Walking with Him through a Broken World

Sermon

August 30

Walking with Him through a Broken World

 

 

Our text today comes from the first eight verses of the epistle of James:

 

“James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

 

Before we move any further into the epistle, let’s look more closely at the author of this letter because I think we all can learn a lot from his attitude. According to biblical scholarship, James was the brother of the Lord Jesus. Whether he was half-brother, sharing the same mother (but not, of course, the Lord’s Father), or he was simply a relative of Jesus growing up in the same household is not germane to the point. What IS the point is that James grew up with Jesus. They shared the same living environment, perhaps some of the same friends, and certainly the same synagogue and family training in Jewish Law and customs according to Moses and the prophets.

 

So, when James introduces himself as a “bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,” his humility ought to be instructive. He could have called attention to his familial relationship with Jesus. Talk about ‘name-dropping’ – there could never be a more impressive resume than living in the same household with God incarnate. James could have also called attention to his leadership of the Jerusalem church, which was the largest church at the time anywhere in the world. He could have reminded his readers that it was he who led the first council of apostles and elders, as we find in Acts chapter 15.

 

But he did none of these things. He simply referred to himself as a bondservant – the Greek word means slave – a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. We tend to do our best to soften the New Testament term used for slave – perhaps in part because of America’s repugnant history of slavery in the South. But irrespective of American history, the writers of the New Testament reckoned themselves as being fully owned by their master, the Lord Jesus. Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth: “For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord’s freedman; Likewise, he who was called while free, is Christ’s slave. You were bought with a price.” (1 Corinthians 7:22-23a)

 

In fact, the humility of all the New Testament writers ought to be instructive to us. For example, Peter could’ve called attention to the time Jesus said to him: “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” (Matthew 16:17-18) But he referred to himself in his letters as bondservant – a slave of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:1).

 

What about Paul? No one did more in those early years to build Christ’s kingdom than he, yet he not only called himself a slave of Jesus Christ, but also the “foremost” of sinners (e.g. Romans 1 and 1 Timothy 1).

 

So, application time: What ought this point of humility mean to us here? Simply this: We ought to be very careful how we think and talk about our accomplishments in life. We ought to beware of boasting in our heart about our jobs or titles or ranks or prestige in the community or the accolades we’ve received during our working careers. After all, as James reminds us several verses later in this first chapter: “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” (James 1:17)

 

Christian: Beware. God shares His glory with no one. Listen to what

He says to us through Jeremiah: (Jeremiah 9:23-24) “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things.”

This is NOT a minor point. Boasting about OUR accomplishments is the kind of pride that leads to disaster. Just look at the ancient nation of Israel. God warned them even before they entered the Promised Land to be careful to recognize where their blessings came from: Deuteronomy 8:11-18a

 

“Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today; otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery . . . .[and] you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth.”

 

But did they pay heed? You know they did not, and their pride resulted ultimately in their devastating judgments and exiles. So, Christian, be careful to remember and to quickly acknowledge, as Paul warned the Corinthians: “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” 1 Corinthians 4:7b

 

So, James continues, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

 

Consider it ‘joy’ WHEN you experience trials. That counsel flies in the face of modernist preachers and those in pews who like to believe God wants them to always be happy and prosperous and healthy.

 

Well, of COURSE God wants those things for His children. He didn’t place Adam and Eve in that Garden for the express purpose of giving them a life of hardship. Their hardship came ONLY after their fall into sin. God did not design this world and this life to be corrupted by sin. That’s why hardships and trials continue to this very moment – because we live in a fallen and broken world.  And it will remain fallen and broken until Jesus brings about the new heaven and new earth as He promises through the various Old Testament prophets and in those last chapters of Revelation.

 

Please also notice James does not say, “IF you encounter various trials.”  He writes, “Consider it joy WHEN you encounter them.” He tells us why we should rejoice in the next clause, and we’ll get there in a moment – but first we need to park here at this clause for a short while.

