s one that I jotted down several summers ago. Enjoy!

Cheryl and I were swimming behind my parent’s home in Summersville Lake. It’s a 22,000 acre shoreline lake with a dam that creates depths of 300 ft. The lake is about a mile behind the house through the woods with 15 to 100 foot cliffs since this is a man-made lake that dams up Gauley River. The section that we swim in can only be reached by either cliff-diving or letting yourself down by rope that is tied to trees at the top.  We let ourselves down by rope so that I could jump off the smaller cliffs, 18 – 27 feet high. I don’t have the courage to jump higher – I probably would if someone dared me though.  Anyway, after some great swimming in a Hawaii-like lagoon with massive rocks and a 50 ft. waterfall, it is time to leave.

We head back up the cliff pulling ourselves up the rope, putting our feet in the footholds that have been hewn out by rock climbers. But there is a man at the top holding a can of beer in one hand and two fishing poles in the other. He has tied his massive cooler to the end of the rope and now the cooler is dangling at the bottom while he is stupefied as to how in the world is he going to get down – but we want to go up.

He realizes that and apologizes for blocking the path. He asks me if I can help him.  I climb partly up the cliff and take his poles and then I lower them down to Cheryl.  And then with my left arm I lift up his 35 lb cooler to get the weight off the rope and untie it with my right hand. This is such an awkward position – I almost lost my balance. I untied it and jumped down with the cooler in my right hand, swinging it out and away from me and dropped it on the ground on its bottom with a thud. As soon as I did, the man at the top said, “Did you see that?”  I said, “What?”  He said, “I think I saw a snake move as soon as you set the cooler down.” I replied, “You’re just kidding, aren’t you?” “No, really, I think I saw one,” the man safely at the top said. I peeked over the cooler and there was a male Copperhead coiled ready to strike. He was coiled and hissing, tongue moving in and out trying to smell us. I had set the cooler of beer on his tail!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (see, God does use beer to accomplish his good purposes:) The snake was pinned down and couldn’t move! Mind you, that we have moved back and forth, especially Cheryl with the fishing poles.

Just then, his younger friend came up who had already climbed down earlier (but wasn’t around to help his friend down). He beat the snake a little, moved the cooler off, penned the snake to the ground with the stick, picked it up by the neck and blew into its face. The snake opened wide ready to bite and just then the young boy broke its neck with his hand. Now that’s a hillbilly!!!

We all commented that we all could have been bitten. The man at the top, now at the bottom, said, “That’s the second lucky thing that’s happened to me today – I think I’ll play the lottery!” I said, “I thank the Lord that he didn’t allow that snake to bite us.”  Later, Cheryl and I praised God with serious reflection on his protection. A Copperhead won’t kill you (unless you have other health issues) but it will make you wish you were dead with unbearable burning sensations, vomiting,  nausea, swelling, and cramps.

Job 38-40 speaks of God’s control over the animal kingdom. God could have used this as a thorn, a bite in our flesh but he did not and we thank him for sparing us.  Taking the long view, one day our God will deal the final blow to Satan – that vile serpent who accuses the saints! His head was crushed at the Cross of Christ and one day he will feel the burning sensations of Lion’s wrath with no mitigation – ever. Praise God for He rules over Satan, and in the words of Martin Luther, his doom is sure – and your eternal Joy is sure!

Jesus is Better than Godiva Chocolate

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Jonathan Edwards wrote, “Heaven, A World of Love” – a sermon on how satisfying heaven will be for us because nothing will ever hinder us again from enjoying Jesus Christ. Here is a sweet morsel from that sermon: 

“In heaven there shall be no remaining enmity, or distaste, or coldness, or deadness of heart towards God and Christ. Not the least remainder of any principle of envy shall exist to be exercised toward angels or other beings who are superior in glory; nor shall there be aught like contempt or slighting of those who are inferiors . . .The saints shall know that God loves them, and they shall never doubt the greatness of his love, and they shall have no doubt of the love of all their fellow inhabitants in heaven. And they shall not be jealous of the constancy of each other’s love. They shall have no suspicion that the love which others have felt toward them is abated, or in any degree withdrawn from themselves for the sake of some rival, or by reason of anything in themselves which they suspect is disagreeable to others, or through any inconstancy in their own hearts or the hearts of others. Nor will they be in the least afraid that the love of any will ever be abated toward them. There shall be no such thing as inconstancy and unfaithfulness in heaven, to molest and disturb the friendship of that blessed society. The saints shall have no fear that the love of God will ever abate towards them, or that Christ will not continue always to love them with unabated tenderness and affection. And they shall have no jealousy one of another, but shall know that by divine grace the mutual love that exists between them shall never decay nor change.”

Given the fact that Satan was evicted from heaven (Isa. 14:12-15), is a first-class liar (John 8:44), and blasphemes his former residence where he mounted a revolt (Rev. 13:6), it should come as no surprise to lovers of Jesus Christ that this world will suckle on all kinds of wrong things about heaven: how to get there, the nature of the place, and what it is for –  if it exists at all. Satan hates heaven (because it is where God dwells in absolute holiness and grace), and he is envious of heaven at the same time (because that is the place where he wanted to reign as supreme).

An observation of our world would bring you to the conclusion that people of all cultures and ages believe in a heaven, how to get there and the nature of the place. For many Islamic extremists, the means to getting to heaven is good works which can include the elimination of non-Muslims, and the nature of heaven is one-night stands forever!

