Shepherds and Hirelings

I am reading during Lent Robert Murray McCheyne’s, A Basket of Fragments. In describing the difference between the true shepherds of God’s flock and hirelings (see John 10), he writes:

“The grievous wolves are evidently those false teachers who bring in another gospel which is not another. See also Matthew 10: 16, ‘Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves’ etc.

“There you see the wolves are evidently those men who bring the sheep before the councils. The time when the wolf comes is the time to mark who the true shepherd is. He stands between them when heresy comes in, or when a persecuting world stretches out its hand towards them; that is the time for the true shepherd to stand between the fold and it; but ah! the hireling flees.”
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We do not need to have a ‘pastorate’ to be a shepherd. Parents are shepherds of their children – regardless of age. Friends can be shepherds to one another. Teachers can be shepherds to their students. Employers can be shepherds to their employees.

Or – they can each be hirelings.

There are many false and misleading values, philosophies and spiritualities in our culture. May God help each of us who calls Jesus ‘Lord’ to be true and faithful shepherds to those in our sphere of influence; To tell the truth even when the truth is not welcome.

No Longer Able to Hear

I do not post this with anyone in mind. I simply post it so you might share it with others if you feel it appropriate to do so.

------------ Just yesterday I had what I consider a distressing conversation with an elderly gentleman. I’ve known him most of my life. He grew up irreligious, and he passed on his disapproval of religion to his son and daughter. Now he’s 90 and dying with brain cancer. He doesn’t accept his terminal diagnosis. I called because I sensed the Holy Spirit urge me to talk with him about eternity one more time. I didn’t think I’d get very far. And I was right. As soon as I brought up the subject of God, the tenor of his voice changed. It seemed louder, bordering on strident. He told me he was not at all interested in religion. “They’re a bunch of hypocrites,” he said. I could almost see him clench his teeth and narrow his eyes. “Religious people should do good things,” he said. “But they only do bad things.” As he spoke, I remembered hearing him say the same things over the last 60 years that I’ve known him. And I wondered how many times during those years did he slowly, inexorably harden himself against the Savior’s gentle call? How many times did he turn from one opportunity after another to soften his heart? For sixty years he’s been saying the same thing. For sixty years he added layer after layer of concrete on his heart. And now he can do nothing else but criticize, disparage, and repudiate God’s call. His heart is like a rock. And that is why I appeal to you whose heart has not yet been hardened like his: Please. This is not about religion. It’s not about church. It’s about God who loves you. It’s about Jesus who died for you, to take away the judgement for your sins. I beg you while there is still time for you, won't you be reconciled to God? Won't you tell Him you’re sorry for your sinful life and your sinful ways? Won't you ask Jesus now, this moment, for His forgiveness? Won't you soften your heart? It is a terrible thing to be so close to death and unable to any longer hear the Savior’s gentle call.

Preparing for Lent 2020

Based on the message I presented to a group of 55+ men and women on February 23, 2020.

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This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday – the beginning of Lent. I hadn’t planned the last of my series of messages in Psalm 19 to dovetail with Lent, but as I prepared to present it to the 55+ community, I realized it weaves together with the season quite well. 

Lent is the season in the Christian calendar during which many followers of Christ focus their attention on how they might grow in their relationship with God. And so, we come to the last part of our series in Psalm 19, verses 12-14: 

"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.” 

Hidden sins. 

My wife, Nancy, recently told me someone on one of her online accounts asked advice regarding confession of sins. He complained of his difficulty thinking of anything he needs to confess. He wanted to know how others recognize what their sins are.

His request stunned me. How does anyone have difficulty knowing their sins? But the more I thought about his question, the more I realized his question is not all that strange. I’d guess half of those we might talk to don’t think much at all about their sins; and if pressed about them, they’d shrug their shoulders and deny having more than a few things they do wrong – and that, only on occasion. 

Of course, most who dilute the seriousness of their sins have good reason to do so. If they admit they’re sinners, then it must follow that God will judge them for their sins. That realization leads down a road many are unwilling to travel.

Scripture tells us from one end of the Book to the other, no one is without sin. Solomon wrote, Who can say, “I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin”? (Proverbs 20:9). Several centuries later, Jeremiah penned: “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it? “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind . . . (Jeremiah 17:9-10). And centuries later, still, the apostle John added: “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us . . . “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”.” (1 John 1:8, 10).