 

Listen. There is not a person here who does not know that faithful Christians get cancer. Or die in car accidents. Or suffer chronic illnesses and disabilities. We know that faithful Christians become impoverished. And yes, are raped and murdered, as we know is happening in places like Nigeria, Iraq, Iran – and even here in America.

 

We live in a broken and fallen world. And it is to that very point the Lord Jesus counseled His disciples: John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

 

And it is toward that point that James circles back to in chapter five of this letter: “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. ⁸ You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near . . . . You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.” James 5:7,8,11

 

Consider it all joy WHEN trials come. Why? Now to that next clause: “Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” And if I may paraphrase what he then adds: “So let perseverance work its full effect, that your faith may be made mature and complete.”

 

It is a doctrine of demons when preachers tell us if we only have enough faith, we can be healthy and wealthy. That sounds suspiciously like the false teaching popular in the first century. You may remember the story of the man blind from birth. Here is part of that text in John 9:2-3 – “And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

 

Listen, God has something far better and eternally more important for us than temporary earthly blessings. Listen to Paul again: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

 

‘All things’ INCLUDE trials and losses and griefs and even tragedies. God causes all things to work for good. And what is that ‘good’? Look at the next verse in Romans 8: “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son” who, as the Holy Spirit tells us in Hebrews 5:8 –  “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.” Romans 8:28-29

 

Despite the lies of some modernist preachers, God PURPOSELY and PURPOSEFULLY brings varying degrees of suffering into our lives. That might be one reason Peter wrote: “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:6-7

 

The reality of Christian suffering might be one reason Paul wrote to the Christians at Philippi: (Philippians 1:29) “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.”

 

And Paul himself was no stranger to suffering. Listen to what he wrote to the Christians at Corinthian: (2 Corinthians 4:7-11) “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;  always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake . . .”

 

Christian, and this too is important, remember what Satan said to Jesus in the wilderness after 40 days of physical and emotional deprivation: “If you are the son of God” then do such and such. Likewise, he inspired the mob at the foot of Calvary’s cross to say it again to the Man as He suffered enormous physical and emotional deprivation: “If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross . .. He trusts in God; let God rescue Him now, if He delights in Him.”  Matthew 27:40-43

Christian, don’t be shocked that Satan speaks similarly to you through family, friends, and neighbors when you suffer through some terrible trial. He’ll make some sarcastic comments through them such as, “If you’re really a child of God, if God really cares about you, then why are you suffering like this?”

 

He does those things to demoralize you, to seduce you to give up your faith. Hey, he’s been doing that for millennia. One of the reasons James wrote this epistle was to encourage his readers to persevere for Christ. The book of Hebrews was written for the same reason. And even a cursory reading of the Lord’s remarks to the seven churches in Revelation tells us Satan is very skillful in discouraging and demoralizing Christians into giving up.

 

And I suspect that’s why James, so early in his epistle, tells his readers, “Hey, I know you’re struggling through trials, so do this: If you need wisdom to handle those trials – ask God for that wisdom, because He gives it to everyone who honestly asks for it. And then James goes on: But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

 

If we lack wisdom as to HOW to deal with and to endure our trials – then ask God. But if we go to Him with a double-mind, if we ask Him with an underlying plan to ignore His counsel if we don’t like His answer – then we should not expect to receive anything from Him.

 

It’s really that simple and straightforward. John Wesley said of a double-minded person is the person whose heart is not fully given up to God and His work in our life. John Calvin tells us that faith doesn’t require that we understand God’s plan, but it requires that we simply trust Him even when we don’t understand it. 

 

I think Job said it well: (Job 6:1-10) “Oh that my grief were actually weighed and laid in the balances together with my calamity! “For then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas . . . “For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, Their poison my spirit drinks; The terrors of God are arrayed against me . . . . “But it is still my consolation, and I rejoice in unsparing pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

 

The Psalmist, in the context of grief and loss, writes: “All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You, and we have not dealt falsely with Your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, and our steps have not deviated from Your way.

 

Do we want God’s wisdom? When I mentored nursing students, I often told them they must not wait until a patient emergency to ensure they have emergency equipment at the bedside. They were responsible for ensuring they had those things available when they first came on shift and went into their patients’ rooms to greet them.