But the rest of the world is not isolated from Satan’s schemes; his lies come in thousands of shades. Notice our own culture and you will have to agree that people believe that you can get to heaven by being moderately good, and the nature of heaven is a place where you get everything that you didn’t down here, and all the things that you did – just more of it. I think that you would also agree that the longing for heaven, or a heaven of some sort where there is unending pleasure is God’s doing – he is the one who “put eternity in our hearts” (Ecc. 3:11). Man’s groping for eternity is a signpost upon our humanity that we were made for something more than this. Which raises this question:

Why do people want to go to a heaven? Not the real one, but a heaven made in their image? Because, 1) man was made to long for more (that’s a good reason); 2) man wants to live forever with man at the center (that’s a bad reason). Because man is blinded by his own sin and Satan is perpetually lying to him about heaven, man will seek to get to heaven by his own means, and will make a heaven in his own image.

But Heaven is all about God and His Son Jesus Christ – A Father who gives a bride to his Son to enjoy each other’s presence for ever and ever, with not a single ho-hum day (Ephesians 1 & 2:7).

Read this advertisement from Godiva Chocolates and then ask yourself: Does this language of heaven promote the real and true heaven or does it reflect our culture that trivializes heaven?

                                     NOW EVERYONE CAN GET HEAVEN  

Perhaps you’ve sinned once or twice. But when you indulge in the luscious richness of our delectable milk chocolate truffles, you too will experience your own little moment in heaven.

What did this delectable advertisement teach us? That sin is not a hindrance for heaven, that we rarely if ever sin, that everyone can have heaven now by indulging in whatever will bring you temporary pleasure, and that heaven is a place of your making. I would be nit-picking and making a mountain out of a mole hill if this was not the general consensus of our culture. But I assure you – it is! The Gloria Jeans Coffee Shoppe in Westfield Mall has a sign posted: “If there’s no coffee in heaven, then I’m not going.”

For the sake of our eternal souls, let us stir our affections up for heaven and feast on as much of it as we can now by asking God to bring his hallowed name and his kingdom to earth. Yes, I’ve tasted Godiva Chocolates and Jesus Christ –  there’s no comparison! If chocolate is in heaven that will be good. But if Jesus is not – then I don’t want to go.

For Wounded Hearts – part 4

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My aim for writing on this subject has been to magnify the healing processes of the Lord for the wounded heart whose tormentor will not confess his sin. In this fourth part I want to cover the passages of Scripture that I believe have to do with the desire for forgiveness. But let me first say that I make a distinction between actually forgiving someone and desiring their forgiveness, therefore, I believe that we are to desire forgiveness for the unrepentant without forgiving them of their sin. This is a distinction that Scripture seems to support. In other words, there is a difference in saying, “I forgive You”, and “I desire that you receive forgiveness from the Lord.”  When an abuser is unrepentant we are to desire, pray, and long for his heart to be healed by the forgiveness that only the Lord can provide. This is part of the healing process for the wounded heart. After giving God the place of vengeance, freeing the heart up to do good to the enemy, one is also ready to desire forgiveness, or as some put it, have “a spirit of forgiveness” toward your enemy.

Let’s bring Stephen, Paul, and Jesus to bear witness that we are to desire and express from the heart that our unrepentant abuser be forgiven.

Luke records for us in Acts 7 the incident where Stephen became the first martyr for the New Testament church. After preaching one of the best sermons recorded in Scripture, verse 57 says, “Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him.  And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.  And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, ‘Lord Jesus receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not charge them with this sin.’ And when he had said this, he fell asleep [that is, he died in the Lord].”

This is a stunning testimony of compassion for one’s enemies. One can hardly imagine the kind of heart it must take to desire the very best for a group of people who have done their very worst to you. Is this not love?

What does it mean to ask the Lord to not charge an enemy with their sin? Stephens’ unrepentant tormentors hear a prayer offered up to God, desiring that He would not treat them according to their sin. Stephen is a man full of the Holy Spirit and the Word.  In order to have a heart like this one must be very alert to his own forgiveness of sin in which he stands. Stephen knows that his own heart has been circumcised of his sin and that the Son of Man is his advocate (vss. 51-56). Stephen does not say, “Lord, I do not charge their sin against them” – which would be real and actual forgiveness; rather, he prays that the Lord will not charge them with their sin. They are not forgiven of their sin which is why Stephen prays for their release from the penalty of their sin. This is a prayer that God would forgive them.  We ought to pray that God would forgive those who hurt us. This is not the same as saying, “I forgive You.” What are we actually praying for then, when we ask God to not charge our abuser with his sin? Are we asking God to just forgive them while they are yet stiff-necked and stubborn in their hearts? Are we asking God to forgive them of their sin even though they do not want forgiveness? Of course not. When we ask the Lord to not charge our enemy with his sin, we are asking God to grant repentance so that they might be forgiven (2 Timothy 2:25). God does not forgive sins – for nothing! He forgives sins for repentance to Him and faith in Jesus Christ (Luke 3:3, 5:32, 24:7; Acts 5:31, 20:21). If God does not charge a sinners’ account with his sin it is not because God excused or exempted the sinner, as if he was secretly “let off the hook” for his transgression while his heart is still justifying his sin. But rather, God does not charge a sinner with His sin when the sinner repents. Therefore, we are asking God to so work in our enemies’ heart that he sees his need of forgiveness and calls out to the Lord to have mercy on his soul.

The Apostle Paul prays this way for his fellow workers who forsook him when he needed them most (2 Timothy 4:16). Paul was giving a defense for the gospel in a Roman court of law but this was too much heat for some of Paul’s friends – so they ran. Demas wanted nothing to do with standing for Christ in the public arena with Paul (vs. 9). He loved the safety and temporal comforts of the world and abandoned Paul. Clearly this was sin on Demas’ part and the others as well who left Paul. Yet Paul prays, “May it not be charged against them.” This is not a statement that the Lord has forgiven or that Paul has forgiven them; it is a prayer asking the Lord to forgive. The prayer for forgiveness implies that they are not forgiven! Since God never forgives apart from repentance, Paul is asking the Lord to “grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:25-26), we are asking God to rescue their heart from Satan’s grip of defiance toward God.