Did you ever bite into a perfectly good looking apple and discover a worm wiggling around inside? I never knew, until a few days ago, how that worm got in there. Long before the apple got into my hands, an insect laid its egg in the apple tree’s blossom. The egg hatched inside the fruit as the fruit developed and begins to bore its way out of the apple.

That’s a perfect illustration of how sin – even secret sins of which we are unaware – worms its way in the human life. It’s birthed in our hearts as life begins, and slowly works its way out as we grow older. And no wonder

David asked in this nineteenth psalm, “Who can discern his errors? Oh, Lord, acquit me (cleanse me, purge me) of hidden faults.”

The only way I know to root out my sins is to routinely ask the Lord, “What have I done or said – or what have I NOT done or NOT said today that offended you?” And Lent is a great time to start anew the HABIT of seeking the Lord, asking Him to reveal to us each day the sins we need to bring to the Cross for forgiveness.

That brings us to the next part of this psalm, beginning with verse 13: “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. 

Here is a dictionary definition of presumption: “To believe something without clear justification; to suppose something to be true without proof; to take something or someone for granted.

A couple of years ago my wife and I attended church out of town. The Gospel reading was the story where Jesus fed the 5000. I’ve heard expositions of this passage by many pastors over the years. This time, I heard something new.

When the preacher said the apostles “stole the bread and fish from the little boy and gave them to Jesus,” I believe he was simply trying to be ‘cutesy’ to add some humor to his sermon. I thought his comment was an engaging – albeit, novel – way to introduce that story. The priest then went on to make the larger point about giving what we have to Jesus that He may multiply it. 

But my comments now are not about the priest. They’re about me. 

It was not until later did I realize what I’d done wrong as I listened to his sermon. My relationship with the absolutely holy God had unconsciously slipped into a casual relationship, one of PRESUMPTION, that took His utter and impeccable Holiness for granted.

How it could be that I did not take offense at the flippant remark about the apostles stealing the loaves and the fish. Why did my spirit not immediately take umbrage with the implicit idea that the holy apostles would steal, and that the Lord Jesus Himself would be party to it? 

Presumption. I’m reminded of Nadab and Abihu, the two sons of Aaron the High Priest. A short while after they’d had a sit-down-at-the-table meal with God on the mountain, they offered “strange fire” during their ritualistic sacrifices. And God immediately killed them. 

I believe what happened to the two young men after their sit-down-meal with God is they’d become presumptuous about their relationship with the Holy One. Their presumption led to a loss of a reverential awe of God’s holiness. (You can find their story in Exodus 24:9-10 and Leviticus 10). 

Something similar may have also happened centuries later to another the priest, whose name was Uzzah. The Holy Ark of the Covenant had been in his home for 20 years (1 Samuel 7:1-2 and 1 Chronicles 13:1-5). And because ‘familiarity’ often leads to presumption, perhaps Uzzah no longer took the holiness of God seriously – and he died as a result. You can read that story in 1 Chronicles 13:9-10 and 1 Chronicles 15:12-15.

Maybe like Nadab, Abihu, and Uzzah, I unconsciously lost my sense of God’s absolute, utter, and ineffable holiness. 

Presumption is a danger we all face because we are all human and can too easily forget whose we are, to whom we belong – and the price God paid to bring us into His family. Hear these words of Jesus in context of eating and drinking with Him during Holy Communion: 

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.”’ 

Many religious leaders and laity of Jesus’ day presumed they were children of Abraham because of their heritage, their circumcision, and adherence to the Law of Moses and their traditions. But when they came to John the Baptizer as he stood thigh-deep in the Jordan River, John told them: “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.” (Luke 3:7-9) 

Pedigree, church attendance, and even meticulous adherence to the rules of your church are simply insufficient for salvation without true faith in the Savior. That’s why presumption can so easily lead to transgression and offending our Lord. 

Yes, God is our loving Father; But He is not our ‘Buddy.’ God embraces every sinner and saint in His affectionate and powerful arms, but do not ever dare to think of Him as ‘the Man upstairs.” It is only when we put off our dangerous presumptions about our Impeccably Holy God that we will be innocent of great transgression. 