 

I give the same counsel to myself – and to anyone interested in my counsel: Don’t wait until you NEED God’s wisdom to ensure you know what His word teaches about trials and grief and loss. Instead, make sure you’re prepared for trials BEFORE they occur.

 

How might we be prepared? I’ll tell it again what I do: In addition to my daily reading from both Old and New Testaments, every morning I also read a chapter or two from Psalms. I urge you to do something similar.

 

I close with this reminder: Christian, Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance” And, “If any of you lacks wisdom to handle those trials, ask God in faith.”

 

Christian, our Father in heaven knows our names. He knows our addresses. He knows our needs and circumstances. So I close with the lyrics from a song by the group, The Imperials –

 

He didn't bring us this far to leave us/He didn't teach us to swim to let us drown/He didn't build His home in us to move away/He didn't lift us up to let us down.

What Happens after you Die?

What happens to us after we die – the Christian and the unbeliever? This question might not be on top of most of our minds, but I find myself thinking of it more often now than I did when I was 20. Or 30. Or even 60. Truth is – and I don’t mean to be morbid –statistically speaking, in the next ten years most of us will be gone from this life and will have entered the next.

 

That’s why today I want to focus our attention on what God has told us about the so-called ‘hereafter.’ I felt impelled to this subject because there is no more important question for the Christian and for the non-Christian than what happens to us when we die. And while people will come up with all kinds of answers to that question, only the CORRECT answer leads to everlasting life. The wrong answer leads to everlasting agony. ‘Everlasting’ means just what it sounds like: Forever. No end point. Eternal.

 

So, may God teach us to number our days so that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.

At the outset of today’s message, let me be clear: The correct answer to that all-important question is found only in what God tells us is the correct answer. And that answer is forever linked with His words found only in the book we call the Holy Bible. I understand that most of humanity, and even a large portion of those who attend church each week – a large majority of men and women do not believe the Bible we have in our hands is the actual inerrant and infallible word of the Almighty God to us. But that should not surprise anyone because God requires a lot from all of us – things like personal holiness and obedience to His commandments. And because of our inherited sin nature our flesh rebels against His commandments, we’d rather ignore them or dilute them to fit our preferred lifestyles.

 

Nevertheless, God implores us through Moses: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days.” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)

 

It is beyond the scope of today’s message to review the many evidences that prove the inerrancy, infallibility, and full inspiration of the Bible. Some of us examined those evidences several months ago when we studied how we got our Bibles. So, for the sake of time, let it simply suffice to say that it is irrational to think that the One who simply spoke into existence the entire universe and everything in it – it is irrational to think this same omnipotent Creator cannot ensure that what He spoke through His prophets and apostles is not the same message we have today in our Bibles.

 

There is, however, one more piece of evidence that proves the Bible’s full trustworthiness that we didn’t discuss during our study. We need to consider it now, because the resurrection of Jesus Christ places God’s final and definitive seal on the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy and infallibility. How so? One reason is because the incarnate God – Jesus – fulfilled HUNDREDS of Old Testament Messianic prophecies, thereby proving Scripture’s supernatural accuracy.

 

Mathematician Peter Stoner examined only eight of the specific Messianic prophecies and estimated the probability that one person could fulfill all eight by chance to be one in 10 followed by 17 zeros.

 

Christ’s resurrection proves He is God incarnate (see for example Romans 1:4). And as God incarnate, He repeatedly told His listeners that the Old Testament was God’s fully authoritative word. For example, He said: “The Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35); “[God’s] word is truth” (John 17:17); “Not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Matthew 5:18); And after His resurrection, He explained to His disciples how the Old Testament Scriptures testified about Him (Luke 24:27, 44–45).

 

Furthermore, because God incarnate authorized the apostles to bear witness of Him and His words, their words are just as authoritative as the Old Testament writers and prophets. For example, Jesus told His apostles: “The Helper, the Holy Spirit… will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:26); And “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” John 16:13.