Our last person to bear witness that “to forgive” and “desiring forgiveness” are distinct Christian virtues is Jesus Christ.  Probably more people have referred to Jesus’ saying on the cross than any other statement in Scripture to support the position that as believers we must forgive the unrepentant trespasser because that is what Jesus did. But as we will see, Jesus did not forgive those who crucified Him.  Luke records in his gospel account, “Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do’” (Luke 23:34). First, notice that Jesus did not say, “Your sins are forgiven.” If that is what Jesus wanted I see no reason why Jesus could not have forgiven them since He can forgive men’s sins (Luke 7:48). But unlike the woman in Luke 7 with less-than-admirable character, whom Jesus did say, “Your sins are forgiven,” Jesus asks His Father to forgive them – while Jesus does not!  Why didn’t Jesus pronounce forgiveness for His tormentors like He did for the woman kissing His feet? It is because the woman “loved much” (7:47) while His torturers loved to torment. Jesus can’t forgive those who crucified Him because they do not love Jesus with repentance and brokenness of sin like the woman did. Jesus is truly a God-centered man on the cross setting the example for Stephen, Paul, and us to beseech our Heavenly Father’s work of grace in the sinner’s heart, bringing about repentance that leads to forgiveness.

Did Jesus’ Father answer the prayer? Oh Yes! The Centurion is forgiven because he sees that Jesus was a righteous man (Luke 23:47), and later, as Luke records, Peter said to the very ones that Jesus prayed for, “. . . you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death. . . Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 2:23, 37-38). Jesus prayed from the cross that His Father would forgive his assailants and God the Father answered His Son’s prayer by effectively cutting their hearts that leads to repentance which leads to forgiveness of sins.

When a child of God has been sinned against, and her transgressor will not repent, she is not to forgive but to give God the place of vengeance. Now she is to pursue her enemy with loving good works all the while asking God to forgive him by working in his heart in such a way that he will turn to God in repentance and receive forgiveness of sins. She is free to trust God either to avenge in His time and in His way, or to grant repentance which leads to forgiveness. And if her abuser repents, she is to forgive him just as her Father in heaven forgave her when she repented.

I’ll make one more final post on this subject next week.

Grace and Peace

What Arrogance!

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It takes blind arrogance (“hubris”) to posture as the great defender of little children when at the same time you support the outrageous daily murder of 3,000 little children in the womb. Doug Wilson, as usual, gives his target a verbal colonoscopy – Enjoy!

Our Happiness-Is-A-Warm-Gun Celebrities
Written by Douglas Wilson
Wednesday, 02 January 2013 11:55
In a constitutional republic, the normal ways for an arrogant politician to come a cropper would be through personal scandal and resignation, and/or repudiation at the polls. That’s the way we do. Very few pols, however much they may deserve it, are struck by lightning bolts or small meteorites.

Not to probe old wounds, there really were sound reasons for thinking Obama was going to be rejected decisively in this last election (as I and a bunch of other wrong people thought). For me one of those reasons was the self-evident nature of the president’s high-octane arrogance. Pride really does go before destruction, and a haughty spirit really does go before a fall (Prov. 16:18). But as the results of the election testify, Mencken was right, at least in this instance. He said no one ever went broke by underestimating the intelligence of the American people. Hubris radiates from the president like heat from an oil drum stove, and it is astonishing to me that so many people are blind to it.

As a side comment, since the election, I have seen Christians giving way to the very same sort of financial envy that resulted in the reelection of the president (Matt. 20:1-16). Assuming that Christians should know better simply because they ought to know better . . . does not mean that they do. The way we are drives the way they are.

But absent electoral repudiation, or stray meteorites, Prov. 16:18 remains true. Since the presidential pride has swollen significantly since the election, this means I am still expecting a crash. My prayer is that God spares the president, converting him in a wonderful way (Prov. 21:1). But if he will not soften his heart, if he will not repent of his sins, arrogance being the central one to repent of, a crash is appropriate and right. Why did God let Pharaoh win reelection? Not for the reasons that Pharaoh thought (Ex. 9:16).

Here is a small assortment of passages that the president should be meditating on:

“It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness: For the throne is established by righteousness” (Prov 16:12).

“The prince that wanteth understanding is also a great oppressor: But he that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days” (Prov. 28:16).

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: But when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn” (Prov. 29:2).

“If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked” (Prov. 29:12).

And with those passages in mind, here are a handful of interrelated issues where his arrogance is on display. These are not places where the president should “pivot,” or “walk back,” or “compromise.” These are places where the president needs to repent in order to humble himself under the mighty hand of God. Perhaps God will show mercy.

It is right and proper for us to grieve with those who lost little children at Sandy Hook. And it is right and proper for us to grieve without attaching our grief, while the smoke is still clearing, to this piece of legislation or to that candidacy. There is such a thing as propriety. But the profound cultural bloodlust issues involved are related, and as believers we are called upon to show a hard-hearted nation what that connection is. An essential part of that connection is to deny the president posturing rights. For a man who supports partial birth abortion, for example, to then posture over the bodies of these children as the president did is beyond ghoulish.

