This weekend I dug up a new flower bed in the backyard and man was it a killer. Apparently when the house builder poured the foundation, some of it spilled in the back and they covered it up with dirt (right where I was digging up the flower bed). Thanks guys. So I had to go to my neighbor across the street, borrow his rock bar (giant steel bar used for digging up rocks underground), and attempted to break it up, which only marginally helped, but did make it a bit deeper than it was before. It was quite a chore. The easiest part of the whole day on Saturday was planting a new bradford pear tree in the backyard. Finally, we have a tree back there. I don’t think I’ve done that much physical labor since either moving or doing work in Guatemala. I do have to honestly say I have more respect for those workers in the construction industry. I’m such a weakling … thank God for creating the computer industry and opening the doors for me to work in it.
Many times when preachers or other teachers of Scripture come to passages in the Old Testament such as Joshua taking the men of Israel to extinguish Jericho or plunder the city of Ai, or when looking at the story of David and Goliath, they will make the point of the story, “Look at the faith and might of Joshua and Israel, or David, and the confidence they had when going into battle. Imitate that faith in the Jericho’s, Ai’s, and Goliath’s of your life.” While that is true at a duty level, there is a big problem if we just make that the point of the story and leave it there. But what’s the problem, you might say? That’s true, right? It’s that there is a much greater point to the story that seems to go overlooked, the most important point I would say. And also, there is a big problem with just making that the point of the story: it is called moralism.
I just have a few questions to maybe give us some clarity on this: what is it that Christ came to do for us? Amongst many many things, was it not to fulfill and abolish the power of the law over those who have faith alone in Christ alone? And the law brings death right? So when a teacher of Scripture states for you to “pull up your boot-straps and git-er done for God, imitating the faith of Joshua and David,” is this not just another law and statement of reliance upon self for faith, for strength to conquer things in your life, instead of reliance upon God alone for strength through Christ? Where did Joshua’s strength come from? What about David’s? David was a weakling compared to Goliath. Goliath was trained for war, but was David? Obviously not, because all he had was a slingshot. But what was David’s response to his father who doubted his ability to win in going before Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:37? “And David said, ‘The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.‘” David’s only hope was not in himself and what he could do to defeat Goliath, but what only God alone could do through him. The focus is not on the strength, faith, and might of David, but on God alone, and David himself makes this clear! Was it not God alone that upheld David with His righteous, omnipotent hand and sovereignly orchestrated all of the law’s of nature (including all of David’s physical movements) so that when David threw that final stone it hit Goliath with such force that he died? So what is the main point of these stories? I believe the key is a few things God says in Joshua, amongst many places, that struck me in particular. For one, in Joshua 6:2, God states to Joshua, “And the LORD said to Joshua, ‘See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor.'” Only God gives us the strength through the cross of Christ to do anything.