 

So, that’s why Christ’s resurrection is so vital to the question of what happens to us after we die because if Jesus did not rise from the grave, then Christianity’s claim of its uniqueness among all other faiths and non-faiths collapses like a house of cards. If Christ did not rise from the dead, then we have absolutely no assurance that God’s answer to the question about what happens to us when we die is the only correct answer.

 

So, back to our original question about our eternal destinies. Let me first quickly say what Scripture tells us does NOT happen when we die. First, we do not cease to exist at death. Neither do our bodies simply decay to dust and our consciousness dissolves into nothingness. Neither is our consciousness absorbed into the universe. I’ve spoken to people – even recently – who believe such lies, and I reference now only a few Biblical texts that prove them to be lies. You can examine them later for yourselves: Genesis 5:24, 15:15, 35:29; Job 19:25-27; Daniel 12:2; Isaiah 26:19.

 

Neither do we enter a cycle of reincarnation. Some scriptures that prove that to be a lie are Hebrews 9:27 and Daniel 12:2, among many others. Nor is it true that everyone is saved simply because God is a God of love and would never send anyone to an eternal hell. That heresy, called ‘Universalism’ or ‘Universal Salvation’ is also repudiated by God’s word, including the few I cited already in the last few moments.

 

Listen, please. Those who die believing any of those lies will discover to their unending horror that they have been beguiled by Satan even as Eve was beguiled in the Garden when he caused her to doubt God’s word. And we know the rest of that story, don’t we? We’re still LIVING with the rest of that story because humanity has been swallowing the Serpent’s lies ever since that moment. That’s why it’s impossible to understand world history or our own personal histories without understanding how Genesis 3 affects us to this very day.

 

So, what happens to us when we die? I will not speak much about the destiny of the lost, of those who knew of Jesus but rejected Jesus. I won’t speak much about their destiny except to say these few things:

 

God warns humanity in multiple places throughout His word that the unbelieving dead will be forever separated from God in a place of agony known as the Lake of Fire. The apostle John wrote about what he saw in his infallible vision: “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life . . . then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:11-15).

 

The story Jesus told of the Rich Man and Lazarus also serves to answer the question of what happens to the lost when they die. If you need to refresh your memory about that story, you’ll find it in Luke 16. That story teaches several important lessons, but for the sake of time, here are only a few: First, those in hell are in continual agony on flames. Continual. It never ends. Second, those in hell have full memory of what their lives were like before they died. Third, they are fully aware of where they are. And finally, in addition to his physical pain, the Rich Man suffered intense mental anguish, knowing there was no hope whatsoever that he could ever escape hell.

 

A few days ago, I spent several minutes perusing one of the old America’s Got Talent performances on YouTube. Within a few bars of the song the female contestant sang – and throughout the song – the entire audience (there must have been thousands of them) the entire audience was on its feet, clapping their hands in the air and their bodies bouncing with the music. And as the camera scanned the auditorium it seemed all of them – ALL of them – were singing along with the lyrics. Here is part of what they were singing:

I'm on the highway to hell/On the highway to hell/Highway to hell
I'm on the highway to hell/No stop signs, speed limit/Nobody's gonna slow me down/Like a wheel, gonna spin it/Nobody's gonna mess me around
Hey Satan, payin' my dues/Playing in a rocking band/Hey mama, look at me/I'm on the way to the promised land/Woo!

 

I listened only long enough to grasp what the woman and the audience were joyously singing. As I said, there must have been thousands in that audience, happily singing they’re on the highway to hell.

 

Listen, please. It is only God’s mercy that He makes the destiny of the unbeliever unmistakable. Jesus warned: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” John 5:24 “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23; And “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the Judgment.” Hebrews 9:27;

 

It is His mercy that He makes it clear because He is not wishing for ANY to perish, but rather that they repent of their sins and turn to Christ for complete pardon and eternal forgiveness.

 

Now, before we turn attention to what happens when the Christian dies, let me first say this because I often speak with faithful Christians who are unsure of their ASSURED destiny with Christ. They are unsure because they believe their past sins have earned them God’s eternal disfavor.

