“Why is Secularism Exempt from the Separation of Church and State?” by John Hendryx. This is a very interesting debate between a self-proclaimed post-modern secularist and Hendryx concerning the fact that post-moderns more often than not state their views are neutral. But Hendryx exposes the secular world view as being just as intolerant as any other he claims are so exclusive. This isn’t a debate attempting to convince the secularists that Christianity is right, but rather Hendryx is very simply showing him that his views are not neutral at all. He does an excellent job of being kind while pointing out the blatant hypocrisies within this world view. Very interesting …
Category: Theology Page 55 of 67
Something that has come to my attention recently is that unfortunately within our culture, the name Jesus has been cheapened and made so common that the name almost doesn’t convey that which is true about Him, namely that He is the Son of God, fully God and fully man, God Himself having intervened in history to redeem whoever would believe in Him through His perfect work, death and resurrection from the dead. I have taken this list of names from this site http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/jesustitles.htm. So look these up and reacquaint yourself with Jesus and all of His descriptions as spoken in the Scriptures.
Advocate (1 John 2:1)
Almighty (Rev. 1:8; Mt. 28:18)
Alpha and Omega (Rev. 1:8; 22:13)
Amen (Rev. 3:14)
Apostle of our Profession (Heb. 3:1)
Atoning Sacrifice for our Sins (1 John 2:2)
Author of Life (Acts 3:15)
Author and Perfecter of our Faith (Heb. 12:2)
Author of Salvation (Heb. 2:10)
Beginning and End (Rev. 22:13)
Blessed and only Ruler (1 Tim. 6:15)
Bread of God (John 6:33)
Bread of Life (John 6:35; 6:48)
Bridegroom (Mt. 9:15)
Capstone (Acts 4:11; 1 Pet. 2:7)
Chief Cornerstone (Eph. 2:20)
Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4)
Christ (1 John 2:22)
Creator (John 1:3)
Deliverer (Rom. 11:26)
Eternal Life (1 John 1:2; 5:20)
Gate (John 10:9)
Faithful and True (Rev. 19:11)
Faithful Witness (Rev. 1:5)
Faithful and True Witness (Rev. 3:14)
First and Last (Rev. 1:17; 2:8; 22:13)
Firstborn From the Dead (Rev. 1:5)
Firstborn over all creation (Col. 1:15)
Gate (John 10:9)
God (John 1:1; 20:28; Heb. 1:8; Rom. 9:5; 2 Pet. 1:1;1 John 5:20; etc.)
Good Shepherd (John 10:11,14)
Great Shepherd (Heb. 13:20)
Great High Priest (Heb. 4:14)
Head of the Church (Eph. 1:22; 4:15; 5:23)
Heir of all things (Heb. 1:2)
High Priest (Heb. 2:17)
Holy and True (Rev. 3:7)
Holy One (Acts 3:14)
Hope (1 Tim. 1:1)
Hope of Glory (Col. 1:27)
Horn of Salvation (Luke 1:69)
I Am (John 8:58)
Image of God (2 Cor. 4:4)
Immanuel (Mt. 1:23)
Judge of the living and the dead (Acts 10:42)
King Eternal (1 Tim. 1:17)
King of Israel (John 1:49)
King of the Jews (Mt. 27:11)
King of kings (1 Tim 6:15; Rev. 19:16)
King of the Ages (Rev. 15:3)
Lamb (Rev. 13:8)
Lamb of God (John 1:29)
Lamb Without Blemish (1 Pet. 1:19)
Last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45)
Life (John 14:6; Col. 3:4)
Light of the World (John 8:12)
Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5)
Living One (Rev. 1:18)
Living Stone (1 Pet. 2:4)
Lord (2 Pet. 2:20)
Lord of All (Acts 10:36)
Lord of Glory (1 Cor. 2:8)
Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16)
Man from Heaven (1 Cor. 15:48)
Mediator of the New Covenant (Heb. 9:15)
Mighty God (Isa. 9:6)
Morning Star (Rev. 22:16)
Offspring of David (Rev. 22:16)
Only Begotten Son of God (John 1:18; 1 John 4:9)
Our Great God and Savior (Titus 2:13)
Our Holiness (1 Cor. 1:30)
Our Husband (2 Cor. 11:2)
Our Protection (2 Thess. 3:3)
Our Redemption (1 Cor. 1:30)
Our Righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30)
Our Sacrificed Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7)
Power of God (1 Cor. 1:24)
Precious Cornerstone (1 Pet. 2:6)
Prophet (Acts 3:22)
Rabbi (Mt. 26:25)
Resurrection and Life (John 11:25)
Righteous Branch (Jer. 23:5)
Righteous One (Acts 7:52; 1 John 2:1)
Rock (1 Cor. 10:4)
Root of David (Rev. 5:5; 22:16)
Ruler of God’s Creation (Rev. 3:14)
Ruler of the Kings of the Earth (Rev. 1:5)
Savior (Eph. 5:23; Titus 1:4; 3:6; 2 Pet. 2:20)
Son of David (Lk. 18:39)
Son of God (John 1:49; Heb. 4:14)
Son of Man (Mt. 8:20)
Son of the Most High God (Lk. 1:32)
Source of Eternal Salvation for all who obey him (Heb. 5:9)
The One Mediator (1 Tim. 2:5)
The Stone the builders rejected (Acts 4:11)