God’s purpose in all things is that His name might be proclaimed in all the earth (Exodus 9:16, Romans 9:17-18). And so everything God does in His actions is to that end. And we know the character of God is to be compared with nothing, because He is infinitely glorious. Therefore, everything He does is right and just, even if we can’t humanly understand why it is He allowed for sin in His universe (and is yet without sin), or sovereignly brings calamity on the world. So the point of these stories is that it is God alone who is just and mighty to save (eternally [salvation] and temporally [in our own personal dealing with indwelling sin and trials]), and we look at how God removed their enemies before them, His glory, might, and infinite power; and all this in order that you not rely in any way on your strength and might in the midst of any and every circumstance, but on God’s alone in Christ’s death and resurrection, living under God’s grace alone in Christ. Most importantly, the point of the story is to say that, “Apart from Me, you can do nothing,” (John 15:5). We have been saved unto God in Christ, not just saved from His wrath. Christ came to abolish the law so that it’s no longer a duty for us, but rather a delight. The Gospel is the antithesis of the law. The law says, “Do this and you will get a good outcome. If you don’t, you won’t.” The Gospel says, “We already have the outcome in Christ’s death and resurrection. And it is very good. Believe in Jesus and He will give You His perfect record, in order that You may be presented to God the Father as perfect, possessing the very righteousness and perfection of Christ.” And for the believer, what is it that produces true, continual life-change? Is it focusing in on yourself and your strength or God’s alone in Christ? We look to the cross and see that Jesus’ death and resurrection is the only thing that produces life-change for the believer. So we are saved through the cross of Christ and changed through the cross of Christ. The application of the Gospel in our lives at every facet and level of our existence (emotionally, mentally, psychologically, spiritually, relationally) is the only thing that will ever produce life-change for the believer. Not the Law. The Law produces death (Romans 7:7-12). Telling people to go do this “law” and that “law” is the very thing the Pharisees were guilty of, to those whom Jesus stated the harshest words! May we take our place with David before this great and mighty, powerful God in Psalm 51:1-3,
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me,”
… and then fall on your knees before our Savior and state with David from Psalm 32:1-5,
“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.” Only because of Christ’s strength through the cross and His resurrection can you do anything to conquer sin, death, Satan, and hell. “Apart from Me, you can do nothing.”
(Special thanks to the Lord God for using Tim Keller and Jon Dansby in many of these insights into the Lord’s Word)
O God,
Thou has taught me that Christ has all fullness and so all plenitude of the Spirit, that all fullness I lack in myself is in him, for his people, not for himself alone, he having perfect knowledge, grace, righteousness, to make me see, to make me righteous, to give me fullness; that it is my duty, out of a sense of emptiness, to go to Christ, possess, enjoy his fullness as mine, as if I had it in myself, because it is for me in him; that when I do this I am full of the Spirit, as a fish that has got from the short to the sea and as all fullness of water to move in, for when faith fills me, then I am full; that this is the way to be filled with the Spirit, like Stephen, first faith, then fullness, for this way makes me most empty, and so most fit for the Spirit to fill. Thou hast taught me that the finding of this treasure of all grace in the field of Christ begets strength, joy, glory, and renders all graces alive. Help me to delight more in what I receive from Christ, more in that fullness which is in him, the fountain of all his glory. Let me not think to receive the Spirit from him as a ‘thing’ apart from finding, drinking, being filled with him. To this end, O God, do thou, establish me in Christ, settle me, give me a being there, assure me with certainty that all this is mine, for this only fill fill my heart with joy and peace.
Author Unknown. (2003). Fullness in Christ. The Valley of Vision (pp. 34-35). Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust
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Alrighty, I have a little insider information that hasn’t been released to the press on Project Lightspeed … On this past Friday night, I went to my mother-in-law’s retirement dinner party and got to speak with her manager who works for SBC (now AT&T once again). I asked him about ADSL2 and when he thought it might be deployed in our area (DFW). To my surprise he said they are working feverishly right now to get FTTN (Fiber-To-The-Node, or fiber to your neighborhood DSL connection distribution point) laid down as fast as possible and that the new service should be deployed some time in the fourth quarter of this year! I didn’t think it would be that soon. Basically with this new service, you will have your TV, voice, and data all come through that one line, and it’s really really fast (apparently like 26 mbps down and 3 – 10 mbps up). From what he said, you will be able to record 4 different TV programs at once and still have enough bandwidth for telephone calls and internet connectivity. Oh man, bring it on …
Having described the condition of man apart from the intervening work of the Holy Spirit in my last entry on the depravity of man, it is important to understand that there is a great deal of error amongst those that call themselves evangelicals as it pertains to how we are saved. This error in the minds of these individuals has to do with the “slight” inclusion of human exertion and will in the work of grace, that man somehow cooperates with the work of grace. This is called synergism (or in it’s extreme form, human monergism) and comes in many different forms, from out-right heresy (human monergism), to slight contradictory inclusion of heresy (synergism).