 

But if that’s true, then God’s word is not inerrant and infallible, and it cannot be trusted to tell us the truth about anything. But thanks be to God, we CAN trust it to be 100% accurate in all that it says – including its warnings to the unbeliever and its promises to the believer.

 

The apostle Paul called himself the ‘foremost of sinners.’ Yet he is the same man who wrote: “For this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.” 1 Timothy 1:16 It was the same ‘foremost of sinners’ who also wrote: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)

 

Christian – enough doubting God’s promises to you. And so, what happens to the Christian after death?

 

According to God, we immediately enter His presence. There are no intermediate stops in a fictitious place called Purgatory or where we spend time in what is called ‘soul sleep.’ Listen to the apostle writing infallibly and inerrantly: 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 “Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—for we walk by faith, not by sight— we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.”

 

The Lord’s promise to the repentant thief is even more direct: “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43

 

And just as there is consciousness in hell, there is consciousness in heaven. I think now of the great cloud of witnesses, those heroes of faith in heaven who surround us in this great amphitheater of life in which we run the race of faith. I think of the martyred saints under the altar in Revelation 6 who cry out to God to avenge their blood. I think of Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration conversing with the Lord. Yes, Christians are fully aware of where they are when they die. And we will rejoice every moment throughout eternity.

 

My time has run out, but I don’t want to close this message without speaking at least briefly about the rewards Christians will receive in our next life. God speaks often of them, and one of the many clear references is this one in 1 Corinthians. The context is the work we do for Christ in this life: (1 Corinthians 3:5-15)

 

What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor . . . like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

 

An entire sermon series can be built around this text, but for the sake of time, I want us to see at least these three points: First, the one who tells others the gospel and the one who later nurtures what was told are BOTH necessary to the fruit God Himself brings forth. Without planting there’d be no need for watering. Without watering, the planting would be useless.

 

Second, God doesn’t only use preachers, authors, teachers, or missionaries to build His Kingdom. The housewife and the blue-collar worker who are faithful to Christ and examples to their neighbors are just as useful to God as the preacher or choir director.

 

Finally for our purpose, unless our work is founded and centered on Christ alone, we will not share in any rewards. That’s the whole point of building His Kingdom with the right materials. At the Judgement Seat of Christ, when Jesus examines our work as to how and why we did what we did – our motives, how diligently we worked for Him, if our walk contradicted our words, and so forth – when the Lord Jesus examines our works with His eyes of flame – what was done with wrong motives and not fully for Him will be burned away. (See Revelation 2:18-19).

 

This Corinthian text has nothing at all to do with salvation or, as some claim, Purgatory. Jesus secured our salvation and our full cleansing of sin on Calvary’s cross. This text has everything to do with the level of rewards we will receive for our work for Christ.

 

I will close with this summary of what happens when we die: The one who rejects Christ will himself be rejected by Christ and will immediately upon death enter hell – and ultimately the Lake of Fire – where there will be a conscious and eternal weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 

But the one who receives Christ by faith and lives according to His commandments will immediately upon death enter heaven where he will live eternally, in conscious peace and joy with the Lord. And this is what every Christian can expect about our new home:

 

Isaiah 25:6-8 “The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples . . . And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations. ⁸ He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth . . . And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

 

Maranatha, Lord Jesus. Come quickly.

To Rid My Soul of One Dark Blot

We are continuing our series in Psalm 19. For those of you who may have missed last week’s message, let me remind us that many conservative theologians divide this psalm into three sections. The first section –verses 1-6 – speak of God’s general revelation of Himself to humanity through creation itself. His existence is unmistakable to all who choose truth over lies. That is why all who reject the obvious will be without excuse for their atheism at the Judgment of Christ.

 

The second section we looked – verses 7-11 – speak of the Bible as God’s special revelation through which He communicates with humanity about sin, its eternal judgement, and of eternal life God offers to everyone who comes to Him for forgiveness through obedient faith in Jesus Christ alone. 