And his hubris can be found at both ends of the abortion spectrum. When it comes to the kind of abortion which results in the dead bodies of children, and which the president supports, he still gives speeches in which he acts as though the ardent defenders of life are the despisers of it (Is. 5:20). But when it comes to the kind of abortion which is academic for most people, but which is a very real matter of conscience for faithful believers — the kind that involves insurance programs, and abortifacient coverage, and pills, and clean laboratories for macabre research, and monster fines if you don’t comply — the administration’s treatment of Hobby Lobby is a complete reveal of the shocking hypocrisy. How much do they care about your consicence? About the same amount that they care for the unborn, and they have pills that will take care of both your conscience, and the unborn.

There is a conveyor belt logic to it. First you have to let other people have abortions if they want them, and they pay for their own. Then you have to pay for them through your taxes, which is horrendous. At the next stage, you have to pay for them directly, or be fined, like Hobby Lobby, over a million dollars a day.

Three things should be said about this showdown. First, high praise to the Greens who have refused to comply. Second, they should refuse to pay the fines, regardless of what happens in court. And third, about a hundred thousand people need to surround their house, facing out, if the ghouls from the government say they are going to do something about it. One comment made online (HT: Mark Tapson) is, I believe, an accurate statement of where we are right now. “Right now the resistance is a saturated solution, waiting to crystallize around an incident.” I do not know if this will be it, but I hope and pray that it is something very much like it.

Unlike abortions, guns can be used in a way that distinguishes between evil people and rightous people. This is why liberals hate them . . . in the hands of the righteous. Sandy Hook was perpetrated by a deranged individual with guns, and consequently, the whole liberal attempt to take guns away from people who are not deranged, leaving them defenseless against those who are, is yet another example of their self-serving hypocrisy. If, God forbid, I ever found myself in the middle of a school shooting, I would not be running through the halls lamenting the fact that there “had not been appropriate legislation.” In the first place, I would be looking for a weapon to fight back with. And second, because a school shooting was in progress, it is likely that there had been what the progressives call appropriate legislation already passed. When gun free zones are all legal, the only one in the gun free zone with gun will be the nutjob.

Even here, especially here, the hypocritical hubris of the left is astounding. Nothing reveals their bloodlust like a little “action” in the movies. These are the people, remember, who freak out if somebody lights a cigarette in a movie. Why? Because that might influence behavior! Ah, I see it all now. But blowing people away is “just entertainment”? Here is a little montage of celebrities telling us to “demand a plan” from our leaders on guns, woven together with clips of those very same celebrities living out their violence-ridden fantasies on the screen. [Warning: their hypocrisy is pretty stark and graphic.] I have a question for our “happiness is a warm gun” celebrities. How many of your movies had Adam Lanza seen? And without knowing the answer to that question, you come on screen for a public service announcement and demand that our political leaders “do something” about guns? Isn’t this a bit like Typhoid Mary doing PSA announcements for the Center for Disease Control?

Greg Gutfeld understands a lot more of the dynamics in play than most Christians do. “The longer I live, the more I’m convinced the world is just one big high school, with the cool kids always targeting the uncool” (The Joy of Hate, p. 48). The leftists have mastered the art of the cool-shame, and conservatives (for the most part) don’t know to do about it. Given the circumstances, and the stakes, we need to figure it out pretty soon.

New Year Resolutions from God the Father

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For all those who love his Son Jesus Christ, God the Father Promises for another year:

1. I will never leave you nor forsake you (Deut. 31:6). You will need to believe this promise when you have sinned and are tempted to stay home on Sunday morning, thinking that you are too bad to go to church. Nonsense! He loved you when you were already unworthy and he is not about to abandon you when you have abandoned him.

2. I will not share my glory with you (Isa. 42:8). God is not stingy when he promises this to you – he is protecting you from what would destroy you – you’re pride in thinking that you are god. Resolve to have no other gods before you this year.

3. I will do you good and not harm you (Jer. 29:11). You will need to bank on this promise when he does bring affliction into your life as he did to his people in the days of Jeremiah. When God makes this promise he means he does not have evil intent nor does he afflict willy-nilly with no ultimate purpose in mind.

4. I will exalt my Son in your life (1 Cor. 15:28; Eph. 1:4). Nothing is going to hinder the Father from making his character known through his Son. You and I should then joyfully say with John the Baptist: “I will decrease – Christ must increase.”

5. I will do all that I have purposed to do (Isa. 46:8-11). God is sovereign over everything and God is resolved to make his grace known in your life this year. God does not need you or me or lower tax rates or gun control or a bull market or a better health care system or your employers consent to do mighty things in your life.

6. I will be slow to anger and go overboard in steadfast love (Psalm 103:8; James 1:18). God is not like you and me – he will never, not a single time, have an emotional imbalance that causes him to say, “I’m sorry – I was too _____.” Oh how comforting this is when we are out-of-sorts so often with our emotions and fickle in our ways.

7. I will be just in all my dealings (Gen. 18:25). Like Abraham, we will take comfort in the fact that God sees the hearts of all men and will conduct himself in mercy and grace as he deals with mankind – either now or later.

8. I will never sleep but work continually (Psalm 121). This is sweet sleep for our tired minds. You can sleep and nap while God stays awake and stands guard over your life. He will not fall asleep on the job and wake up with you falling on the floor of life like what happens to us when we doze off with a glass of water in our hands.

9. I will accept my Son’s intercession for you (Heb. 7:25). This is our only hope as we pray continually, that the Father will hear our prayers for another year. The blood of the cross is infinite in its value to pay for as many prayers as you utter.

10. I will move your heart to trust me more (Isa. 12:2). Let us then sing for another year, “Oh for grace to trust him more”.

11. I will supply all your need to persevere in faith (Phil. 4:18-20). Since this is true, you and I will not look anywhere else for courage, strength, and hope, nor will we fret and fret and fret about all the fretful stuff that is going on around us. I think that if we could see the host of angels with swords drawn ready to carry out the purposes of God in our lives we would live less fearful lives (2 Kings 6:15-17).

