Fight the Good Fight

My message today revolves around the apostle Paul’s final letter to his protégé, Timothy. (2 Timothy 4:5-8) “But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

Many years ago, Nancy and I were good friends with Dr. Daniel Taub and his wife. Dan had been raised as an agnostic, educated in prestigious schools, and trained as a clinical psychologist. As such, he could have easily rationalized the growing emptiness that gnawed at his heart. The idea that sin could have been the root of his emptiness was as foreign to his humanistic world view as east is from the west.

But in 1974, when the Holy Spirit revealed to him the truth about sin, forgiveness and salvation, Dan knew he had to make a choice: Obey God’s voice through the Scriptures or hide behind human philosophies.

He chose God.

Our friendship continued through the next 20 years or so, until he died in the fall of 1996. He’d been diagnosed with an aggressive and metastatic colon cancer. As soon as I walked into his hospital room, I knew he was dying. I remember choking back tears as I moved closer to his bed and placed my hand on the siderail. I asked how was feeling, and he whispered he was tired.

After a short conversation, I asked him, “Dan, how does it feel to know you are dying?”

I’d already learned by then that a hospital bed is where everything we hold dear washes out: money, popularity, passions, careers – like charred timbers after a house fire, a death-bed places so many things in clear perspective. And so, my question was deeply personal for me. I needed to know the thoughts of this man of God. Perhaps his answer might help me cope during that future time when I lie in some hospital bed, staring into eternity.

 

He smiled as he looked at me, and said something I will never forget. He raised his hand to the bedrail and touched mine. “From life . . .  to life,” he said. “I leave this one to enter the next with Jesus. I fought the good fight. I finished my course. I kept the faith.”

 

I share that little vignette to make the following points about the Christian life and the Christian death. And I will start by saying this: The one who thinks that living a Christian life is not a fight is probably not living the TRUE Christian life. They might be checking off all the right boxes – attending church services, receiving Holy Communion, giving tithes, doing good works – but listen: ANYONE can do such things. Judas did such things. And those to whom the Lord rebuked at the end of that thirteenth chapter of Luke’s gospel also checked off the right boxes in life – but to no good avail.

 

Many of you will remember that text: (Luke 13:24-27) “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’; and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; depart from Me, all you evildoers.’

 

The Christian life is a battle – a battle mostly with ourselves, with our sin nature, with our penchant to take shortcuts with regard to walking and talking a holy lifestyle, and rationalize away what a life fully committed to Christ looks like.

 

We like to sing hymns such as, “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all,”  and, “All to Jesus, I surrender, all to Him I freely give,” – but when Sunday turns into Monday, and Tuesday, and so on – and when life ‘happens’ and we face hard decisions to walk the straight and narrow path or to take an easier road – well, I find in my own life that sometimes the easier road seems far more attractive.

 

Christian, please! Do not underestimate the subtlety and the fierce deceptiveness of Satan and his demons. The Holy Spirit often warns the Christian to be alert to the battle against our desire and our need for a pure walk with Christ. “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood,” the apostle Paul wrote to the Christians at Ephesus, “[it is] against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

 

The battle for our souls never lets up; And so, Paul continued with this critical counsel: “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:12-17)

 

When we’re young it’s easier (although certainly not easy) – it’s easier to ‘keep the faith’ as Paul wrote to Timothy. It’s easier to keep marching on for Jesus. We have the energy and the health to handle setbacks and disappointments. But as we age, keeping that faith often becomes more difficult. We tire easily. Many struggle with chronic illnesses, or financial difficulties, or any number of other stressors. And it’s not as easy to bounce back from setbacks and disappointment as we could in our earlier years.

 

Which is precisely why we must – in our old age – remember the counsel given us in our early days: Run to Jesus. Run to His word. Continue to hide it in our hearts, even if it is only a verse or two from time to time. Keep fighting that good fight and do not grow WEARY with it.