True Bread (John 6:32)
True Light (John 1:9)
True Vine (John 15:1)
Truth (John 1:14; 14:6)
Way (John 14:6)
Wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24)
Word (John 1:1)
Word of God (Rev. 19:13)
“There were thus two things which the Savior did for us by becoming Man. He banished death from us and made us anew; and, invisible and imperceptible as in Himself He is, He became visible through His works and revealed Himself as the Word of the Father, the Ruler and King of the whole creation.
There is a paradox in this last statement which we must now examine. The Word was not hedged in by His body, nor did His presence in the body prevent His being present elsewhere as well. When He moved His body He did not cease also to direct the universe by His Mind and might. No. The marvelous truth is, that being the Word, so far from being Himself contained by anything, He actually contained all things Himself. In creation He is present everywhere, yet is distinct in being from it; ordering, directing, giving life to all, containing all, yet is He Himself the Uncontained, existing solely in His Father. As with the whole, so also is it with the part. Existing in a human body, to which He Himself gives life, He is still Source of life to all the universe, present in every part of it, yet outside the whole; and He is revealed both through the works of His body and through His activity in the world. It is, indeed, the function of soul to behold things that are outside the body, but it cannot energize or move them. A man cannot transport things from one place to another, for instance, merely by thinking about them; nor can you or I move the sun and the stars just by sitting at home and looking at them. With the Word of God in His human nature, however, it was otherwise. His body was for Him not a limitation, but an instrument, so that He was both in it and in all things, and outside all things, resting in the Father alone. At one and the same time—this is the wonder— as Man He was living a human life, and as Word He was sustaining the life of the universe, and as Son He was in constant union with the Father. Not even His birth from a virgin, therefore, changed Him in any way, nor was He defiled by being in the body. Rather, He sanctified the body by being in it. For His being in everything does not mean that He shares the nature of everything, only that He gives all things their being and sustains them in it. Just as the sun is not defiled by the contact of its rays with earthly objects, but rather enlightens and purifies them, so He Who made the sun is not defiled by being made known in a body, but rather the body is cleansed and quickened by His indwelling, ‘Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.'”
“God knew the limitation of mankind, you see; and though the grace of being made in His Image was sufficient to give them knowledge of the Word and through Him of the Father, as a safeguard against their neglect of this grace, He provided the works of creation also as means by which the Maker might be known. Nor was this all. Man’s neglect of the indwelling grace tends ever to increase; and against this further frailty also God made provision by giving them a law, and by sending prophets, men whom they knew. Thus, if they were tardy in looking up to heaven, they might still gain knowledge of their Maker from those close at hand; for men can learn directly about higher things from other men. Three ways thus lay open to them, by which they might obtain the knowledge of God. They could look up into the immensity of heaven, and by pondering the harmony of creation come to know its Ruler, the Word of the Father, Whose all-ruling providence makes known the Father to all. Or, if this was beyond them, they could converse with holy men, and through them learn to know God, the Artificer of all things, the Father of Christ, and to recognize the worship of idols as the negation of the truth and full of all impiety. Or else, in the third place, they could cease from lukewarmness and lead a good life merely by knowing the law. For the law was not given only for the Jews, nor was it solely for their sake that God sent the prophets, though it was to the Jews that they were sent and by the Jews that they were persecuted. The law and the prophets were a sacred school of the knowledge of God and the conduct of the spiritual life for the whole world.