The original debate concerning what role man plays in his salvation originally began between Augustine and Pelagius. The root of the Pelagian heretical error had to do with a dispute on the doctrine of original sin, or the imputed sin of Adam to the entire human race, that when Adam sinned, we all sinned. Pelagius denied this. Pelgius believed all men to be in the same place as Adam before the fall inherently. This heretical error was condemned first by Augustine but then officially condemned at the Council of Orange in 529 AD. This heresy is humanism at its base (or human monergism), that man controls his own destiny and is his own god, and indeed can attain perfection apart from God. And though it was officially condemned as heretical by the church, the Pelagian error began infiltrating the church in the form of synergism, that man cooperates with the work of grace. Throughout church history, this debate has reared its head one way or another, with Augustine and Pelagius, Luther and Erasmus, and Whitefield and Wesley. And the debate is alive and well these days. This “slight” humanistic thinking is prevalent within the church today and removes the only power by which people are saved: God alone. “So then it (meaning the granting of mercy) depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. (And here’s the argument by Paul for the former statement) For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.‘ So then He has mercy on whomever He wills, and He hardens whomever He wills.” – Romans 9:16-18.
One of the results of the Reformation was the Five Solas (Sola Scriptura – Scripture alone as our sole infallible authority; Solus Christus – Christ alone accomplished our salvation; Sola Gratia – God saves by grace alone; Sola Fide – through faith alone apart from works; Soli Deo Gloria – everything is for the glory of God alone). Pertaining to the work of grace in the life of man, Sola Gratia in particular states that it is grace alone that regenerates a soul or causes the new birth which then gives rise to faith within the believer (a gift of God), not grace plus something else (i.e. human choice, exertion, running, will, etc). If our doctrine of the utter depravity of man is true, then no man honestly wants anything to do with God when left to himself. But God must first regenerate our souls and free our hearts from sin to believe in Christ. Because of the dead state of man in his sin, he will never choose Christ when presented with the Gospel, apart from the work of the Holy Spirit alone (i.e. Grace Alone) to regenerate the person who is to be saved. Man will always choose sin by necessity (John Hendryx, great quote!). Why? Because we’re dead in sin! That’s what that means. Our souls our incapable of any moral good, apart from a work of God within us first. Therefore, because of this, the work of grace in the life of the individual who is to be saved is the only thing that will bring to life the heart and soul of a sinfully dead individual, in order that he cannot help but believe in Christ because He is irresistable in His beauty and glory and lovliness.
In Ezekial 36:26, God states that He will come in power and remove His people’s hearts of stone, giving us instead hearts of flesh (removing our resistance to Him, and instead giving us a willing heart). Is this not monergism (the work of Grace Alone) in the life of dead sinners? There is no cooperation with grace, otherwise it is not grace. Grace is receiving something you do not deserve, and I would even add that it is something you don’t even want in your naturally sinful state. We must first be made genuinely willing (regeneration, second birth). “At the right time, Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). Did we ask for our hearts to be regenerated? No! We naturally kick and scream at such a prospect. We love sin, it’s the best thing humans do. And oh how much energy we use to that end! If we could only harness that energy for the cause of Christ! God freely gives of Himself on His own timing and to whom He pleases. When I came to know Christ truthfully, I was such a rebel against anything holy, and I can honestly say that the only reason I became willing is because God came and changed my heart. I did not cooperate with this grace, but was simply the unworthy recipient. God saved me by grace alone through faith alone, apart from works. This faith even was a gift of God. What do I now have to boast about before God or man? Nothing! If I cooperated with this grace in any manner, then when I walk into heaven, God has me to thank for making the right choice and I would have something to boast about. “Good job, David, you made the right choice man. Way to exert that ‘free will.’ You must have been smarter, more intelligent and more sensitive than the rest of those wicked sinners.” Wrong! Does this in any way sound like the God of the Bible? I think not. I was dead in trespasses and sins, corrupted by own perverse nature, in every facet of my existence, in my mind, will, thoughts, soul, heart, acts, motives, flesh, relationships, everything. He removed my heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh, a heart that was sensitive, willing and able to love Him. “We love because He first loved us,” (1 John 4:19) not the reverse. This is the work of grace alone (monergism).