 

Speaking of fighting that good fight and not growing weary even in our old age, I am reminded of a story in the intertestamental book of 2 Maccabees. The book is not found in most modern Protestant versions of the Bible, but is found in Catholic, Orthodox and (I believe) some Anglican versions. In fact, the Jewish holiday of Channukah, or the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple spoken of in the tenth chapter of John’s gospel – that Feast is rooted in the history of Jewish persecution as described in the second book of Maccabees.

 

Here is a vignette from chapter six of that book. It is about an old man by the name of Eleazar. The Greek king Antiochus made it a capital crime to be Jewish. Under pain of extreme torture and death, he forced them to turn from their faith and adopt Greek culture. And it is here that we come to the story of fighting the good fight of faith or not growing weary in well-doing. I begin with 2 Maccabees 6:18:

Eleazar, one of the scribes in high position, a man now advanced in age and of noble presence, was being forced to open his mouth to eat swine’s flesh. But he, welcoming death with honor rather than life with pollution, went up to the torture rack of his own accord, spitting out the flesh . . . Those who were in charge of that unlawful sacrifice took the man aside because of their long acquaintance with him, and privately urged him to bring meat of his own providing. . . and to pretend that he was eating the flesh of the sacrificial meal that had been commanded by the king, ²² so that by doing this he might be saved from death, and be treated kindly on account of his old friendship with them.”

 

[But Eleazar said]: ‘Such pretense is not worthy of our time of life,’ he said, ‘for many of the young might suppose that Eleazar in his ninetieth year had gone over to an alien religion, and through my pretense, for the sake of living a brief moment longer, they would be led astray because of me, while I defile and disgrace my old age. Even if for the present I would avoid the punishment of mortals, yet whether I live or die I will not escape the hands of the Almighty. Therefore, by bravely giving up my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age and leave to the young a noble example of how to die a good death willingly and nobly for the revered and holy laws.’

 

I repeat for emphasis what Eleazar said: ‘Many of the young might suppose that Eleazar in his ninetieth year had gone over to an alien religion, and through my pretense . . . would be led astray because of me, while I defile and disgrace my old age . . . Therefore. . . I will show myself worthy of my old age and leave to the young a noble example of how to die a good death willingly and nobly for the revered and holy laws.’

And now, application time. For the sake of our souls, for the sake of the souls of our family and our friends, for the sake of all who know us: How do we -- until our last breath – how do we fight the good fight, finish the course, keep the faith and not grow weary of well doing?

 

Well, let me offer some suggestions which are rooted in God's holy word – but before I do, please know that I am not speaking now from consistent personal experience. I fail often enough to follow the counsel I am about to share with you from God's word. Nevertheless, my suggestions are rooted in God's inerrant and infallible Word, and so while I also have plenty of room for growth, His truth is still Truth. Regardless of my failures and yours to consistently and perfectly follow that truth does not change the truth that His word will always remain THE lamp to our feet and the LIGHT to our path.

 

My first suggestion – and these are not in any particular order – Be alert to the Satanic lie that we can fight the battle of faith in our own strength. Such an idea is a fail-proof recipe for disaster. “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain” (Psalm 127:1-2). And again: “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.” (Psalm 118:8-9) And once more: (Proverbs 21:31) “The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory belongs to the Lord.”

 

Martin Luther wrote about it in this way: A mighty Fortress is our God/A Bulwark never failing/Our Helper He amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing/For still our ancient foe/Doth seek to work us woe/His craft and power are great/And armed with cruel and hate/On earth is not his equal.

 

Did we in our own strength confide/Our striving would be losing/We're not the right Man on our side/The Man of God's own choosing/Dost ask who that may be?/Christ Jesus, it is He/Lord Sabaoth His Name/From age to age, the same/And He must win the battle

How do we make sure that we’re not fighting the good fight in our own strength? Say it out loud to yourself and to God that you are helpless and hopeless in this battle. Say it out loud to yourself and to God that you desperately need His protection, guidance, mercy, and grace to fight the good fight of faith and not grow weary in well-doing. Willfully and purposefully reject the blasphemous Humanistic attitude that boasts, “I did it My Way.”