The season of Lent is a good time to refocus attention on our very human tendency toward taking our relationship with God for granted. God help us to never do so again.

Finally, let’s move to the last verse of this nineteenth psalm: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. 

Our words are important. That’s why the Lord warns us in Matthew 12: “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36-37) 

God has spoken many times in the past. But as the writer of Hebrews tells us: God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.” (1:1-2) 

The apostle John tells us in the first verse of his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” 

In speaking of this Word, the 19th century Scottish preacher, Robert Murray McCheyne said this: “I do not stop to inquire why He is called ‘the Word.’  I would just remark that as the word of a man expresses the mind of a man, so Christ was revealed that He might express the mind of God.’ 

Our words give voice to our thoughts. Our words make audible what is in our hearts. They reveal to others who we are. As the Lord Jesus remarked: “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:34) 

Jesus is God’s word made flesh. He is the full and final expression of God’s thoughts. He makes audible God’s heart. He shows us everything of who God is. “He who has seen Me,” Jesus said, “has seen the Father.” (John 14:9)

So, my point: What do MY words express about my heart? What do they tell others – and God – who I am?  

And what do YOUR words express about your heart? What do they tell others – and God – about you? 

It is those questions that bring us to this last verse in psalm 19 – and what can be a good prayer for this season of Lent: “May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, [always] be pleasing in Your sight, Oh Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14)

Oh, Lord, change our hearts. Please, continue, Lord, to change our hearts so that we think and speak words only that please you. That Jesus alone be glorified. Amen.

Sin's Poison. God's Antidote.

We’ve all been bitten by sin. All of us. You. Me. Everyone. Sometimes we know when it has dug its fangs into our flesh, and sometimes we don’t. And because its poison long ago infected our souls, we say and do things that hurt others. Sometimes deeply and irreparably. And sin’s bite is the reason others say and do things that hurts us. Sometimes deeply and irreparably. I thought of sin’s sinister nature when I read again the Lord’s comment in John’s gospel: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.” John 3:14-15. Jesus’ audience immediately recognized the historical context to which He referred. It’s from Numbers 21. Israel grumbled against God and Moses one time too many. Here’s a portion of the narrative: "The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.” When they begged Moses to intercede for them, he prayed that the Lord would remove the serpents. And the Lord told him, “Make a [bronze] fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.” Come back again to that passage I cited at the beginning. Jesus told His audience: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life." The Savior said what He said because He knows – better than any of us know – sin has poisoned us. It is slowly and inevitably killing us. And the ONLY antidote to its poison is the antidote God provided: Look in faith to the One God lifted up on that cross, the One who BECAME sin for us, so we could be healed of the otherwise inevitable result of sin’s poison. (See Isaiah 53, and 2 Corinthians 5:20-21). Listen! Please hear this. I repeat it for emphasis. We are slowly and inevitably dying from the bite of sin – for which there is only one remedy: Looking in faith, and following in obedience, the one God lifted up on that cross. That’s why the Savior followed His references to Moses’ bronze serpent with these words of promise: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” (John 3:16-17)

God's Report is His 'Amen'

Based on my message to the 55+ community last Sunday:
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Unchangeable Truths


The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. (Psalm 19)

In much of Biblical literature, the 'testimony' of God is closely tied to His revelation of Himself either though His word, through His Son Jesus, or through nature itself.

Indeed, the whole point of those first verses of this psalm is about God’s revelation of Himself through nature: "The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known."

God reveals Himself to us because He wants us to know He loves us more deeply than we could ever know love from anyone else. He knows us intimately, as close as our breath is to our life. Before a word is on our tongue, He knows every letter and every syllable. And because God cannot lie, His revelation is 'sure.'

That’s an important word the psalmist used here – the word, ‘sure.’ It comes from the same Hebrew root as the word, “Amen.” In other words, and to paraphrase, “The testimony, the report of God is true and unchangeable.

And, what are God’s unchangeable ‘truths’? He designed them to be simple enough a child can understand them. That’s probably one reason the Lord Jesus said of children, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. (Luke 18:16)

No one needs a doctorate degree in theology to figure out God’s essential truths. I like what the apostle Peter told the crowd of religious PhDs in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Quoting from the prophet Joel, Peter said: ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; Even on My bond-slaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit and they shall prophesy.” (Acts 2)

To the woman milking cows in the barn and the guy throwing hay onto the wagon – the unschooled, unskilled, and unsophisticated – God makes His simple truths knowns to anyone with eyes that want to see and ears that want to hear.