Apart from grace, there is no honest submission to the Gospel, we are unable to submit even. But this does not alleviate your responsibility. If you reject Christ, the Messiah, there will be no one to blame but yourself; you cannot bring a successful accusation against God almighty when standing before the Great White throne after you die. Man is so hopeless apart from the work of God, carried out by the Holy Spirit, provided through the cross of Christ. Throw yourself at His sovereign mercy and pray for Him to change you inwardly, to incline you to Himself. Ask Him to give you the eyes to see His glory through Christ on the cross and the ears to hear the call of God unto salvation in order that you will believe in Him and be saved. God’s sovereignty in salvation is our only hope for being saved at all. It’s God alone that saves, not man alone, or man cooperating with God. We’re dead. Dead means dead. We have nothing else we can trust in but God alone, through Christ alone, His death and resurrection.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/03/0 … imhbg.html
Well, I hate to burst the bubble, Madonna, but the Messiah came 2000 years ago. His name was Jesus. The Jews expected the Messiah to be a mighty warrior that would come in and wipe out all of Israel’s adversaries. But instead, just as we were told in the Old Testament, He came in order to provide a sacrifice for the sins of any who would believe in Him. He came as a servant, the least of all people, despised, a man full of sorrows and grief (Read this: Isaiah 53). The Jews expected Him to come as a mighty King that would establish His rule over the world. And He will do that in the end, but that’s not what He came for the first time. He came to make purification for sins (Hebrews 1:3). And He did that on the cross, bearing the wrath of God on behalf of any who would believe in Him. The next time He comes back, He’s coming to do wreckshop on His adversaries and will establish His rule over this world.
Unforunately, the Jews, as a whole, missed their Messiah. It is very sad (Romans 9:1-8, Romans 10:1-4). The One who would have cleansed their sins is the One they stumbled over (Romans 9:30-33). As a whole, they have been hardened. Now this Kabbalah religion is doing the same thing, but with Jewish mysticism intertwined. And if the Jews, Israel, God’s chosen people missed it, you certainly have missed it. Jesus Christ was the very Messiah you are looking for! Don’t miss it. The most wicked thing to ever have occurred was the Son of God being killed at the hands of wicked sinners (like myself). He was whipped, tortured, beaten, spat upon, insulted, strung up on a cross, His hands and feet pierced with nails, a crown of thorns mashed into His skull. And all of this was not what hurt him the most. What hurt Him the most was the infinite wrath of God being poured out on His soul, the full cup of wrath, mixed in all of its potency. “The deepest stroke that pierced Him was the stroke that justice gave” (Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted). The Messiah has already come, made sacrifice for sins, died, rose from the grave, and has ascended into heaven. He will come back and wipe out all those who deny Him because He is the righteous and holy King. I beg all of you to consider this and look to Christ for your salvation, who perfectly fulfilled the law from our side on our behalf, and made purification for sins. Place your faith in Him and you will be saved and spared from the Lord’s wrath. If you don’t, you won’t.
“The Cross of Christ by C.H. Spurgeon” – ReformationTheology.com
Mankind is so utterly deceived and blinded to the sinfulness and depravity that lies within the human heart. How foolish it is for man, in his endeavor to attain perfection, to even think that he is less than at odds with the great God of the universe. It is humanism that says man can attain perfection and setup a utopia of sorts where man can enjoy the benefits of his long endeavor to overcome war, evil, death, and make a name for himself, exalting himself above the level of God. Little do they realize they are doing the exact opposite, because only God displayed through Christ, through belief in Him, brings true peace and true joy. Didn’t we see this endeavor in the past at the Tower of Babel? What was the end result? God scattered the people and confused their language. Why? Because He is God and we’re not, even though man deceives himself to believe whole-heartedly that he is his own god and controls his own destiny. God is jealous for His own glory. How could He not be? For God to value the most important thing in the universe, He must value Himself above all things, because He is the supreme value.