 

Today we will begin our look at the third section – verses 12-14 – which speaks to what the godly and proper response ought to be to God’s general and special revelations.

 

Before we go any further, I want to again remind us of the inevitable COSTS of refusing to hear what God says to us through His general and special revelations. I want to remind us of them because they’re of the utmost importance to anyone who wants a useful and rewarding life.

 

One cost is that our refusal cuts into God’s heart even while He is lavishing His love on those who reject His love. Listen, please, God created us to love us, just as – in a manner of speaking – godly parents ‘create’ children to love them. And just as it breaks the hearts of loving parents when their child turns away from them, it breaks the Father’s heart when His children turn from Him.

 

That’s one cost of rejecting Him. But there is yet another cost as we inevitably harden our own hearts until spiritual blindness becomes permanent and we are completely incapable of hearing God’s voice call us to Himself. He warns us of that catastrophic truth throughout Scripture. A few examples can be found in Exodus 4:21; 7:3–4; 9:12; Proverbs 1:20-33; Jeremiah 6:16-19; Matthew 13:14-16; Romans 1:18-32.

 

The third cost is this: Persistent rejection of God’s offer of forgiveness and reconciliation with Him will result in his or her eternity in agone in the Lake of Fire.

 

And so, today we move into the last section of Psalm 19 which speaks to what ought to be our response to God’s multiple revelations of Himself to humanity in general and to you and me in particular: “Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.”

 

As I prepared this message I wondered when David composed this psalm. Did he write it before or after his vile adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband? I thought it was – and is – an important question and so I pursued that train of thought because there’s a sobering lesson here for all of us, regardless of the timeline of this psalm’s composition.

 

The short answer is that we don’t know when David wrote Psalm 19. Many theologians believe he wrote it before the Bathsheba incident. They suggest the earlier date because the overall tenor of the psalm is positive. David exults in God’s general and special revelations – as we have seen in verses 1-11. David also doesn’t mention any grievous sin he’d committed, such as that which characterizes Psalms 32 and 51. If it has been a while since you’re read those two psalms, I recommend them to you.

 

On the other hand, there are commentators who point out that while Psalm 19 is general in its nature, David’s prayer for cleansing from ‘hidden faults’ and protection from presumptuous sins is appropriate at any stage of the believer’s life. These theologians argue that David could have written it after Bathsheba as a mature reflection on the importance of God’s Word in guarding a person from sin. In other words, David could have been asking God to keep him from the kind of presumptuous sins into which he fell.

 

If you remember Solomon’s book of Ecclesiastes, he did something similar. The first eleven chapters record his great regret and disappointment with his life, despite his vast wealth and power. All of it, he repeatedly admitted, was worthless vanity. And I’m sure he could never forget how his foreign wives led him away from God and into unspeakable idolatry.

 

No wonder, then, that at the end of his life he wrote these words of counsel and warning to those who would come after him: “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” . . .  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. (Ecclesiastes 12)

 

So yes, it is reasonable to think that David could have written this 19th psalm as a mature man, having learned the hard lesson, as Jeremiah would later write: “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9

 

But whether David wrote this psalm before or after his horrible moral failure with Bathsheba, the psalm holds an important lesson we all must learn:

 

If it was written BEFORE Bathsheba and Uriah, then Christian – beware. Don’t think for a moment you could not fall into sin – even terrible sin – as David fell. “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18) “Evil people are proud and arrogant, but sin is the only crop they produce.” (Proverbs 21:4, Contemporary English Version)

 

It is worth noting at this point what St Paul wrote about the disciple named Demas. The man started well. He even joined Paul in some of his evangelistic ministries. But something happened to Demas along the way, and he turned from Christ. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 4:10 “Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.”

 

We can also learn the lesson about starting well but finishing poorly from the Christians in Laodicea. At one time they were a vibrant community for Christ, but something obviously went wrong with them which called for a stinging rebuke from the Lord Jesus: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” (Revelation 3:15-17)

 

We should make the same cautionary warning about starting well but finishing poorly as we look at the Christians in Ephesus and in the other churches listed in those first two chapters of the book of Revelation.