Now please don’t misunderstand me. Although God’s word is simple enough for a child to understand, I also know that His word is sublime and mysterious enough as to require rigorous study to mine the depths of His revelations to us.

So, what are those basic truths so simple a bond-slave can understand? Let me cite only a few:

First: He tells us, “I am the LORD, and there is no other . . . The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these. (Isaiah 45:5-7).

That’s it. He is God. No one else.

Second: Because God is our Creator, He has the absolute right to demand that we obey the rules, the commandments He has set down. Leviticus 22:31 is only one of a thousand similar warnings in Scripture: "So you shall keep My commandments, and do them; I am the Lord."

Third: We have a sin-nature inherited from Adam and Eve. We cannot escape our nature. As Paul writes, "For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. . . . For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh . . .” (Romans 7:14-18).

The fourth simple truth is this: God is in love with us. Even with you and me, sinners as we are. Never forget that. God is deeply in love with us, therefore He longs to spend eternity with us. “God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). And again, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation –the satisfactory sacrifice – for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)

That’s why – truth number five – Jesus’ sacrificial death on Calvary paid the ransom for our sins -- AND that is why His ransom is the only way – the only way – that our Creator designed for our sins to be wiped clean. It is only Christ’s sacrifice that gains us eternal life. As the Lord Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45)

Simple truths. God is God and we are not. And He has the absolute right to make all the rules and the right to demand that we abide by those rules. That’s just the way it is. And woe to the person, regardless of titles, degrees, or pedigrees, who teaches others to rationalize and dilute God’s truths.

The psalmist then tells us God’s testimony makes the simple wise. Do you want wisdom from God? Do you want to be able to discern right from wrong, black from white, deadly or what gives life? “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10) Do you want wisdom about some moral dilemma? Do whatever God says in His Book about the choice you face.

God gives us His commandments for OUR good. He knows our nature. He knows our bent toward sin, self-destruction and the destruction of others. The history of humanity, from the first murder when Cain killed his brother, to the unspeakable bloodshed occurring right now in so many parts of our world.

The book of Judges is a sober example of what happens to a people or a nation when, as it says so often in that book, “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” I urge you to read the book of Judges. It is a gory story, but an illuminating one to those with eyes to see and hearts to hear. Murder. Child sacrifice (we might call it abortion today). Sexual perversions and immoralities of every sort – it’s all there as a flawless prophecy about any culture. Including ours.

And that brings us to our concluding verse for today. Verse 12: Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.

I like how the Living Bible translates verse 12: “But how can I ever know what sins are lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults.”

In my previous essay in this series, I compared flossing our teeth and bringing the light of God’s word to our souls. Although our teeth look and feel clean after brushing, it is only when we floss between our teeth that we can remove the hidden flecks of food that will breed bacteria, bad breath, and ultimately holes in our teeth called cavities.

God’s word – His revelation of Himself -- is like dental floss for our soul. It gets into the hidden crevices of our lives and roots out sins before they create a stench and defects in our character. His word is a mirror which shows us our soul is dirty. “How can anyone keep himself or herself pure? By keeping it according to God’s word.” (Psalm 119:9)

As with all of God's word, this psalm has important application to us in the 21st century. We continue our examination of Psalm 19 next time.

What Would They Do if the Knew?

What would happen if Jews and many non-Jews knew this is in the Jewish Scriptures? The Jewish prophet, Isaiah, wrote these words 700 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. I copy the text from the Jewish Publication Society translation of the Hebrew into English):
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“Who would have believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he shot up right forth as a sapling, and as a root out of a dry ground; he had no form nor comeliness, that we should look upon him, nor beauty that we should delight in him. He was despised, and forsaken of men, a man of pains, and acquainted with disease, and as one from whom men hide their face: he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely our diseases he did bear, and our pains he carried; whereas we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”

“But he was wounded because of our transgressions, he was crushed because of our iniquities: the chastisement of our welfare was upon him, and with his stripes we were healed.”

"All we like sheep did go astray, we turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath made to light on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, though he humbled himself and opened not his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before her shearers is dumb; yea, he opened not his mouth.”