The Tower of Babel is a great example though of the human condition and the utter foolishness of his ways. Are we that foolish to think we could usurp the great God Almighty, the Alpha and the Omega? That the creation could overthrow the Creator? In Romans 3:10-18, Paul, quoting mostly from the Psalms, drives the nail in hard about our true condition, even if we do not see it that way. Let’s take a look at it:
As it is written:
‘None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.’
‘Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.’
‘The venom of asps is under their lips.’
‘Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.’
‘Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.’
‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’
Man. If this doesn’t sum up the human condition I don’t know what does. Someone may object that not everyone is as evil as they could be toward their fellow man. And that’s true. But we’re not comparing people to other people, but comparing people to God. Comparing finite against finite is useless. Comparing finite against infinite though brings about huge contrasts. Yes, at any given moment, we’re not as evil as we could be, thanks to the gracious restraint of the hand of God that we do not pursue what we desire most, sin. But in comparison to God, we are utterly wicked; we are foolish and deceive ourselves if we think differently. The human condition in comparison to the glory of God is so terrible, words cannot even describe it. This passage, amongst others within Scripture, is the closest to describing how desperate and helpless we are in our condition. Our sin has pulled a very opaque veil over our faces to the point where we think we are basically good people. This could not be further from the truth. John Calvin does an excellent job of describing this passage so as to unveil the truth of what lurks and lies within the heart of man:
“David says in Psalm 14:1, that there was such perverseness in men, that God, when looking on them all in their different conditions, could not find a righteous man, no, not one. It then follows, that this evil pervaded mankind universally; for nothing is hid from the sight of God.” “There is no doubt but that the character of men is described in those words, in order that we may see what man is when left to himself; for Scripture testifies that all men are in this state, who are not regenerated by the grace of God. The condition of the saints would be nothing better, were not this depravity corrected in them: and that they may still remember that they differ nothing from others by nature, they do find in the relics of their flesh (by which they are always encompassed) the seeds of those evils, which would constantly produce fruits, were they not prevented by being mortified; and for this mortification they are indebted to God’s mercy and not to their own nature. We may add, that though all the vices here enumerated are not found conspicuously in every individual, yet they may be justly and truly ascribed to human nature, as we have already observed on Romans 1:26.”
We are ruined in our natural state before this great God of the universe. The words of Isaiah ring true for all of us in Isaiah 6:4-5:
“And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of Him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!'”
Or consider Ezekial in Ezekial 1:26-28:
“And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.”
Take your place with Isaiah and Ezekial and bow before this great and powerful, righteous, and holy God. You are a sinner to your core. You have nothing to offer God. Give up on trying to please Him with your good works, because they are tainted with sin, corrupted and defiled as a filthy rag (Isaiah 64:6). Submit yourself to God in humble astonishment at His glory and how unworthy you are to have a Savior offered to you at all! Jesus Christ is God, the second person of the one God, He came to be one of us in great, infinite mercy because of the hopelessness of our condition, yet He was without sin, died upon a cross of His own will to pay the penalty for sin on our behalf, and rose from the grave by the power of God, in order that if we believe in Him, we will be saved from our plight toward hell, the just wrath of God against injustice done against Him. It is a command from the Lord Himself to believe in Jesus. If you ignore this command, you will receive the just penalty for this wickedness: eternal torment in the flames of God’s fury and wrath, forever. There will be no second chance after death (Hebrews 9:27-28). If you believe in Christ, He is faithful and just to forgive your sins (1 John 1:8-10). Consider these things …
(Updated 9/9/2011)
“Is the Will Free by Nature or By Grace?” – John Hendryx (personal commentary below)
It’s very important to define the term Free Will. Many will discuss this and get into arguments with others over whether it does or doesn’t exist, when really there needs to be some more explaining to do on both ends. But because emotions run high, and because terms are not defined from the beginning, arguments get out of hand and both parties sin as a result in treating their brother in Christ wrongfully, or at the very least walk away completely misunderstood.