So great, indeed, were the goodness and the love of God. Yet men, bowed down by the pleasures of the moment and by the frauds and illusions of the evil spirits, did not lift up their heads towards the truth. So burdened were they with their wickednesses that they seemed rather to be brute beasts than reasonable men, reflecting the very Likeness of the Word. …
… What, then, was God to do? What else could He possibly do, being God, but renew His Image in mankind, so that through it men might once more come to know Him? And how could this be done save by the coming of the very Image Himself, our Savior Jesus Christ? Men could not have done it, for they are only made after the Image; nor could angels have done it, for they are not the images of God. The Word of God came in His own Person, because it was He alone, the Image of the Father Who could recreate man made after the Image.”
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel? 14 Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. 16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. – Isaiah 40:12-17
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. – Romans 11:33-36
Who are we O God, that we would ever question your will in our lives, either for blessing or for harm and trial? You are the sovereign King. What is man that he thinks he can give you wisdom or counsel? You invented these things, they are yours from eternity past! Who are we God but desperate sinners that have rebelled against You? Who did You consult when You decided to create, when You decided to save Your people through the blood of Christ? Absolutely no one but Yourself. Who has greater wisdom than the Ancient of Days? We are so foolish Lord, and ruined before You in our sin. Who am I to question Your authoritative hand, that can bring peace or permit harm? You have your plan marked out so as to bring about the most glory for Yourself and the greatest good for those who love You. How mighty is Your name and power, made known to us through Your final word, Jesus Christ. We may not understand Your will Lord, but who are we to question the infinitely wise master who rules the nations and all creation by the power of His word? And so you say to Israel and all who question why You do what You do in blessing some and permitting awful trials for others:
27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”? 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
And praise You God that we have this power fully revealed to us in Christ! What a magnificent work that through Your one and only Son, You would purchase those who through faith trust in You to remove their divine guilt and reconcile them to Yourself through the infinitely worthy and precious blood of Christ? O God, give us eyes to see and ears to hear You. We are blind, deaf, and dumb until You give us light that only comes from You and that cannot be mustered up within ourselves. O God turn our rebellion and questioning, defiant hearts from enmity with You to love and peace and reconciliation in Christ, through His perfect work in His life and on the cross. Turn away Your awful wrath that we have stored up for ourselves in our godless lives that live as if You don’t exist. Have mercy on us by granting us faith and repentance Lord. Enable me to believe the Gospel deeper Lord.
I’m putting this out on the web now even though some of the days have already passed on the reading (it’s really not that much to read actually). This is really great to go through and meditate on the fact that it was foretold that Christ would come to deliver from hell, wrath and indignation, all those who would believe in Him for salvation. The Old Testament verses are speaking of the things to come that would be fulfilled (or filled full of meaning) in Christ. The New Testament verses speak of that which has historically already occurred. Praise God for His infinitely generous work in Christ, that He accomplished what we could never accomplish: He lived a perfect life without sin on our behalf, as our representative before the Father. And not only this, but He willingly, of His own sovereign power and truly free will, gave up His life on the cross, where He absorbed the wrath of the Father in Himself. And having completed His work on the cross, He gave up His life. Three days later, by the power of God, being that death could not legally hold Jesus, He rose from the grave and 40 days later ascended into heaven where He now sits at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for those who call upon His name to be saved. Christmas is the great window where all of the unbelieving world has a chance to hear rich, theologically sound words that speak of this great and merciful God who sent His Son to die and rise from the grave on our behalf. Read through these Scriptures and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus Christ to you. There is no one who satisfies the soul like the Creator of the universe. All He has created is amazing, but how much great is the presence of the One through whom all these amazing things came to be? And we can have our relationship with this great God restored if we trust the merits and work of His Son for us.