“By oppression and judgment he was taken away, and with his generation who did reason? For he was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due.”

“And they made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich his tomb; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.' Yet it pleased the Lord to crush him by disease; to see if his soul would offer itself in restitution, that he might see his seed, prolong his days, and that the purpose of the Lord might prosper by his hand:”

“Of the travail of his soul he shall see to the full, even My servant, who by his knowledge did justify the Righteous One to the many, and their iniquities he did bear. Therefore will I divide him a portion among the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the mighty; because he bared his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

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Yes, what would happen if Jews and non-Jews knew?

Thorns in our Side

Before Israel crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land, God spoke to Moses and said,  "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places . . . But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live." (Numbers 33:51-55) In December 1972 I turned my life over to Messiah Jesus. In a spiritual sense, I suppose you could say I left my wilderness wandering and entered the Promised Land of Christ’s salvation. But simply crossing the Jordan through my baptismal faith and confession of sins is not what kept me – nor is it what keeps me – walking faithfully with the Savior. God told the people that once they crossed the Jordan into the new land – their new life – they were to ‘drive out the inhabitants of the land.”  For if they did not drive them out, they would become “as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live.” I came to Christ with a legion of gangrenous attitudes. Bitterness. Vengefulness. Arrogance. Selfishness. A blasphemous philosophy that “God helps those who help themselves.” My signature theme was “I’ll do it my way.” Listen. Let me be utterly honest with you: If I do not day after day in prayer seek the Holy Spirit to root out those attitudes which strive to take hold once again in my life, I would not be who I am today. If I do not beseech the Holy Spirit to help me clothe myself with Christ, to put on humility and compassion and forgiveness and kindness, then I would be nothing less than a scandal to my Savior – and a scandal to others who call Him their Lord. Those of you who seek to love the Lord above all else know what I am saying is true – and that it applies to every Christian regardless of age or gender or culture or theological persuasion. There be giants in this land into which the Lord brought us when we crossed our own Jordan. There be vicious and deadly giants of pride and arrogance and selfishness. And there is only one way to overcome those giants: Drive them out by the power of the Holy Spirit through prayer and ongoing obedience to God’s word.  If we do not drive them out they will remain pricks in our eyes and thorns in our sides – and they will ultimately destroy us and those we love.

The Law of the Lord is Perfect

Based on the message I delivered at the 55+ community on February 9, 2019

The Law of the Lord is Perfect

Last week we looked at the first part of Psalm 19:1-6 -- The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork."

We then spent some time looking at how the science of human anatomy, biology and the science of astronomy clearly demonstrate the existence of God. Well . . . clearly to anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear, anyway. 

What we did not talk about is the spiritual COST of refusing to hear what God says to us. And that cost has a terrible price tag. As someone much wiser than I once said: Sin will take you where you don’t want to go. It will keep you longer than you want to stay. It will cost you more than you want to pay.

After the apostle Paul spent considerable time declaring to the Jewish community of Rome the clear evidence that Jesus is the Messiah, he said to those who continued to scoff at God’s truth:

“ . . . You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; And you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; For the heart of this people has become dull, and with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes; Otherwise they might see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return, and I would heal them.”’ (Acts 28:26-27) 

And so we all ought to pray for humility in our own lives so we will continue to see and to hear from God all that He wants to tell us regarding our lives and our lifestyles. Otherwise we might find ourselves growing increasingly insensitive to His voice. 

So, now we move to the next part of this 19th psalm, verses 7-14 where the Holy Spirit guides us toward reproof, correction, and His instruction in righteousness. 

"The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul." The Hebrew word for perfect means God’s law is complete, full, without spot or blemish. By inference, God designed His law to bring us up to its level. We must not drag the law down to ours.

The Law of the Lord is perfect – but not everyone thinks that to be true. Indeed, judging from the state of our country and too many churches, most think of His laws as hopelessly old fashioned, antiquated and written by an unsophisticated people. 

And don’t think for a moment that those same people think any better of us who believe God’s word to be as authoritative today as it was when the prophets and apostles first penned His words. That’s because so much of our culture is driven by men and women whose banner is summed up in Frank Sinatra’s signature song, “I Did it My Way.”  