Free Will can essentially be defined as this: choosing what we desire most. That’s really all there is to it. I don’t think either a Calvinist or an Arminian can disagree with that. I have a choice presented to me to eat either pizza or tacos. At a given moment I may desire tacos more than pizza and therefore I choose tacos. We choose what we desire most. So I have the ability as a free agent to make choices based on what I want. So how does Free Will fit into this? What is it that I want apart from the grace of God stepping in to change me? Well, it’s very clear from Romans 8:7-8, Romans 3:9-18, and many other places, that our wills and our desires, including every other facet of our existence, is bound up in sin, slaves to sin. Sin is our master apart from the work of God to incline us to Himself. So apart from the intervening work of the Holy Spirit, what is it that we desire most? Sin, wickedness, trampling on the glory of God; anything but the living God. Even the benevolent things done to others that are done without giving glory to God, done without faith, is sin (Romans 14:23).
Therefore, as a result, though we are free to make choices and are responsible for those choices, our very choices are always bent toward sin and rejecting Christ and will never choose Christ, apart from being regenerated first by the Holy Spirit in order that we irresistibly desire Christ and as a result choose Him. God must first choose to regenerate us to even be able to want Christ (1 John 4:19). So yes in one sense, Free Will doesn’t exist because apart from an inward change by the work of the cross, we will always choose sin because that’s what we desire most, and so we are enslaved to sin. But in another sense we have the ability to choose one thing over another and are responsible for that choice. But our desires are corrupted by sin and we therefore choose sin and are unable to submit to the law of God and the Gospel. I write all this to point out that we must define our terms when debating with those in disagreement with our position, and more than anything be loving to them, just as Christ has loved us and gave Himself up for us.
So what is our hope, if we are bound in sin, unable to submit to the law of God and the Gospel? What can we do? By the power of the cross of Christ alone, believe in the name of Jesus and you will be saved. For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). Not only does God provide the answer in Christ, but He also graciously provides the means to attain to that grace, namely the gift of faith and repentance. What God demands of us He freely gives us in Christ. “To suppose that whatever God requireth of us that we have power of ourselves to do, is to make the cross and grace of Jesus Christ of none effect.” – John Owen.
Our hope lies not with our abilities, our will, our strength, our moral resolution to attain to God’s good favor, but with God alone and His power, appropriated through the cross of Christ. He must first regenerate us and as a result He will give rise to our faith. Just as in creation, He creates light in the darkness, from the void brings forth life. It is the same in salvation. And this work by God was made possible by the cross of Christ and His resurrection from death. Not only has He bought the salvation of some for sure through His work, but He also bought everything necessary in order for us to believe, purchasing even the gifts of faith and repentance (Ephesians 2:8, 2 Timothy 2:25). Therefore, if you know Him, cry out in gratitude that He looked upon you in the condition of bondage to sin and fall at His feet in worship. And if you don’t know Him but see Him as good and yourself as dreadfully sinful and beyond your own repair, throw yourself at His feet and cry out to Him to have mercy on You in your sinfulness and wickedness, granting you the gifts of repentance and faith. Cry out as the man in Mark 9:24, “I believe; help my unbelief!” The Lord is ready and willing.