12. I Promise to keep all my promises that I have made (Jer. 32:27; Num.23:19). Praise the Lord that on Dec. 31, 2013, not a single word of the Lord will be suspect at the end of this New Year.

From My Online Pastor

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Where Was God in All the Goodness of 2012?

byJohn Piper 

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As this year ends, the question I am asking is: Where was God when so many good things happened this past year?

How can God be a God of justice, yet allow so much good to happen to people who dishonor him by disbelieving in him, or giving lip service to his existence, or paying no more attention to him than the carpet in their den, or rejecting the kingship of his Son, or scorning his word, or preferring a hundred pleasures before him?

How can God be righteous and do so much good to us who are so unrighteous?

Where was God in 2012?

  • Where was God when nine million planes landed safely in the United States?
  • Where was God when the world revolved around the sun so accurately that it achieved the Winter solstice perfectly at 5:12 AM December 21 and headed back toward Spring?
  • Where was God when the President was not shot at a thousand public appearances?
  • Where was God when American farms produced ten million bushels of corn, and 2.8 million bushels of soybeans — enough food to sell $100 billions worth to other nations?
  • Where was God when no terrorist plot brought down a single American building or plane or industry?
  • Where was God when the sun maintained its heat and its gravitational pull precisely enough that we were not incinerated or frozen?
  • Where was God when three hundred million Americans drank water in homes and restaurants without getting sick?
  • Where was God when no new plague swept away a third of our race?
  • Where was God when Americans drove three trillion accident free miles?
  • Where was God when over three million healthy babies were born in America?

Here are a few of the answers given by God himself in his word.

1. God was reigning from his throne to do his sovereign will.

“Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.” (Psalm 115:3)   “He works all things according to the counsel of his will.” (Ephesians 1:11)

2. God was reigning from his throne to prevent much sin and harm in the world.

“God said to [Abimelech, the king of Gerar], it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her.” (Genesis 20:6)   “You know what is restraining [the man of lawlessness] now.” (2 Thessalonians 2:6)

3. God was reigning from his throne to give a witness to his goodness and his patience.

“God 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.” (Acts 14:17)

4. God was reigning from his throne to summon the world to repentance.

“Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4)

So as the year ends, I bow my head as an undeserving sinner, amazed that I have not been swept away. And even more, that because of Jesus, I am forgiven, adopted into God’s family, and destined for eternal life.

God has been good to us. And his best gift is the one that will be there when all the others fail. Jesus, crucified, risen, reigning.

May I Be Happy This Christmas When Others Are Not?

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This question is one of permission and goes deeper than asking, “Can I be happy this Christmas when others are not?” Yes, you can be happy – just be indifferent to the plight of the hurting. But May you? May I be happy – is it appropriate to enjoy Christmas when others are grieving? It feels insensitive and thoughtless. I feel guilt. May I sing and be happy this Christmas and even pursue my joy in the Lord while others will shed many tears? Tenderly, hopefully, yes.

Here’s How, in no particular order of importance:

1. I will believe that we can both sorrow, yet rejoice in many truthful things at the same time. 2 Cor. 6:10

2. I will believe that I am finite with limited knowledge of everything – there is nothing that is fully understood by mere mortals. I am not God. Ecc. 6:12; Job 42:1-6;1 Cor. 13:12

3. I will believe that my own days are numbered so that my heart will not act like a fool, thinking that this life is long, luxurious, and everlasting. Psalm 90:9-15

4. I will believe that I don’t go anywhere, for any reason, for any length of time unless it is the Lord’s sovereign will that has planned it all. James 4:13-16

5. I will believe that the reason that I am alive is because God is merciful, not because I’m better than those who are dead. Luke 13:1-5

6. I will believe that my happiness is not rooted in my circumstances of life but in the right standing that I have with Christ and the long-range purpose of suffering. 2 Cor. 12:7-10

7. I will believe that Jesus loves the little children. Luke 18:15-17. And though young children are taken away by evil men and women, I also will believe that if my life experience and knowledge does not match-up with how Jesus is implenting his present phase of his kingdom on earth, Jesus is coming back with Swift Justice. Ecc. 3:16-18; Matthew 11:2-3; Luke 19:27

8. I will believe that God is pleased when his children enjoy his good gifts, even in the midst of real sorrow.Luke 15:23

9. I will believe that my despair will not aid the hopeless – I will hope in God so that others may also. Psalm 42:1-5

10. I will believe that if God can send out his gospel truth in 10,000 new ways through the murder of 5 missionaries in Ecuador in 1956, then he can do the impossible with Newtown, CT.

11. I will believe that God does not owe mankind any protection from ourselves since we already told him to leave us alone. Genesis 2:17, 3:6-7; Judges 17:6

12. I will believe that at no time does God say, “go away from me, all you who are burdened down,” but still calls everyone, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened down.” Matt. 11:28-30

13. I will evaluate my motive and reason to be joyful this Christmas: Do I believe that I deserve to be happy or do I believe that peace and joy is an angelic announcement of grace upon my Christmas? Luke 2:14; Romans 15:13

14. I will believe that peace and joy are the most appropriate emotions in the presence of a holy and merciful God who sent his son into this evil world. John 14:27, 15:11

15. I will believe that if Jesus could have future-oriented joy in a season of horrific evil, then I can too. Hebrews 12:1-2; Romans 8:18-23

16. I will believe that my innate desire for joy is given by a loving God who wants me to pursue the oject of Joy – Him. Psalm 43:4

17. I will open my presents with humility and gladness – knowing that all good gifts come from God (Ecc. 9:7-9; James 1:17).