According to a report I read in the online publication, Daily Mail, Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” is now among favored songs played at funerals. And, I am saddened to say, I also discovered that at the end of the memorial service for Senator John McCain, Sinatra's "My Way" played as the casket was carried out of North Phoenix Baptist Church. 

Talk about the change in our culture!

It was in the Garden when Satan first introduced the lie that God’s law is not perfect. He suggested to Eve that God was unfair to make a rule about eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. His inference was, of course, God’s laws are flawed. “Go ahead, Eve. Take the fruit and see for yourself.”  

And the rest is history.

No surprise that Satan continues to do what works. He tells us today that God’s laws are not perfect. They’re flawed. “Go ahead” He whispers.  “Do it your way.”

Nonetheless, regardless of what the devil tells us and what we might like to think – the law of the Lord is perfect. That’s why the former painstakingly scrupulous Pharisee, Paul, confessed “The Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” 

But don’t overlook what he says next: “I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.  . . . I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. . . . Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:12-25)

How often have you grieved over your own sin nature? How many times have you noticed the pull of the culture drawing you into its seductive control? Yes, you pray. You read the Bible. You come to Bible studies and Sunday services. You want to do right, but so often you do wrong. 

Listen – if our inclination toward sin doesn’t grieve us, then we need to reexamine our heart and our relationship with Jesus. 

I’m glad Paul didn’t stop with that gloomy lament in chapter seven. A moment later he declared the good news, “There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus . . .  . (Romans 8:1)

That statement, “Who are in Christ Jesus” is an important distinction. Why? Because ‘no condemnation’ applies only to those who are IN Christ. God provides no wiggle room for any other opinion. 

In 1 Corinthians 15 the Holy Spirit makes the same point about being IN Christ: For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. (verses 21-22)

No one on this planet can help being in Adam. He is the father of all humanity. But no one has to remain in Adam. God gives us a choice to be born again into Christ. 

No one needs to remain only a child of Adam. Anyone can be a child of God. 

Jesus – the Last Adam, as Paul calls Him in 1 Corinthians 15 – fulfilled the requirements of the Law of God. That’s why God counts those who are IN Christ to have also fulfilled the requirements of the Law. Here is Romans 8:3-4 – For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit [of God]. (Romans 8:3-4) 

That is why it is critical for us to be ‘IN’ Christ, so that God can view His perfect law to be fulfilled in us who are imperfect. God does not see us by ourselves, but He sees us IN His perfect Son.

Let me illustrate this concept for you with an Old Testament reference. God told Moses to build the Ark of the Covenant – a gold-covered chest which sat in the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle in the wilderness. Among the items Moses placed in the chest were the tablets of the law – the Ten Commandments – written by the finger of God. It was those ten commandments which the people broke time and time again.

Every year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the holy of holies and sprinkled the blood of the sacrificial animal on top of the Ark. When he did that and God looked at the Ark, He did not see the Law which the people had broken, but He saw the sacrificial blood covering the broken law that made atonement for the sins of the people.

In like manner, when we are IN Christ – when we have brought ourselves in humility to God, asking His forgiveness through the sacrificial blood of His Son who died for us on Calvary, God does not see our sin. He sees the sacrificial blood of our Messiah who covers our sins. 

THAT’S what it means to be IN CHRIST. To be abiding with Him and living for Him according to His commandments. 

Do we do away with the Law?  Of course not. God gave us the law to be a light to guide us through our dark world where almost everything is upside down and inside out from God’s uncompromising standards (see Psalm 119:105). 

God’s law is like a mirror in which we see our imperfections and with God’s help, root them out. 

It might be an unpleasant analogy, but I like to sometimes compare God’s word to flossing our teeth. How often have you brushed your teeth and thought they were clean – only to then floss them and discover all sorts of flecks of food that had hidden between the crevices and spaces of your teeth? And you know what happens to those flecks if they are not removed?  They breed bacteria that causes not only bad breath, but also in tiny holes in our teeth – called cavities. 

The law of the Lord is like dental floss for our soul. It gets into the hidden crevices of our lives and roots out sins before they create a stench in our lives and defects in our character.

The law of the Lord is perfect. And because it is perfect it restores the soul. The Hebrew for ‘restoring the soul’ can be translated as a converting of the soul, of turning it back to God from the way it is traveling.  