 

Confess out loud to yourself and to God that the battle is His. Learn from His word that we war against supernatural spiritual powers of darkness. Learn from the Holy Spirit what it means to take every thought captive in obedience to Christ. Learn and practice what it means to reject every thought, every idea, every philosophy that contradicts what God has clearly revealed to us in Scripture about sin, righteousness and judgment. And it matters not a speck, not whit if we are 20 years old or 90. Sin is still sin.

 

Second, seek godly counselors to help clarify questions about the Bible, for, as the Holy Spirit tells us in the Proverbs (Proverbs 24:6) “For by wise guidance you will wage war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.” Be alert to the temptations to your walk with Christ in order to ‘fit in’ with our godless and often anti-Christ culture. Instead, purposely and willfully stand up – stand up for Jesus. Intentionally serve God with the integrity and life of holiness worthy of our name as servants of Christ.  

 

I need to bring this to a close, and I do so with these final words of exhortation: In June of 1940, virtually all of Europe had fallen to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. And now England was in the cross hairs.  Many in the British Parliament were ready to sue for terms of peace. Then Churchill took the podium and spoke words that literally changed the course of the war:

“Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”

Churchill’s rousing words of encouragement changed the course of the Second World War, and so, let’s bring his words to our own battle. Yes, the battles are long, and arduous, and painful.  

 

But – But, with God’s help we shall not flag or fail. With His help we shall go on to the end.  Yes, with God’s help we will not grow weary in well doing. God has promised with an unfailing and unfaltering promise; we shall reap if we do not give up. And in keeping the faith, in standing for Jesus, the course of our individual lives, and the lives of our families, and those who know us can also be altered for God!

 

And do not forget how the apostle concluded his commission to Timothy in that passage I read at the beginning of this message. Do not forget those words because those words apply to every Chistian in this sanctuary:

 

“In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

 

Amen.

 

Memorial Day and the Cross

Tomorrow is Memorial Day, the day America sets aside to honor the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in our country’s armed forces. Across the country, people will visit cemeteries to honor our deceased and place flowers or American flags on their graves.

 

Those who died did so to secure freedoms for Americans, freedoms many of us take for granted. The freedoms bought for us by their blood include the freedom of speech, freedom to own and legally use firearms, the freedom of religion, and the freedom to peacefully assemble. The Bill of Rights lists other freedoms that we will not take the time now to enumerate – but the point needs to be reiterated: Those men and women fought and died to protect the freedoms we enjoy.

 

As I reflected on this upcoming national holiday, I realized Memorial Day is also a very good day to remember a casualty of another war – a war which was the worst ever fought in history since the beginning of creation. And the loss of this particular life resulted in a cost incomparable to the cost of any conflict since the Garden of Eden.

 

I’m speaking of the war waged in heaven and on earth for the eternal souls of men and women. You probably have guessed that I am speaking of the battle that took the life of God's only begotten Son. I’m speaking of the battle in which Jesus sacrificed His life to secure for us freedoms which are far more vital than even of those critically important freedoms gained for us by our military.

 

Americans who know our history recognize the names of places where Americans died for our freedom, places like Bunker Hill, Gettysburg, the WW1 Battle of Marne, the WW2 battles of Iwo Jima, and Normandy.

 

But the battle that cost the life of God's Son occurred in what was then often referred to as a backwater town of Jerusalem. However, with Christ’s death and subsequent resurrection – and let us never forget that last point because without that resurrection, the death of Christ would mean absolutely nothing for our freedoms – with Christ’s death and resurrection, He alone won for all humanity freedoms which only HE could secure.

And so, the question which we ought to ask on this day before Memorial Day – and the question I hope to adequately answer – is this: What FREEDOMS did Jesus’ death bring to us? For the sake of time, I will talk briefly of only four. You can probably think of others yourself.

 

First, Christ’s death for us procured for us freedom from the devil’s lie that we have to earn our salvation, that we have to somehow and in some way warrant God's grace, the lie that our salvation depends in large part or in small part on something WE have to do.

 

Listen to what Jesus said about the so-called ‘righteousness of works’ and the Biblical truth of the righteousness of humble faith: Luke 18:10-14 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

 

Listen: If righteousness was obtainable by keeping the Law, Jesus would never have had to die. Here is St Paul speaking infallibly in Gal 2:21 “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”

And again, Paul to the Christians at Colossae: (Colossians 2:16,17,20-23) Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day, things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. . . . If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch . . . in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.”