To read more on this, you definitely have to read J.I. Packer’s very short section on free will in his book Concise Theology. In addition, check out the entire section on Free Will at Monergism.com. (both below)
Inability by J.I. Packer – From Concise Theology
Ever since Dave Phillips went to be with Christ, I have been feeling more like an alien here in this life. The reason for this has a lot to do with the knowledge that Dave has gone home, his true home, to be with the Lord forever in glory. That’s my home, this earth is not. What matters then? Christ. “To live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Everything is temporal here, but everything is eternal and perfected there where Christ is. Dave loved the things in this life that the Lord blessed him with, but He loved Christ more and desired to be with him more, because Christ is everything; He is truly lovely and He is life, and knowing Him is eternal life (John 17:3). Not knowing Him is dreadful and terrifying, because there is no good apart from Him. There is no life apart from Christ, there is only wrath and fury against you. Dave has been glorified in the Lord, something I cannot even begin to fathom. He’s been made perfect because of Christ’s death and resurrection. I’ve been thinking a lot more about heaven and being perfected in Christ, about no longer having a struggle with sin, but being freed from it! How wonderful. What an awesome thing to look forward to! The past week and a half or so, I have just been longing for my true home more. What a glorious day it shall be when I see Christ face to face, no longer living by faith but by sight! Dave has been finally conformed to Christ, and oh how I long for that day! Christ is my Savior, King, Lord, God, Stronghold, Strength, Deliverer, Righteousness, Rock, Fortress, Shield, Protector, my everything (Psalm 18:2). I have nothing apart from Him, even if I possess the whole world (Mark 8:36-37). I have found so much joy in knowing that Christ will rule one day forever and that I will go to be with Him because of His glorious work in my life through the cross. On the cross, He took my punishment on Himself, having become a curse for me, He then died, rose from the grave, ascended into heaven, and then at His pre-appointed time, applied the work of the cross in my heart by the Holy Spirit, that I would be regenerated from my dead, wretched, sinful soul that wanted nothing to do with Him, given the eyes to see and ears to hear the wonderous work and call of the Gospel, and He then gave me the gift of faith (provided through the cross) that I would apprehend Him and love Him (Acts 16:14). It is this truth that has set me free and given me life. God saved me, it is all His work, I was only a dead recipient, made alive by the Gospel. There is nothing I desire more than Christ. And it is this truth that Christ will ultimately conform me to Himself in glory that has given me so much hope in all my trials throughout my whole life. Dave is there in glory and perfected, no longer entangled in this mess of sin and corruption. And though I will miss him for a time, how wonderful is it that He sees the glory of Christ, right now!? The Dave we loved, talked with, interacted with, is now with the Lord. How I long to be conformed to Christ! This event has just driven me closer to Christ and desiring to be like Him, loving the things He loves, and hating the things He hates, and sharing the Gospel with others. Man I want to be there with Christ. He is my all and my wonderous God and King. He is so faithful and glorious. And it is through the cross that this has been made actual for Dave and will be made actual for me when I die and can be made actual for any of you who do not know the Lord, who do not know Him savingly. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave, that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9). Then with this truth, do not be conformed to this sinful world any longer, but walk in the renewal of your mind (Romans 12:1-2), casting off sin by the work of the cross and look forward to the hope of the complete redemption of your soul at death, and the resurrection of your body on the Day of the Lord. O Lord, come soon, we love You and need You. Send Your Spirit in power that we may live lives pleasing to You. O Lord, teach us to love the things You love and hate the things You hate. Teach us and work in us, Father, to love and exalt Christ more than anything in this world. O Lord we are weak and frail sinners, corrupted by our wickedness and the vile that remains in our hearts. Cleanse us with Your blood, remove our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh (Ezekial 36:26) that we may live our lives in submission to Your sovereignty and rule over our lives, giving You glory in any and every circumstance (Philippians 4:12-13). O Lord, we are aliens in this life, and we should live as such, preaching Your cross and the redemption You have provided through it (Romans 10:14-15). Lord, as the song It Is Well with My Soul states, “Haste the day when my faith shall be sight.” Let us always consider that our dwelling is not here, where moth and rust destroy, but where the great God of glory lives, where the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world lives! You are holy and glorious! There is none like You.