I do not understand the idea of ‘conversion’ as a one-time event. Go to an altar, confess your sins, ask God for forgiveness – and you’re done. You’re born again. 

While that might be true, it is only true at a most superficial level. The verb in the Hebrew for ‘restoring’ means ‘converting.’ The verb tense illustrates a continuing action. We must continue, day after day, to be converted toward Christ because the lure of sin is always nipping at our heels. 

It is God’s word alone that instructs us when we are drifting off the narrow path and toward the wide gate that leads to destruction. That’s why the Holy Spirit tells us repeatedly from one end of the book to the other – Read and study and apply God’s word to your life. 

When you have 15 or 20 minutes, read Psalm 119. The Holy Spirit devotes the entire 176 verses of this chapter to the wonder and the wealth inherent in God’s word.

Let me say this as clearly as I can: There can be no ongoing conversion of the soul without an ongoing study of and obedience to God’s word. “Be diligent,” St. Paul wrote to Timothy – and to us in 2020 – be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

God’s word is timeless. It crosses cultures and races and nationalities and creeds. It does so because God created all humanity and He knows our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Him. God help us and our families and all we know to quickly find our rest in Him through Jesus our Messiah and in His perfect law.

None So Deaf

This is an edited version of a message I recently preached at a 55+ community.

None so Deaf as Those who Will Not Hear

By Richard Maffeo

Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, likes to opine that people who believe in God are delusional. Dawkins postulates the reason for the stunning complexity of nature is because aliens planted DNA on earth millions of years ago. That DNA evolved to life as we now know it. 

That is from the guy who says those who believe in God are delusional. You can listen to Dawkins’ comment here: https://winteryknight.com/2009/03/12/richard-dawkins-thinks-that-aliens-may-have-caused-the-origin-of-life/ 

The late Professor Stephen Hawking, the eminent Cambridge scientist and cosmologist, had a similar derisive view of religious faith. The well-known atheist called heaven, “A fairy story for people afraid of the dark.” But I like what John Lennox, Professor of Mathematics at Oxford, said in response to Hawking’s mockery: "Atheism is a fairy story for people afraid of the light" 

What settles the debate for me between both views is what Jesus said in St. John’s gospel: “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” (John 3:19-21, NIV) 

In other words, for those who want to live as THEY want to live, it is far more expedient to believe something that requires nothing from us regarding our lifestyle than it is to have faith in an omnipotent and eternal God who places some rather significant requirements on our lifestyle. 

Take a look at the first verses in Psalm 19. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. (Psalm 19:1-4) 

Although Nature shouts God’s voice, it is most often in silence that anyone with ears to hear can hear God’s voice. 

And if you think it through, that makes sense. Just as we have difficulty hearing each other in crowded restaurants with all the ambient noise, we also have difficulty hearing God with all the ambient noise of our lives – TV,  radio, chitchats with friends, trips to here and there – all our typical daily activities. Of course, such activities are fine and good. But when we want to hear specifically from God – we best hear Him in silence. Why? Because He wants our ATTENTION. 

Note what the Lord Jesus’ told His disciples – disciples, like you and I are His disciples – in Mark 6:30-32 “The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. And He *said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.

Many years ago, in an interview with Mother Teresa, Dan Rather asked her what she says to God when she prays. She answered: "I don't say anything. I just listen." Mr. Rather then asked what God says to her. "He doesn't say anything," she responded. "He just listens." 

That is an example of what I call ‘intuitive communication between lovers.’  It’s like long-married couples can finish each other’s sentences, or communicate volumes with a simple glance. 

When was the last time you noticed the silent presence of God just outside your windows? The sun, the stars, the clouds, the birds, the trees. Do we notice Him in the quietness of our apartment? We will – if we will just be still. It takes practice, but with practice, yes – we will hear Him? Why? Because He WANTS to speak with us. He’s often just waiting for us to stop being so busy. 

You might remember the story of Martha and Mary in Luke’s gospel. Mary sat quietly at Jesus’ feet as He talked with her. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:40-42) 

Take the 15-minute challenge. Set aside 15 minutes each day to get alone with God. Open your Bible and read a passage, or a page, or a chapter, and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you through what you just read. It will take practice if you are not used to that sort of communication with God. But give it a chance. Practice it every day. Fifteen minutes by the clock. 