Not long after Jesus ascended to the Father, a heresy circulated among the believing Jewish priests and Pharisees who taught that obedience of Gentiles to the Law of Moses was a requisite for salvation. At the heart of this issue was circumcision. Because of the spiritual damage this heresy was causing, the apostles came together at what is known as the first Jerusalem council. It was at that counsel that the apostles deemed that circumcision was NOT a requirement for salvation for Jews or Gentiles. Peter closed the discussion with these words:  (Acts 15:11): “We believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as [the Gentiles] also are.”

 

The heretical idea that our salvation is based on something WE have to do is a Satanic lie that remains with us to this very day, it is a lie designed by the devil to place and keep even Christians in bondage.

 

So, the first freedom Christ’s blood bought us is freedom from the idea that we can do anything to secure our own salvation. And that freedom brings us to what I am labeling the second freedom for the Christian (and only for the Christian): The freedom from God's wrath for our sins.

 

The Lord Jesus said to the very religious Nicodemus: (John 3:18) “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

 

Several verses later, the Lord continues: (John 3:36) “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

 

Paul adds in his letter to the Christians at Rome: (Romans 5:8-10)  ⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 

 

And in his letter to the church as Ephesus: (Ephesians 2:1-3) “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, ² in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. ³ Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”

 

Christian – please hear this: God will never make you suffer after death for your sins. Never. The apostle Paul didn’t believe in a place called Purgatory. I have shared with you in the past portions of his other letters that ought to put that terrible idea of purgatory to rest – such as Philippians 1:21 and 2 Corinthians 5:6-9.

 

And neither did St John believe in punishment for the Christian after death. Here is what he wrote in his first epistle: (1 John 4:18) “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”

 

I know I am quoting a lot of Scripture, and I will be quoting even more as I continue this message. And if you have been with me for more than a few months, you know I often quote from God's word. I do so because you should not at all be swayed by my opinions – unless my opinions are rooted and grounded in God's infallible word.

 

And second, I so often quote scriptures in my sermons and studies because ‘it is only GOD’S truth that can set us free from bondage. As the Lord Jesus said: (John 8:31-32): “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;  and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”  

 

So, the freedoms Jesus’ blood bought for us on Calvary’s hill included the freedom from the lie of a works-based salvation, and freedom for the Christian from the fear of God's wrath for our sins. The third freedom Jesus secured for us, and related to the first two, is this: The Christian – and only the Christian – now is free from the fear of death.

 

Listen to Hebrews 2:14-15: “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

 

Death is an unknown – but it is not a completely indecipherable unknown. God in His graciousness has given us information in Scriptures that should allay the Christian’s fear of death.

 

For one thing, as we have already seen, death for the Christian is not a time of judgment, But as for what heaven is like, God has given us sufficient glimpses into our future in heaven in verses such as these:

 

Revelation 21:3-4 “And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

 

Revelation 22:3 “There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.

 

What will heaven be like? I don’t know. But I like to imagine colors to be so much more incredibly vibrant than we see them now with human eyes. Greens greener. Reds redder. Blues bluer. The colors of the rainbow surrounding us in the nature of heaven all shimmering, sparkling, yet blending while each remains clearly distinct.

 

And heaven’s sounds? The psalmist wrote: “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” (Psalm 150), and maybe that also works in heaven. EVERYTHING that breathes – animals, insects, mammals – everything that breathes, and each mingling their breath and voice into an incredible soul-stirring celestial symphony of praise to God.

 

I like to also imagine, as Isaiah tells us (55:12), “The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands” – The whole of heaven’s landscape raising voice, and even the wind rustling through trees and flowers and across our ears will whisper a melody of worship in which all of creation joins to raise to its Creator.