18. If I begin to feel guilt for being happy while others are not, I will not drown this feeling with food, music, and distraction, rather, I will remember that mis-placed guilt and shame is a tool of the devil to accuse the saints that we are unfit and undeserving of joy – which is true – but the devil’s intention is to humiliate and steal joy, while God’s intention is to increase our joy precisely because it is a gift. I will remember to attack the devil’s lies with God’s truth. Romans 8:33

19. If the Lord wills, I will wake up on Christmas morning and joyfully give thanks for his blessings.1 Thess. 5:18

20. Finally, I will remember that Jesus Christ knows our need, our weakness is no stranger. Behold your King – before him lowly bend. Christ is the Lord! Phil. 2:7-11; Hebrews 2:17-18, 4:14-16

Merry Christmas – see you next year!

For Wounded Hearts – part 3

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Some time back I received an invitation to attend a workshop titled: Embracing Forgiveness. The workshop was offered by a prominent psychiatric Hospital in the Chicago area. The advertised promotion went like this:

“Imagine what your life would be like with: * decreased feelings of hurt * a reduction in the physical symptoms related to sleepiness, listlessness and dizziness * a reduction in the long-term experience of anger * an increase in the experience of peace in the present moment.” I agree that each of these are viable and healthy goals for the wounded and victimized. But then the next promotion line went like this: “What is forgiveness? * Forgiveness is Peace * Forgiveness is for you, not the offender * Forgiveness is taking back your personal power * Forgiveness is taking responsibility for how you feel * Forgiveness is becoming a hero instead of a victim”.

I realize that my judgment needs to be cautious, given the fact that I did not attend this training workshop. But based upon the desired goals mentioned in the first part, and then the description of what is forgiveness – presented as the means to attaining the goals, I can look at Scripture to see what is forgiveness and what our Lord prescribes for “a reduction in the long-term experience of anger”, and then make a cautious judgment upon the wisdom of this very popular approach to the subject of forgiveness as related to wounded hearts.

Let’s begin with a question: When a child of God has been hurt by a person who will not apologize with repentance and restoration, what is the consistent Biblical prescription for the wounded, in order that “decreased feelings of hurt” will be achieved? Our Lord prescribes this Romans 12:19,
‘Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.’
What is the situation for the Romans that would lead Paul to say this? Persecution! Paul has instructed the believers in practical Christianity in verses 9 – 13. Then he says in verse 14: “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” What is Paul doing here? How can this possibly be a means of experiencing peace in the present moment of deep hurt and pain? How can a woman muster the energy, emotion and will to bless her enemy and resist the path of cursing him (v. 14), and repaying him evil for the evil that was done to her (v.17)? Is she told by God to, “Forgive him”? No, but she is commanded to give God the place of implementing wrath. God does not extinguish your godly desire for justice, rather, He wants you to give Him the right to take vengeance in His time and in His way. God created humans in His image, and part of that image-bearing is a desire for justice when someone has done evil. If we avenge ourselves we sin. But we do not sin if we give God this prerogative.

I offer this prayer taken primarily from the truths of Psalm 37 so that we may hear the healing of the heart as the Lord applies the promise of justice to His child who has been wounded:

“Lord, I relinquish my desire to repay my tormentor over to you. The place of vengeance belongs to you alone. If you bring justice to me through your ordained magistrates, I will bless your name. If you do not, I will still trust in you to bring forth your righteousness and justice, for just as each day has a noon hour, you will bring your justice to pass for me. I will wait for your justice to be done and rest confidently in your courtroom. I will cease from anger and forsake personal wrath upon my enemy. Therefore, I will not fret about justice being done – it only causes me to stay awake at night and eventually harms my body. I praise you for giving my heart the peace it so desperately needs at this time in my life. I know that if I wait for your justice to be done in my life, you will destroy all those who work evil against me and I will inherit the whole earth as my peaceful and safe land. My sweet Lord, it is hard for me to be happy and laugh with all that you have lain upon me. But you see the end-day of my oppressor and you laugh for me – for you will break the strength of the wicked while you sustain my life. Like smoke, my enemy will disappear into thin air; therefore, my life will be characterized not by seeking vengeance but by showing mercy and generous giving. You are my salvation and strength in this troublesome time. You will deliver me from the wicked because I trust in your Justice! Amen.”

If a wounded heart is to bless her enemy (Romans 12:14) – by feeding him when he is hungry and giving him something to drink when he is thirsty, and shaming him by doing good to him though he has done evil (v. 20), then God prescribes the path of looking to Him for vengeance (v.19). In other words, if you want to bless your enemy by providing his needs when he abused yours, the path to take is trusting God to avenge you. It is not forgiveness of our enemies’ sin that heals our wounded hearts but giving God the rightful place of settling the account with our abuser. We conquer the evil by doing good to our enemy, but the only way that we can get around to doing good to our enemy is turning over our desire for revenge to our Just Lord. Our desire for justice is not wrong, and it is not wrong to put some justice in place on this side of eternity, but it is wrong to personally seek vengeance. Not even a fair sentence given by earthly courts can fully heal the heart, especially when the offender is in denial of the trespass. This is why the LORD, our Righteous Judge will do right for us, eventually, because the earthly courts cannot fully restore the heart, freeing it up to do good to the enemy. And this sure and eventual justice upon our transgressor becomes a means of peace for the heart.