1st Sunday of Advent: Isaiah 9:2-6
A Child Will Be Born to Us
Monday: The Creator of Man – Genesis 1:26-31
Tuesday: The Fall of Man – Genesis 3:1-24
Wednesday: Promise of Redemption – Genesis 3:15
Thursday: A Prophet Will Come – Deuteronomy 18:15-19
Friday: A Virgin With Child – Isaiah 7:10-14
Saturday: A Righteous Judge – Isaiah 11:1-5
2nd Sunday of Advent: Matthew 1:18-25
The Birth of Christ
Monday: A Savior and Deliverer – Isaiah 19:19-25
Tuesday: The Sovereign Lord Comes – Isaiah 40:9-11
Wednesday: Behold My Chosen One – Isaiah 42:1-4
Thursday: A Servant Brings Salvation – Isaiah 49:1-7
Friday: A Man of Sorrows – Isaiah 53:1-12
Saturday: God’s Spirit is Upon Him – Isaiah 61:1-3
3rd Sunday of Advent: Luke 2:8-20
The Shepherds and the Angels
Monday: A Righteous Branch – Jeremiah 23:5-6
Tuesday: A Ruler Over Israel – Micah 5:2
Wednesday: Your King is Coming – Zechariah 9:9-10
Thursday: The Messenger is Sent – Malachi 3:1
Friday: The Birth of John the Baptist is Foretold – Luke 1:1-25
Saturday: The Announcement to Mary – Luke 1:26-38
4th Sunday of Advent: Matthew 2:1-12
The Birth of Christ
Monday: Elizabeth and Mary – Luke 1:39-56
Tuesday: The Birth of Jesus – Luke 2:1-20
Wednesday: Presentation in the Temple – Luke 2:21-38
Thursday: The Pre-Eminent Christ – Colossians 1:15-23
Friday: Worthy is the Lamb – Revelation 5:1-14
Saturday: The New Heaven and New Earth – Revelation 21:1-7
Christmas Eve: Luke 1:67-69
Celebrating the Visit of Christ
“For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”
– Hebrews 9:13-14
Naturally, each one of us has been created with a sense of justice, a sense of what is right and wrong. Over time, our sinning can erode or sear our consciences so that we don’t feel the effect or guilt of that sin anymore, thus becoming more and more enslaved to unrighteousness, serving the desires of our sinful souls, and as a result, we turn away increasingly from the living God. For the believer in Christ though, through His precious and infinitely valuable blood, our relationship to God has been restored in order that we may be drawn closer to Him and “glorify Him by enjoying Him forever.” (Piper)
What I want to focus us on in particular is how our consciences are purified from dead works so that we can give glory and honor to God. Because each of us has a natural sense of right and wrong, when we see the areas of our lives where we fall short, we naturally feel unworthy to approach God of ourselves, and really we are unworthy. The payment we need to be able to approach God is infinitely high, beyond the price we are able to pay. All of our striving and working will account for nothing because we cannot make an infinite payment for the wrong we have committed against the Lord God. His glory is infinite, and in harming His glory with our sin, we have thus committed an infinite offense, worthy of infinite punishment. Therefore our consciences are weighed down by guilt. And eventually, when we see we can’t make payment, we give up trying to pursue a right relationship with God and continue sinning, thus becoming more enslaved to sin than we were.
But in Christ, our consciences can be freed from our dead works that lead us to eternal damnation in order that we may be reconciled to God. How? In our natural state, as I said before, we cannot approach God, unless something or someone makes payment on our behalf, because we are not able to. And this is exactly what Christ has done for anyone who believes in Him and His sacrifice on the cross to bring about redemption. Because Christ is God who became man and lived a sinless life, He was qualified as the perfect sacrifice for sinners. He was qualified to make the infinite payment none of us could ever make to turn away the wrath of God. And this is exactly what He did on the cross. He died, rose again, and now sits at the right hand of God where He intercedes on behalf of those who trust Him for their salvation.
How does this purify the conscience of the believer from dead works to serve the living God? When we commit sin, our consciences constantly accuse us and point out that which is contrary to the standards God has set forth. We are weighed down with sin. It consumes us. But once you believe that Christ is the perfect sacrifice who intercedes on your behalf before God, and is in fact your very representative before the Father, this means that all of the wrong you have commited (with its due penalty, namely God’s wrath) has been removed. If Christ has canceled the debt we owe God for our sin through the work performed in His life, death, and resurrection, then we are freed in our consciences to live lives without the burden of guilt! This is radically transforming when we can live without divine guilt weighing us down. And this is the Gospel, the very thing that distinguishes Christianity from all other religions, namely salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Christ already bore the load for anyone who would believe in Him for salvation. We have nothing more we can add to His perfect, finished work. How freeing it is to have Christ take on the punishment and guilt we have stored up for our sins, and then to gain His perfect obedience and righteousness before the Father in return! What a gift.