 

And for a moment, in my fun speculations, I wondered if after a millennium of such resonating choruses and beauty – would I get bored with it all? I wondered that because I know how quickly I get bored with things in life that once startled me. But then I thought of Jeremiah’s words in Lamentations: “The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning.” (Lamentations 3:22-23a). I thought, God's infinite combinations of sounds and colors and sights are – well, they’re infinite.

 

So, how could I get bored when His glories and wonders are new every morning? A local poet, Betty Smith, thought of it this way: “There will be joy and laughter – no tears or woes, and we will all be dressed in the finest of robes, pure white, without spot or blemish, I’m told. And wine will be served in goblets of gold, the food will be sumptuous, fit for a king; the music will be heavenly – we’ll hear angels sing. There will be plenty of time to visit and talk, and after dinner, You and Jesus can walk.”

 

It is true that no one knows what heaven is actually like. But I think we can rest on what we DO know for certain, because God's word tells us what is certain: “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

 

I need to start bringing this message to a close with the fourth freedom bought and brought to us by the precious blood of our Savior Jesus: Christians, and only Christians, have the freedom to call God, our Father.

 

Listen again to the apostle John: (1:10-13) “He [Christ] was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

 

Have you ‘received’ Jesus? Have you asked Him to cleanse your sins, to control your life, to make you His own, and to deepen your life in holiness? If so, then you ARE a child of God and He has given you the right to call Him your Father.

 

But – and this is very important – if you have never personally asked His cleansing and control over your life and lifestyle, and if you do not humbly confess to Him your sins and repent, then you might be religious, and you might be a good person, and you might participate in all the religious rituals of your church, including baptism – but you might not actually be a child of God and therefore do not have the right to call Him your Father.

 

If what I just said causes some sense of concern in your heart – then I am glad because this issue of salvation is far too important to dilute or soft-peddle God's truth. No one will want to say to the Lord Jesus at the Judgment: ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’ (Luke 13:26) and then hear Him say in response: ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; Depart from Me, all you evil doers.’ (Luke 13:27).

 

In other words, it won’t matter at the Judgment if we received Holy Communion every day and listened attentively to great sermons and homilies. What will matter is this: Were we born again through obedient faith in Jesus as our personal sacrifice, our personal atonement for our sins? And, did our lifestyles reflect an ongoing, day by day desire to live according to His commandments? Did we confess our sins and repent each time the Holy Spirit told us we’d done wrong?

 

Memorial Day is set aside in our nation as a day to remember with thanksgiving the military men and women who died to secure the freedoms we enjoy in this country. But Memorial Day is also a good day to remember the One who died in a battle on Calvary’s mountain – who died a death to secure our freedoms often taken for granted – even by those of us in the pews: Freedom from Satan’s lie that we have to do something to earn our salvation; Freedom from God's eternal wrath for our sins; Freedom from the fear of death; and freedom to be able to call God our very own Father.

 

No wonder the apostle Paul exclaimed: “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)

 

Intimacy with God

Last week I began a short series by talking about the fears many Christians live with at various times in their lives – fears that disturb and even rob their joy in the Lord. I cited a few of the fears that often trouble Christians, such as the fear they are not really saved, or the fear that their sins are not all forgiven, or that they cannot really be fruitful in their walk with Christ, or that they’ll never be intimate with Him in this life.

 

Of course, and it should be expected that the Christian need not give place to ANY such fears. Why? Because the Lord Jesus promised us, “The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.” Luke 18:27. And again, in 2 Corinthians 1:20a): “For all the promises of God in [Christ] are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God.” (2 Corinthians 1:20a)

 

If we are in Christ because of our faith in Christ’s substitutionary atonement for our sins, if we’ve been baptized, practice ongoing repentance and strive with His help to live a holy lifestyle – then we can be fully assured by God's sacred and immutable word: We ARE in Christ, and all the promises of God to us for a holy walk are “Yes, and Amen” in Christ.

 

Last week I talked about the impossibility of failing in our walk with Christ for anyone who wants a successful walk with Him. And I hope I was successful in demonstrating from the Scriptures that it is impossible to fail because it is our supernatural God who holds our hand. It is the supernatural Creator of worlds and galaxies who holds us in His arms and guides us in paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake – not for our sakes.