Let’s now check the advertisement on “Forgiveness” and see if it squares with Psalm 37, Romans 12:14-21, and verses we have used in the previous two posts.
“* Forgiveness is Peace” – no, the promise of the Lord’s vengeance and one day living in a land where all evildoers will be removed is our source of peace.
“* Forgiveness is for you, not the offender” – no, forgiveness is for the one who repents; God’s promise to repay your enemy is for you.
“* Forgiveness is taking back your personal power” – no, giving God the place of wrath acknowledges that He has power [“authority” is probably meant by the word power]; humility, peace and freedom to do good to your enemy is now accomplished in the power of the Holy Spirit
“* Forgiveness is taking responsibility for how you feel” – no, giving God the place of vengeance is taking responsibility for how you feel. What the abused feel is a desire for justice. Feelings that are responsible before God must be channeled upward to Him. This is worship! When we look up to our heavenly Father and cry for justice, He hears our cry and as a jealous Father for His children, He will not turn His face away – He will curse those who curse His children!
* Forgiveness is becoming a hero instead of a victim” – no, the Lord becomes our hero when we turn to Him, trusting that He will repay as He pleases. What a victim needs is not to be burdened down with personal “hero” language. What a child of God needs to become is a trusting yet hurting petitioner of God the Champion who will fight for His children.

Dear child of God, God has the right prescription for the soul that has been abused by an enemy who will not repent. Therefore, God not only wants you to imagine, but to really experience these things through His promise to avenge you.

Jesus’ Gospel is Better Than Santa’s

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You may not know who Haven Gillespie is but you do know the song that he published in 1932:

“You better watch out, You better not cry

Better not pout, I’m telling you why

Santa Claus is coming to town

He’s making a list and checking it twice

Gonna find out who’s naughty and nice

Santa Claus is coming to town”

We grew up hearing those words but have you ever paused long enough to contemplate the doctrine that is taught?  “Don’t cry, don’t pout!  Santa has a nice list and a naughty list.” The subtle implication is if you’re on the nice list you get presents.  If you’re on the naughty list you get a lump of coal.

But this raises two questions:  How does Santa know so much about me and how can I get on the nice list and receive presents?

“He sees you when you’re sleeping

He knows when you’re awake

He knows if you’ve been bad or good

So be good for goodness sake!

Oh!  You better watch out, You better not cry

Better not pout, I’m telling you why

Santa Claus is coming to town

These words sound innocent perhaps because of the tune that accompanies the lyrics. The song has a light-hearted, bouncy melody that is typically sung with a cheerful voice supported by the high octaves of young girls and boys. Or perhaps the song presents itself as innocent because of the image that is associated with it. I mean, what is there to be alarmed about when you see a jolly, well-rounded, red-cheeked old man who laughs and plays with children. But if we will slow down enough to hear the message, turn the music off and ignore the jolly old man I believe we will find that the message is not so innocent: “If you want presents you have to do enough good things to stay on the nice list.”

We’ve heard this before: The message that you can present yourself acceptable to God based on the merits of your good works is a message that is found in religions, and songs, and books, and cultures and just about anywhere where man thinks about God apart from grace. Santa is not the real problem – the real problem is the heart of man that wants to get on God’s nice list by doing enough good things so that he may boast not in the cross of Christ but in his own self-reformation. Men are legalists because they think God is a legalist (a legalist is one who believes in performing legal deeds so that God accepts you based upon your performance).

The true Christmas message is that Jesus Christ loved you, knowing all your badness, to the praise of the glory of His Grace.  Instead of trusting in your own performance of good works, trust in what Christ has done for you and by faith receive his forgiveness of your sins and his righteousness. Since this is how I came to be in a right relationship with God, because of the grace of His free love, then how could I ever think that God would now deal with me on the basis of my performance in the flesh.

Jesus loved you when you were naughty and not nice. This truth ought to motivate you to renounce any misrepresentations of God that you have begun to believe. Your heavenly Father loves you with a love that was not dependent upon any good thing in you or that you would ever do. Your heavenly Father loved you so that you would be holy and blameless in his sight.

Galatians 1:15 says, “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace . . .”

Paul states that God separated him for a holy purpose when he was born. All the naughtiness of Paul’s life came after God set him apart and before God saved him and called him by grace to display Christ in his life. For Paul it must have been a wonderful thing to say in Gal. 2:20 that “He loved me and gave Himself for me”. He loved me – the blasphemer, he loved me – the murderer, he loved me – the persecutor, he loved me – the violently arrogant man, he loved me – the lawless, insubordinate, self-righteous man.

The good news for us is not that we were good enough to transfer ourselves from the naughty list to the nice list so that we could receive good things, but as Paul says in Colossians 1:12-14, we are “giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

If you are thinking to yourself, “I haven’t been good enough to come to Christ”, you are the one that Christ will receive. Those who think that they are too good to come to Christ will not find Him. But those who say,  “I have been so bad I can’t get off the naughty list no matter how hard I try,” Jesus says to you, “I know everything that you have ever done – come to me, though your sins are many and your heart is stained with years of guilt I will make you white as fresh snow.”

I think Jesus’ gospel is better – so here’s a new song to sing to that favorite old tune:

He knows you should be sleeping (when you’re awake)

He knows you should be awake (when you’re sleeping)

He knows how terribly bad you are

But he’s good to you for His own sake

Oh! You ought to cry out,

“Mercy for Me”

Shout it out loud

“Grace Set Me Free”

Jesus is not a legalist

But a lover

For Wounded Hearts – part 2

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Wounded Heart by Keun-chul Jang

My meditations on forgiveness for the unrepentant did not begin recently. The truth is that I have pondered this angle on forgiveness since I took a class called Ecclesiology in seminary. The Greek work for church is ekkleisia which means “called out”, hence, Ecclesiology is “the study of the called out church.” The church is a body of saints who have been called out of the world to represent Christ. The study of the church involves church discipline and this is where my thoughts began to take shape concerning forgiveness for the unrepentant. So come along with me now as I talk you through what for me was an enlightening adventure.