 

David asked an honest question, “Who can discern his [own] errors?” He knew his heart better than most people, including those in church pews, know their own hearts. David knew – as we ALL must know if we are to ever mature in our faith – he knew how adept he was at hiding his sins from himself. No wonder he prayed: Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me.”

 

Part of the lyrics of the hymn ‘Come Thou Font of Every Blessing” speaks volumes of warning to my heart, and I hope it will speak volumes to yours as well: “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.”

 

If nothing else, that confession acknowledges how easy it is for anyone – even the ‘Davids’ of the Church – how easy it is to drift from the path God set us on when He transferred us from the domain of Satan and into the kingdom of Christ when we were born again. And unless you and I admit to God our spiritual weaknesses, we will always be at risk of moral failure. As the apostle Paul warns us: 1 Corinthians 10:12 “Let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.” 

 

Why are we so able to hide our sins from ourselves? And why do we so often choose to minimize our sins – the so-called big sins and little (venial) sins – any of which and all of which sent Jesus to that cross to atone for what we’ve done?

 

Why? In a word, ‘Pride.’ Either we’re embarrassed by what we did, or we convince ourselves the sin is not really that bad.’ Or we simply don’t want to change.

 

That’s the reason it took me as long as it did to come to faith. I didn’t want to change. Some of you might remember my story, but for the sake of those here who haven’t heard it, let me briefly retell it.

 

I was 20 years old and stopped at a traffic light in my hometown. While I waited for it to turn green, a thought dropped into my mind: What if there is a God? Surprised by the question, I considered the possibility for a few moments – but then suddenly realized that if God existed, I’d have to change my ‘sex-drugs-and rock and roll lifestyle.’ And I did not want to change. So as the light turned green, I told myself, “There is no God.”

 

Before you came to Christ, did you do something similar? Did you reject the idea of God’s existence seen so clearly in His general revelation of creation? Or did you reject the inerrancy, infallibility, and full divine inspiration of the Bible – God’s special revelation – so you could continue to live as you chose?

 

Yes, as David rightly asked, “Who can discern his errors” when we are so adept at self-deception?

 

So, it is reasonable to believe David wrote this psalm prior to his sin with Bathsheba. But on the other hand, it’s just as reasonable to believe David wrote this psalm after his moral failure because – and this is the other lesson for you and me – because he recognized that because of his sin nature, sin still lurked in his soul.

 

If you remember, the apostle Paul recognized that distressing reality within himself. Listen to what he wrote to the Christians in Rome: (Romans 7:19-25a) “For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

 

If David wrote this psalm after his failure with Bathsheba, he did so because that awful moral failure reminded him that though he wants to follow God’s commandments, there still remains something sinister in his flesh, something evil that could nearly seamlessly overtake him again if he was not alert to that potential.

 

And Christian – there is something sinister in your flesh and in mine as well that can just as seamlessly overtake us if we do not remain alert to that potential. I often rebuke myself when I recognize how EASILY I can begin to drift from holy thoughts and words and yes, even acts.

 

May the Holy Spirit help us all to stay alert to ourselves! To stay alert to temptations that come to us through the eye-gate, the ear-gate, the flesh-gate. To stay alert and flee every temptation. To turn off the questionable television show; To not participate in gossip, however ‘juicy’ the gossip might be. To not let a spirit of unforgiveness rest in our heart.

 

For good reason Paul wrote: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. (Colossians 3:15-17)

 

Christian, please heed this warning: If we live in willful ignorance of the ever-present danger of drifting from God’s commandments, we are at great risk of falling hard and painfully. That’s why it is so very necessary and critical to our maturity in Christ to ask God to make us aware of our sins – the big, the small, the in-between. How else can we be rid of the sins which so easily entangle us? As the hymn writer prayed, so ought we often pray: “Just as I am and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blot, to Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.”

 

David prayed – as should every Christian – “Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.

 

He then closed his psalm with the same words I will now close this message, and may our God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, by the mercy and the power of the Holy Spirit, make these words true for us as well:

 

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.”