 

I want to continue this series and address another area of our walk with Christ in which it is impossible for us to fail – if we don’t want to fail. Specifically, it is impossible for the Christian who WANTS to grow in his or her intimacy with Christ to fail to do so.

 

When my friends and I were in our late teens, we often joked with each other, quoting a then popular phrase, “The one who dies with the most toys wins.” I don’t know where that asinine idea originated, but now that I’m in my 70s, I look back at those days before I met Christ and sadly shake my head to realize how stupid, and self-deceptive AND ultimately self-destructive that idea was and is.

 

To paraphrase the Lord Jesus, “What does a profit a person to gain the whole world –to have the most toys – what is the profit of them when you lay on your hospice bed facing eternity?” (See Mark 8:36 in context)

 

Long before Jesus spoke those words to His audience in Galilee, Solomon spoke of the futility of filling one’s life with toys. Listen to what he wrote toward the end of his life:

 

Ecclesiastes 2: “I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself.” And behold, it too was futility. . . . . I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself; I made gardens and parks for myself . . . I bought male and female slaves, and I had homeborn slaves. Also I possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. Also, I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of men—many concubines . .  All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure . . . and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.”

 

Solomon ended his message this way – and we who want to grow in our intimacy with God would be wise to heed:

 

“Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no delight in them” . . .[and] the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!” . . . The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person; For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”

 

Vanity of vanities. Futility of futilities. Striving all our lives – some of us even to this moment – trying to fill a God-created emptiness with things that can satisfy only for a short while but ultimately will taste like ashes in our mouths.

 

St Augustine knew what he was talking about when he wrote: “Great are You, Lord, and greatly to be praised . . . You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

 

And so, the Lord Jesus offers all who are restless: “Come to Me and you will find rest for your souls.” (See Matthew 11:28 context)

 

There is no intimacy with Christ without a DESIRE for intimacy and a WILLINGNESS to do what is required for that intimacy, which is obedience to His word. And there is no growing in that intimacy without also a true desire to grow in our obedience to His word.

 

And it is along that line of thought of growing in intimacy that I now say what I am about to say: The book of Romans is arguably the most systematic statement of Christian faith that’s ever been written. But yet Paul confessed several years LATER, in his letter to the Christians at Philippi, that he still had much to learn about intimacy with his Savior. Listen to what he wrote:

 

“But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. (As an aside, think of ‘toys’ in this context. Paul could have said, “However many ‘toys’ I have, I count it all as loss for the sake of Christ).

 

Let me now continue with the text, back to Philippians 3 and verse 8: “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”

 

I pause again to make another comment: Paul confessed to his readers – including you and me – that all he wanted to do was to gain Christ, to be found in Him – we might say – to be as intimate and as close to Him as our breath is to us. And then notice what he says next: “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:7-14

 

Isn’t that a word both of advice AND encouragement to us who long to be close with Jesus? If PAUL did not believe he’d ‘arrived’ at the place with Jesus that he wanted to be, then who among us should think poorly of ourselves that WE have not yet arrived at the place of intimacy with Christ that we want to be?  And so, the question: “Are we willing to do what it takes to grow closer to Christ?

 

And, you might ask, what might that be? What is necessary for us to do in order to draw closer to Him who created us?

 

Well, first – we need to know in our heart of hearts that God created us for intimacy with Himself. Parents understand that principle. When a man and woman fall in love and marry, they usually want to have children with whom they can share their love and the close intimacy of a family. In a similar way – though much deeper than we can hope to understand – God wants to be intimate with us.

 

But the problem arises for us when we are content to hold Him at arm’s length -- mostly because we don’t like His rules for intimacy – just as children of loving parents who, when they grow older, grouse about their parent’s rules and as a consequence distance THEMSELVES from the closeness their parents still desire to have with them.

 

That was the problem – so to speak – that God faced with His Chosen People, Israel. He created them, and He covenanted with them to be their God, lover, protector – yes, even their Father. Isaiah 64:8 is only one example in the Old Testament of the relationship God wanted with Israel: “But now, O Lord, You are our Father . . .  all of us are the work of Your hand.”