Question: Is the local church obligated to forgive the sin of an erring, unrepentant brother? The answer is absolutely not! Let’s begin with Matthew 18:15 and the verses that follow. If a so called brother sins against you, your desire should be that he will “hear” you when you tell him his fault.  If he “hears” you, that is, agrees with you about his transgression against you, you have gained, restored your offending brother to fellowship.  But if he will not hear you, get two or more witnesses.  If after that, he will not acknowledge his sin, then tell the local church. If after the church pursues his confession but still he does not confess his sin, then the church is to regard him as an unbeliever (v.17).

Verses 18-20 admonish the church to do this in accordance with the authority of heaven itself – which is Christ! Christ stands over the church as the supreme Judge, endorsing this procedure in the church. But the church has only declared, “to bind”, what is already declared, “bound”, in heaven;  the unrepentant person’s sins are retained! The unrepentant is not “loosed” from his sins on earth because he is not “loosed” in heaven. The church functions to represent Christ on earth: The erring, unrepentant believer is not released from his sin. It remains on him so much so that the church is instructed to view him as an unbeliever. Why? Because unrepentance is at the core of what an unbeliever is.

Then Peter, and no doubt, with some stubbornness of his own – and like all of us, asks the Lord how many times he should forgive his brother (v. 21). Why did Peter ask this question? There are only two options: 1) Either Peter believes that he and the church is to forgive an unrepentant brother, which would go against the stance of heaven, or; 2) he assumes that the process of church discipline will work, bringing the erring brother to agree with his sin that he committed, and thus obligating the church to forgive, to “loose” the brother from his sin. Which is it? I believe that the second is correct. Peter assumes that he will have to forgive a “hearing” brother more times than not. And this correct assumption about the success rate of church discipline to do its job, to restore a sinning brother, leads Christ to teach more on the subject of forgiveness.

With the following parable (vss. 23-34) Jesus shows us how to be like our heavenly Father.  We are to be willing and ready to forgive when restoration is sought. The indebted servant said, “Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.” The master was then moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.  Notice that forgiveness, the releasing of obligation of debt came after the servant acknowledged his debt and pleaded for patience. Of course the debt is impossible to pay back and that is why the servant needs forgiveness. This servant enjoyed the consequence of his entreaty to the master, forgiveness of debt, but he did not reciprocate when a sub-servant also desired restoration.

Therefore, what did the Master do? Did he allow the ungrateful servant to remain in a “loosed” state? No! The angry Master now “bound” him with his debt and gave him over to be tortured until the debt is paid in full – which is eternal torture for the debt is infinite in its criminality. Therefore, what will our Heavenly Father do if we will not forgive from the heart an erring brother who has pleaded to be restored, forgiven, loosed from his debt? Our Father in heaven will not forgive us of our infinite debt.  Should we take verse thirty-five out of its context and assume that Jesus is teaching us to forgive the unrepentant? I think not. Jesus is not commanding us to forgive unconditionally, for not even our heavenly Father does that. Jesus is teaching us to forgive when forgiveness is desired, just as our heavenly Father has done for us.  And not only to forgive when restoration is sought, but to have a heart that is desirous to show compassion.

Luke 17:3-4 also supports this interpretation. Jesus says, “Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” (17:3-4 ESV)

The Matthew 18 passage and the Luke 17 text compliment each other and confirm the same that forgiveness is to be granted with compassion when the offender desires it and not until then. Given the clear and undeniable instruction on the issue from Jesus, I do not believe that we are to assume with contradiction that Jesus wants us to forgive the unrepentant in Matthew 6:12-15.  Just because a passage does not have the fullest version on the subject does not mean we are free to construe a different paradigm of interpretation. I believe that it is improper to use Matthew 6:14 as a text to teach that we are to forgive the unrepentant just because it is silent on the condition of forgiveness which is repentance.  Again, we have two options before us.  We can either assume that repentance is a condition necessary for forgiveness, or we can assume that Jesus wants us to forgive the unrepentant.  Given the evidence from Matthew 18 and Luke 17, my interpretation will lean to the former: Jesus wants us to be like our heavenly Father who gladly forgives when sinners cry for mercy (Luke 18:9-14).

We need to keep in mind that we are to forgive “even as” we have been forgiven.  Ephesians 4:32 says, “And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” How did God forgive us? Did He forgive us without punishing our sin? Did He forgive us without purchasing and giving us repentance (Ephesians 1:7; 2 Timothy 2:25-26)? No. He forgave us “in Christ.” This means that the Father forgave us our sins with respect and regard for and according to the work of Christ on the cross. The Father punished our sins in Christ. Then the Father gave us the good message:  “Repent . . . for the forgiveness of sins” (Acts 2:38). God was not only Just and Righteous when he punished and forgave us our sins in Christ for salvation (Romans 4:23-5:2) but He is also faithful and just to forgive us our sins now that we are the children of God (1 John 1:9).  So whether before or after salvation, the forgiveness of our sins is predicated upon Christ’s atonement and our coming to Him for forgiveness. Therefore, any passage in the Bible that exhorts me to forgive others just as God has forgiven me or to forgive so that I can be forgiven (Matthew 6:14-15; Mark 11:25-26), I conclude that I am to forgive others when they desire forgiveness. I do not conclude that I am to forgive others when they don’t repent just because I am forgiven. I conclude that I am to forgive others on the same basis that I received forgiveness – which is repentance toward God, faith in God’s mercy in Christ, and confession of sins.

Oh how we need to pray for God to move hearts to repentance and to know the sweet fellowship of Christ and his church.