The heavens declare the glory of God. So, what does our universe tell us of God? Let’s bring it closer. What does our solar system tell us of God? 

Of the nine planets in our solar system, only Earth is placed at just the right distance from the sun for life to exist. If we were closer to the sun, we'd burn up; further away, we'd freeze. If our planet were smaller it couldn't support an atmosphere, as on Mercury. If it were larger, like Jupiter, the atmosphere would contain free hydrogen, which is poisonous for us. Earth is tilted at an angle of 23 degrees. If it was not tilted exactly at 23 degrees, we would not only lose our seasons but the water vapors from the oceans would move north and south, piling up continents of ice. 

Earth’s moon is just the right size and distance from us. The moon's gravity affects the movement of ocean currents, keeping the water from becoming stagnant. If the moon were closer than it is, our tides would daily inundate entire continents. 

But it is not only the heavens that declare God’s glory, majesty, and absolute sovereignty. What about the intricacies of the millions of species of animals and insects and fish and plant life – even to the one-celled amoeba. We could spend multiple years in post-graduate work studying their nearly incomprehensible complexities right down to the cellular level. But let’s look only humanity. Think about this: 

If evolution is true, then a male and female had to evolve simultaneously in order to be able to procreate – or humanity would have died with the first humans. They both had to evolve with the correct anatomy to enable not only conception, but also the carrying and nurturing until birth the new child. 

The male and the female had to also evolve with the proper hormones (such as estrogen and testosterone). Furthermore, each hormone had to be SPECIFIC in type and in quantity to its gender in order to either produce sperm or to ovulate an ova. And, to further complicate things, the ova had to travel along a specially designed fallopian tube until it settled in the woman’s uterus. AND, they both had to evolve simultaneously in the same geographical area in order to even meet each other. 

C’mon! What are the odds of even that little stuff happening simultaneously in two different genders – even in six billion years of evolution? 

Speaking of seeing -- medical textbooks run thousands of pages explaining the intricacies of the multiple parts of that organ of sight. For example, our eyes contain a fluid – more like a gel – that gives the eyeball its shape and holds the retina in place. Without that gel – called the vitreous humor – the eyeball would collapse. 

Our body is continually making vitreous humor. But to prevent pressure from building up in the eyeball, the same about of liquid drains out of the eye through a specialized type of ‘canal.’ If the canal is blocked, fluid builds up in the eye (this condition is called glaucoma) and without treatment, the person will become permanently blind. 

If evolution is true, both the liquid in the eyeball AND the drainage canal had to evolve simultaneously, or the first human would have been blind. 

Cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) is another vital fluid produced by the body. Cerebral spinal fluid bathes the brain and the spinal column and provides several critical functions – without which we would not survive. Our bodies produce approximately two cups of CSF every day, and the same amount is absorbed by the body to maintain a proper pressure especially inside the skull. If the CSF did not get reabsorbed by the body, the pressure would very quickly crush the brain. 

That’s what was happening to my wife after her stroke. Her cerebral spinal fluid pressure couldn’t drain from her skull. The surgeon had to drill a hole in her skull and insert a drainage tube to relieve that pressure. If he hadn’t done that, Nancy would have died. 

If evolution is true, then the first human had to have an intact drainage and reabsorption mechanism for the continuously produced CSF to not crush his brain. 

No wonder the psalmist wrote – long before biological science knew enough to tell us how intricately we are put together: For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed, and in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. (Psalm 139:13-16) 

Genesis tells us, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The psalmist follows on with the words we have been looking at this afternoon: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.” 

Our heavenly Farther was intimately involved in creation to provide a perfectly ordered place for the crown of His creation – humanity – to live and prosper. He provided us a perfect universe, a perfect world, and perfect bodies in the beginning. But we blew it in the Garden of Eden. Sin entered God’s perfect creation, and you and I live in the aftermath of the decision of Adam and Eve. 

And THAT is why God sent His Son as the Last Adam (as the apostle Paul called Jesus) – to initiate the beginning of what will be a new heaven and a new earth where perfection will be restored . . . But only for those who join themselves to Jesus through faith in His atoning sacrifice for our sins, and by ongoing obedience to His commandments. 

The heavens declare God's love for us. Are we listening?