 

But we learn throughout the writings of the Old Testament prophets, the people – for the most part – did not want that kind of intimacy with God. Listen again to Isaiah: Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the Lord speaks, “Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me. An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master’s manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand.”

Alas, sinful nation, People weighed down with iniquity.” (Isaiah 1:2-4)

 

As I’ve said several times in different ways during this message, our Father in heaven created us to have an intimate relationship with Him. That’s why He gave His Son, Jesus, to reconcile us to Himself by Christ’s substitutionary death on that cross.

 

God certainly did HIS part. But we who want a close relationship must do our part, too. If we want intimacy with God, if we want to be as close to Him as our breath is to ourselves – as I said earlier – we must strive to live according to His way, His design, His commandments, because His commandments and design are all designed for our good, our benefit, our wholeness.

 

It is not enough to read the Bible and pray and do good works – all very important to our walk with Him. But without OBEDIENCE to His commandments, such things will never grow us closer to Him. We cannot be a friend of the world and a friend of God. Indeed, being a friend of the world makes us enemies of God. St James put it quite succinctly:

 

“You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God . . . . Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts.” (James 4:4,7-8a) 

 

If we want intimacy with our Lord, then we must enter and remain in that relationship His way – not ours. The Lord said on more than one occasion, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” (John 14:21)

 

Obedience. That’s the key to intimacy. The more often we obey Him, the closer we draw near to Him. The more often we disobey, the more distant we grow from Him. As the scripture again tells us: (Proverbs 3:32) “[God] is intimate with the upright.”

 

Don’t we know – and if we do not know this then we need to learn this: Our sin nature distorts every part of our lives. It distorts our ability to think and reason correctly about sin, righteousness, and God's judgment. And our sin nature interferes with our ability to consistently make godly choices.

 

Jeremiah said it clearly enough: (Jeremiah 17:9) “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” God also tells us through apostle Paul: “The person you used to be will ruin you through desires that deceive you.” Ephesians 4:22 (NOG version).

 

THAT is why our knowledge of -- and more specifically – our obedience to the Scriptures, as guided by the Holy Spirit, is our only truly safe haven from ourselves. And so, Paul counseled his readers: “Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” Become sober-minded as you ought and stop sinning.”

 

In plain language, God wants us to stop making excuses for our sins . . .  sins of gossip, sins of sexual immorality and lust, sins of anger, sins of lying, sins of refusing to forgive others, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching. Just as a husband and wife cannot be intimate with each other if one is unfaithful to the other, so too, neither can we be intimate with God if we are unfaithful to Him and his Word.

 

It doesn’t get any simpler than that; Nor does it get any more difficult because our sin nature recoils against the idea that he is Master and we are His bondslaves. And it doesn’t get any simpler than knowing that we all – and at all times—need the Holy Spirit’s supernatural help to adhere to HIS singular Truth over the many and varied so-called ‘truths’ of our culture.

 

The Psalmist certainly understood the vital role of the Holy Spirit in keeping us close and intimate with God. For example, pay attention to the verbs in this section of Psalm 119:33-38

 

“Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, and I shall observe it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law and keep it with all my heart. Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to Your testimonies and not to dishonest gain. Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity and revive me in Your ways. Establish Your word to Your servant, as that which produces reverence for You.”

Intimacy with Christ. Is that our goal? Is that our desire? If so, then are we willing to do what is necessary to reach that goal? Are we even willing TO BE MADE WILLING by the Holy Spirit to do what we need to do to become more intimate with Jesus?

 

As I’ve said, God created us for intimacy with Himself. He WANTS intimacy with us. So, let’s come to Him, humbly, confessing our sins and our weakness to obey Him as we ought. Confessing also how much we need Him to make us walk in the paths of His commandments, to incline our hearts to His testimonies, and to turn our eyes away from looking at vanity and chasing after toys – things which can never fill the God-created hole in our hearts.

 

My brothers and sisters – Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Take His yoke upon ourselves and learn from Him – for He is meek and humble in heart, and we will find rest for our souls and a deepening intimacy with Him who loves us with a love immeasurable.

 

Amen.