Because of Christ taking the guilt off our shoulders through faith in His blood, freeing our consciences from the weight of guilt, we are then (and only then) able to approach God in confidence, because what could be a better payment for us than the sacrifice of God’s own Son on the cross? What amazing grace …
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
– Ephesians 2:8-9
“Christian! The only thing that makes you differ from the vilest being that pollutes the earth, or from the darkest fiend that gnaws his chains in hell, is the free grace of God!”
– Octavious Winslow
“This [conversion of the will], I maintain is wholly the work of God, because, as the Apostle testifies, we are not ‘sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves,’ (2 Cor. 3: 5.) Accordingly, he elsewhere says, not merely that God assists the weak or corrects the depraved will, but that he worketh in us to will, (Philip. 2: 13.) From this it is easily inferred, as I have said, that everything good in the will is entirely the result of grace.”
– Calvin, Institutes, II.VI
“Christ has conquered all in his own person first, and he is ‘over all, God blessed for ever’ (Rom. 9:5), and therefore over sin, death, hell, Satan and the world. And, as he has overcome them in himself, so he overcomes them in our hearts and consciences. We commonly say that conscience makes a man kingly or contemptible, because it is planted in us to judge for God, either with us or against us. Now if natural conscience be so forcible, what will it be when, besides its own light, it has the light of divine truth put into it? It will undoubtedly prevail, either to make us hold up our heads with boldness, or abase us beneath ourselves. If it subjects itself, by grace, to Christ’s truth, then it boldly faces death, hell, judgment and all spiritual enemies, because then Christ sets up his kingdom in the conscience and makes it a kind of paradise. The sharpest conflict which the soul has is between the conscience and God’s justice. Now if the conscience, sprinkled with the blood of Christ, has prevailed over assaults fetched from the justice of God, now satisfied by Christ, it will prevail over all other opposition whatsoever.”
– Richard Sibbes
“I know that through grace you are saved, not of works, but by the will of God, through Jesus Christ.”
– Polycarp
“Now, the wonder of wonders is, that we are proved guilty, and yet we are justified: the verdict has been brought in against us, guilty; and yet, notwithstanding, we are justified. Can any earthly tribunal do that? No; it remained for the ransom of Christ to effect that which is an impossibility to any tribunal upon earth. We are all guilty. Read the 23rd verse, immediately preceding the text—’For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.’ There the verdict of guilty is brought in, and yet we are immediately afterwards said to be justified freely by his grace.”
– C.H. Spurgeon
http://www.challies.com/archives/002181.php
This blog post on Challies.com really struck a chord with me, because I so often am guilty of this very thing, that is looking at others sin and inherently thinking I’m better or that as a preacher (in this case) they must not understand the Gospel. I had a blog post on here that said something to that effect pertaining to this and felt convicted about what I said and removed it. All I have to say to myself is “Take heed lest you fall …” What an arrogant fool I am for ever thinking this. I’m not better. I’m a sinner and if God so permitted, He could allow me to pursue my sin and it could take me places I never thought I would go! How wicked am I? I cannot even begin to fathom how deep the roots of sin go into my heart. Only God knows and it is only by His grace that I am held back from pursuing the wicked desires of my heart. I am thoroughly depraved, that is sin has corrupted every area of my life. I’m as much of a sinner as Ted Haggard. We are all in the same state as Haggard (many of us likely worse, including me). Oh God have mercy on me and my wayward heart that turns from You! Keep me from sin and keep me from pursuing it! Cleanse me with the blood of Jesus Christ, Father, sanctifying me in the truth! He is sufficient …
Some of it can be quite cynical, but nevertheless, it hits the nail on the head concerning much of the rubbish that goes as authentic Christianity in this culture … it’s kind of like the Onion, but nails the Christian Culture, that is slowly (or quickly) becoming non-Christian …
http://www.sacredsandwich.com/